Prepping for Monday's class

For Monday's class, I'd like you to read up on the 2 different communication models discussed in chapter 7, and also take a look at the discussion in the text on the topic of personalization.

Take a look at this short Wired article as well.

Can you think of at least 3 positive and 3 negative effects of personalization on you?

Personal Tech unit vocabulary now available

The vocabulary to the Personal Tech unit is now up in My Vocabulary, and has also been added to the vocabulary wiki.

Friday (the 28th) tasks are up in My Tasks

Focus group

MRC's doing some studies into student use of IT...for 2 hours of your time, you get some free grub, a chance to win some prizes...and you help out the College as well.

The session is Wednesday, October 3 from 3-5.

Check in Course Docs for further details.

Additional adjustment to quiz

I was a bit confused when Kevin brought up the laser answer for question 13 on the quiz, because I thought I had worded the question so that the only correct one was "light & masks"...when I went back last night to check, I saw that the wording of the question was a tad subtle: "lasers & transistors" is technically incorrect, as the transistors are not *used* in the fabrication process - they are *created* during the process. I still say the correct answer is "light & masks", but because the question was tricky (and I'm not trying to be tricky), I have given a mark to those who answered "lasers & transistors" as well - the marks on Blackboard have now been updated.

Discussion Board tutorials now up in My Tutorials

Online office hours

Given the response in today's lecture, I would like to try having some online office hours - at least for a month or so, just to see if they're of any use to anyone.

I will be online M-F from 9-9:39 and 4-5. Due to the nature of my job, I will occasionally need to step away from my desk suddenly to help students out in the labs, particularly in the afternoons...so don't feel surprised if I need to sprint.

To access my virtual office, go to: http://wwwl.meebo.com/room/jpsoffice/
You should be able to access this from any computer with an Internet connection...or so the propaganda says - if you're finding otherwise, I'd like to know about it.

The password for the room is: 002. (That's our section number.)
When you first start chatting, you'll be asked for a nickname - if you could use your real name (or something close to it), it would help me greatly.

The vocab wiki is here.

Multiple choice info links

This first site provides some good advice to students.

This second site is more for use by teachers - some pretty good insights here, folks...especially if you follow the two links in the Useful Tips section (about 1/2-way down the page).

Study group announcement

I've been asked to pass this on: if you are interested in getting involved in a study group for the course, a number of folks are currently meeting in the lecture room every Friday and then heading off elsewhere. (I'm assuming that if you want to take part, you should be there within the first 5 minutes or so.)

Just as a note - if this (or any other) study group wants me to pop into a session to answer some questions during the Friday lecture time (11-12), I would be happy to do so.

I meant demonstration *2* information now up in My Demos

Demonstration 1 information now up in My Demos

Practical troubleshooting resources available

I've placed some useful troubleshooting resources in the Tips, Tricks, & Requests forum in the Discussion Board.

No, it's not for marks. Just thought some of you might find it useful!

Wednesday's class

I'm still chewing over the quiz results...we need to talk on Wednesday. Please watch the following video before class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO8x8eoU3L4

We'll need to move the third (and last) software class to Friday, and leave the Personal Technology unit at 2 classes (Monday & Wednesday).

A few more announcements about the quiz

1. I have reduced the number of questions to 30.
2. The amount of time is 18 minutes, as opposed to the 15 minutes stated in the course outline.
3. The quiz focuses on the lecture objectives, lecture material, and material I've placed on our Blackboard site.
   

Karma updated in My Grades

If you have any concerns or questions, please let me know, OK?

Did you show up for the Friday lecture?

I heard that a few of you went to the lecure room today...at first, I was like, "why?!?" - then I realized that last Friday's optional class threw a few people off. So to set the record straight - there are no lectures for all the blue Friday's on our schedule except if I announce otherwise.

My apologies.

Friday (the 21st) task is up in My Tasks

List of outcomes

Here is a list of outcomes that we have covered up to and including September 21st - all of these are fair game for the quiz:

You should be able to...

1. ...describe what a computer is in general terms.
2. ...explain why computers are so useful to us.
3. ...explain why computers are so pervasive in today's world.
4. ...justify the value of taking a course like COMP2203.
5. ...describe the language that computers speak.
6. ...explain why binary is the language of choice for computers.
7. ...discuss the ramifications of the decision to use binary in computers.
8. ...identify on sight the common ports found on today's personal computers.
9. ...describe what purposes these common ports have.
10. ...identify on sight common expansion cards.
11. ...describe the purposes of these cards.
12. ...explain the purpose of memory.
13. ...explain the purpose of secondary storage.
14. ...compare and contrast memory and secondary storage.
15. ...modify the definition of computer to include the concepts of storage, input devices, output devices, and software.
16. ...explain the purpose of microprocessors.
17. ...provide an overview of the process used to create microprocessors.
18. ...describe the steps of the machine cycle, incorporating the concepts of control unit and ALU.
19. ...explain in simple terms how cache, clock speed, and word size effect the speed of CPUs.
20. ...describe the challenges that face computer purchasers.
21. ...compare and contrast the broad categories that software falls into in terms of legal use.
22. ...explain what the different type of licenses are available, and be able to determine from a simple licensing scenario what kind of license makes the most financial sense.

Note - development of these last two points will be posted soon...should be later this evening.

Heads-up about the quiz

Those four readings I assigned to you in the announcement on the 18th are fair game for the quiz.

Your first assignment

The PowerPoint assignment will be available from the My Assignments section on Thursday, September 20 at 9AM.

If you are unsure how to get the assignment instructions, please follow the tutorial "Grabbing assignments" in the My Tutorial section of our site.

Clearing some journal questions up

I thought it might be useful to explain why I'm having you do journals, and how I'm evaluating them.

Why Journals?
As you remember from your reading of Learning (Your First Job), true learning is not a passive process - it requires wrasslin' with slippery, abstract concepts and making them more concrete in your neural pathways. One excellent way to do this is through reflection - taking a question or idea, and mulling it over...asking yourself questions...seeing where your thoughts lead. This is where our journal comes in: I'm asking you questions and want to see where you go with them. To me, answering my initial question is just the first step - I'm much more interested in seeing where the question takes you.

Evaluation
I mark each entry out of 3:
Grammar/Punctuation/Spelling/Capitalization (0 or 1):

• If I have difficulty following your thoughts because of problems in these areas, or find myself getting annoyed with frequent errors, this will be 0. Otherwise, it will be 1.

Instructions Followed / Questions Answered (0 or 1):

• Did you at least spend some time answering all the questions I put to you at a surface level? Then you get 1....if not, 0.

Evidence of Deeper Thought (0 or 1):

• Did you take the question somewhere? Did it make you ask further questions, or raise some point to mind? Do you make me go, "Hey - I hadn't thought of that!"? Then you get 1; otherwise, 0.

As an illustration of the last point, I'll use a question from our second journal entry: Do you think charging high prices for a service that's very easy (but few people know how to do) is ethical?

• One could (and a few students did) liken hardware installation to providing legal or medical services...few people know how to do these things, and it's considered OK for those kinds of people to charge high prices for their expertise. This may of course lead to the counterargument that unlike lawyers and doctors, the hardware installer doesn't require years of training to become adequate at their job. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that the average person could learn to do successful installations (barring the occurrence of unusual problems) with a few hours of training.
• One could ask some questions (and even better answer them with a little digging as well), like:
• What is Geek Squad's policy if the tech is unable to successfully install the hardware? Or worse, breaks something?
• Does the Squad offer refunds? Warranties?

A note about hardware installs

Based on your journal responses, I thought I should mention a few things about installing hardware:

• Installations can only go smoothly if you've prepared for the install in advance by making sure that the hardware you're installing is compatible with your computer. How do you know whether it's compatible? Read that manual!
• There's a fairly big mental difference between installing hardware on a test machine (like the ones we're using for your first demo) and installing hardware on your (or even worse) someone else's machine. Once the spectre of damaging something worth real money starts entering your head, it can make that install seem a lot less easy!
• I didn't go over (and don't have time to go over, unfortunately) the 'x-factor' of hardware installs - booting up the machine, and making sure everything is working. Knowing what to do if everything doesn't work can require some fairly sophisticated troubleshooting skills.You may need to install some drivers...and maybe those drivers conflict with something else on your machine. Maybe the hardware is defective. Maybe the moon is in the wrong phase.

I'm not trying to scare you away from doing your own installations, because most of the time, things go smoothly. I'm just letting you know that mostly doesn't equal always.

Quiz information

As you know, there's a quiz in class on Monday (the 24th). I thought you might like a bit of info on it.

• There will be 40 multiple-choice questions: 22 on the Hardware unit, 13 on the Software unit, and 5 on the Intro to Info Tech unit.
• You will have 20 minutes to complete the quiz; the remainder of the class will be spent marking/debriefing.
• You will need to bring an HB pencil and an eraser.
• The quiz will be worth 5% of your final mark.
• My multiple choice questions tend to be a bit challenging, as I feel it's important to test deeper understanding of concepts than simple rote memorization of definitions.
• There will be no journal hand-in on the quiz day; I originally stated in the 3rd journal task that you should hand in your journal on the 24th - that was an error. Your journal is now due on October 1.
  

Some extra reading for Wednesday

The following articles would be nice to have under your belt for Wednesday (19th). They're pretty interesting - honest!

• http://factory.haiku-os.org/documentation/HIG/chapter2.html#id2662952


• http://www.basilv.com/psd/blog/2006/producing-good-software-is-hard


• http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html


• http://factory.haiku-os.org/documentation/HIG/ch02s05.html

For those scheduling demos and practice times

If you come to my office and the door is open, but I'm not there, chances are I'm helping students out in B107 or B162 - just listen for the dulcet tones of my voice. If you still can't find me, you can ask anyone in the office whether they've seen me or not.

If you come by my office and the door isn't open, please slip a note under my door to let me know you were there - I hope to make this a rare occurrence, but things *do* get a bit wild sometimes, and I might be a little late getting back to my office.

Additional reading for Hardware unit

There's some additional material to look at in the Course Docs section.

New task up in My Tasks

Words added to Hardware unit vocabulary

Please add the following to your already lengthy list of vocabulary...of course, this should be ringing alarm bells in your head:

• satisficer
• maximizer
• Moore's Law
  

New tasks up to prep for Monday's lecture in My Tasks

Quick note about DVI ports

FYI, some DVI ports look like this.

Edit to post on Discussion Board

I've edited a post I made in the September 10 forum - it's in the thread titled "Why 8 bits in a byte?"

About those email notifications

They're punted out once a day, between 7am and 9am. And you can send them to any email you want, not just your myMRC email. And they have a pine-fresh scent!

1-Minute Paper up in Discussion Board

Friday tasks up in My Tasks section

Journal task 2 up

It's in My Journal Tasks.

Demonstration 1 information now up

It's under My Demos.

Textbook chapters for our units

In case you're looking to read ahead a bit, here are the chapters that correspond to the units we're covering this semester (as per the Course Schedule):

Hardware: chapters 4 and 5
Software: chapter 3
Personal Technology: chapter 7
Technology Issues: not in text

--- midterm ---

DBs and Info Systems: chapter 8
Networks: chapter 6
Internet/WWW: chapter 2
Under the Hood: not in text
Digital Age Challenges: chapter 9, some of chapters 2 and 6
Future Issues: not in text

Q & A forum now available

There is now a Q & A forum available in our Discussion Boards. Please feel free to post any course related questions you have, and I (and hopefully other students) will answer them. You may post anonymously if you wish, if you worry that your question is "dumb".

Study group resources

Anyone considering forming a study group for this class? They're one of the best (if not *the* best) way to learn - nothing helps you understand something better than helping other people understand it!

I've placed a document with practical information on forming and running study groups - it's in Course Docs. There's also a new forum in the Discussion Forum which you can use to recruit members.

Suggested reading for Wendesday's class

Here are our objectives for Wednesday's class - I'd suggest reading up on the topics that deal with them:

• Be able to identify on sight common ports (USB, Firewire, PS/2, printer, network, VGA, DVI), know what connects with them, and know what the connecting cables look like.
• Be able to identify on sight common expansion cards (network-wired, network-wireless, sound, video), know how to insert them, and understand what they're used for.
• Be able to describe the uses of hard drives and optical drives, and know how to install them.
• Be able to describe the purpose of memory, how it compares to hard drives, and how to install it.

Hardware vocabulary list up

It's a wee bit on the large side, and is waiting for you in the My Vocabulary section of our site.

About those first 2 demonstrations being ready...

I state in the course outline that I'd have the first 2 demos available by last Friday...I obviously missed the mark.

I'll try and have the first one ready by this Friday, and the next by next Friday.

Two truths and a lie introductions - c'mon people...get your butts in gear

I noticed that less than 1/2 the class made the deadline for submission of the GDocs self-introduction....if you look at your Karma Rating under My Marks, you'll notice that you've been dinged.

I think that getting yourselves in that introduction doc is so important, I'm willing to give you a bit of time to redeem yourself - if you get your intro up before 5PM Monday (10th), I'll give you 5 karma points.

Discussion boards - keep an eye on them

Hey -

I've put up some posts on the Discussion Board regarding the 1-minute paper results from Friday's lecture. Three things:

1) I'll be doing this on a regular basis - I think your input from these papers is important (not to mention incredibly useful to me as an instructor), and that any patterns of misunderstanding or dissatisfaction should be addressed...the forums are where I'll be doing the addressing, and

2) I encourage you to add to these forums if they bring any further questions to mind, and

3) I consider anything in these forums fair game for exams.

2203 Blended contract

Two things:

1. Remember that I'd like the contract in by this Wednesday (the 12th). If you don't have a copy, you can pick it up in class on Monday, or grab a copy from the Course Docs section of our BlackBoard site.
2. Failure to hand in the contract in on time will result in a loss of 10 karma points.

Karma info up

A pdf about the karma system is now available in Course Docs.

Tired of checking in to see if there are any announcements?

How about receiving an email whenever I put an announcement up? And that email can go to whatever address you like? You'll never need to log in to Blackboard over and over again just to see if there are any announcements (at least for my course) again!


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