Database Design and Assessment

The following PDF gives teachers a great understanding and starting point for assessment.

Databases can be a complicated subject. Most students will not have used Access before. The following video is about understanding database design. It explains in plain English what Access is, how it is different from other Microsoft office software and how to create a good database. The visuals a great, there are a lot of graphical representations and imagery. It is as though it was made for students. This would be a really great intro to the topic and help the students to gain knowledge and understanding of the first section of the syllabus for this topic:

Database development

·          purpose of a database

·          components of a database

·          inputs of a database

    

    

The following website is great for school kids. It has specific link headings in the table of contents (shown below) that students can access to learn how to accomplish a particular task in creating a database.  This helps teachers as students learn at different paces especially in IST, some students are whizzes and other take continual explanations. This website allows the struggling students to refresh their own memory/ reteach themselves. It will make them be and feel more autonomous and less incapable in the subject, without having to continuously ask for the teachers help.

Link: Database Tutorials

 

References

Database Tutorial. (2012). Retrieved May 23, 2012, from Quack IT: http://www.quackit.com/database/tutorial/

Software Development and Programming

This option topic can be very difficult for students to understand but from a practical perspective, really fun. During the presentation i thought it all sounded really complicated with its topic specific vocabulary. However the activity associated was easy to use and really fun. There are many great projects that could be organised for a stage 5 class using scratch. I particularly like the following instructional video on the basics of how to create an animation using scratch as it is narrated by a student. In a class students could have the option to keep referring back to the video while making their animation if they are unsure of how to use certain feature such as getting a background etc.

Technology in the Workplace.

How things have changed even in the short time since we were at school. Now most classrooms have a smart board, most students have a laptop and the once common phrase “take out your pen and paper” is becoming more and more obsolete. It is therefore essential that the previous generation (us) learns how to integrate technology in the classroom. I found the following website that is great to give teachers ideas in general across any KLA on how to use technology for many different types of tasks and lessons. It is called 50 ways to use technology, and is aimed specifically at teachers. The site separates the ideas into categories, they are as follows

Word Processing, Spreadsheets and Databases, Internet, Email, Presentation Software, Digital Camera, Digital Video, Web Page, & Videoconferencing.

Link:  50 Ways to Use Technology In the Classroom

 

References

50 ways to use technology . (2008, 12 19). Retrieved May 4, 2012, from Classroomtech: http://www.classroomtech.org/integration/50ways.htm

Software

For this core topic, the syllabus requires students to:

·          define and describe a software system

·          explain the purpose of a software system

·          distinguish between types of software

·          select and justify the use of software for a given situation

They may already have an understanding of software as it would have been touch upon during the Hardware topic as a way of distinguishing between the two. I believe this video will allow students to again gain an understanding of both types of software and be able to accomplish the syllabus requirements. The video may be an intro to a more in-depth activity to ensure understanding is acquired

Robotics and Automated Systems

I think this topic can be of particular interest for school students as robots are not only know from a technical computing point of view but are part of children’s lives from a young age in popular culture and fantasy. There are many kids TV shows and movies that display robots as an amazing thing of the future that we can interact with and can help us accomplish tasks. These could be mentioned to start off the unit and get students interested but relating it to things they know and enjoy such as star wars robotic characters, the robot you can buy in the Sims game to do the house work, I Robot movie, The step ford wives, inspector Gadget,  The Terminator, The Jetsons, Transformers etc. It is also part of the syllabus to:

- investigate the image of robots from Hollywood and the scientific community

Therefore discussing some of their favorutie TV show/movies is quite relevant.

The following video gives a really quick, uncomplicated and easy to understand history of robotics which is a syllabus dot point. It could be turned into a quiz where students need to try to remember or write down as many points as they can about the video and then get into groups and share their notes. The group that covers the most information provided in the video gets a prize. Students at this age are very competitive; especially boys so turning activities into competitive games, tends to really motivate them in class.

People

The aspect i found most interesting about this lecture was the computer industries increasing lack of popularity to women. I could relate to that as i have always found that computer related subjects or tasks are one step ahead of my comfort zone or level of capability and find myself asking the boys for assistance continually. I think this may have developed from my own self efficacy in relation to computing. I already believed i was incompetent before trying to master the skills. This made me interested to find out why this is common to women in general not just myself.

A research study was initialize by the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Computer Science Education at Carnegie Mellon University, and Jane Margolis, a social scientist and expert in gender equity in education, suggested the main issues discovered in interesting and retaining women in computer science were feelings of an experience gap, confidence doubts, interest in curriculum and pedagogy, and peer culture.

I believe there needs to be more done from an early age to motivate girls in computing. As high school teachers we don’t get them until year 7 at which point they may already have developed a low self efficacy for computing, however with certain positive reinforcement interventions such as afternoon computer clubs or class activities that have a particularly appealing subject matter to girls may help to improve their low self confidence or lack of interest in the subject.

Networking Systems

In the presentation for this topic i found the video very informative and great for a stage 5 class. The video can be stopped and start to allow for discussion and sections can b skipped or saved for another lesson if the teacher did not want to show the entire video. I think this topic can be quite dry and i found it very difficult to understand when we learnt it last year. Many students like myself find it hard to picture something that cannot visually be seen like a network. For this reason i think the more visual explanations the better and thus, videos are a good start.

The text book Multimedia: Making it work by Tay Vaughan is a fantastic resource for this topic. It provides easy to understand and detailed information on everything network related including:

A communications network
·          nature and role
·          advantages and disadvantages of a communication network such as –        sharing of peripheral devices –        application programs –        data –        security of information –        access to databases
Protocols such as
·          TCP/IP
·          IPX/SPX
·          netbui
·          appletalk
Data transmission modes
·          simplex
·          half duplex
·          full duplex
Data transmission rates
·          baud rates
·          bits per second
Data transmission media
·          wire
·          wireless
Types of networks such as
·          Local Area Network (LAN)
·          Wide Area Network (WAN)
·          Virtual Private Network (VPN)
Client server and peer-peer networks
Components of networks such as
·          servers-file sharing servers ·          print servers ·          mail servers ·          workstations ·          hubs ·          switches ·          routers ·          gateways ·          repeaters ·          bridges ·          network interface card
Security of information
·          storage
·          backup
·          security
Network topologies including
·          star
·          ring
·          bus
Network operating systems
·          purpose
·          management such as establishing users and groups users and groups, security permissions and policies and profiles, use of compression technology

All of the above are direct “learn abouts” from the stage 5 syllabus for this option topic. And all are covered in the listed text book.

References

Blum, L. (2001, 1 27). Women in Computer Science: Carnegie Mellon Experience. Retrieved 2012, from women@scs: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~lblum/PAPERS/women_in_computer_science.pdf

Ali, S. (Director). (2010). Ericson-The Dawn of the NET [Motion Picture].

This week we had one presentation on Artificial Intelligence, Simulation and Modelling.

This was great. I would have had no idea what artificial intelligence or simulation before this lesson. If someone asked me to take a guess at what it was I would have probably said something that the CIA would use or government spys to gain information or help them in covert missions. But I was really surprised to learn that it is in our everyday lives, video games, computers etc.

I thought the lesson was fantastic. The teachers made a point that there would be a quiz so they needed to take notes, this made us all listen and write stuff down. We then did the quiz which was quite tricky but were able to get the answers we missed during the class discussion. The teachers also asked for answers from each table so it wasn’t the same student always answering the questions, everyone was involved. The conclusion of the lesson was awesome. We all had to log on and play a simulation game where we either had to drive a car or fly a helicopter, it was really hard but so much fun and a great way to tie up a lesson that was heavily content based with something that was still perfectly relevant to the topic but also really fun for the students. Its almost like a reward for trying hard in the quiz etc. I really loved this lesson and if I am teaching this topic I will definitely integrate these methods into some of my lessons.

The link is the trailer to a fantastic Steven Spielberg film called Artificial Intelligence. It is set in the future where the possibilities of Artificial Intelegence have progressed. The story is about a boy, a robotic boy who is programmed with the ability to love.  I think this could be a great movie for the students to watch as they will be interested since it’s by Steven Spielberg. It may help them to start thinking about artificial intelligence and how it can and can’t or shouldn’t work.

Past, Current and Emerging Technologies

I am really interested in new and emerging technologies and the considerations that come with it. I remember for the trial HSC I wrote a response on obsolescence. Much of what I wrote I still remember and I think it is really important to know. I could discuss some of these points with a class and see what their opinions are.

“With new and emerging technology obsolescence is a huge issue.

Planned obsolescence could be seen as ethical in that the world is fast passed today with new and emerging technologies. Planned obsolescence forces the public to keep up with the rest of society. We also greatly rely on our economy and the workforce. And important segment of that is sales and goods and services. To prevent the economy from falling into recession, society need to continually be requiring goods and services and be purchasing them.

It becomes unethical when designers and marketers deliberately over use planned obsolescence to generate massive long-term sales and financial profits.

Designers also need to consider the environment. If they are going to adopt planned obsolescence into their designs they need to ensure the resources and materials used to continually make the products do not have negative effects on the environment. Resources need to be infinite (water, wind, air, trees) and materials biodegradable or environmentally friendly, so that they do not add to land fill. It would be unethical for designers to use finite materials and resources (coal, oil, fuel) as they would be making more products than necessary which harming the environment. Looking after the environment can draw the line between ethical and unethical behaviour. Our environment is of huge concern today and designers need to consider this in our changing world. we all leave our own environment footprint, so we should make it a positive one.” extract from my year 12 essay.

Week 5

This week we had two presentations on Authoring and Multimedia.

One aspect of these presentations that really caught my attention was gaining an understanding of the use of multimedia for 3 specific different purposes, education, entertainment and information.  It was really interesting that depending on the purpose of the media, the different types are considered more valuable than others.

 For example text might be considered highly valuable for information purposes but not valuable at all for entertainment. Then again this is subjective, we found through class discussion that it is a personal opinion and all medias can be valuable in all categories if they are used creatively. For example a student said that they actually would put text at the top of the list for entertainment because reading is their favourite hobby. 

This is important for teachers to remember. We need to think outside the box. Maybe the best way for education or getting students to absorb information is not always through textbooks; perhaps it can be better absorbed through a video or an interactive website activity.

This is important in relation to Howard Gardeners Multiple Intelligences theory where he states that there are 8 different types of intelligences or ways of learning. Some students are linguistic learners who learn well from lecture situations, others can’t take in anything that way and need to read or be shown images/graphs/statistics to understand these are logical mathematic or spatial learners. Others are musically intelligent. To cater for these people there could be a homework task where students must show their understanding of the previous lesson in any number of ways. Some could write a reflection of the lesson, others could create a timeline of what went on in the lesson and what was learned at each point, or a musically intelligent person might like to write a song about the lesson.

Hardware

I do understand the basics of hardware and the Input, output, storage, processing and control. However I think it can be quite difficult to explain it all to a class. A great method to show them the input, outputs could be on labelled images such as in the lecture where the different ports such as USB etc are annotated, or since many students now have laptops they could have a task where they have to locate each type of port on their own computer.

This website has a great quiz that the students could work though to get a better understanding of hardware.

Hardware Quiz

Week 4

This week was the first week of presentations and WE were up first!!

The internet and Web site development

I found this assessment really interesting. I enjoyed catering it for a younger audience as it gave me the opportunity to find some really fun resources and videos that can help with teaching.

I found a great video that explains what the Internet is in an interesting way. Today, explanations can get very complicated with all the new opportunities the internet provides so this video really took it back to an easy to understand level. It was completely comprised of clips from news headlines, 60minutes sort of shows and other documentaries that were made in the early 90s when the internet was really taking off. It was catered for the mass market and it was almost funny because the things they were saying seem like common sense as we have all grown up with a basic knowledge of the internet, it does however get the message across fantastically for a stage 4 or 5 audience.

I was interested in learning about authoring software because I didn’t really know what it meant. I then realise that I use different types of authoring software all the time when developing assignments etc.

To explain the World Wide Web I thought it was important to identify that the WWW is different from the internet as the two terms often are used interchangeably. The WWW exists within the internet and you can be using the internet without using the WWW. To get this message across I found a video that explains the WWW and how it works using a hand drawn stop motion animation. I thought this was very effective and I really liked how it explained the WWW without using an actual computer in the presentation.

I was really excited to be able to take about website development. In the previous blog I spoke about how passionate I was about it when I was in high school so to be able to break it down my own way that would be great for a stage 4 or 5 audience was really exciting to me.  Instead of finding a video I decided write my own design process that is simplified and easy to remember with 3 sections and 2 steps within each section. I made sure though that every essential element of designing is evident and I cross checked this with the HSC design and technology Major Design Project requirements. I thought if I am ensuring I am meeting the criteria for stage 6 students then my simplified development stages would definitely be more than adequate for stage 4 and 5 projects.

I feel our lesson went really well and it was great that we had a backup plan if there were any problems with computers. The students learnt at the end of the lesson how to identify the message and meaning of a webpage and the techniques web designers use to get this message across.