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.

PowerPoint 2007 SmartArt

My Matrics are finishing off their Phase 3 PPTs and a few are using PPT 2007s SmartArt.  Wow!  Never again will I make PPTs in the way I did!  I realise that my thinking was still stuck in 1997 format.  Try it!

Digital Divide

Look at this new definition of the Digital Divide by Helene Blowers

Graphs

Chapter 3.2 in the Grade 11 book is such an important chapter and the work so challenging. Graphs really require understand and thought. Nice!

• Non-aligned data
• Axis - Scales, Intervals, Units, Number, Alignment
• Labels - Outside
• Font size
• Columns – Fill (Pictures)
• New in Excel 2007 insert a Shape label onto/into a graph to specially show something

Report writing

There seem to have been problems downloading the Report Writing PPT. I thought it was because there was a space between words in the file name. I fixed that - here it is. Still problems for others although I could download successfully. I have now zipped the file and hope that it will download and unzip successfully - here it is. Please let me know if you are still unsuccessful. Thanks

Office 2007 training

During the holidays I had the pleasure of helping presenting an Office 2007 training course. Here are copies of the Excel manual, PowerPoint, Crossword (to check if teachers knew the 2007 vocabulary) and Access manual and PowerPoint. Most of the files in 2007, are zipped and I hope they will download and unzip correctly.

Exam papers 2010

Place your order for CAT exam papers. Quality papers and low prices. Click here, download and follow instructions.

PAT and report writing

I have marked many PAT reports and ACE student reports. Here is a PPT (in 2007) of points that are badly done in both. Please feel free to use it with your learners showing where to be careful.

Clean up

This winter weather and soccer on TV is a wonderful time to clean up one's computer and get ready for the tax man. I cannot spend hours watching soccer – I have the TV on and regularly go to see specific action. I have been to the stadium and a fan park but sorting out papers and computer files has used much of my time this holiday. After my computer and papers, cupboards are next!

Office 2007

Between watching soccer I have been spending these holidays preparing to give a training session on new features of Microsoft Office 2007. I wonder, just wonder, not wanted to start an argument, how many of the new 2007 features are available in the latest Open Office. I wonder when these new features will be examined in a matric paper knowing that anything on the paper must be able to be done in both versions of Office.

Internet course

I have just completed the GetSmarter Internet SuperUser course http://www.getsmarter.co.za/uct-internet-super-user. This course has been the best investment I have ever made. I have learned so much about using my computer and cell phone, to access the Internet to improve my life long learning. I sat in my home, downloaded notes in pdf format, watched videos, joined a forum to discuss topics, performed exercises, answered multiple choice questions and did assignments. I did all the work online. I have spent more than the recommended 7 hours per week on the course, it consumed me.

I believe all teachers, especially CAT, IT and school librarians, should do the course. We all have to teach using technology, some teachers more than others. We all have to access information. We all have to communicate with colleagues. We all have to publish material. We all have to manage information. We all have to keep safe online. And we all have to teach our learners responsible behaviour. The course covers all these topics.

I have learned about quality, efficiency and accountability. This course has influenced my thinking in so many ways. A similar course will be offered in September with a 10% discount to all teachers, so I am told, if you request the discount.

I intend doing another course with GetSmarter soon, you guess which.

This is an unsolicited recommendation.

Twitter

http://edudemic.com/2010/06/twitter-launches-official-guide-to-tweeting-videos/

Guide to Twitter - but do not try and have a whole class 'join' Twitter at the same time as the network cannot handle it.

Facebook

The CAT teacher is the expert ICT teacher at most schools. Please share this article with your fellow teachers.

http://edudemic.com/2010/06/every-teachers-must-have-guide-to-facebook/

Here's the preamble to the article:
You can*t swing a stick in social media without hitting something on Facebook. Same goes for education. You can*t talk about how technology is revolutionizing education without mentioning Facebook. It*s a simple service to figure out but what about once you become a regular user? If you*re a teacher, you would be well served by spending 3 minutes to read through this must-have guide...

Thanks for the article must go to Maggie Verster at http://www.school2.co.za

Email addresses from Excel to Gmail

Teachers may find this useful - How to use a group to send email, and then how to import email addresses from Excel into Gmail http://www.compmat.wcape.school.za/PHS/examples/Google%20email%20import%20group.doc

Technology for tourism

Google street view is here! A Google street view vehicle has probably been in most urban areas in South Africa and taken street views. Today I went to Google map and looked for my home. I dragged the orange "Pegman" icon on the left-hand side of the map onto my street, and saw my home. Oops, I need to do some tree trimming. Read the details of Google street view here - https://sites.google.com/a/pressatgoogle.com/streetviewza/ .

And while we think of tourists have a look at the web cams at http://www.kapstadt.de/reiseinformationen/suedafrika-webcams/blouberstrand-webcam/

Social networking and the World Cup

Have a look at the links, share with learners.

• Who/what matters on Twitter - http://listorious.com/WorldCupCNN/world-cup
• World Cup to drive record social media traffic - http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/04/26/football.world.cup.social/index.html?iref=obinsite
• The role Twitter could play in the World Cup - http://sports.tmcnet.com/world-cup/articles/87266-sony-ericsson-believes-real-time-medias-like-twitter.htm

PPT on Basic Computer Devices Gr 11

Exploring the application is essential in teaching the computer. Have a look at this PPT made in two periods by a gr 11 learner who had never used animations before and never used PPT 2007. I have saved it in 2003 as well as 2007 to show what can be done. Here is another PPT in 2007.

Gr 10 Page - Page 86 - Activity 2 - Important words

• CAP – amount of data (text, pictures, animations, video, sound, etc.) transferred (downloaded and uploaded)
• Line rental – to Telkom
• ADSL – type of line
• ISP – Internet service provider
• 384, 512, 1024 – different transfer speeds available
• Kbps (speed) – kilobytes per second
• Bundle – type of package available from an ISP

This activity is very tricky as there is no right answer and the information is actually difficult to find. Rather focus on the words found in the activity. Valuable in seeing that it is difficult to compare ISPs. (Cybersmart has an interesting deal for night people.)

But the learners should create a table where they compare information.

Google search criteria

http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html

Essential information on doing searches on Google.

Way of teaching

When we teach CAT we have to be very careful to teach the learners to explore the applications.  We should not give too explicit instructions on how to do things. Applications which we use change – they get updated, new versions are developed, we change the office suites, and we learn to use totally different applications to that taught in the CAT class.  We have to teach an exploratory and flexibility way of thinking and working – tricky to teach but it has to be done.  

Page numbering - Odd and Even, and other things in Word 2007

If you do NOT want page numbers on page 1, then be ON page 2 or higher and insert page numbers. In Table Design check on Different First Page.

If you want page numbers on Left or Right, insert them on the specific side required AFTER checking Different Odd and Even pages in Table Design.

If you want the page numbers to start at 69, in Table Design, on the left hand side look at Page Numbers, Format Page Numbers, and check on where it should start.

You may have to redo a few steps if … It is NOT fluid. Do not bother with section breaks.

Page numbering - Odd and Even in Word 2007

There has just been a query about odd and even page numbering - Look at this solution.

• Move cursor to first page.
• Insert, Page Number, Bottom of Page.
• Choose Plain Number 3 (because it is on the RHS - what you need for odd numbers).
• All the numbers will appear on the RHS.

Then

• Right-click in the Footer section, Edit Footer.
• Place cursor in Footer section of any EVEN page number.
• Select, on the Design tab, the option Different Odd & Even Pages (in the Options group).
• The even page numbers will disappear.

Then

• Insert, Page Number, Bottom of Page.
• Choose Plain Number 1 (because it is on the LHS - what you need for even numbers).
• Also explore all the exciting options with page numbering and images.

My learners have had great fun

Grade 12 PAT

I have worked hard on getting my grade 12 PAT correct. We are now working on Phase 3. Here is a link to that PPT that I am using. I am trying to get it *right*. I am now doing it in small bits.

Passwords

Here is a very good article on how to create and manage passwords, must reading for every CAT teacher and learner.

http://www.fastcompany.com/article/work-smart-a-single-trick-for-remembering-countless-passwords?partner=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+fastcompany/headlines+(Fast+Company+Headlines)