Browsers and the web

A must-read link for all CAT teachers and their learners - "All about browsers and the web" - a Google e-book publication.  http://www.20thingsilearned.com/#/home

Submitted by Charles Smith to Comp-studies list - thanks Charles

Grade 11 Theory Memo

Grade 11 Theory Memo

• English, Afrikaans

Great excitement

I took part in my first online auction and my bid of R110 was the highest!  They are tickets to attend a symphony concert valued at R330.  Will be collecting goods tomorrow and off to the concert.  Have a look at St Luke's Hospice Online Auctions.  For a good cause.  http://auction.stlukes.co.za/auction/default.asp

Gr 10 Theory Memo

Grade 10 Theory Memo

• English Memo, Afrikaans Memo
• Errata - 6.2.4 Cell reference should be B4, not B5

Errata: Gr 11 Theory paper

There are 11 pages not 12

3.10.2 Change to 'Why'.
4.5 unwanted software
5.5 Add the word 'to' before 'locate'.

Gr 11 November Theory 2010

Gr 11 November Theory 2010

• Questions papers - English, Afrikaans

Gr 10 November Theory Exam paper

Gr 10 Paper 2 Theory November 2010

• Question paper - English, Afrikaans

Emotional consequences of communication technology

Technological communication has such a impact on our lives. Being on email/Facebook/chat,cell phone, etc. makes one so much more available to people, with its joys and disappointments.  

I was so upset to find out this week that a friend I had made on Facebook and met in Egypt in December had died two months ago. I had not realised that he had departed as people had been tagging his photos and I thought it had been him doing the tagging. I sent him a message but he had not responded. I went to his page to check his last activity only to find condolence messages. He was gone. 

This morning on chat a friend tells me her mother has just gone.

Partner has gone overseas, but obviously did not organise RoamOn with his cell phone before he went. I never thought to check. I knew he was going to use his Australian cell phone while he was there. There were no SMSs and I thought … until I realised that the silly guy had not fixed his South African cell phone.

We teach about email/Facebook/chat/cell phone technology, etc. not thinking of the emotional consequences.

Gr 11 November Practical Exam Solutions

Paper 1

• Solutions
• English Marksheet, Afrikaans Marksheet

Gr 10 November Practical Exam Solutions

• Solutions Q1 Eng & Afr
• Marksheet, SolutionsQ2_6
• Merkblad, OplossingsV2_6

Problem solving

There has been a lot of talk on the Comp-Studies mailing list about including problem solving questions in the Computer Applications Technology Gr 12 national exam papers.
I believe a problem solving question is one which has features which the learners have been taught, but presented in a different way which requires thinking ‘out of the box’.
With that in mind I have been looking at the Study Opportunities papers as I have been using old papers for revision. Currently I am going over the Excel sections of old papers with my Gr 10s and 11s.
In the 2006 Gr 10 Pug paper, question 1, the learners had to sort the names in order according to surname. They needed to do a copy and paste of surnames into a new column for surnames. They could have copied and sorted each record individually but that would have taken ages. None of my Gr 10s or 11s managed to do on their own quickly.
In the 2008 Gr 10 Snakes/Crocodile paper , question 4, there was such a lovely problem solving question which none of my Gr 11s managed to do on their own. They did not realise that the value was text.
In the 2009 Gr 10 Computer Assistance paper, question 3.1, you have to find and copy the details of those doing the Web2 tools course to a word document. The learners should have done a sort, to find those people and then copied the block of records. None of my Gr 10s managed without my help.
I am doing revision now to get the learners’ minds thinking flexibly and ready for the exams. I am most distressed at how they cannot think ‘out of the box’ and solve problems. The learners know the skills but have difficulty applying them. I am not sure how common this problem is.

I am glad that the Study Opportunity papers have those problem solving features. Maybe they need more however I have only checked a small portion of the papers.

Gr 11 November Practical Exam

Paper 1

• Question paper - English, Afrikaans
• Data files
• To the teacher

Gr 11 or 10 PAT PPTs

The Gr 11s are producing the best PPTs ever for their PATs.  I gave them a PPT with the following slides:  Title slide, Habits/Uses, Solution1, Solution2, Solution3 and Conclusion. All the required information had to go on those slides. 

Challenges

• Title slide – wording is the introduction
• Habits/Uses – Put in 4-8 small graphs to indicate the habits/uses
• Solutions – Made the title of the slide, the solution. Then added suitable graphic.  Few words. Had to link with habit/use at our school.
• Conclusion – the short punch line

To comply with rubric and the fact that somethings do not go together, they made three PPTs

• Basic - with notes
• Animated - maybe with sound, looping, with animations and transitions
• Table of contents - with hyperlinks and action buttons, no sound, animations OFF 

Gr 10 November Practical Exam

Paper 1

• Question papers - English, Afrikaans
• Data - English, Afrikaans
• For the teacher

Gr 10 Revision

During the course of the year the Gr 10 learners have worked with many files which form a good set of notes.  Mine will be collecting these files to learn from for the exams and for keeping for next year when they hand in their textbooks. 

• Essential
• Hardware1
• Hardware2
• Hardware3
• Hardware4
• Hardware5
• Hardware6
• Home_Computers
• Legal_Illegal
• Questions
• Responsible_Use_Of_Computers
• Social_Implications
• Software_Piracy
• Software1
• Software2
• Software3
• Source
• Windows_Programs

Revision for the Gr 12 Practical examination

Go over the OAO questions as they are good revision questions.
Look at the question paper, answer sheet and how to solve, with the data files in a zipped file.

Gr 12 Revision

Next on Gr 12 revision is Waiter evaluation on page 226 in the section Module 6.3: Practice makes perfect. 

Important areas are:

Question 1 - Tabs, Table - Spacing between cells

Question 2 - Copying data to new worksheets, rename worksheets, SumIf, CountIF, graphs, interpretation

Question 3 - Graphs, text wrapping

Digital natives and digital immigrants

Digital natives and digital immigrants - Read the article by Masha du Toit, the opening speaker at a conference recently held in Cape Town -  http://inkbomb.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/immigrants-or-natives/

Then decide if you are a digital native or immigrant!  

Recently I went dancing with a group at a local pub.  I took photos with my cell phone.  I was the oldest in the group but the only one able to upload the pictures to Facebook.  Am I a native or immigrant?

Gr 10 PAT and hoaxes

Grade 10 learners are doing their PAT about computer ethics which include hoaxes.  Look at the article published today at  http://www.timeslive.co.za/business/article690574.ece/419-scammer-to-be-sentenced-next-week  A stupid person believed the hoax and lost a great deal of money.  The hoaxer was caught by the National Prosecuting Authority.  

We must teach our learners to check all they read online or in emails - LO3

Connections

It is a very small world! Although I teach CAT I had the pleasure of attending the prize giving of the Computer Olympiad (IT) at Kelvin Grove in Newlands tonight. After the meal and the prizes were awarded, a mother of a winner approached me. She was Leneé Stapelberg from Nelspruit, also a CAT teacher who had done the GetSmarter Internet SuperUser course.
Also at our table was CAT subject advisor Peter Davidson who had also done the GetSmarter Internet SuperUser course. We three had never met before but had communicated via the course forum and Twitter.
Also present was one of my school’s IT boffins from long ago, Keegan Carruthers Smith, who now is coaching Olympiad contestants.

Many of us were talking about the Office Applications Olympiad which will take place on Friday and hope it goes well.

A wonderful evening!

Practical Revision for Gr 12

We have 2 weeks before the final Gr 12 Practical examination. I recommend doing the activities in the back of the Gr 12 textbook Module 6.3. My learners will be doing the Champion Dog Training School topic on page 222 tomorrow. In this topic points I need to revise are

• Question 1 – If, Nested If, CountIf and Absolute referencing
• Question 3 – Graph with labelling
• Question 4 – Queries (something strange in Query C – elderly lady needs dog that 'needs love' and not 'seeks attention')
• Question 6 – Adding drop down or combo boxes on a form

Gr 10 PAT

I am getting my PAT right with my Gr 10s. For the moment I have ignored the printed instructions and rubric. I am teaching and guiding. I regard this as good preparation for 11 and 12. The Computer Ethics topic is a topic of great interest. We discussed the topic. We then investigated it and the learners created questions to investigate, about 10. They made a survey to ask their fellow learners about their use. They collated the results and then started the report. The Introduction is

I am going to investigate computer ethics. I will focus on software piracy and the habits of learners in my class regarding the copying of music and computer software. From this investigation I will report to the LRC. I will indicate what the trend is and make suggestions to recommend some ideas to encourage good habits and create awareness of ethical behaviour. In order to produce a quality report I will apply quality control to find information and analyse this considering several relevant factors. I will use the Office package as a tool to achieve my objective.

with the highlighted words changed, then comes the main question which is adapted to each learner's own topic.

What is the trend regarding the copying of music and computer software among learners in my class and what might the implications be?

The Uses of learners describes how the learners in the class misbehave or comply with ethical behaviour. This section is filled with graphs and comments to explain each graph.

The Solutions section discusses IF so many did something, THEN this is a solution. They are busy with this section now and it is fascinating. There are questions voiced such as IF copying music is bad, why do we have technology to copy music? IF spam clogs email boxes, thank goodness for ISPs and email programs such as Gmail which help block it. The Conclusion will bring the problem and solutions together.
When we are finished I will go back and look at the rubric and make adjustments to the work.
I have had experience with the PAT over a number of years and realise that I have spent too much time focused on the rubric and not enough on ‘teaching’. The rubric makes sense in standardising marking over provinces but it became the focus and not the task. My learners are becoming real infotectives.

Twitter - new ideas

Holidays are a great time for attending conferences and playing with new software. I would appreciate it if this was tested for glitches and comments posted on the blog. User friendly? Quick download? Need special ...? Please? Thanks.

PAT Phase 2

Twitter and Delicious

I believe that all Grade 11 learners should be able to use Twitter, Facebook and Delicious.

• Twitter is wonderful. Here is a PowerPoint in 2007 with a PDF file of the presentation. In case the PPT does not download properly that PPT is available online.
• Look at the posting about Delicious made in 2008. Please become a Fan and link onto my tags. My Delicious name is docpam.

I watch in anticipation for Followers in Twitter and Fans in Delicious.

Online safety

CAT teachers should make use of the opportunity and download the guide to Online safety from getsmarter.co.za  It is very clear and comprehensive.  It is on their home opening web page. 

Google map

Recently I had a small class and was able to do things I could not normally do with a large class.

I showed the learners Google map using the data projector. I then showed them a picture of my home using street view. My house looked awful but … Many accessed Google map on their computers but not all had the required plugins. Some came to my computer to do it with the data projector still on. Tne youngster came to me but wanted the data projector off – I complied with his wish. We looked for his home – we found his aunt’s home in a suburb, we found the ‘address’ the school uses in a suburb which permits him to come to our school, and then we found a nearby street to his home in the township. An interesting exercise – trust, legality and ICT came to the fore.

We all were impressed with Google map, and where they had been in South Africa.

Cost of teaching CAT

Computer Applications Technology must be the most expensive subject for a teacher to teach, with respect to personal expenses. You have to have a computer at home for all the lesson preparations, exam marking, etc. This year I have had to have my laptop repaired R1000, buy a new laptop R7000, pay for the Internet SuperUser course R6000, pay someone to help me mark as I could not cope with the time limits R2500, as well as sundry amounts. All from my own pocket! I have just had a burglary and will now have to buy another new laptop, printer, get an ADSL modem, etc. i.e. replace all the computer stuff again. Must be made of money, just to teach Computer Applications Technology.

Musings on the PAT

Met with a teacher last week who mentioned that she is getting better at the PAT as she is working individually with each learner. I am now doing the same. This is where I am now.
Gr10 – They are having trouble creating a survey – needs clarity – surely they made surveys somewhere before Gr 10? Must sit with each learner individually getting the survey correct.
Gr11 – Working on Phase 2, the plan of how they are going to present their work. Working with each learner individually. Keep having to refer back to what was asked. Giving each heading a Heading 1 or 2 to show structure of document. No learner has given Recommendations for the SGB – must focus on that.

Google CV, Facebook and Twitter

We had very few learners at school today as many are away celebrating Eid Mubarak. The matrics are writing exams, and in one of the periods when I would normally be teaching Computer Applications Technology to Grade 12, I had to substitute for an absent teacher.  The absent teacher had set work but I brought the learners to the lab and introduced them to Twitter and Facebook, and their Google CV.  (I will have to face the teacher on Monday and explain but that is three days away.)

The principal has created a Twitter page for the school http://twitter.com/JeremyGibbon and I have tried to get all those I teach to follow him.  Still much work to do in this field, but very useful and productive lesson.

Gr 12 September exams 2010

Theory Memo

• English, Afrikaans

Keeping up to date

We must all use whatever opportunities to keep abreast in our field.

Earlier this year, when the grade 10s were doing an activity on interviews, I was asked how I keep up to date.  I had a number of answers but I have started doing something else which helps me keep up to date.

I review journal articles for publication in an academic peer reviewed journal.  As I have a PhD I was approached to be a reviewer.  In most academic institutions lecturers have to publish to keep their job.  Well, I check if the articles they want to publish are satisfactory. I am sent the articles the editors deem are in my field - to date I have worked in the field of K-12 and university ICT integration.  It is nice to be recognised in the international academic field. And this keeps me up to date.  

Gr 12 Theory paper

Grade 12 Paper 2 - To the teacher, English question paper, Afrikaans question paper

Problem solving

I have an M.Ed. student doing some work on problem solving in Computer Applications Technology. The work in Excel Gr 10 page 243 at the end of chapter 3 are wonderful examples of problem solving. This type of example lifts Computer Applications Technology above mere applications to higher level thinking. And my Gr 10s have so enjoyed working through this chapter. Well done to the authors. Tomorrow is test day and we see how they managed.

Word formatting

I am busy marking some tests. The test asks for the text to be justified. Some of the pages looked most strange. Some of learners used vertical justification, found in Page Setup. Now I understand why the paragraph and line spacing were correct but the page looked wrong. They used PAGE justification but I wanted TEXT justification. I learned something new in the application.

Gr 12 Practical exam

This is an analysis to the Practical paper showing how many marks were allocated to the different applications. Use the same password as the Practical Paper's MARKSHEET.

Passwords

When you have to use a long and complicated password to unzip a file, do the following:

Type the password in Notepad – while taking note of Uppercase, etc.

Copy and Paste this password when being asked for it.

Gr 12 September exams 2010

Marksheet

• English, Afrikaans and Completed questions (English and Afrikaans)

Africa Geographic digimag

Wonderful link to an African Geographic digimag.  Suitable for sciences and geography teachers.  http://www.africageographicdigital.com/

Warning to all CAT teachers

Realise that one day, soon, your computer's hard drive will crash and you will need to recover everything!  So save your bookmarks (export) to a safe place, backup all work regularly, save all passwords and hope that your colleagues will have patience.  And make sure you have enough cash readily available to buy the new hardware and software!  Accept that it will take some time to get used to the new computer and restore all programs and data.  

No prizes for guessing what happened to me.

Gr 12 September exams 2010

• Paper 1 - To the teacher
• Paper 1 Practical - English question paper, Afrikaans question paper, Data
• Paper 1 Practical - English marksheet, Afrikaans marksheet, Completed questions (English and Afrikaans)
• Paper 1 Practical - Analysis Use the same password as the Practical Paper's MARKSHEET.
• Paper 2 - To the teacher
• Paper 2 Theory - English question paper, Afrikaans question paper
• Paper 2 Theory - English memo, Afrikaans memo

Gr 12 Exam Paper 1

You can download the exam paper from 

www.studyopportunities.co.za; FET:CAT; Grade 12 page

 

OR from  

http://limpopo.100webcustomers.com/StudyOppPrelim/CATp1/

Marking - Virtual Assessor

I think we pay R500 per month which covers bandwidth.  We are a trial school.  The software is used in the corporate world a great deal - I think Old Mutual, Absa, SA Navy, etc.

Marking work

The most interesting thing I learned in the UCT Internet Super-user course http://www.getsmarter.co.za/uct-internet-super-user was the use of multiple choice questions.

For years I spent hours marking tests where learners could not express themselves properly and I could not really gauge if they knew the work because their command of language and English was so poor. I was on the lookout for a better system. The course showed me how with their quality MCQs, and the software Virtual Assessor www.eduflex.com let me create tests where they are marked in seconds and I really know if the learners know their work. I am now giving my learners a test every week on the section just completed.

The test is marked in seconds and the learners focus on knowing the work. I have used some of the tests for their term marks. I have collected a great deal of data (ammunition) to use when I create comments for the reports. The tests take time to create but they are worth it. The questions from the banks can be used for whatever grade as required. You can set the tests with a time limit. The tests can be made available for different periods. You can make the tests available for revision. My first tests were poor but I have become better with reflection and experience. I have learned how to test theory as well as practical aspects of computers with online testing. If any local school want to see the work give me a mail. The school pay a monthly fee to Virtual Assessor for us to use it. Other departments at our school are also now beginning to use it. I cannot show anyone the questions as the questions can only be seen by registered 'learners'.

This UCT Internet Super-user course made me look very critically at where I was going and how I was teaching CAT.

Wikipedia for Schools

Do you know that you can download an Encyclopedia for free for our schools?

 

Instructions here

The full download of Wikipedia is rather cumbersome, but a small portion of it selected specifically for schools can be downloaded at <http://schools-wikipedia.org/> This compilation of 5500 articles will fit on a single DVD, and may be freely downloaded.

Free webinars - In service training

Have you ever wanted to listen to experts in their field discussing a topic?  This week I have attended two presentations in the US where there have been audiences of over 500 people scattered around the world.  There have been PPTs, voice, chat, questions and Twittering as a back channel.

Where was I?  Well, at home!  What did I attend?  A webinar!  

According to Wikipedia a webinar is - Web conferencing used to conduct live meetings, training, or presentations via the Internet. In a web conference, each participant sits at his or her own computer and is connected to other participants via the internet. ...

They are often free!  I have just gone looking for more free webinars in order to keep up-to-date and as a part of my life long learning.  I registered on the two URLs below for new interesting learning.  All that is needed is ADSL or equivalent good bandwidth.  Many of us now have uncapped ADSL so it is a good option for learning.

http://www.webex.com/web-seminars/

http://community.discoveryeducation.com/

I did a Google search for webinar free education - Try it.

Gr 12 PAT

I have marked many PATs and feel irritated.  All reports are marked and I am just finishing off a few PPTs. 

We must check that the learners actually answer the question or complete the investigation.  Finding information on the topic was done well.  The survey was done well and analysed. However the survey results were not linked to the theoretical information found on the topic. Problems were not identified in the target group based on the theoretical information found. Solutions were also not based on the habits of the target group.

Put simply the learners investigated … on the Internet and in books.  They then looked at the … habits of the learners in their class. They did not make the link that the data on the Internet said xxx and the learners in their class only did xxx, therefore there was a problem. They did not say that x y z in their class who did not do … and should be doing ….  The learners did not solve the problem.  They gave solutions in general, things we all know.  The work was not finished! 

As we mark each phase we are meant to tell learners where they need to change and improve.  In the planning phase I did indicate to learners there was a part missing but despite much talk and explanation I could not seem to convey to my learners that a huge part was missing.  In future the problems and solutions phase needs much greater attention.  

Preparing for Grade 12 exams

The September exams are coming soon.  To prepare I am going over old exam papers.  I am horrified at how much my learners have forgotten.  I am very grateful, that now, with the 3^rd group of learners writing the NSC, we have a bank of old papers to use. It is quite amusing, doing the practical papers, using Office 2007 in our lab, realising how different 2003 and 2007 are.  What was easy in 2003 is difficult in 2007 and vice versa, especially in advanced Word, Excel and Access.  I hope the 2010 papers take this into consideration, e.g. protecting a Word form in 2007 is tricky but easy in 2003, creating Word forms in 2007 is tricky, removing lines in Access forms is not necessary in 2007, making certain textbooks different sizes on an Access input form is tricky in 2007 but so easy in 2003, etc.  All these small 'problems' make life challenging. 

Access problem

This is for all those good at Access.  I formatted text in a database table with an input mask.  When I did a mail merge, that text displays as if there had been no input mask.  How do I make the input mask format 'stay'?  

In service training

I had a wonderful Friday evening and Saturday morning teaching the CAT students doing an advanced certificate in education (ACE) at Cape Peninsula University of Technology.  They are all qualified teachers working full time, some already teaching CAT.  We did work on

• creating a web to market CAT
• making a PowerPoint for the subject choice meeting normally held in September
• creating fun quizzes in Hot Potato, Excel, PowerPoint and a web editor.

I love teaching adults who are already computer literate. It is such a pity that the course will not be offered in the future as bursaries are no longer available.