CAT may not be necessary

A local primary school now expects all their learners in Gr 3 to do all their homework on tablets (digital not chalk!). Those learners may be forgiven for not doing CAT when they get into high school, however ALL other students going to higher education need ICT and problem solving skills taught in CAT. (All this school's older learners do most of their work on tablets or their laptops.)

Designated subject

Congratulations to all those wonderful school principals who have made CAT compulsory at their schools. Those principals have the concern of their learners in mind. This 'designated' thing is so silly – designated for what? For university? For university you NEED computer and problem solving skills.

Let me tell you what I am doing now – I have just gone back to studying at university, UNISA, this year doing Archaeology, Greek and Roman myths and legends, Ancient Rome and Introduction to music – all things to broaden my cultural background after having retired from the CAT school-classroom 3 years ago.

Thank goodness I have gone to university with computer and problem solving skills. I am aware that this is 1st year and we only started on 1 July. However these are a few of the IT skills used so far:

1. The study guides are available in print and in PDF format. The print guides are posted and the PDF files have to be downloaded once you have gone into their web portal.
2. To complete a multiple choice question test I did a 'search' for the key words in the PDF guide, then was quickly able to work out the answers.
3. To find the dates of events I did an online search. To sort the dates in chronological order in Word I did a 'Sort'.
4. Writing the essays – well Word is an absolute essential.
5. The MCQ test was submitted online.
6. Etc.

Bottom line you need computer and problem solving skills if you hope to succeed at university. Students should arrive at university knowing the skills, at running speed, especially at UNISA where the courses are 6 months long and where there is no time to waste. Therefore if a school pupil/learner hopes to go to university they should have ICT skills. Basic ICT skills are in almost every CAPS subject at high school, e.g. Accounting, Business Studies, Consumer Studies, etc. but CAT is where a thorough grounding is given in ICT and problem solving. How CAT could not be considered not a 'designated' subject for university is beyond me!

Gr 10 June Theory exam memorandum

• CAT memorandum
• RTT memorandum

Gr 10 June Theory exam

• CAT question paper
• RTT vraestel

Gr 11 June Theory exam memorandum

• CAT memorandum
• RTT memorandum

CAT posters

Computer Applications Technology posters for your classroom. High quality A3 printable posters covering terminology, Excel functions and HTML. Available in English or Afrikaans.

Check out http://techteachers.co.za/computer-classroom-posters/ for more information on the posters and how to order.

Gr 10 June Practical exam

• English question paper
• Afrikaans vraestel
• To the teacher
• Data files
• Marksheet
• Merkblad
• Solutions

Gr 11 June Theory exam

• English question paper
• Afrikaans vraestel

Gr 11 June Practical exam mark sheets and solutions

• Marksheet
• Merkblad
• Solutions

Gr 12 June Theory exam memorandum

• English memorandum
• Afrikaans memorandum

Gr 11 June Practical exam

• English question paper
• Afrikaans question paper
• Data files
• To the teacher

Gr 12 June Theory exam

• English question paper - Please remove the answer which still appears next to 3.1
• Afrikaans vraestel

Gr 12 June Practical exam mark sheets and solutions

• Marksheet
• Merkblad
• Solutions
• Message for the teacher
• 1.8.1 should be 'Pretoria'

Gr 12 June Practical exam

Files for the Gr 12 June Practical exam

• English question paper
• Afrikaans question paper
• Data files
• To the teacher

Practical exams

Schools writing the Study Opportunities practical papers:

Please bear in mind that the skills acquired in previous years will once again be tested in the practical papers. For example, the Grade 12 practical will include Word skills learned in Grades 10 & 11, as revised in the practical module activity at the end of Module 3.2 in the Grade 12 textbook.

Exam Papers 2014

Study Opportunities will be setting CAT Exam Papers this year.

• Information
• Entry Form

Gr 10 Theory November Memo

Gr 10 Theory November Memo

• English
• Afrikaans

Gr 11 Theory November Memo

Gr 11 Theory November Memo

• English
• Afrikaans

There is a mistake on the memo for 1.7. We cannot put the answer here, but please be careful.

Gr 10 Theory November 2013

Gr 10 Theory November 2013

• English
• Afrikaans

Gr 11 Theory November 2013 - Check

Grade 11 Theory Paper (English version):
Q 10.4.1: The word 'date' should be 'data'.

Gr 11 Theory November 2013

Gr 11 Theory November 2013 question paper

• English
• Afrikaans

Gr 10 Practical Paper November 2013 Solutions

Gr 10 Practical Paper November 2013 Solutions

• Solutions
• English marksheet
• Afrikaans marksheet

Gr 11 Practical Paper November 2013 Solutions

Gr 11 Practical Paper November 2013 Solutions

• English marksheet
• Afrikaans marksheet
• Solutions

Gr 10 November Practical exam

Gr 10 November Practical exam

• To the teacher
• Data files
• English question paper
• Afrikaans question paper

Please change marks. Question 3.2.2 should be ONE mark and 3.4 should be 4.

Gr 11 November Practical exam

Gr 11 November Practical exam

• Data files
• English question paper
• Afrikaans question paper
• To the teacher

Exams at end of 2013

Have a look to see what will be examined in the November Gr 10 and 11 Theory and Practical exam papers.

Survey – e-books

If you are using the Computers, part of your lives series and want to use it in e-format (e.g. on Tablets), then please complete the following and e-mail it to study.opp@mweb.co.za with “e-Book” as the subject line.

Value of CAT

I met a neighbour recently who told me with great pride that her daughter was doing, at great expense, a well-known computer course and writing and passing with 90+% their exams. She hopes to get a job with the qualification. She had passed Excel, Word and PowerPoint. The course was a textbook with a DVD with data files. She was studying on her own. I listened as a good neighbour does.
I gave the daughter some quizzes on Excel from the Gr 10 textbook which she could not do! It is costing her so much money. It appears to me that the test marks are not valid and she still knows so little. She will not get a job with that qualification. I wish learners valued the CAT work done at school and that more learners took the subject of CAT.

Qualification for CAT teachers

Friend has been teaching CAT for 10+ years.  Has repeatedly had best Matric results in the district. Now her principal requires her to get registered with SACE which means getting a degree and then a teaching diploma.

This requirement will not really improve her CAT results.

If she does her studying part time through Unisa what should she do her degree in – she teaches CAT?  Unisa does not offer a degree in CAT and she already has her advanced Computer Drivers Licence in the Office suite.

Should she spent all that time and effort on getting those qualifications or just give up a successful teaching career?  

She has about 15 years to go before she would have to retire.

Students did their photography exam blindfolded

Students did their photography exam blindfolded. They were told the conditions, e.g. dark, sun from the left, shadow, etc. and then told to take the photograph. They had to know their camera and how to use it while blindfolded - fluidly.
That is how one would expect CAT learners to know and use the Office suite of applications. They should know when to use and how to use the available applications to solve a problem. This requires many activities and exploration of the packages, and use and use and more use in open ended situations until they become fluid. We must help our learners reach that level of competence.

Thank goodness

Thank goodness for CAPS and the PAT. Thank goodness for a document, i.e. CAPS, which spells out exactly which must be taught in each grade and for the PAT which revises so many aspects of the practical work.

I was called in in the middle of the 1^st term to teach a grade 12 class at an unnamed school. Every practical lesson, e.g. mail merge (Word), working with dates and times (Excel) and calculations in queries and reports (Access) has brought to my attention that basics are missing.  (These topics were taught in the first term as they are suggested in the grade 12 textbook I am using.)

I am now working on phase 1 of the PAT. I am aware that it should already have been done but …
Today I am so excited. The learners were expected to but could not, but they learned

• how to insert a section page break 
• the difference between portrait and landscape orientation 
• how to convert text to a table 
• how to insert a column to an existing table 
• how to insert a row to an existing table 
• change case 
• the difference between a heading and a sub heading 

In the past this class did not have a textbook. The teacher used and did what she wished, I think. In future, with CAPS, it will be clearly defined what should be taught, per grade and per term so a teacher can be held responsible for work not taught in a particular grade.

Thank goodness for CAPS. Thank goodness for the PAT as it gives one an opportunity for doing revision. Thank goodness for a Department of Education for supplying approved CAPS textbooks to schools.

June 2013 exam papers

Please have a look at the description of the scope and length of the June exam papers.

Computers, part of your life – Grade 12

Computers, part of your life – Grade 12
A textbook for Computer Applications Technology

The Grade 12 English and Afrikaans versions of the popular Computers, part of your life series, have been approved by the Department of Education!

These textbook are in a larger (A4), more user-friendly format compared to our previous books and each textbook includes a free DVD. 

You can rest assured that this textbook will provide your learners with everything they need to prepare thoroughly for the first Grade 12 CAPS exams in the coming year.

More information and some samples will be uploaded soon.

Stupid people I have met recently

Some Gr 12 learners handed in work. The files have their names in the file name. Two of them have exactly the same mistakes which mean that one learner must have given the files to the other learner. 
A teacher studying part-time for a post graduate degree submitted a file for examination. Three pages were in a style different to the rest of the document. A quick check on Google showed that the work had been copied exactly as it appeared online, without a reference. 
An editor of a xxxx journal had text copied exactly from a web page, without any credit to the original author or web page. 
What is wrong with these people? They can be regarded as stupid as their theft can so easily be checked in the digital world by looking at file properties and using Google. And copying is theft. And where is their morality? Is theft now normal?

Calculated queries and reports in Access

It is so interesting watching grade 12 learners trying to work out how to do calculated queries and reports in Access using fields (NCS Grade 12, not CAPS Grade 12). I had hoped that those who had done Maths Literacy would sail through the section about profit, percentage increase, etc. but that has not happened in the class I have. It is in their Maths Lit curriculum but they seem to have difficulty transferring those concepts to the computer class. This seems to indicate that the Maths Lit concepts have not been successfully learned or internalised. Maybe the learners who have gone through the CAPS curriculum will find it easier, one can only hope.

Exam papers in 2013

Information re exam papers by Study Opportunities
Entry form to obtain exam papers by Study Opportunities

What is right?

Seen in my trips around the country - The computer laboratory is used as a CAT classroom for two periods a day. For the rest of the day it is used as a classroom for another subject for 3 periods where computers are not used at all.

What a waste of capital! The computers in a computer laboratory should be fully utilised! South African learners should all leave school computer literate; computers are found in curriculum statements for every subject, so how can a computer laboratory stand empty or be used a paper, and chalk and talk classroom?

Grade 11

CAT Grade 11 Missing data file for Module 3.2 Page 162

Computer Olympiad

Computer Olympiad Talent Search closing date 12 March 2013. Go to http://www.olympiad.org.za  for more information.

Posters, i.e. words and concepts all around

The school year has begun. Learners must know key words and key concepts. To help process that information they need to see the words, hear the words and use the words. To help see the words they need posters in the classroom. The following link is the best guide I have seen for making posters, Creating effective poster presentations.

Print shops such as Postnet which have sprung up in many towns print such posters if taken to them in digital format.

Most principals have asked what teachers intend doing to improve their marks. Having key words and key concepts in the language of the subject on the walls in the classroom is one way of enhancing the learning.

Database worksheet

This worksheet was created for one of the Study Opportunities’ author's matric class. You may use it for your class if you wish. Please note that no solutions will be made available. Here it is.

Managing the first two weeks

It is beginning of the year again. At the back of the Gr 10 CAPS Teacher Guide, page 139, there is such a nice section on managing the first two weeks of the new school year. Highly recommended!

Meaningful illustrations

I must share with you some problems where people have not done CAT or been taught to think, such stupid things. 
There was a leak in the flat below. A leak detection plumber was brought in at huge expense to find the problem. He produced a report showing photographs of moisture next to the shower, next to the bath and in the ceiling in the bedroom. The report said the bath had moved away from the wall, and recommended that it be stabilised and filling put in between the bath and wall. 
The photographs had nothing to do with the recommendations and solution! Shower and bath ..?? Next to bath, and the wall and the bath…?? Ceiling and bath ...?? 
There were no photographs which had anything to do with the leak from that flat to the one below. I believe that in CAT we do at least try to teach having suitable illustrations to prove what you have to say.

Matric results

To all those who passed matric this year, congratulations. To those who took CAT I believe you will leave school with many skills for the job market or further study.

Grade 10 (CAPS) November Exam papers Theory

Theory Memo

• English
• Afrikaans

Importance of ICT skills

Society is constantly impacted and changed by rapid developments in Information and Communications Technology (ICT). This requires of people to have the skill and ability to respond to these changes and to utilise ICT as an enabler - whether it is to facilitate socio-economic development, education, health or simply to live the lives we value. This skill (e-skills) is so important that many countries regard it as a basic human right.

The immediate question then, is: how is South Africa doing in this respect? In the 2012 World Economic Forum Networked Readiness Report, comparing 142 countries across the world, it is stated that: 'Despite counting on one of the most solid political and regulatory environments (23rd) and better framework conditions for entrepreneurship and innovation (50th) in the Sub-Saharan region, South Africa at 72nd place, is not yet leveraging the potential benefits associated with ICT. This situation is largely attributed to the high costs of accessing ICT infrastructure (82nd), and important shortcomings in terms of basic skills (94th) in large segments of the population.'

(Information from an invitation to an event at UWC.)

So what is being done about this shortcoming? Obviously more CAT must be taught at schools to rectify the situation.

Grade 10 (CAPS) November Exam Papers

Practical - Paper 1, Vraestel 1, Data, For the teacher
Practical - Mark sheet, Merkblad, Solutions

Theory - Question paper 2, Vraestel 2

Higher Education South Africa & CAT

Dear CAT teachers

You want the latest info re designated subjects and CAT - get out your tissues and then read. My comments are withheld. This mail was sent to me. I have removed info re the writer.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Abbey Mathekga <abbey@hesa-enrol.ac.za>
Date: 25 October 2012 08:17

Mr XXX

Thank you for your enquiry.

The minimum admission requirement policy document for higher certificate, diploma and degree programmes requiring NSC of August 2005 and revised May 2008 enjoins HESA to review the designated subjects list after three years. HESA has accordingly embarked on the this review and research was conducted the paper was presented at the various conferences and it was further fine tuned and consulted with various stakeholders and HESA sub committees before it was presented to HESA Board. The general findings were that whilst there are merits and demerits of placing some subjects on the designated list, decisive action cannot be taken until the throughput data of learners who took designated subjects has completed degree studies. In other words, we still need to get the data of students who completed degree studies with NSC in order to analyze this data and make sense of who passed with designated subjects and those who did not. This empirical evidence will help HESA determine whether designated subjects are required or not. We expect this data to be available from Department of Higher Education and Training by 2014 and changes could be made by 2015.

Regards,

Mr. Abbey Mathekga

Study Opportunities’ CAT Grade 10 Papers November

Study Opportunities' CAT Grade 10 Papers November

(I am referring to the Study Opportunities textbook.)

Practical Paper (Paper 1): 3 hours, 150 marks

WHAT TO STUDY:

·         Word Processing – Section 3 (Modules 3.1 to 3.7)

·         Spreadsheets – Section 4 (Modules 4.1 to 4.4)

·         Presentations – only Module 5.1, but Navigation during a slide show (Pages 329 – 333) can be left out

·         Integration and templates – Module 7.1

Theory Paper (Paper 2): 2 hours, 120 marks

WHAT TO STUDY:

·         System Technologies and Implications – Section 1 (Modules 1.1 to 1.8)

·         Network and Internet Technologies – Section 2 (Modules 2.1 to 2.5)

·         Case Studies – Module 7.3

·         Theory questions on practical work:  ± 8 marks.

Word revision

Doing revision of old exam paper with the software used in the examinations is crucial.

For the last few weeks I have been using iPad Notes and occasionally using Open Office Word in a different language. Today I have had to use advanced Microsoft Word features. Oops.  I have forgotten so much.  It came back but revision using the correct software is crucial.