Welcome back! I hope your Christmas break was refreshing and enjoyable!
Welcome to Computer Applications! Today we are going to talk about a variety of introductory items that are important for this class. There are going to be many applications of computers and computer knowledge that you are going to learn this semester. Some are going to be very challenging, others are going to be fun, but most importantly all of you are going to walk out of this class at the end of May with a trunkful of knowledge.
To give you an idea of what you will be learning and doing this semester, here is a list of some of the things that we will be doing this semester:
- Learn to key using the correct fingers on the correct keys
- Learn to format documents in Microsoft Word
- Create a blog
- Create an email account in Google (if you already have one, you're one step ahead of the game!)
- Learn how to correctly send emails
- Learn Internet Safety
- Create a podcast
- Learn over 100 words associated with computers
- Learn how computer programmers think
- Use a wiki page
There will undoubtedly be other things that we will accomplish, but this list should give you an idea of the variety of things that we do in here.
You should have a thumb/flash/USB drive that you will be using in this class (those in Design & Tech will also be using it in that class...don't lose it!). This will be something that you will not need right away, but eventually it will be an important part of the class.
For today, we are going to start with learning about the room and the computer.
I also want to let you know that you will be having regular vocabulary quizzes in here. There are 10 lists of words that will be covered. Those lists include topics like The Internet, Software, Hardware, Multimedia/Graphics, and others. More on this later (there will not be a vocab list this week or next week). You may also have regular pop quizzes - if you are paying attention in class these should not be difficult to complete.
For this class, I grade on a point basis which means each assignment is given a point value. For example, an assignment may be worth 10 points. If you get 8 points on the assignment in Skyward I'm going to enter 8. For those of you who prefer percentages - sorry, I just have never entered my grades that way. If you want to figure out your percentage you can take the number of points you get on an assignment and divide by the number of points possible (8/10 = 80%, a C). Here is the breakdown for the First Quarter:
Technique = 15% of your overall grade
Assignments = 50%
Quizzes = 30%
Timed writing (some call this a speed test) = 5%
These are "guesstimates" - they may change slightly by the time the end of the quarter rolls around, but you should be able to use these as a guideline.
Ok, let's get started with Computer Applications!
To begin with we are going to look at the Computer Lab use agreement that you have agreed to (probably without your knowledge). It can be located here (go to page 17).
This is an important document as it explains what your responsibilities are as a student and it also protects the school. More than likely your parents agreed to all of these policies on your behalf - what that means is that you are required to follow these rules in order to be able to use the computer you are going to be sitting in front of in this class.
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