PAT based on Xmas shopping, or very similar to a PAT

Before you turn immediately to Amazon, or your favorite online shopping source, think briefly about your gift giving goals and prepare to make some considered decisions! Quick review….

1. Big6 #1 - Task Definition - Select a suitable and pleasing gift for friends and family, on time and within budget.
2. Big6 #2 - Information Seeking Strategies - Do you need gift advice? See online wish lists? Email a relative for ideas? Gather gift idea suggestions? Check what’s hot this year? Consult online sale flyers?
3. Big6 #3 - Location and Access - Do you know where to find the gift? Narrow the possible online locations, check who has the item in stock? Compare pricing?
4. Big6 #4 - Use of Information - Read online reviews, check prices, colors, sizes, determine if items are available or on back order?
5. Big6 #5 - Synthesis - Add items to your online shopping cart! Select quantities, colors, and sizes if necessary. Be prepared with your plastic cards and specific shipping address information for online shopping. Select delivery timelines to meet your goals.
6. Big6 #6 - Evaluation - Whew! You did it! Now you have time to get those other things done before the unwrapping big day!

Found at <http://www.big6.com/>

Qualifications for a teacher or subject advisor

The 2008 Matric results will be released soon. I have no idea what they will be like but may I propose the following qualification for every CAT

• teacher - Basic ICDL qualification OR a B.Ed. in CAT OR an ACE course in CAT, as a minimum
• subject advisor or facilitator or whatever name the boss goes under - Advanced ICDL qualification in 4 packages, as well as management qualifications

I am aware that CAT is not ICDL but that is a starting point with respect to skills. The ICDL is my preferred qualification as it is recognised and valid. (My certificate number is ADV001 - passed Basic, and Advanced spreadsheets, Advanced presentations, Advanced databases and Advanced word processing.)

Here is hoping the results are …

Examination dates

The Grade 12 dates for the final CAT examinations in 2009 have been announced:
Wednesday 07/10 - Speed Test (Optional) 8h00
Thursday 08/10 - Paper 1 (3hrs), Practical Speed Test (Optional) 8h00
Thursday 05/11 - Paper 2 (3hrs) 14h00
Here is a copy of the full timetable.

Examinations

Marking of the Gr 12 CAT examinations is taking place around the country. I am part of a group marking the Theory paper. What a wonderful experience it has been so far! So much bonding and learning about the subject and answering examination questions. I am sure that everyone is going to go home at the end of the period having benefited from the experience.
Here is a picture of the group of teachers in the Western Cape who marked the Theory Gr 12 paper in 2008.

Gr 10 and 11 examinations - Results

The CAT November examination results at my school:
Gr 10 - Theory 60% and Practical 66%
Gr 11 - Theory 42% and Practical 43%
In general one grade did little work, did not complete their class work, left their textbooks at home, did not complete nor hand in their PATs, spoke during my teaching - you guess which class.
In general one class did a great deal of work at home, brought their textbook to class, handed in their PATs and listened in class - you guess which class.
The learner's individual results accurately reflect what the examination was meant to assess. Hopefully the weak grade will take note of their results and take corrective actions.

I am looking forward to getting the 2009 PATs and planning my work for next year making sure all my learners work and the low marks are not repeated.

Enjoy the holidays when they start.

Gr 10 Written examination

Poorly answered questions
4.8 The question asks for Function but very few learners gave the function of the different kinds of memory.
7.1.a) The question asks the learners to fit the table on a single page. In this question it became apparent that many learners do not know the terms – change the orientation to 'Landscape’, and ‘narrow’ or ‘widen’ the columns.
7.4.b) The question asks for ‘other factors that could be considered to ensure that the secretary’s health is not compromised.’ Now it asks for ‘factors’. It does not ask how to prevent problems.

Learners need to pay close attention to the phrasing in the questions.

Gr 11 Theory examination memo

Gr 11 Theory examination memos - Afrikaans and English

Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teachers Awards 2008 - Hong Kong

Congratulations to Sarietjie Musgrave of Eunice High School: Free State for her project Spread the Sunshine which gained her runner up position in the Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teachers Awards 2008, category Innovation in Community Category. It was awarded in Hong Kong early this month.
The project for Grade 10 Computer Applications Technology involved learners investigating the needs of disabled people and then using their skills to create useful ICT based artefacts for disabled people. A range of applications were used including an animation package to design a public awareness campaign and Clicker to design software to support the disabled.

Thamsanqa Makhathini of Mpophomeni High School: KwaZulu-Natal also went to the ceremony with his project Local is Lekker@Mpophomeni in the Innovation in Challenging Contexts category. Below is his description of his entry.
Groups of Grade 11 Computer Applications Technology learners designed research instruments and interviewed community members about pre- and post-1994. Findings, photographs and audio-clips (recorded using cell phones) were then used to create a website.

Congratulations to both. Information from http://www.schoolnet.org.za/itf/index.htm and http://www.schoolnet.org.za/

Gr 10 Theory examination papers

Gr 10 November theory memos - Afrikaans and English

Gr 11 Theory examination

Theory papers - Afrikaans and English

Gr 10 Examinations

Gr 10 November Written - Afrikaans and English

Gr 11 Practical examinations

COMMENT from CAT teacher in Gauteng about Gr 11 Practical Paper from Study Opportunities:
I think the paper was: “doable”, Balanced, Different to the norm – this is a good aspect.
I also think it is a good thing that they have been exposed to a paper set by someone else and not by me. Every teacher has their own unique way of setting a paper and pupils get used to that way. They are then only exposed to a different way of setting in the matric exam and can then flounder.
It was in my opinion maybe about 30 minutes too long depending on the child. I am not worried about my pupils who have not been working during the year not finishing – they need a wake up call and would have still not finished even with extra time. But my top pupils should be able to finish and they battled hence my decision to give them an extra 20 minutes. As this is an internal exam, I think we as experienced educators should be able to use our discretion about increasing the time given during an internal exam. I have not marked any of my weaker pupils’ papers yet so I cannot comment on their results as yet. Maybe they are going to have been more affected by the length.
In my opinion, there was nothing “unseen” or extremely difficult and it was not unreasonable. The database form was more complicated than I had done in class with my pupils but my top pupils managed it well. It is something I will have to work on next year as I seem to never do enough work on forms. My pupils also seem to generally battle with Access in grade11 but with more exposure in grade 12 improve.
There was also quite a lot of reading which they have to get used to as it seems that this is the trend with most subjects in the new syllabus and a weakness of our “modern” pupils.
In my opinion it was a matric standard paper that grade 11’s had to write and they have not yet had as much exam practice as a matric child has had. My matric pupils found both the prelim practical exam and the final practical exam long, but my top pupils finished comfortably.
My top child has got a steady 91% per term this year. For her June prac she got 94% and for this exam 85%. When I asked her afterwards how she found the exam, she said she could do everything but she felt very rushed for time and hence made silly mistakes. When I marked her paper, I realised that she was correct as she made mistakes on sections she knows well and would not normally make mistakes on. She has never been rushed for time before as she always works quickly and efficiently and knows the applications very well. She did not have time to go back and check her work either.
My top 2 kids had just finished question 6 when they had 5 minutes left. I therefore gave them an extra 20 minutes. Once I have marked them all, I am going to look at their year marks and if I feel they are too low, I may moderate the prac slightly. However, an end of year exam mark is normally lower than during the year as it is set on a much larger section of work. When all the years’ tasks and PAT are added together, I am sure it will even out. I also don’t want to have my pupils arriving in matric with inflated grade 11 marks but at the same time would not want them to be demoralised.
The paper marks well (I have only marked 2) – the marking grid is great. I think that we should have the solutions printed out to see what certain documents should look like: for example the table in question 5. Just check the ticks as in one or two questions the number of ticks does not match the overall mark.
Question 6, the type of question I normally dislike marking as it usually takes so long, marks beautifully thanks to the way the memo is designed.
I also think for the second year of grade 11’s and a new syllabus, Study Opportunities has done very well to set a paper of such a good standard. I for one am very grateful not to have had to set CAT papers for my school but could rather spend my time on marking the PATs. Everyone knows how long it takes to set an exam paper.
CAT should not be seen as an “easy” option for the pupils and it should challenge the bright pupils who choose to take CAT rather than IT or other subjects. It is such a pity CAT is not yet recognized as a subject for university entrance as it is such a useful subject to study.

Gr 11 Practical examinations

English marksheet and solutions
Afrikaans marksheet and solutions
Addendum for question 3.4

Examination papers

There have been repeated requests to get the password for the exam papers. There is only one way to get them. You must have completed the document found on the studyopportunities.co.za web site and faxed it back to the correct place. The password would then have been SMSed to you. It is also pointless putting a request in a 'Comment' if you do not add contact details, and the password cannot be put onto the blog as that defeat the point of having a password.

Gr 10 November Practical examinations

English marksheet and solutions
Afrikaans marksheets and solutions

Gr 10 and 11 Written papers

Length of Written papers – next week:
We decided to stick to the SAG which specifies:
Gr 10: 100 marks, 2 hours
Gr 11: 150 marks, 3 hours.

Experience has however shown that many learners do not need the full time.

Gr 11 Practical Errata

Slegs AFRIKAANSE vraestel - Vraag 4, eerste bullet moet wees (R0-00 vir lede en R20-00 vir nie-lede).

Please open and fix the data files 6Answers.doc (English) and 6Antwoorde.doc. It should refer to Question 6, not Question 7.

Gr 11 Practical Exam Papers

The Grade 11 Practical examination paper in English with its data, and Afrikaans with its data files is now available.

Gr 10 Revision or Disaster

Did you do the Pug Dog Club set in 2006 question paper (data files and memo) as revision with your Gr 10 learners? Did you see the fat fawn pug who had to be taken for a walk, and was also used in other questions in the paper. Well, he is fat and this morning became even fatter.I could scream at him!
Long story. I managed to get some special green mealies from Gauteng. I made some special green mealie cake (not carrot cake, green mealie cake). I had it wrapped in heavy Alcan foil in a Checkers packet along with chips, peanuts, dips, biscuits, cooldrinks, etc. especially for our weekend in the Cedarberg. All the bags were on the floor in the garage ready for leaving straight after school today. This morning, I was busy dressing and organising the house. Friend went outside to open the garage door and get my car ready, not thinking of the contents of the carrier bags and the dogs. When it was time to lock the front door we looked for the dogs, and found the fawn pug with his nose in the bag and 3/4s of the cake gone! Thank goodness it was not the fruitcake which was still on the shelf in the kitchen. Now when you do that old exam paper, you know why he is fat!

Gr 10 PAT

I have just finished marking the Gr 10 PATs. I believe we have left out an important point, or we did not leave it out but we did not allocate enough marks and the learners ignored it. The learners did not properly draw the research project to a clear conclusion: do the public (not disabled people) have a clear idea of the abilities of the disabled and all the different kinds of disabled people, and are there facilities to help the disabled. I think we must allocate more marks to this section and perhaps give more criteria in the checklist. We gave 1 and 4 marks respectively to this and my learners seemed to ignore it, maybe because the rubric did not specify more criteria. Most learners did not answer the main question or problem.

Gr 10 November Practical examinations

The Gr 10 Study Opportunities Practical examination papers are now available in English and Afrikaans. The data files are available - English and Afrikaans. The password will probably be sent on Thursday or Friday. It may be a good idea to relook at the details on 15 June.

Gr 11 PAT Phases 5 and 6

I have just finished marking the Gr 11 PAT Phases 5 and 6 and certain aspects are common to most of the learner's work - in the handout they did not

• introduce the work
• properly explain how the particular technology works
• discuss/introduce/explain the database query and report
• draw the work to a clear conclusion.

Otherwise the handout was well done.

Gr 12 Learners

Here are pictures of some of the Gr 12 learners whose work has been available on this blog in 2008 - Galer, Justus, Hobbs, Machado, Walbeck. Woollgar

Gr 10 PAT

Final report

• Headings need similar styles, i.e. font sizes and fonts
• Readable font, i.e. Arial or Comic Sans used
• Same font used for all the body text, and includes table
  
• URLs must be placed in the bibliography, not as headings or in the text
• Page borders should only found on the first page
• Headings should not be bulleted
  
• Headings underlined - so old fashioned, that is what typists did, not those with word processing formatting features
  
• Results from spreadsheet - Do a copy and paste. Whole spreadsheet not required. Cells of the table must be widened so that it looks like a ‘neat’ table.
• Needs a clear conclusion based on the results of the spreadsheet and what has been written about.
  

Gr 10 PAT

A strange thing is happening in the Gr 10 PAT final report: The learners are copying the data/advertisements for hardware/software they find on the Internet. It is meant to be a report - they have to rewrite the information on the hardware/software in their own words. They have to change the person or tone! If they just copy a section off the Internet and I pick it up they will get 0 for that section.
They are enjoying the topic!

Gr 10 and 11 Nov exam papers

Some one asked about the Gr 10 and 11 Nov exam papers from Study Opportunities. Look at the posting on 15 June.

Gr 10 Nov Exam

TIP from Sandra for Gr 10 Final Prac Exam from Study Opportunities.

Gr 11 PAT - Phases 3 and 4

Here are examples of the different kinds of databases - one is on general social networking sites and others on Mxit in the media - Erasmus, Leroux, Naidoo

Gr 10 PAT

My Gr 10s are working so hard on their PAT about computers and the disabled. They had problems getting their questions correct but that has now been sorted out.

Yesterday at the gym all the disabled parking bays were occupied by able-bodied males (not gentlemen). I will not mention what I think of them!

I had to take my Father out for supper last night. He is 85 and will not use a wheel chair although he is what could be called disabled. I have managed to get a disabled parking ticket. The only place where we could go to eat was at a shopping centre as that is the only place where there are managed parking bays for the disabled.

The PAT has made me more aware how challenging life for the disabled is. I think we should try to make the learners more aware and considerate of others in this exercise.

Gr 11 PAT - Phases 3 and 4

Into Week 2

• I am still walking the room watching and giving help where it is needed.
• Learners are busy creating the database, Word planning document, PowerPoint planning document, finishing off their spreadsheets and completing their tables with regard to trustworthiness.
• I am worried that many do not have the basic information/sources/evidence on the 6 technologies.
• While I was walking around the room I marked some things on the rubrics.
• The work is due in 2 more periods.

Gr 11 PAT Phases 3 and 4

Thursday Day 4

• Work is going well - Putting data into spreadsheet and database. The Countif function is being used to analyse the data in the spreadsheet.
• Little or no work is being done at home. How they are going to finish collecting all the data, and plan the word document and the presentation I do not know.
• The Grade 11s do not have lessons on this Friday so in one week they are going to have to work very hard if they hope to hand in on Friday 17 October.

Gr 11 PAT

The latest You magazine has a good article on Cyberbullying. Most useful for the PAT. I suggest learners buy it now.

Gr 11 PAT Phases 3 and 4

Wednesday, Day 3

• Reminded the learners what had to handed in on Friday next week. - Spreadsheet with all the data from the survey. Information collected on 6 things – how they work, advantages, disadvantages, etc. Database of records.
  
• Most of the learners collected their survey forms and started working on putting the information into Excel. This was interesting. Many first started writing down all the options the people had filled in which took a long time to type. I reminded them of the SportShirts spreadsheet done in Theme 3 (page 189) and the DresscodeQuest spreadsheet (page 317). They then changed their spreadsheets using codes. Look at what Dinika and Kareesha have done so far. Look at their code worksheets.
  
• A few learners are collecting information and highlighting the important bits on the computer. One silly child started formatting the information correctly – this is not needed now. The learners must just collect relevant information.
  
• A few learners have started collecting information for their database. The Copy/paste feature is so useful. Collecting the information is going well. Viewing it on a report has required moving the fields and labels so it can be viewed nicely. When there is a long field and it cannot be seen properly, I have helped by right clicking on the field, Properties, Can grow, Yes – and the text appears in 2 or 3 lines as required.
  
• I am continuing to walk around the whole time monitoring and giving advice.

Gr 11 PAT Phases 3 and 4

Day 2

• The learners are busy filling in survey forms. A few learners have started putting the information from the forms into Excel. A few stupid learners put the survey information in Access – I then helped them export the data from Access to Excel.
• A few learners are collecting information for their databases.
• I walked the room giving guidance where necessary.
• I kept the PowerPoint I used earlier on the data projector screen to help some learners who still do not know what to do.
• I am scared the learners will not complete this phase for Friday 17.

Gr 10 Pages 231-243

My Grade 10 learners are currently busy with templates, pages 231-243. They made a letterhead for their homes. Their homework this week is to install the letterhead on their home computers as a template. To prove to me that they did install their letterhead as a template, they have to make a screen dump of the new document dialog on a letterhead document.

Gr 12 PAT Phase 6

Here are some examples of Phase 6 of the Grade 12 PAT done by learners at my school. The files are large - Casswell, Kolbe, Marankey and Wolmarans.

Gr 10 PAT

The Gr 10 PAT is now available in English and Afrikaans. I believe that many teachers and learners are really going to enjoy doing this PAT.

Teaching of CAT

1. How do schools with economically disadvantaged learners cope with CAT? Those learners have probably not used the computer before starting CAT. How are these learners meant to get up to speed in 3 years of lessons where they use the computer for I period a day? They cannot! The LO talks about ‘Operational knowledge’. Learners cannot get that knowledge unless they operate a computer! May I suggest that such learners do a subject such as computer literacy in grades 8 and 9 in order to expose them to computers before starting CAT in grade 10.
2. Headmasters must appoint people to teach CAT who are able to ‘teach’ and have knowledge of computers and the Office Suite. I have become aware of a number of schools where the teachers need upskilling in teaching and/or computer skills. We cannot expect our learners to achieve good results if the teachers do not have the office competencies.
3. When is there going to be a minimum skill requirement to teach CAT such as Advanced ICDL or a university course? .
4. How many universities offer an in-service qualification in CAT? Very few! Where are teachers meant to get training? The subject advisors cannot be expected to do it as well as their own jobs. National Education did a wonderful job by providing training from TUT but many more people need training and on-going training.
5. Why do schools offer CAT when they obviously do not have the infrastructure to do so? How many schools have Internet access which forms such a large part of the work, or a printer, scanner, digital camera, data projector, networking staff, etc.

This subject is NOT too difficult and does not need to be watered down. What is needed are other things to make it function better. This one subject, if learnt, is a superb vehicle to uplift and empower people, especially in disadvantaged communities.

Delicious social networking

Delicious is a collection of favourites - yours and everyone else’s. To learn how to use it view this video and or listen to my comments about it. Each of these files are about 6 MEG, so wait! And here is a much smaller file with almost the same information but without sound - click the slides to move forward. The video made by www.commoncraft.com on Social bookmarking is very good.

WHY USE DEL.ICIO.US
Cuts down on online clutter to deliver more relevant bits of information.
Makes it easier to find desired information again.
Allows users to make their list of tags and sites available to (and searchable by) either a closed community of individuals or all other web surfers.

HOW DEL.ICIO.US CAN BE USED IN EDUCATION
Storing links that might be lost to time, scattered across different browser bookmark settings, or distributed in emails, printouts, and Web links.
Tagging can offer new perspectives on one’s research, as clusters of tags reveal patterns (or absences) not immediately visible by examining one of several URLs.
Finding people with related interests can magnify one’s work by learning from others or by leading to new collaborations.
Creating multi-authored bookmark pages can be useful for team projects, as each member can upload resources discovered, no matter their location or timing. Tagging can then surface individual perspectives within the collective.

WHAT A TEACHER CAN DO
Get information to students on different topics and have students subscribe to RSS feed. Organize resources for courses and subjects they teach, which is useful if a teacher teaches more than one class or subject. Create accounts for workgroups or entire classes with each student in the group having the password to the account so he or she can add bookmarks.

LIMITATIONS
Can be seen as a rejection of the search engine status quo in favour of tools that are both created by the community and beneficial to the community.
Traditional publishing made evaluation of material simple – was done by ‘authorities’. With del.icio.us new democratic format. Which is better – collective voice of public or of expert academic?
Need tagging standards so there can be real sharing but benefit of tagging is that colloquial or community meaning can be attributed to tags.

ACTION
My students will learn to use deli.icio.us as their bookmarks are not kept in their profiles on a network! They work at home and school and need their bookmarks! They need to collaborate to work effectively.

Gr 11 PAT - Phases 1 and 2

Here are examples of my Gr 11 PAT Phases 1 and 2 - Krause and Peterson. We have struggled with this as the learners had difficulty reading the instructions and planning the way ahead. That is the focus of 1 and 2 and they must just learn to focus! Have a look and see where they lost their marks.

Gr 12 PAT Phase 6

Phase 6 - it really is a sales pitch about how wonderful the Office suite is to solve a specific problem. You show, demonstrate and convince the Board of Governors of all the wonderful features of Excel, Access and Word which help solve the problem.

Gr 12 September Written Paper Memo

The Memo for the Gr 12 Written paper - English and Afrikaans.

Grade 11 PAT - Phases 1 and 2

I have just marked Phases 1 and 2 of the Grade 11 PAT.

• The first challenge, and this part of the PAT is deciding on what is required! My learners had difficulty clarifying what was required.
  
• The table, indicating what questions need to be asked was not complete! They did not add the survey, database or general questions. They also did not indicate the category of each question.
  
• The survey was well done, with a first section and then questions on specific types of social networking applications.
  

I am going to show mine this PowerPoint and make them redo the whole of Phase 1 and 2.

Gr 12 Written paper

Grade 12 September written paper Afrikaans and English.

Problems

Week with service providers, power and computer problems.

• Friday – No Gmail or Google access from home computer. Links on blog not working – service provider hosting blog has had a hard drive crash so data not available.
• Saturday morning - Phoned my Internet service provider, overseas connection down. Went to Internet café to check Gmail. Links on blog not working.
• Saturday evening – Storm in Cape Town, power down, sat at laptop with candles marking Grade 12 practical papers until laptop’s power was used up. Links on blog still not working.
• Sunday – Power up. Overseas connection up so Gmail and Google working. At 11 power went down, trees on line, until 5.
• Monday – Go to work. Internet at school not working. Links on blog still not working.
• Tuesday – Internet at school not working. Links on blog still not working.
• Wednesday – Internet at school working. Service provider hosting blog says I can upload all the work again.
  

Summary

• My home service provider – Overseas connection went down for over 24 hours
• Service provider hosting blog – Hard drive crash
• School’s service provider – I do not know what their problem was but believe it was first their problem then a Telkom problem.
• Eskom – Two power interruptions in 48 hours. One reason unknown to me. Second untrimmed tress falling on line.

Conclusion and recommendations

• Will upload to site hosting blog links over weekend and use up all my CAP.
• Encourage more people to use Gmail which can be accessed via a cell phone even though overseas connections may be down.
• Will laugh at things I cannot change.

Disaster

Server where links are stored is down. My school internet is down.
Disaster all round. Thank goodness 4 cellphones.

Internet access

This weekend I have just been forced to use an Internet cafe although I have ADSL at home. My service provider, Internet Solutions, has problems with its international bandwidth. My Gmail and the Blog are hosted by Google, which is international so no access - so annoying. I have also just bought an extra Gig of bandwidth to use this weekend and no access! Ugh!

Gr 12 CAT Practical paper

Please check the following amendments to CAT Practical marksheet.
2.2.3-Gender and Amount attached: These are Check box Form Fields, not Text Form Fields
4.7.1-Column in formula should be K, not J - they are asked for the highest percentage achieved, not the highest mark achieved
4.7.2-See 4.7.1
6.7-"Sculpture" in the criterion for the query should be "Sculpting"

Some alternative answers:

4.2-Condition in IF function could also be C2>=10
6.2-Validation test for Grade can also be Between 8 And 12
6.4-Input mask for CellNo could also be \0000000000 This forces the first number to be a '0'.

Gr 12 Practical Paper

Memo and solutions - Afrikaans and English

Grade 12 September Practical Paper Errata

Errata on the Gr 12 Practical English paper. SORRY.

Grade 12 September Practical exam papers

Grade 12 September CAT Practical exam papers

• English question paper and data files
  
  • Errata on English paper
• Afrikaans question paper and data files

Read the previous post on downloading and installing.

According to the posting on 18 July:

• Passwords for the papers will be made available by SMS 2-3 days prior to the date of the exam (not earlier than that!).
• The passwords for the memorandums will be made available on the day of the exams.
• The practical exam will be written on 29 August.
  

Saving and using files from the web site

When you wish to use exam files from the web site or blog follow the points below:

1. Right-click on the file name and SAVE it on your hard drive.
2. Then, in Explorer, right-click on the Zip file name and Extract all.
3. The data files will extract to the folder DATA Arts Festival (for English) or to the folder DATA Kunstefees (for Afrikaans).
4. Check that you can open these data files (WITHOUT ENTERING THE PASSWORD FIRST) on the computers that your learners will do their prac exam on.
5. Make sure that you make the correct folder with data available to the learners.

Gr 12 PAT Phase 5

Here are some examples of my learners Phase 5 - Meiring and Woollgar. They did not get full marks! They should have if they had followed the rubric. This project lost one mark - Galer.
The rubric lacks something or else I missed something. I told my learners to name all files, queries, reports, etc. in a way that they answer a question or solve a problem. The rubric in future should require a word document listing the questions to be solved and where they are solved / answered so that we can mark in a meanngful way.

AIDS lessons

I would like to collect lessons on AIDS which fall into the skills taught in CAT and make a repository of them. I recently made a call for such AIDS lessons.

Congratulations to the CAT teacher, Fieroza, at Durbanville High who responded!

• Gr 12 CAT lesson using Excel and Access

Gr 11 PAT

The Gr 11 PAT is now available - so nice!

• English instructions and Read more
• Afrikaans instructions and Read more

Gr 11 Access

My learners have just begun with Access. We started off using the video on What is a database which helped. Have a look at the quiz which has a new section on queries, which my learners have found very useful.

Gr 12 PAT - Phase 5

These PPTs may help you help Phase 5 of the Grade 12 PAT. Thanks to Peter Davidson.

Gr 10 Activity 11

The Hoaxes activity on page 292 has caused such interest in my Grade 10 class! Nice activity. I wonder how other teachers found it.

Selection of learners for CAT

CAT is one of the most important subjects for academic and economic success when a learner leaves school. We must give as many learners as possible the opportunity to study the subject.
IF the classes are over subscribed I recommend a skills test, based on and dependent on the opportunities the learners have had for skill development at your school in grades 8 and 9. I normally give my learners a ‘test’ of creating a PPT based on rather simple instructions. If they cannot read the instructions or cannot create / save the file on the network, then they do not get in. Long beforehand they are told they have to create a PPT. I assume that they can ask someone how to make a PPT if they have not made one in grade 8 and 9 classes. I selected a PPT as it is so simple to use. I expect them to be able to save on the network, especially if they have been at the school for 2 years – if they were interested in computers they should have gravitated to the computer lab and saved on the network.
Maybe in the future CAT will have restrictions based on language and maths ability, but I hope not.
I also give them a lecture about attending school on a regular basis when they do their subject choice. They also see me which may influence their subject choice. And if they did not bother to come for the PPT test, they did not even get onto the selection list.

Gr 12 Revision

At school we have been told to prepare a revision schedule for the learners. Many of my colleagues will be doing revision in the holidays and over weekends. I have decided to use the PAT work as my revision for the practical. I may be forcing the learners with respect to the PAT but some need supportive forceful measures.
I have started with Access. The learners had to create a database and in the field structure use the following: Different data types, Required, Input masks, Primary key, Field sizes, Captions, Format, Validation rule and validation text, etc. They have to do the Access quiz mentioned in a previous posting. Today I looked at Reports and grouping and calculations in grouping. Later this week I will look at a switchboard. They have the videos on the tips page to guide them, and we have just bought headphones. I will then go on to look at Excel and Word. All these activities are obviously done in keeping with answering their questions in the PAT.
Chapters 6.1 and 6.2 are great but I will leave them until I have forced some of my challenged learners to get going with their PATs.

Gr 12 PAT - Phase 4

Here are two examples of my learners's Phase 4 - Abrahams and Kolbe. They both achieved 37/40. They both lost marks where they were told to list things.

Excel quizzes

Here is a link to a collection of Excel quizzes I made. Please feel free to use them. I am just sorry that they cannot be downloaded and used off line.

Access switchboard

Phase 5 of the PAT mentions a Switchboard in Access. You may want to use my video for help. I suggest you download it, open with a browser and use in the classroom.

Examination question papers

Have a look at the wonderful information re availability of examination papers!

Gr 11 - Third term assessment task

In the third term Grade 11 have a task, Item 5 in SAG : Assignment using additional package. It is based on using PowerPoint or FrontPage and is about cell phone use.
This task is one of the best I have yet seen. The learners have to think and it is within their sphere of interest. They are doing real Internet searches! Luckily I am on the part-time staff of a university and am able to access academic online journals and databases (Science Direct) through their library. The learners have also matured and are not putting all their information on the slide, rather just key words.
The learners are also required to create a document describing their strategy based on pages 306 to 308 of their textbook. This is such nice preparation for their PAT.
On the CD there is an assessment sheet but a colleague and I made this one before I found it there.

Videos for learning

I had a wonderful time during the holidays training CAT teachers. I was asked to create some videos. Here are some new videos.

Working with long documents - Section breaks, Column breaks, Using styles
Excel functions - Round
Always look on my tip sheet for videos.

Excel functions videos

Some Excel functions videos to download - Sumif, Countif / Count and Round.
Other videos can be found on my tips page.

Access quiz

This Access quiz may be of use.

Word - Working with long documents

Have a look at some videos I made to teach aspects of working with long documents. You can download them and then view them off line in a classroom by opening them with a browser.

Modifying styles, Modifying styles of Captions, Table of Contents, Table of Figures, Cross references, Track changes

There are many other teaching videos on my tips page. If other videos are required please just send a request - you may just get your request.

Grade 12 PAT

My Grade 12 learners are just finishing off Phase 4 of their PAT. A problem has become apparent. Although they are showing what they intend doing with the applications, they are not using enough features of the applications to warrant marks. They should look at Phase 5 to see all the features they are meant to use, and bring them into Phase 4. They must also rephrase some of their questions so that they DO use the required features of the applications.

I recommend that in future I print out the whole PAT instruction manual and give it to them. This year I did not as I thought they would lose the pages. I am learning how to manage the PAT.

Keyboarding

End of year examinations are coming up and on reflection I realise that I have neglected to test my learners on their keyboarding skills. In the coming term I must check that. I must also check how to assess their keyboarding skills correctly so that I can give my learners a correct indication of their ability. This may be a problem as I do not have a clue how it is done in examination conditions.

Instructional videos

Look at these instructional videos created by the first ever CAT Hons students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology - the Round function and Mail merge.

Competition for schools in the Western Cape

Schools in the Western Cape have an opportunity of entering a competition to create an anti xenophobia screensaver with some nice prizes. Look at http://www.khanya.co.za/ (just below the heading). I created the checklist below to guide learners in creating it. We are going to get our own images taken ourselves, or create our own pictures with Word draw in PowerPoint and save them as images. This exercise is rather a nice way of teaching the youngsters file management and working with an image editor.

I ...

Folder

• created a folder with my surname, then first name for saving the screensaver
• created a folder with my surname and the word pics for saving all the images used
• created a folder with my surname and the word sound for saving the sound file used
• saved all my files in my folders
• saved all files with meaningful names

Images

• used my own images taken with my own camera or cell phone, if I used them at all
• used appropriate autoshapes and Wordart that conveyed the message, if I used them at all
• edited the images to send a clear message
• cropped images so that only the really important part shows
• used at least 3 images in the project
• balanced images on the slides/images
  
• used a background colour which contributed to the message of the screensaver
• selected a background colour

Sound / Music

• used sound files suitable to the theme, if I used sound files at all
• used small sound files
• used sound files which can loop (repeat)

Text

• used a clear font
• used a font which is found on all computers
• formatted the font with a size which is readable on a moving screen
• spelt all text correctly
• used correct grammar
• formatted the text with line spacing that leads to clarity
• used appropriate bullets in lists, if I used lists at all
• balanced text and images on the screen
• positioned the text and images on the screen

Message

• added a clear message on the title slide
• presented a clear message in images and words

Animations

• used animations with restraint

Timing

• timed the screensaver based on the number of images

Overall

• checked that the images displayed in the screensaver in the correct order

Final

• clicked on the Create button to create the screensaver.
• renamed the file as a screensaver by renaming the exe with scr
• saved the file (with my surname and name) in a folder in CSSGProjects.
• checked that the whole screensaver was a realistic size

Biblionef

When my Gr 11 learners did the Theme 1 activity on page S9, they just did it. I never really thought about it. I have changed my thinking. At the 2008 Cape Town book fair I saw a stand for Biblionef! I spoke with the people at the stand! Their South African offices are in my town of Pinelands! I found out what they do! Have a look at the website at www.biblionefsa.org.za I think we should consider doing something to help them.

Gr 12 Practical

Many teachers said that their learners did not finish the practical.

Die feit is: 200 punte se werk moet in 3 ure afgehandel kan word. Dit geld ook vir die eindeksamen.

Dit beteken:

Leerders moet in die eerste plek hul werk ken.

• As ‘n Gr 12-leerder nie meer mooi onthou hoe al die soorte tabs werk nie, moet hy/sy dit maar weer gaan verken en oefen voor sy praktiese vraestel.

Leerders moenie tyd mors gedurende die prakties nie.

• Daar is nie tyd in ‘n vraestel om 10 minute te sukkel om iets wat dalk 2 punte tel reg te kry nie! Gestel ‘n bladsynommer (Page X of Y) moet ingevoeg word maar nie op die eerste bladsy vertoon word nie. As ‘n leerder dit nie dadelik regkry nie, moet hy/sy eerder aangaan met die vraestel en nie tyd daarmee mors nie.

Van nou tot die einde van die jaar, moet leerders die prakties OEFEN. Module 6.3 van Computers, part of your life – Book 3, bevat uitstekende oefeninge vir die inoefen van vaardighede.

CAT Exam Papers from Study Opportunities

We are planning to provide the following (at no cost) to everyone who purchased our CAT Grade 12 June Papers:

Grade 12 Prelim Papers
Grade 10 Nov papers
Grade 11 Nov papers

We have given the following dates for the Prelim Papers a while ago.
CAT Grade 12 Prelim
Paper 1 (Practical): Friday, 29 August 2008
Paper 2 (Theory): Tuesday, 16 Sept 2008

I am considering the following dates for the Gr 10 & 11 Nov Papers. If your province is NOT writing common Gr 10 & 11 papers please make a note of these dates or EMAIL ME (study.opp@mweb.co.za) IMMEDIATELY if there is a problem with these dates. I can try (UP TO A POINT) to accommodate everyone, but I cannot guarantee it. Once the dates have been set, I cannot change it - there are too many schools involved.

CAT Grade 10 Nov
Paper 1 (Practical): Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Paper 2 (Theory): Tuesday, 18 November 2008

CAT Grade 11 Nov
Paper 1 (Practical): Thursday, 13 November 2008
Paper 2 (Theory): Thursday, 20 November 2008

An entry form will be available on the web site after the holidays. If you want to make use of this offer you will have to download the entry form, complete it and fax it to us.

The distribution of the papers will work in the same way as was done for the June Papers:

• The question papers and memorandums will be loaded on the website (www.studyopportunities.co.za) as well as on Pam’s blog (studyopp.blogspot.com).
• You will need to download these papers and memorandums yourself; they will not be sent to individual e-mail addresses.
• Passwords for the papers will be made available by SMS 2-3 days prior to the date of the exam (not earlier than that!).
• The passwords for the memorandums will be made available on the day of the exams.

Sandra

Gr 12 PAT - Phase 3

Have a look at 3 examples of Phase 3 of the PAT - the works of Caswell, Meiring and Miller. They received marks of 37, 39 and 33 out of 40 respectively.

Gr 12 Exam papers

The results of my 55 learners for the Gr 12 paper are: Theory 58% and Practical 63% - Pam Miller at Pinelands High School. (Just thought this information may be of interest.)

Gr 12 Exams

Message from Teacher in Gauteng:

My CAT kids of all grades finish far too early for every paper if I stick to the mark allocation in the SAG. Maybe we need to send out a survey to find out what happens in other schools. I think the paper should be either 2.5 hours or the allocation should be upped. Most of my kids finished with between 45 minutes and half an hour to spare – they always do this. It used to happen with the SG theory paper as well. Not one pupil out of 60 was still writing in the last 15 minutes. The problem then occurs that they start becoming a discipline problem as many of my CAT pupils are hyperactive and can’t sit still for long.

Let us know how you feel about the length of the papers.

Gr 12 Theory Exam Memo

The Memo for the Theory and Teorie is now available. The password will be SMSed on Friday.

Gr 12 Practical Exam paper

The Solutions and Oplossings to the Gr 12 CAT practical are available. Please use the PRACMEMO password that you have used for the marksheet.

Marking Computer Applications Technology practical papers

I print a memo sheet / marksheet for every learner and then sit at the computer marking each learner's work. The benefits are that you can use the Show/Hide button in Word, check the Excel formulas and open Access and see how they made the queries and reports. It is the only effective way to mark a computer focused exam. The learners can look at the memo / marksheet afterwards and see exactly where they lost marks.
I mark all question 1s, then mark all question 2s, etc. The logic is that I can focus on the various aspects presented about that specific question.
Examination of each question prior to marking is essential to understand all aspects of that question. Before you mark a question it is a good idea to study it carefully making sure you understand the memo. It is also a good idea to do it yourself.
Possibly this paper could take longer to mark than the old Computyping or Computer Studies SG papers. Reason, there are 200 marks and 200 points to be noted. Personal feedback to Sandra or myself regarding these aspects would be very useful to the provincial authorities to develop a norm time for the big marking session in December. Collated comments will be forwarded to the relevant people.

Gr 12 June Exams

How did it go??

E-mail me (docpam@gmail.com) or Sandra (study.opp@mweb.co.za) and we can upload everybody’s messages on the blog. (Indicate whether you want your name/school added or not.)

Gr 12 June Prac Memo

There seems to be a problem with the PRACMEMO password. It seems as if some cell phones cannot receive an underscore '_'
You should have an underscore '_' between the '1' and the 'M' of your PRACMEMO password, NOT a '§'

Gr 12 June Exam Papers

The marksheet for Paper 1 in English and Afrikaans is now available. You have to know the password to be able to open them.
It would be a good idea to take in the papers in case you have a learner with a doctor's certificate and ... (whatever your school does in those situations), and remember the SMS sent about taking in papers.

Gr 12 Practical Paper

ERRATA
Please change 1.3 as below.
“last week of February” to “end of May”

Please extract the data files from the ZIP file by using your password. The extracted folders and files must be available to the learners. (It should not be necessary for them to extract it during the exam.)

Gr 12 June Papers from Study Opportunities

THEORY PAPER

Paper 2 Theory / Vraestel 2 Teorie

Gr 12 Practical Data

Please check the dates of your data files. If all the dates are the same, such as the following:

change question 1.3

Gr 12 June Papers from Study Opportunities

• Information and Entry Form
• Breakdown
• Instructions

PRACTICAL PAPER and DATA
Right-click and use Save As to save the zip files. The password will be provided via SMS as arranged.

• Paper 1 Practical / Vraestel 1 Prakties
• Paper 1 DATA / Vraestel 1 DATA

Memorandum / marksheets as well as Theory Paper will be uploaded after the weekend. Will send SMS's to keep you informed.

Gr 10 and 11 June exam papers

Many people have just realized that I made an offer of my Grade 10 June exam papers. To test that email to all the prospective recipients of the paper would work, I sent out my Grade 11 paper. I have managed to get all lists in order and am ready to send out when the Gr 10 papers are ready.

No more people will be added to the list. Sorry. The current list stands as it is, now. If you have received an email from me, I have your details and you will receive the paper.

I am now frantically marking and do not have any more time to administer and organise the sending out of my Gr 10 and 11 papers to new people. The Gr 10 papers will be available next week.

The schools who managed to contact me in time were lucky, the papers were free and had the problems ironed out. I will give out details of how many school used the papers after they have been written. Remember security is your problem!

My learners have enjoyed doing the papers.

Gr 12 June CAT paper from Study Opportunities

You want to know what the paper will look like? You want to know the breakdown of the Practical and the Written paper? Have a look - the breakdown is here. Now you can tell your learners what to expect.

Word – Inserting page numbers

The following is found on the Grade 12 Exemplar:

Insert page number fields in the format of ‘Page X of Y’ in the footer so that the page numbering starts to appear on the second page.

To do this make sure you have a document longer than 1 page.

In Microsoft products there are normally a number of ways of doing this. Here are 2 possibilities.
Method 1 - Select anywhere on page 1, then go to Insert, Page Numbers, deselect Show number of first page. Then scroll to any page, not the first page, of the document. Click anywhere on the page. Go to View, Header and Footer, go the area where you want the page number (Header or Footer). Click on the Insert AutoText drop down button, and select Page X of Y. Remove the other page number. There you have it.
Method 2 - Go to File, Page Setup, then Layout. Select Different first page. Then scroll to any page, not the first page, of the document. Click anywhere on the page. Go to View, Header and Footer, go the area where you want the page number (Header or Footer). Click on the Insert AutoText drop down button, and select Page X of Y.

The important thing is to do it from the second page.

This can be done in Activity 5, Page 184 of CAT 1.

Gr 10 Activity 6 on Page 200

My Grade 10 learners have been learning about their own country in Activity 6 on page 200. Many did not know all the provinces in South Africa or their capital cities!

Gr 10 Activity 6 on Page 200

My Grade 10 learners have been learning about their own country in Activity 6 on page 200. Many did not know all the provinces in South Africa or their capital cities!

Gr 11 Pages 140-144

My learners have been doing the chapter Working with paragraphs which includes tabs, columns and various paragraph features. They are completing the Computer Club Newsletter, Test-a-choc, Kliphuisie Holiday Resort and e-Game. They are doing so well!

How did we manage to do so well? They have methodically worked through Theme 2. I methodically spend my lessons walking the classroom giving advice where necessary. The learners work at their own speed on their own through the textbook, completing work each week. And the textbook has progressive activities which teach well.

Success in challenging aspects of Word! Learners feel successful.

Gr 10 Activity 6 on Page 200

The map of South Africa needed on page 200 Activity 6, when opened in Paint, only shows the colours of black and shades of grey.
In order to get colours save the image 16 ColorBitmap and you have the option of giving the provinces colour.

Eskom

Dear Eskom Boss
I have to set a 3 hour practical paper for CAT for grade 11. My school has made the timetable and will not change the days. I have to have 2 back to back sessions because I have so many learners.
I planned to have a 3 hour paper but your organisation is causing problems. Based on some reports, some days in the month of May have been designated as power outage days where we have no power between 12 and 2.30. My Grade 11 practical examination will be on one of those days. This means that 2 sessions have to written before 12 noon. We cannot split the sessions as the learners may not communicate with each other.
I can manage to write on that day only if the paper is cut to 2 hours, and we start my paper 30 minutes before school officially starts.
But now I have heard that power outage days are going to come to a stop.
I have set the paper but the paper and the organisation to write it, may have to change, as you change your mind. These are problems I do not need. Clarity is needed.
Sincerely
CAT teacher

Knowledge of input devices

In the Practical work for CAT in Gr 10 the LPG (page 28) indicates that the learner should have knowledge of input devices such as scanner and digital camera.
Well, we have just had a scanner installed and I will soon create lessons which will compel each learner to use a scanner.
With regard to the digital camera it was easier but not without problems. Each learner had to get photographs of themselves using technology. The pictures were all collected in a folder on the network and named accordingly. I organized a lesson where they will have to use pictures of themselves. Those learners who did not bring a photograph of themselves will have to select the EmptyCan or HotAirJustPromises files.
Learners took photographs using digital cameras and cell phones. They then transferred the pictures to the computer. One learner Bluetoothed his picture to my cell phone! I have also learned how to transfer files from my cell phone to my laptop!
In the Gr 11 Theoretical aspects the learners have to have operational knowledge of mobile technologies – I am learning how to use my cell phone and will soon create work which requires use of the cell phone.
Gr 11 also requires operational of networking – that still awaits investigation.

Gr 10 May examination

A number of people have indicated they wish to use my Grade 10 June exam papers.

The paper will be available on the blog, freely available after July, before that password protected. The work which will be covered are those from Theme 1 and Theme 2 up to middle May - have a look at the links. I hope to have the papers available in Afrikaans. The nice thing is that you can adapt them to your needs!

If you want to use the papers THIS term please send me the details below. I will then send you instructions for the preparatory work which needs to be done. You will receive the password later in May.
Teacher name, Cell number, School and Email address - send to docpam@gmail.com

SECURITY IS YOUR PROBLEM!

Searching for old material

To search for old material use the Search button at the top of the screen. Also look at a posting of 18 Feb 2008.

June Gr 12 Examination Paper

This is the form needed to complete for the June CAT Gr 12 Examination Paper from Study Opportunities.

Gr 12 PAT Phase 3

I had a brainwave for Phase 3.

The learners have all the information / evidence they have found in their LONG document arranged in a suitable order.

Have a table or list of all the questions at the BEGINNING of the document.

1. IN the long document repeat each question with its accompanying answer. LINK between the questions at the beginning and their questions/answers in the body using Bookmarks and Hyperlinks (Gr 12 textbook, page 118-119)
   
2. Add information in a small table under EACH question/answer in the body of the document with respect to the

• Evaluation of the trustworthiness of the websites or information
• Relevance of the information
• Indication of which information will be used
• Reasons why this information will help solve the problem

of EACH question.

Submit in digital AND print/hard copy format.

Gr 10 May examination

I have set a nice Grade 10 theory paper and will make it available on 22 May if anyone wishes to use it. It will also be available in Afrikaans.
There may also be other papers - Watch this space!

Gr 12 PAT Phase 2

Here is a copy of my best Phase 2 of the PAT, not full marks but the best in the class. She lost marks in her Search words / strategies and in Using advanced techniques / functions. She obtained 26/30, see the Phase 2 rubric
Here is her Phase 1 and the rubric where she obtained 30/35.

I marked it as I interpreted the rubrics!

Gr 12 Exam Papers from Study Opportunities

Study Opportunities has drawn up Grade 12 question papers (Paper 1 and 2) and memoranda for the June exams. While it is aimed at schools who use the Computers, part of your life series, the Content Framework in the LPG and Sample Papers were studied and compared and taken into account when drawing up the papers. The papers are set, checked and translated by a team of experienced teachers currently teaching the subject.

Note that the papers and memorandums will be available in English and Afrikaans but the papers need to be duplicated by the school.

The cost will be R125 per paper per school, irrespective of the number of learners.

The papers must be written on Wednesday 4 June (Paper 1) and Friday 6 June (Paper 2).

Study Opportunities also plan to do the same with the Prelims/Trial Exams. The June Paper will be used as a trial run to sort out potential logistical problems.

An entry form and more information will be available from Study Opportunities next week.

Gr 12 Februarie toets

My Februarie toets is vertaal. Hier is the vraestel en die Appendix Dankie Judy Louw wat al die vertaal werk gedoen het.

Gr 12 PAT - Phase 2

I have almost finished marking Phase 2 of the PAT.

1. I would say 3/4 of my learners have not shown or indicated how they can use Word, Access or Excel to solve the problem in their PAT. In future I think the rubric needs a special feature, similar to the Internet search feature, on retrieving information from processing data in Word, Access and Excel.
   
2. Many learners will not be able to get the answers to their questions in the sources/places they listed as they are not aligned.
   
3. A few of the learners had nice Survey features. In future I think the rubric needs a special feature, similar to the Internet search feature, on retrieving information from a Survey.
   

So much teaching is still required!

Gr 11 Projects - Activity 1 on page 309

- The Gr 10 learners used the program Inspiration to create mindmaps to assist the Gr 8 learners in doing their projects in steps. I intend printing and laminating them to put in a visible area for the Gr 8 learners. Here is the work of

• Savanah Johnston
• Stuart Bardin
• Brandon Luttig
• Adrian le Roux

Front covers of textbook

In the past photographs of my learners were used on the front covers of the CAT textbooks. They were so thrilled and even now they ‘look’ at themselves on the front. Other kids ‘look’ at their friend’s pictures! It was so cool!
I am looking forward to seeing what pictures have been sent for the new front covers! Details of how to take them and submit them are on the web site. The date for submission has been extended to 18 April.
Look at some of my entries! A grade 10 learner at home, and her brother.

Gr 11 Integrated task 1

The learners need to be taught the difference between an Agenda and Minutes! In the Paired Reading task they cannot seem to get the difference!
I do recommned that learners are taught how to prepare an agenda so that they are able to realise that not all templates are correct and that they must evaluate them.
The templates and wizards in Word are much too involved and not of the level required.

Gr 12 February test

Have a look at my Gr 12 February written test on Hardware, software and networks including trouble shooting with the Appendix. I set the test within a school environment. Many learners lost marks as they did not answer their questions within that environment!

Judy Louw kindly translated the tests! Hier is die vraestel and die bylaag!

(This test is based on the order of work from my education department melded with the textbook.)

Appropriate dress for teaching CAT

When we teach CAT we have to be so careful with respect to our dress. We teach young men and women with bouncing hormones!
I have noticed short skirts and low dress lines (I cannot think of correct words). When we crawl around computer boxes and lean over learners to assist them, we must wear suitable clothes.
And our breath …

Gr 10 Theme 1 test

Here is the test I did this week where I focused on Theme 1. I tried to set it within a scenario and where ICT skills are applied. Use if you wish.
There is a question where learners have to compare things. This feature has repeatedly been done poorly in all grades I have tested. I must really teach them that tables compare like things.
If someone translates the test I do hope they will let me share it with others via the blog

Gr 11 February test

Here is the test I did this week where I focused on Networking. I tried to set it within a scenario and where ICT skills are applied. Use if you wish.

Gr 10 Theory

Some of the Gr 10 learners had time for extension in the hardware section. These are a few of the videos they created on Storage devices. Here is work by Lloyd de Kock and Gareth Jones.
I did not ‘teach’ them Windows Movie Maker. I told them to make a video on Storage devices using photos which we took in class, using Windows Movie Maker. They learned to explore and read the screen. The videos did not count for marks and there was no stress, just (learning) fun.

Tests and exam papers

We must be sure to set tests and exam paper in a scenario where the learners apply their knowledge. For many teachers this is quite a jump from their old method but this is what makes CAT so useful – all knowledge must be applied and not just lose facts.

Excel - Vlookup

This Vlookup function may be of use. Download it and save to your network. To open it, right click on the file and open it with Internet Explorer. Turn the sound up.

PAT

Have a look at all postings from last year on the PAT. In the place where it says Search type in the words PAT. Click SEARCH BLOG and see what happens.

Gr 12 PAT

Please read this message aloud!
How do we do a PAT? First we read the instructions aloud to ourselves, once, twice, three and even four times. We underline problematic words. We talk to ourselves – what could it mean? We phone / visit and talk to other CAT teachers. All the words in the PAT are important and clear – perhaps we just need to learn to read.
We ignore the words in the English PAT of ‘problem’. (Ek weet nie wat in die Afrikaans staan nie.) Where ever we see the word ‘problem’ in the PAT we change it to plain English (plat Engels) of ‘what must we show or do’. We are going to show the management of the school how the Office suite can be used to organise / administer something!
To help the learners, look in the Gr 12 textbook, Pages 185-189. Let the learners do Activity 1 and 2. Activity 1 wants the learners to Read and rewrite the PAT instructions, and then add questions. You have a look at Activity 2. It should be better now.
Hope you read this message aloud! You did? Okay, now read it again! Now go and read the PAT instructions and rubric again. Phase 1 is simple if you read it aloud again and again and again.

Understanding and connecting

We adults are so distanced from young people. I was teaching adult Computer Literacy teachers this week about creating movies with Windows Movie Maker. After creating the movies I suggested that they sign up at YouTube so they could upload their videos. I said ‘YouTube’ and did not write the words on the board. At least 25% of the class of adults went online to http://www.utube.com/ and then to http://www.utubeonline.com/ (Have a look.) They had never been to YouTube and did not even know how to spell it.
We have to understand our learners’ worlds if we hope to engage them in the learning process, and YouTube is part of their world. At least these teachers are trying to keep up - good for them!