Half of the past two weeks was Spring Recess. Some students used this opportunity to rest and recharge while some worked to jump ahead in their IS101 coursework (many in Excel and one in PowerPoint)!
This past Saturday was the first class session upon returning from Spring Recess. Both Haridev (Dev) and Glenda made me extremely proud as they both fully and correctly comprehended one of my signature topics: How to properly dissect an Uniformed Resource Locator (URL) and its components :-) Both shared the top spot on Bonus Quiz 8. I especially like Dev's learning and output from one of the articles from the second third of my lecture /presentation L3: The Internet: Ultimate Guide to Owning ccTLD: metal.m.an -- using the Country Code Top-Level Domain of Netherlands Antilles (.an) as welding is his trade and metal is his medium.
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Srikalyani (Sri) and Sathya captivated everyone's attention in the first hour of the class with their slideshow presentations: My Favorite Place and Ramadan respectively. I definitely agree with Sri's closing statement: "Combination of busy life and peaceful scenic beauty of mountain view" and like Sathya's closing photograph from Sri Lanka with all of her college classmates representing multiple religions. I finished the class session with the final third of my lecture/presentation L3: The Internet.
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The remaining students who are actively participating in IS101 have now taken and passed their MO-110 Word certification exam ^_^ Each Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification exams is out of 1,000 points and the passing score is 700. Kiet has jumped quite far ahead in his LabSim coursework and qualified to take MO-310 PowerPoint but illness sidelined the studious student.
Before Spring Recess, we ventured into Chapter 5 Microsoft Excel. As I have my signature topics, presentations, and assignments, the program director of the Digital Literacy program in the Computer and Information Technology (CIT) Department has his too: YouTube videos and Fun with Functions... workbooks.
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Students,
(1) Did watching the 18 min 55 sec Excel Primer video help you alleviate any anxiety or misconception with Microsoft Excel?
(2) Did you gain a sense of independence from doing the 'Fun with FUNctions' workbook?
(3) With a MOS certification exam under your belt -- two for Kiet -- how do you feel about preparing for your next one?
(1) Did watching the 18 min 55 sec Excel Primer video help you alleviate any anxiety or misconception with Microsoft Excel?
ReplyDelete-Watching the video, Dr. Mark made Excel look so easy. However, like anyone else, just learning or doing something is hard, and you struggle. So, watching someone who is practically an expert with Excel who made it look easy but taught how to do it may have helped slightly, but it does not change how I am personally or how someone else is personally on level with Excel.
(2) Did you gain a sense of independence from doing the 'Fun with FUNctions' workbook?
- I did gain a slight amount of independence from doing the Fun with FUNctions' workbook. Some of the codes took me a few tries to complete, and some on the first try. However, I have not completed the workbook fully yet, which is why I am receiving help on Saturday.
(3) With a MOS certification exam under your belt -- two for Kiet -- how do you feel about preparing for your next one?
-The certification exam was surprisingly not as difficult as I thought, aside from a few tasks. I am glad I passed. However, I did have experience using words for years on and off. Meanwhile, with Excel, I do not have much experience, especially with coding, so there is a 50/50 chance of me passing the exam. I am hoping I can be successful in passing, but I am not 100% sure since coding is not my strong point.
(1) Did watching the 18 min 55 sec Excel Primer video help you alleviate any anxiety or misconception with Microsoft Excel?
ReplyDelete- Yes, it alleviated my anxiety. I am a complete novice with Microsoft Excel, so I had to pause and rewind to reinforce the learning points he emphasized. Students may find the video too slow but his presentation cadence perfect since I find the LabSim presenters too fast, and I must stop and rewind two or three times while reviewing LabSim.
(2) Did you gain a sense of independence from doing the 'Fun with FUNctions' workbook?
- I did gain confidence and independence with the ‘Fun with FUNctions’ workbook since it was a different learning environment than LabSim. Since the workbook used the Excel app loaded on my computer, when I made a simple goof up and needed to undo or restart, I didn’t have the “lag time” that I encounter with LabSim or the Live Projects which messes up the whole Simulation.
(3) With a MOS certification exam under your belt -- two for Kiet -- how do you feel about preparing for your next one?
- Not too confident but I have enough knowledge and I will get a passing grade. I still have problems understanding what the question is asking me to do but once I know what the task is, I know how to use Excel to accomplish the task. My biggest stumbling block is comprehending the question and not spending too much time deciphering it to the detriment of completing all the projects.
1) Did watching the 18 min 55 sec Excel Primer video help you alleviate any anxiety or misconception with Microsoft Excel?
ReplyDeleteANSWER: Yes, video was helpful where Dr. Mark Taormino was patient is explaining the basics in excel. His final not on the shortcut for switching absolute to relative path was more information as i was not aware of this and doing the changes manually each time.
(2) Did you gain a sense of independence from doing the 'Fun with FUNctions' workbook?
ANSWER: Yes, I liked Fun with FUNctions, as i looked at it as a kind of challenge game.
(3) With a MOS certification exam under your belt -- two for Kiet -- how do you feel about preparing for your next one?
ANSWER: I am yet to start with the preparation. Hoping to do better for this certification.
(1) Did watching the 18 min 55 sec Excel Primer video help you alleviate any anxiety or misconception with Microsoft Excel?
ReplyDeleteWatching that Excel primer video made me wish I had found Professor Wu's blog before I took my certification. Yikes, I was so preoccupied with the LabSims and other assignments that I miss this blog, my bad. If only I had found it sooner, I might not have spent two weeks or more stressing over the basic and logical functions of Excel.
(2) Did you gain a sense of independence from doing the 'Fun with FUNctions' workbook?
The "Fun with Functions" workbook played a major role in my Excel certification success. It required me repeated practice until I achieved a perfect score for submission. Perhaps that was the purpose of the workbook: to aid students in memorizing and mastering basic functions. Hmmm very clever strategy.
(3) With a MOS certification exam under your belt -- two for Kiet -- how do you feel about preparing for your next one?
Thankfully, I passed the certification. Prior to the exam, I continuously practiced all the LabSims for Excel and the functions workbook to build my confidence.
(1) Did watching the 18 min 55 sec Excel Primer video help you alleviate any anxiety or misconception with Microsoft Excel?
ReplyDeleteThe video itself provides me with a new way to approach excellent basics. If I could explain it, I'd put it like as if it were a math problem. Although there are a lot of ways to find a solution, there's always a more efficient way to solve them. The professor's way of breaking down the basics of Excel in comparison to Labsim made me wish he was the narrator on the software as well.
(2) ) Did you gain a sense of independence from doing the 'Fun with FUNctions' workbook?
The "Fun with Functions" workbook really helped enhance my skills in Excel. It was a great relief to see that I was able to solve real-world problems with the skills I have been learning. Although the software itself made it hard to resolve certain problems with MAC.
(3) With a MOS certification exam under your belt -- two for Kiet -- how do you feel about preparing for your next one?
I admire Kiet a lot for the work and time he has dedicated to this class. I've been doing a lot of catching up for this class in particular. Thankfully, like him, I was able to pass the exam with a grade far higher than I was happy with. The LabSims itself really helped, although some questions confused me with their phrasing.
1) The video did help understand Excel to an extent, with practice makes perfect. I feel like being proficient in Excel is a perishable skill. If you don't retain the knowledge after not using it for a while, what good is it? I personally think you would have to be using the software daily at a job or any type of work on a daily basis to maintain the skills behind your certification exam.
ReplyDelete2) I did have some sense of independence with the "Fun with FUNctions" workbook, being that we could customize it the way we felt was best and eligible. Although by staring at the screen for hours, I wanted to gouge my eyeballs out during the process of trying to figure out some of the formulas.
3) After having surprisingly passed the Excel exam, I am willing to pursue the PowerPoint exam which I am more confident in. After using Word for years during school I was much more confident in that compared to Excel. I think what made Excel frustrating for me was when using LabSim, I would always experience slight lag on the website and nowhere else. I experienced this while doing Word and PowerPoint assignments too but because I already had more knowledge on these software's it wasn't too infuriating.
1) Watching an expert work with Excel helped me gain more confidence in my own ability to execute my work. Obviously doing it myself helps me learn, but I'm a visual learner and I like seeing the perspective of a certified expert.
ReplyDelete2) I actually liked the workbook and how it would automatically tell us if we were correct or not. Even though some parts of the workbooks took a while to understand, figuring everything out gave me feelings of independence and satisfaction. I shared the same experience in my programming class.
3) I got really good scores on both exams, so I hope I can continue to do well on the last one. Using the same strategies I used for the past two exams would be a wise idea. After all, if it works, don't change it.
1) In that video, Dr. Mark explained everything in detailed. I go with what he said, practice makes it perfect. Some times when I work in a spreadsheet, I having struggles with getting answers and then I do it more and more with changing functions. somehow I watched this video after my excel exam. ^-^
ReplyDelete2)when I was doing the more fun with function workbook, I got all answers in the very first time. I like it though.
3)I did pass both word and excel exams and I got really good score in excel exam and it surprised me also.
1.The Excel video was helpful to some extent, but honestly, I find Excel pretty easy to pick up. It's like riding a bike - once you've got the basics down, it all comes back pretty quickly. I guess it's a bit like a perishable skill, but I've always been able to jump back into it without much trouble, even if I haven't used it in a while.
ReplyDelete2.Customizing the "Fun with Functions" workbook was a breeze for me. I enjoy tinkering with formulas and making things my own. Sure, I spent some time staring at the screen, but I never felt overwhelmed. It was more like a fun puzzle to solve.
3.After passing the Excel exam, I'm considering taking on the PowerPoint exam next. Word has always been my strong suit, so I'm sure PowerPoint will be a walk in the park for me. When you're already ahead, minor setbacks like that are easy to overcome.
ReplyDelete1) Did watching the 18 min 55 sec Excel Primer video help you alleviate any anxiety or misconception with Microsoft Excel?
After watching the Excel Primer video I found it to be extremely helpful. I really got behind on blogging and I did not see it before I spent hours on LabSim. I really wish I had watched it before as I am completely new to Excel and it does a great job at making it seem way less intimidating.
(2) Did you gain a sense of independence from doing the 'Fun with FUNctions' workbook?
After Fun with FUNctions I felt ready to do the Excel Exam test. It put all of what I learned on LabSim in one place and made me more confident in my abilities in Excel.
(3) With a MOS certification exam under your belt, how do you feel about preparing for your next one?
LabSim is a great tool that I am happy I had the opportunity to use. When I started the Excel portion I was already looking ahead and stressing out about the test because of how foreign Excel has always been to me. By knowing a little on how the exams work by having already taken the Microsoft Word exam, by the time I finished the LabSim course, I felt prepared and ready for the Excel exam.
1) After watching the video, it did help with some of the stress. However I have used excel a lot in the past so I am not too worried going into it. It should be pretty easy to accomplish and succeed.
ReplyDelete2) I actually had a lot of fun doing the 'Fun with FUNctions'. I enjoy math and it was a lot of fun to complete it with the different functions as well as a nice change of pace from other things we were doing in class.
3) I feel pretty good and confident about the excel exam, this is because I did quite well on word. However the best way I will study is doing the practice exams. I did not realize on how cookie cutter those really are, they really helped and make the exam a breeze.
1) I gave the video a look before initially looking at Excel just to help understand the program a bit better and it helped me realize Excel isn't too complicated.
ReplyDelete2) Fun with Functions helped me realize how much I knew about Excel although it did feel a bit limiting given how it wants the commands with exact spacing so you may have the correct answer but unless you got rid of the space, it wouldn't accept it.
3) Going off the word exam, the preparation process gets you ready for mostly anything that can appear on the MOS exams. Excel is a little bit scary due to not knowing what exactly will be on there but TestOut seems to give us enough practice to handle it.
1) I liked the way Excel was described as a visual calculator. Ultimately, Excel is a tool and we need to understand the functions to be the most effective when using tools.
ReplyDelete2) Working on the Fun with Functions workbooks gave me a sense of independence, for sure! It seemed overwhelming when first looking through to problems but slowly things started to make sense. Some of the problems did cause me headaches and it took me multiple days to get them right. It was awesome seeing the word "correct" come up. It wasn't until i had everything figured out that i asked for help on a few minor things that were holding me up.
3) The exam was not as hard as I thought but I had more familiarity with Word, compared to Excel when I came into this class. I'm confident that if I do well on the practice forms in Sim Lab, they will set me up properly to pass.
1) I think my anxiety with Excel will always be present, it's a bit like HVAC you're always learning something new. I do appreciate the video though.
ReplyDelete2) Since I have worked on Fun with Functions I felt very confident working on it and I know originally the first time working with it I was overwhelmed but once I started to understand the formula it came together nicely.
3) I was not nervous at all about the Excel exam it's really just math and inputting formulas, I was actually more nervous to take the Microsoft Word exam.