December 5, 2017 - LAST CLASS 91 minutes
  Website Demonstration:  Students were shown how updates are made to websites.  The use of Google Sites to quickly edit a webpage was demonstrated. Using a web hosting service to update a website was also demonstrated. Office Yoga Break: During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise. Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break. For our break today we practiced a simple office yoga stretch for your deltoid muscles.  Make-up Time & Checking Grades: Since this is our last full class all students had time to make up any work they may have missed. All projects were handed back and students could submit anything they missed or re-submit a project that they hadn't finished for full credit. All students were asked to log into the HAC and check their grades for this class. Closure to Computer Class: Students were reminded that computers are constantly changing and that they have to learn to adjust to new programs, new hardware and new ways of using technology all the time. We are all constantly learning to adapt to new technology. Students were also reminded that this was their only required computer class here at Council Rock and that should they wish to learn more about computer technology they should look carefully at the High School Program Planning Guide for the many elective classes that incorporate computer skills. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.6.8.M, 15.2.8.E) Technology Current Event Video: For our last current event this year we watched a TED Presentation by Gary Kovacs, the CEO of Mozilla, about how internet users are tracked. He demonstrated how many companies were following him and his daughter when they were online during a typical day. During the presentation he demonstrated how a free download for Firefox called Collusion (now called Lightbeam) can be used to find out who is tracking you online. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.4.8.A, 15.5.8.J, 15.9.8.L, 15.9.8.M) December 1, 2017 104 minutes  Internet Moment: Today we discussed what a wiki is and visited the largest wiki in the internet: Wikipedia. Students were shown how easily a wikipedia article can be edited and we discussed some of the reason it can't be used in academic work. However, students were shown what parts of a wikipedia article they could use to help them when they are doing research for school projects. We also looked at an edited version of Wikipedia that is intended to be used by students. The Wikipedia Selection for Schools which was created by the SOS Children's Villages which is a not for profit group in the United Kingdom. Introduction to Scratch: As a follow-up to the Blockly Maze Tutorial the class was shown Scratch which is a free online code editor that was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Students who enjoyed using Blockly, were told that Scratch would be the next step for them to try. All students had about 10 minutes to experiment with Scratch and to view some featured student projects. Students were also encouraged to check out the Scratch Tutorial Videos page on their own and consider joining Scratch. We also watched a short video by the MIT Scratch Team about some of their latest developments. Introduction to Webinars: Today students were introduced to what a webinar or web conference is and what online education could look like for them in the future. AnyMeeting was used to project the presentation from the teacher's desktop to each student's screen. The use of webcams and desktop sharing was also demonstrated. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.5.J, 15.3.5.K, 15.6.8.M, 15.3.8.X, 15.4.8.A)Office Yoga Break: During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise. Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break. For our break today we practiced a simple office yoga stretch for your sides. Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video from BlueHost about how websites work. November 29, 2017 94 minutes   Hour of Code:  Today our class participated in the Hour of Code. We started by viewing the source code for this webpage.  Students were told that this code, a mixture of HTML and JavaScript, was the list of specific instructions that tell your web browser how to display the webpage.  We then watched the tutorial video below to introduce the online coding activity.  Students then went to the online Blockly Moana Tutorial to write JavaScript.  Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a video from Code.org about why schools should teach computer coding. November 20, 2017 44 minutes* Google Earth Tour Quiz: As a follow-up to our previous tour on Google Earth students were challenged to list everywhere they had gone and what they had seen on their tour of the 3 dimensional visual imagery in Google Earth last class. This activity helped to demonstrate the effectiveness of using 3D spatial references, such as the virtual environment of Google Earth, to augment memory. QUIZ: Where I went on Google Earth (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.4.8.A, 15.6.8.M)  A sample project:  Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a 2011 TED presentation by Eric Whitacre about his virtual choir project.  This was an example of asynchronous online collaboration.  (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.4.8.A, 15.3.12.W, 15.6.8.M) * Class time was shorter today due to the half-day schedule November 16, 2017 44 minutes Internet Moment: Today we explored the online version of  Google Earth and discussed how a three dimensional virtual environment can be used to augment human memory. We started by discussing what spatial memory is and how it is used to make modern video games so engaging. Students were then introduced to the memory palace or method of loci as an effective way to use 3 dimensional visual imagery to help a person remember large amounts of information. We then went to Google Earth and began a tour of the earth. The whole class followed a specific list of locations. Next week all students will take a quiz to see how much of the Google Earth tour they can recall. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.4.8.A, 15.6.8.M)  Technology Current Event Video:  We class today by watching a short video about tourism in Kerala. November 14, 2017 91 minutes   Video Conference Activity: Our students used a Google Hangout to play a Kahoot game with some English language students at Boglári Altalanos Iskola, a Primary School in Balatonboglár, Hungary. We played a trivia game about animals. Balint and Rock from Hungary came in first and second place. Daniel from our class came in third. After this activity we discussed the use of video in international group work and importance of developing "soft skills" through informal interactions and ice breaker activities like this one to help in the group forming process.  (PA-BCIT: 15.2.8.H, 15.3.8.K, 15.3.8.M, 15.7.8.I, 15.7.8.J, 15.3.8.X, 15.4.8.A, 15.4.8.B) (ISTE Standards: 1b, 2a, 2b, 7a, 7b, 7c)   Office Yoga Break: During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise. Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break. As part of our break today we practiced a simple office yoga stretch for your forearm. Technology Current Event Video: We finished class with a short video about the importance "soft skills" in group work. November 10, 2017 110 minutes*  Finish and Print Brochures:   Students also had a chance to review a rough draft with the teacher. Everyone finished and printed this project in class today.  Click here to enlarge the project description.  (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.1.5.B, 15.3.5.A, 15.3.8.B, 15.3.5.D, 15.3.8.D, 15.3.8.E, 15.4.8.G, 15.3.8.U, 15.6.8.L)  Office Yoga Break: During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise. Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break. As part of our break today we practiced a simple office yoga stretch for your thigh. Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a short video from PBS OffBook about careers in graphic design.  * Class time was longer today due to the Veterans Day Assembly November 9, 2017 91 minutes    Technology Current Event Video: The class watched a 4 minute long video of a professional designer using Adobe Photoshop CS6 to create a concert poster. 44 minutes  Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a TED presentation by Margaret Stewart about how copyright issues are handled by YouTube.  November 3, 2017 91 minutes * Mr. McNulty was absent today. Students did the following activities: Internet Moment: Students went to GeoGuessr.com today and had about 5 minutes to get the highest score possible. In this class Bora was the winner with over 15,000 points. Finish Font Guide Project:  All students had time to finish the MS Publisher project that we started last class.  Everyone printed and turned in their finished font guide.    Video - The Biography of Bill Gates:  The development of the computer technology we have today has involved countless innovators.  Certainly one of the most famous computer pioneers is Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.  Students followed the journey of this American icon from college drop out to tech entrepreneur to becoming one of the richest men in history.  While watching the video all students completed these questions online. November 1, 2017 91 minutes Internet Moment: Today we looked at two online resources for fonts. DaFont.com offers over 33,000 fonts that are either freeware, shareware, demo versions or in the public domain. These fonts can be downloaded and installed but students were also shown how they can use the Snipping Tool to get images of the fonts they might like. Students were also shown how they could make their own font using a website like YourFonts.com. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.E, 15.6.5.M, 15.4.5.A) Finish Student Blogging Activity: Our students finished the activity we started last class by posting their blog comments blog comment for students in Ms. Golubeva's class at Lyceum 1 in Kansk, Russia:  https://blog.seesaw.me/wearetheworld/#!/  Office Yoga Break:  Students are always reminded to not spend too much time sitting in front of computers.  For our break today we practiced a simple yoga stretch for your ankles and then everyone had a chance to get up and move around the room some. Logo Design Video:   We finished class today with a short video from Vox about the basics of logo design.   Font Conference Video:  As a follow-up to the Font Presentation we watched a short video from College Humor about a fictitious "Font Conference". October 30, 2017 44 minutes  Internet Moment: To help our students understand cultural diversity on the internet we investigated what our own accents sound like by taking the NY Times Dialect Quiz. Students then had an opportunity to compare the dialect heat maps from all the students in our class using a shared Google Doc. (PA-BCIT Standard: 15.3.8.J, 15.3.8.K, 15.3.8.X, 15.4.8.D)Language Differences Video: As a follow-up to the dialect activity we watched a short video from The Atlantic about the various dialects in the United States.  Our students were asked to demonstrate appropriate internet communication skills and paragraph writing skills. Students were reminded to use the spelling and grammar checking features in Google Docs to help them. Our students also demonstrated using the MLA format in Google Docs as part of this project.  Everyone was also reminded that whenever they post anything online they should make an effort to make sure it will reflect positively on them.  Everyone had a opportunity to share their Google Doc with another student and have it proofread before we posted the comments online.  This activity gave us an opportunity to  talk about the differences and similarities between cultures and schools around the world.  (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.G, 15.3.8.M, 15.4.5.A, 15.4.8.B) Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video created by Mrs. Yollis' 3rd grade students in California. In the video they explained how to write a quality blog comment. October 26, 2017 91 minutes  Internet Moment:  To start our class today Mr. McNulty demonstrated how Google and other companies use GPS data from cell phones to track the locations of individuals.  In the demonstration Mr. McNulty showed the class a detailed map prepared by Google of exactly where he and his family were in August of 2014. Using location history (now known as timeline) students could see that he was riding Dumbo the Flying Elephant at precisely 1:08 on August 10, 2014. Everyone then had a chance to open their own Google Accounts and check their location history.  Students were also shown how to access location history on an iPhone. Office Yoga Break:  Students are always reminded to not spend too much time sitting in front of computers.  Breaks should be taken at least every 30-40 minutes.  For our break today we practiced a simple yoga stretch for your back and then everyone had a chance to get up and move around the room some. Typing Test: All students took a typing test using TypingTest.com. Each student had 10 minutes to take the 1 minute test multiple times. Their best adjusted speed was recorded and graphed in an Excel spreadsheet. The average typing speed for this class was:  33.9 WPM. Click here for more information about typing speeds at Newtown Middle School. We also reviewed the graph below:  Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video about an alternative way to type using the SwiftKey Tilt typing app on a smart phone. (PA-BCIT Standard: 15.4.8.A) October 24, 2017 104 minutes Internet Moment: Students were asked to compare three popular news aggregator websites: Google News, Bing News and Yahoo. We looked at their home pages, their features and their overall appearance. Though the results were split, a plurality of our students said they preferred Google News when looking for current events online.  Students were also asked to explore their own digital footprint by searching for themselves on various news sites.  (PA BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.E, 15.6.5.L)  Profile Pictures:  Students opened up their school Google Accounts and we talked about how their profile picture works and that it is public.  They were then shown Cartoonify.de and students had time to make a custom profile picture.  Students were also shown a collection of generic profile pictures that they could use.  We discussed the difference between your professional and personal persona and what "online brand" was all about. Students were reminded of the importance of learning to manage what they looked like online.  Everyone then had an opportunity to set their school profile picture.   Assigned Seats: All students have an assigned seat/computer in the lab. Students have a responsibility to report any problems with the machine they have been assigned. In this way we all participate in maintaining our school computers. Everyone should use the same computer every time they come to the lab. Students were also reminded to adjust the keyboard, mouse, chair and monitor to meet their ergonomic needs when they come to class. We then visited the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) website and searched for their recommendations concerning computer use. We also discussed employment laws in the workplace.  (PA-BCIT Standard: 15.2.8.I, 15.4.5.D, 15.4.2.B, 15.4.8.F) Google Drive: Students were shown how to access their Google Drive today. We created folders for all their classes and students were reminded that they will have access to their google drive until they graduate from high school. Students were also reminded that they can access their Google Drive from anywhere in the world where they have internet access.  Everyone had time to make some folders and organize their Google Drive. Class Blog: Students were shown TodayInComputerClass.com and told that they can check here anytime to review what work was done in class. We also discussed what a web log or blog was, how blogs developed into microblogs like Twitter and now mobile phone based apps like Instagram. This website is the blog or web log for our class. Students were also told that their parents will be sent an email with a link to this website so they can also review what we are doing in computer class each day.   Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a short video about email etiquette tips for college students from Dr. Tracy Brown at California State University in San Marcos. (PA-BCIT Standards 15.3.8.E, 15.3.8.M, 15.3.8.O, 15.3.8.Q, 15.3.8.R, 15.3.8.S, 15.3.8.U, 15.3.8.X, 15.4.8.D, 15.3.8.M, 15.4.8.F) October 20, 2017 61 minutes* Introduction to Basic Computer Skills Class: Basic rules and classroom procedures were explained. Students were specifically reminded that because technology is constantly changing they should get into the habit of helping each other out and demonstrating the ability to learn new computer skills through experimentation. All students reported that they had helped an adult with computer skills but they were reminded that it's important to also get used to helping each other.  Log On & Explore:  All students were given time to explore the start menu, Cortana and the various programs available to them at school. Pixlr.com Project: Students were shown how to use the online photo editor pixlr.com to edit a photograph. We also discussed professional digital photo editing with Adobe PhotoShop. (PA BCIT Standards: 15.4.8.F, 15.4.5.G) Students shared their modified photos using various district network resources and demonstrated basic skills such as drag & drop. The best use of the H:, S: & X: drives was also explained. Click here to enlarge the project description.   Students were also reminded to not use their school email for anything inappropriate. Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a video about ten future projects that Alphabet is working on. * Class time was shorter today due to the FBI Cyber Safety Assembly |
