October 17, 2019 - LAST CLASS 94 minutes
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. Students were also reminded to check out the eSchoolPLUS app that's available from Google Play and the iTunes Store. Technology Current Event Video: We watched a short video about how Florida's Orange County Public Schools and local police using a service called SnapTrends to monitor student's social media accounts. October 15, 2019 91 minutes  Online Game: Our class played a Kahoot game with Mrs. Gershman's Computer Class at Newtown Middle School. We were also joined byÂ
October 4, 2018 91 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) Break:  Students are always reminded to not spend too much time sitting in front of computers.  For our break today everyone had a chance to get up and move around the room some. 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 PBS News Hour about the effects of screen time on teenage brains. October 2, 2019 104 minutes    Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time working on computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. For our break today everyone had a chance to get up and move around and look at each other's project. Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a short video from PBS OffBook about careers in graphic design.  September 26, 2019 44 minutes   Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a Channel 4 News interview of Hans Rosling in the U.K. He is the creator of GapMinder.org and in the interview he discusses how the world is actually much better off than you think. September 24, 2019 91 minutes   Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time working on computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. For our break today everyone had a chance to get up and move around. Technology Current Event Video: We finished class with a short video about the importance "soft skills" in group work. September 20, 2019 104 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 Slideshow. (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. Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time working on computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. For our break today everyone had a chance to get up and move around.   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 about travel and tourism in Kerala, India. September 18, 2019 44 minutes  Internet Moment: Today we looked at three online resources for free ebooks and audio books. We started with the Gutenberg Project (Gutenberg.org) which offers free access to 54,000 ebooks and over 100,000 additional free ebooks from other resources. We then looked at Lit2Go which is a free online collection of audio books in MP3 format that is available from the University of South Florida. Finally we visited Google Books (books.google.com) and discussed how to access and search the text of the free ebooks available there. We also discussed copyright laws and how these books came to be available online or in the public domain. Students were also reminded to search for free ebook reader apps for their phone and tablet devices. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.1.5.B, 15.2.5.L, 15.3.8.E, 15.4.8.B)
 Basic Computer Knowledge Presentation:Â This presentation covers some basic computer concepts everyone should be familiar with such as:
Technology Current Event Video: We finished class by watching a speed art video of a graphic artist designing a vintage logo using Adobe Illustrator. September 16, 2019 91 minutes   Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time working on computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. For our break today everyone had a chance to get up and move around. Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a TED presentation by Margaret Stewart about how copyright issues are handled by YouTube.  September 12, 2019 Internet Moment: Students were shown Weather.gov (the National Weather Service) as an example of a huge online database that's full of real-time and archived information. We checked our local weather and spent a few minutes checking the satellite images and Doppler radar for the whole United States. Students were also shown how to access the hourly weather graphs for our area to get precipitation predictions. We also discussed how federal government publications, such as the NWS website, can not be copyrighted and are therefore in the public domain. (PA BCIT Standards: 15.3.5.V, 15.4.8.A, 15.6.5.L)     TED Video: We watched part of a TED Presentation by John Maeda, the President of the Rhode Island School of Design. We only watched a few minutes of his presentation in which he talked about the relationships between content & form and demonstrated the use of different fonts to convey meaning. Students were encouraged to watched the rest of the video on their own. (PA BCIT Standard: 15.4.8.A, 15.8.8.K, 15.9.8.A) Font Conference Video:  As a follow-up to the Font Presentation we watched a short video from College Humor about a fictitious "Font Conference". September 10, 2019 94 minutes 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.  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. We also discussed how Google continues to track a mobile devices location even when the settings are turned off by using WiFi and cell towers. 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. Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time working on computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. For our break today everyone had a chance to get up and move around. 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:  34.3 WPM.  We also reviewed the typing speed graph below and discussed what a bell curve is. 
Online Typing Activities: As a follow up to the typing test students were given some time to find some online typing activities (tutorials or games) that they enjoyed. They were to then add these typing activities to their favorites or bookmarks list so they could go back and practice their typing skills in class when they finish projects. Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a video about a new typing technology called the tap strap. September 6, 2019 91 minutes   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 "personal branding" was all about. Students were reminded of the importance of learning of manage what they looked like online. Students then shared their images using network drives.   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 workstations. 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) Email Etiquette For Students Video:  We finished class today with a short video about how to email a teacher.  (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, 15.4.8.G) September 4, 2019 86 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.   Students were also reminded to not use their school email for anything inappropriate.   Break: Students are always reminded to not spend too much time working on computers and to take breaks every 30-40 minutes. For our break today we conducted a probability experiment about matching birthdays that you can read about here. Everyone was asked to get up and find the other person in the room who shares their birthday to see if there was a match.  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.  All students had time to create a unique image and we used various network resources to share their modifies photos. Basic skills such as drag & drop were demonstrated and the best use of the H:, S: & X: drives was also explained.  (PA BCIT Standards: 15.4.8.F, 15.4.5.G) The finished pictures can be viewed below.  Technology Current Event Video: We finished class today with a short video about some of the newest drones at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. *Class time was shorter today due to the extended homeroom schedule |
