Second Quarter Kicks Off with Student Presentations and Early MOS Success

The past two weeks have been exciting!

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*****Two Saturdays ago*****

Haridev (Dev), Glenda, Brandon, and Justin showed up early to take on Bonus Quiz 5 and kick off the second quarter of IS101-3002, Spring 2024. Dev scored a near-perfect and continued his streak of leading his classmates in BQ performances.

After walking through the answers and rationale of BQ5 with the class, I yielded center stage to Madi who brought us to see why Rochelle Park, NJ is her Special Place -- it's where she grew up, spent time with her huge family, and visiting establishments such as Rochelle Park Shopping Center and Rochelle Park Diner and Grill.

Dev followed and educated us on Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW). Starting with General Welding Process, to the Development of GTAW, to GTAW Welding Process, and concluding with recognition of Margaret “Hap” Brenneke, the lead GTAW welder for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) who worked on the Saturn V rocket.

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After walking through each of the polishing process for Madi's and Dev's slideshow from their draft slideshow to the final version, I gave the remainder of the classroom session time for students to work their coursework.

*****Last Saturday*****

A migraine kept Dev from the classroom, leaving Glenda the lone challenger to Bonus Quiz 6. Glenda matched Dev's performance on BQ5. I deferred the review of BQ6 and walked through a roadmap for the second quarter of IS101-3002, Spring 2024 and how to prepare for the MO-110 Word certification exam this coming Saturday.

Glenda educated the class on 3 Year to Finish My [Her] Program. In her presentation, the wife and mom to fur babies listed 3 W's: obligations as a Wife and mom, Work (both paid and volunteer), and Wealth (depleted funds) and 2 D's: Determination (I can) and Dedication (I will). I bet my money on 2 D's will triumph over 3 W's and Glenda will earn her Associate of Applied Science in Health Health Information Technology.

Kiet followed by sharing his passion for Basketball. I learned that Dr. James Naismith invented the game in 1891 and saw it included in The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament in 1939. Kiet concluded his presentation with a friendly challenge to the audience with "Game?" I offered the polite young man the opportunity to take the MO-110 later that evening after the morning class session ended.

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Kiet and I returned to the classroom and Kiet became the first student from IS101-3002, Spring 2024 to pass MO-110 and earned the first Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certificate. I am so proud of this young man ^_^ This week, I re-opened Bonus Quiz 6 and Dev eagerly signed up to take it tomorrow evening. I hope more students will join Dev and Kiet :-)

Students,

Please watch these two artificial intelligence (AI) videos and answer three questions/topics in your comment:

I Challenged My AI Clone to Replace Me for 24 Hours | WSJ

On April 28, 2023 (7 min 33 sec) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t52Bi-ZUZjA

Bad science: AI used to target kids with disinformation on YouTube - BBC World Service

On September 14, 2023 (10 min 10 sec) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojjn9T_fuUw

(1) What are your thoughts from watching the two videos above?

(2) What did you think of the student slideshow presentations thus far?

(3) How are you starting out the second quarter of IS101-3002, Spring 2024?

Front Runners of First Quarter

The past four weeks have been busy and more furious than the past few semesters. Four students emerged as front runners.

Always early to the classroom, always on target with LabSim, and always prepared & participating in the weekly bonus quizzes is Haridev (Dev). The Allentown, PA native has already earned his master and bachelor degrees, now seeking to add pedigree to his trade of welding. I thank this veteran for his military services in the U.S. Air Force and Army. Dev continued his streak of leading in the bonus quizzes with BQ3 and BQ4 as Glenda shared the pole position with Dev on BQ4. I wonder how BQ5 will play out this coming Saturday.

Part of the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts, Madison (Madi) is always eager to start her IS101-3002 coursework early and the first in seeking feedback on assignments & discussion threads and publishing her blog posts. The pioneering young lady completes half of the classroom's front row with Dev. Like her classmate next to her, Madi's father also served in our military; his service is definitely appreciated. 

Glenda often plays leapfrog in terms of coursework with Madi and keeping Dev company during the bonus quizzes. The gainfully employed wife, mother, and volunteer still finds time and energy to be a full-time college student. I know Glenda will achieve her goal of earning her Associate of Applied Science in Health Information Technology.

Many students play leapfrog with Madi and Glenda in their LabSim progress but the one that emerges as the clear leader is Kiet. The polite young man is so far ahead that he has already qualified to take the MO-110 Word certification exam! Perhaps one impetus for his proactive stance is his anticipation of missing some classes to fulfill his military duties on those weekends. I appreciate his military service, maturity, and capability in working ahead with his coursework.

There are other students who have or are serving in our military: Jonathan, Anthony, Keina, Michael (Mike), and Francisco (Tony). I thank them and hope they will join Kiet at the front of the pack.

Up until the end of the first week of semester for student to enroll in a course, twenty-nine (29) names cycled through the twenty (20) spots on my IS101-3002, Spring 2024 class roster. At the conclusion of the first quarter, one student never replied to me or attended class while another withdrew from the class due to personal reason. The eighteen students occupy the entire spectrum of course progress. As there are front runners, there are also those in danger of failing. I hope they will catch up in the next two weeks before taking the MO-110 Word certification exam.

I am especially excited for this coming Saturday. In the past two weeks, I gave PowerPoint presentations in the classroom. Beginning this coming classroom session, Madi and Dev will kick off students presentations!

Following up my previous blog post's topic of artificial intelligence (AI), this 27 min 52 sec video from last year is extremely timely and apropos. Viewer discretion is advised as the video contains strong languages and John Oliver's brand of humor. If you are under the age of 18 and cannot obtain your parent's permission, let me know and I will give you an alternate assignment in place of watching this video.

Be sure to view the video in full screen mode

Students,

Please address these three questions/topics in your comment:

(1) How do you think you performed in the first quarter of IS101-3002, Spring 2024?

(2) What are you throughs on any, some, or all of these points from John Oliver's video?

 a. Unexplainable how AI algorithms arrive at their results (i.e. "the problem with AI right now isn't that it's smart, but it's that it's stupid in ways we cannot predict")

 b. Unintended lessons (e.g. rulers are malignant)

 c. Bias-in-bias-out (e.g. pale male data, women = bad & men named 'Jared' who play high school lacrosse = good, TayTweets: from National Puppy Day to Nazi-leaning)

 d. Over-correcting (e.g. solves the problem of being racist by erasing minority)

 e. Would self regulation work for companies developing or using AI?

(3) Have you used AI yourself?

Weathering the Storm and Artificial Intelligence

It has been a roller coaster of past two weeks!

Wife gotten deathly ill. She gave some of her crud to me. Took me out of action for a good part of the past week. After caring for her and multiple medical appointments, the diagnosis is viral pneumonia. I'm doing much better, but with pre-existing medical conditions, she's still recovering. I'm exiting the eye of the storm.

The same can be said about my students in IS101-3002, Spring 2024 as they work through the jitters of a new course, new professor, new semester, new country even! Here are some stats:

• 17 names on the roster of 20 launched successfully

• 14 students persisted and reached 100% on Bonus Quiz 1 – Syllabus

Of the 20 names on the roster now, these <variable> are represented:

• U.S. military branches: Marines, Army, Air Force

• Ancestral roots: Vietnam, Laos, Sri Lanka, India

• Academic pursuits:

• 6 Computer and Information Technology degrees

• 5 Business-related degrees or certificates

• 4 Computer Science degrees

• 5 others degrees:

• Construction Management

• Air Conditioning Technology

• Health Information Technology

• Electrical Biomedical Equipment

• Welding Technology - Advanced Level

The 17 students occupy the entire spectrum of progress, some have much to catch-up/clean-up, some are quite ahead of the semester timetable in Canvas. This past Saturday, 7 took Bonus Quiz 2 – Self-Reliance and Self-Responsibility with Haridev (Dev), Justin, and Brandon scoring the highest :-)

This coming week, I will continue to help students clean-up A1 Accounts Setup and Professional Communication, A2 Blog, Posts, Articles, Videos, Comments, and D01 Managing Many Accounts and Self-Responsibility.

In this Saturday's class, I will walk through D02 Email Inbox Rule(s) and Blog Setup and/or D03 Your Connectivity and Connection after Bonus Quiz 3 – Jump Ahead & Special Characters in File Name. I hope Dev, Justin, Brandon will repeat their performance and their classmates will endeavor to join them. The "jump ahead" portion is based on the final page of the instructions for A3 Tailored Cover Letter and Resume. On the first page, is

Artificial Intelligence: The Robots Are Now Hiring (a 10-minute video and a half-page article)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/artificial-intelligence-the-robots-are-now-hiring-moving-upstream-1537435820

After clicking on the video, choose the [Full Screen] icon in the lower righter corner

Students:

Using algorithms in software to simulate intelligence is nothing new and quite common.

A few years ago, I emailed a company's customer support with some questions. The email responses I received made little sense. I deduced that they were (maybe still are) using software to respond to questions based on keywords/phrases in my email. But when the question is not simple or straightforward, the software make a best guess and respond accordingly. After a few rounds of exchange, a human finally responded and interpreted and answered my questions correctly.

I wonder what other examples of artificial intelligence (AI) have you come across.

Please elaborate in your comment to this blog post ^_^

Your example of AI in use must be unique, meaning if another student or I have used it, you will need to find a different example to use.