Two More MOS Associates, Best Improved Slideshow Presentation, Reaching for the Stars

The past week, especially the past two days, have seen students catching up and rising up!

Friday evening, 11 pm, I was about to turn in for the day but heard a ding from my computer. Checking the inbox, I see Wayne has sent in his A10 Improved Slideshow Presentation. Knowing the former Navy Man is focusing on preparing for MO-211 Excel Expert, I would not have been disappointed had he not send in his optional bonus assignment A10.

Saturday's class session saw students focusing on their own coursework. The highlight was Wayne's sharing of his Career and Education and Goals. This is the best A10 from my students, ever!

By using simple shapes and animation effects that flow in consideration with each other between slides, Wanye gave a sense of continuity and polish through his entire slideshow. This -- on top of creating his own slide master with a vibrant image, sharp contrasting color scheme, alternating placements of shapes between slides, and layered photographs -- is what propelled me deem his A10 as the most standout improved slideshow presentations I have seen yet.

Earlier this week before Friday, I showed my wife, who is a graphic design artist, a few things in PowerPoint and she in turn showed me what she did after further exploring PowerPoint on her own. After Wayne's presentation and my quick walk through of the light touchups I performed on his draft slideshow, I showcased what my wife prepared for me to demonstrate to my students:

• Using the time settings in animation effects and slide transitions to make a slideshow automatically loop continuously
• Creating an animated gif using PowerPoint
• Using the crop-to-shape feature and background color to create one's own slide transition illusion
• Creating a MP4 video using PowerPoint
• Using the 'Morph' slide transition with different directions -- same intention and similar result as seen in Wayne's A10 slideshow

Before leaving our final classroom session, Anisley (Ani) took on and passed MO-310 PowerPoint, becoming the second MOS Associate from IS101-3003, Fall 2023 :-) After our class session officially ended, Mary, Roberto, Valeria, and Leina continued with their coursework until they qualified to take MO-210 Excel. Though not all four found joy, I am proud of all four. Afterwards, I left school and met with my wife to celebrate a momentous event in the late afternoon.

Sunday noon, I returned to our classroom to help Mary clean up her blog and Canvas discussions, proctor Manassiya in her MO-310 PowerPoint, and strategize with Wayne how to further prepare for MO-210 Excel Expert.

Manassiya joined Wayne and Ani as the third MOS Associate of IS101-3003, Fall 2023. Wayne shared his GMetrix account (a MOS certification preparation tool) with me to share with his classmates and my future students should they want to pursue beyond MOS Associate. Thank you Wayne ^_^

Earlier this week, Ani did express interest of pursuing her MOS Expert distinction as Wayne is doing now. Perhaps after her work and family life give her some room to breath, I will hear from her again.

I have a few more days before I need to submit students' grades. I know most will use that time to catch up and clean up their outstanding items to raise their grade.

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Students,

My next post will be the final one where I recognize your accomplishments and distinctions from IS101-3003, Fall 2023. Please share your career and education goals in your comment for this post. Will you reach for the stars?

Job Hunting Tips & Reminders, Story of Electronics, Dig Deep

This past Saturday saw six students earn their Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certificates :-)

The class session kicked off with Nadia's A5 Slideshow Presentation on South Korea where the young lady showcased language, k-pop, and food from The Land of the Morning Calm. I used the walkthrough of the transformation process for Nadia's slideshow to reiterate key points such as

• Maintaining height and width ratio when resizing
• Over layering images to not only better fit multiple images on a slide but also produce a subtle perception of depth
• Using a consist order of animation directions between slides to give a sense of cohesion

The remainder of the class session saw students catching up and preparing for their MOS certification exams.

After earning his MOS Associate distinction a week before this past Saturday, Wayne ventured beyond the boundaries of IS101 to practice for MO-111 Word Expert using GMetrix. This past Saturday, the former Navy Man's ambition paid off as he is now halfway to earning his MOS Expert distinction, MO-211 Excel Expert will fall this coming Saturday!

Anisley (Ani) and Manassiya took on and passed MO-210 Excel. I know they will take on MO-310 PowerPoint this Saturday and join Wayne as MOS Associates this coming Saturday. Nadia, Leina, and Valeria began took and passed their first MOS certification exam: MO-110 Word. May they find the same success with MO-210 and/or MO-310 this coming Saturday.

I'm still riding high on the excitement from my students' six certificates earned yesterday and 100% success rate on MOS certification exams thus far this semester. May this excitement soar even higher ^_^

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(A) This 2 min 17 sec video is a perfect complement to Nadia's A5: AI goes mainstream in South Korea.

(B) From an earlier assignment, students shared whether they have or have not used each of the 13 tips and reminders in their job hunting from the two-page article 7 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Your Job Search.

(C) Despite being from November 2011, the 7 min 47 sec The Story of Electronics is still relevant today.

Students,

Please share your thoughts on:

(a) What do you think of artificial intelligence (AI) replacing human performance? Can what you do be replaced or enhanced by AI?

(b) Please choose a unique tip/reminder from the thirteen and share your experience with it. Unique means if someone else already used a tip/reminder, you will need to choose a new one. Be sure to use the leading zero when identifying your chosen tip/reminder (i.e. T09, not T9).

(c) What do you think of the design for the dump concept? Did The Story of Electronic make you think about how you would choose, manage, and dispose of your electronic devices?

First MOS Associate, Independence, Ransomware

Yesterday was momentous! Wayne became the first MOS Associate from IS101-3003, Fall 2023 ^_^

I kicked off the class session by welcoming students back from Thanksgiving Break and gave individual feedback to each student for their performance thus far. Valeria then took center stage and regaled the class with her Summer 2023: Atlántida, Uruguay to Las Vegas, U.S.A. for College. Her A5 Slideshow Presentation elicited Anisley (Ani) and Mary to share their shock when they arrived from the U.S. from their respective birth country. I concluded by sharing how I worked with Valeria bring her journey to life in a PowerPoint slideshow.

The second half the class session saw three students each taking a Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification exam. Wayne lead the class by taking on his third MOS certification exam. Upon passing MO-310 PowerPoint, the former Navy Man became the first MOS Associate from IS101-3003, Fall 2023. I am so proud of him. What excites me even more is with his ahead of schedule MOS Associate, Wayne definitely has the luxury to pursue more MOS certifications. I know his ambition will take full advantage of that luxury.

Ani took on MO-110 Word and end up eclipsing Wayne's very high score on MO-110. Ani's score tied with Wayne's even higher score on MO-210 Excel. Roberto also conquered MO-110 Word before the class session ended. Mary stayed in the classroom until the evening. After hours of working in LabSim, instead of going home, the hardworking mom took on MO-110 and prevailed. I am gleaming with pride :-)

As students begin to take on certification exams, we also approach the second and final capstone assignment: A7 Mail Merge. Object Linking & Embedding (OLE) may be the central mechanical concepts of the assignment, the quintessential purpose is to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their independence.

From reading the PDF for A7 (posted in Week 14 in Canvas), will my students distill what they need to produce for A7's business scenario?

(A) Will my students follow one of my hints in the PDF and bravely use the Mail Merge wizard in Word?

(B) Will my students analyze the two documents for A7 and use them to produce what A7 requires?

(C) Will my students use the image below and fully comprehend OLE?

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Toward the beginning of this semester, two casinos corporations were hit with ransomware attacks. Now that both situations are out of the news, please watch this 22:07 min video from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqD-ATqw3js

View discretion is advised as the 22-min video contains mature languages and John Oliver's brand of humor. If you are under the age of 18 and cannot obtain your parent's permission, let me know and I will give you an alternate assignment in place of watching this video.

Back in the Spring 2017 semester, I shared with my students that 2016 had the highest number of ransomware attacks in recent years and a student shared with me that he had never heard of the term 'ransomware'. From the above video, I learned about the three major developments that likely contributed to that surge in 2016. Thank you John Oliver!

What I also appreciate are his three advices:

 (1) Enable multi-factor authentication to make hacking your accounts less easy for bad actors. Remember Mat Honan's Epic Hack?

 (2) Keep your computer update to date with antivirus software & operating system fixes, patches, and updates.

 (3) Don't click on suspicious links or emails.

Students, please share your professional thoughts on:

 (i) How was your experience in doing A7 Mail Merge? Instead of relying on click-by-click instructions, did you identify and conceptualize what you need to produce to meet the business scenario for A7?

 (ii) Do you think the three major developments mentioned in John Oliver's video that help ransomware attacks proliferate are still relevant today? Other thoughts you have from watching the video?

 (iii) How do you see yourself finishing IS101-3003, Fall 2023?