Educational Technology I:
Productivity Tools

Course number: EDDV 186
Credits: 1 credit

Description

Text

• An Introduction to Computing Using ClarisWorks®, Presley, Brown and Malfas, Lawrenceville Press, 1994 (CW)

Requirements

1. Graded laboratory activities. Throughout the semester there will be regularly assigned, graded, computer-based lab activities related to class lectures and laboratory experiences. Each activity is due at the next class meeting.
Work for these assignments is to be done on a individual basis, not in groups or in collaboration with another person. Sharing work on the lab assignments is a form of academic dishonesty.

Procedures for turning in work:

To Submit work on paper: 
Have your name computer-printed (not hand-written) in the upper left-hand corner. This should be followed by your section number and the assignment identifier.  Multiple pages should be stapled together.

To submit work electronically:
Find the MAC volume of the ITC file server, to which you have access in the computer classrooms in WHL 203-I and WHL 309.
Put your homework on this path:

MAC: Ed Tech I: Homework: [Your section number]  

Name the file using your last name, a comma, then your first name, then the assignment identifier. All this will be demonstrated in class.

2. Report. You and one or two team members will be assigned a reading about the ethical and societal issues posed by information technology. These readings are on reserve in the Education Resource Center on the first floor of the Willard Hall Education Building. Some readings are on-line and will be accessed via the World Wide Web. Your team will write a 500-word summary of the article, e-mail it to the instructor and your classmates, and lead a short (5- to 10-minute) class discussion about the issue(s) addressed. Each team will be assigned a class meeting during which it will present its report. The appendix to this syllabus explains the details of how this process is to work. Click Here for Teams.
3. Mid-Term Exam. A short exam will be administered during the 8th class meeting.  (vocabulary list)
4. Final exam.  (supplementary vocabulary list)

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Topics and Assignments

Class Meeting Schedule

Weeks 1 - 3: Basic Tools and Issues

1. (Feb. 13, 16) Introduction to the class, the Copland computer, and the WWW
Fundamental concepts of computing: hardware, software, and data.

• Reading: CW,Chapter 1
• Lab Activity (SUR): Log onto Copland and change to an alpha username if you have not already done so.

Take the computer background survey as demonstrated in class.

 Click Here for Lecture Notes

2. (Feb. 20, 23) Introduction to E-mail.

• See the online documentation.
• Lab Activity (BT1): Send an E-mail message to your instructor. The subject of the message should be:  My First Message

3. (Feb. 27, Mar. 2) E-mail and the World Wide Web.

• Reading: Responsible Computing: A Student Manual.
• Lab Activity (BT2): remaining sections. Create a nickname for your instructor in the address book and set up a folder for saving messages relevant to this class. Using the new address book entry, send an E-mail message to your instructor with the URL for a Web page that you found and a short description of the contents of the page.  The subject of the message should be:  My Web Page

The Web pages reviewed in class are available here.

Weeks 4 - 7: Word Processing

4. (Mar. 6, 9) Word Processing I.
The MAC operating system and introduction to ClarisWorks.
Saving and retrieving files.

• Reports: Team 1 presents a 5-minute report and leads a 5-minute discussion.
• Reading: CW, Chapter 2.
• Lab Activity (BT3): CW, Chapter 2: work through Practice 1 through Practice 7. Hand in on paper exercise 12. See the instructions for handing in paper assignments above in this syllabus. Copy the ClarisWorks Research document from the Mac : Ed Tech I : Data folder, as demonstrated in class, to your floppy disk and work with this. Make sure you save this exercise on a floppy disk as you will need the file again.

5. (Mar. 13, 16) Word Processing II.
Formatting a document: margins, tabs, fonts, headers, footers.

• Reports: Team 2 presents a 5-minute report and leads a 5-minute discussion.
• Reading: CW, Chapter 3.
• Lab Activity (WP1): CW, Chapter 3: work through Practice 1 through Practice 11. Hand in on paper exercise 12. See the instructions for handing in paper assignments above. Make sure you save this exercise on a floppy disk as you will need the file again.

6. (Mar. 20, 23) Word Processing III.
Power tools: cut, copy, paste, find, spell check, thesaurus, footnotes, columns.

• Reports: Team 3 presents a 5-minute report and leads a 5-minute discussion.
• Reading: CW, Chapter 4.
• Lab Activity (WP2): CW, Chapter 4: complete Practice 1 through Practice 10. Hand in on paper exercise 4.

7. (Mar. 27, 30) Word processing IV.
Importing graphics. Importing unformatted text. Hidden characters. Finding and replacing hidden characters.

• Reports: Team 4 presents a 5-minute report and leads a 5-minute discussion.
• Reading: CW, Chapter 12.
• Lab Activity (WP3): Download a file from the World Wide Web. Use ClarisWorks to format it so that the margins change from what they were originally. Add a header and a footer, appropriate font changes for emphasis, and at least one paragraph set apart by right and left indents. Include a picture (from the World Wide Web, or a clip art collection, or your own drawing, or scanned art). Important: there must be no unnecessary line breaks in your document, no spaces used where tabs would be better, and no tabs used where paragraph indenting would be better. There must be no misspelled words that the Claris works spell checker will catch. Submit your formatted document electronically, as well as printed on paper. Make sure your name appears inside the document before you save it.

Week 8

8. (Apr. 3, 13) Mid-term Exam.

• Reports: Team 5 presents a 5-minute report and leads a 5-minute discussion.
• Mid-term

    The mid-term will cover chapters 1-4 in the CW text and assignments BT1-WP4.
        (See the vocabulary list for terms that may appear on the test.)

Weeks 9 - 10: Graphics Programs

9. (Apr. 17, 20) Graphics programs I.
Using the ClarisWorks drawing program. The basic drawing tools. Selecting, copying and pasting. Grouping objects.

• Reports: Team 6 presents a 5-minute report and leads a 5-minute discussion.
• Lab Activity (GP1): Create a drawing that you would use for publicity in a school fund-rasing event like a bake sale. Your drawing should at minimum contain a rectangle, a circle, a regular polygon (like a hexagon or octagon), and some text in an interesting font. Some of the figures should be shaded or patterned. Print your drawing (colors will not show) and hand in on paper. Be sure that your name, section, and assignments ID appear at the top left of the drawing.

10. (Apr. 24, 27) Graphics programs II.
Using the ClarisWorks paint programs. The differences between drawing and painting.

• Reports: Team 7 presents a 5-minute report and leads a 5-minute discussion.
• Lab Activity (GP2): Modify the picture you used in the assignment for WP3. Use the ClarisWorks paint tools change its appearance by adding a border, changing colors, erasing a portion of the picture (obvious, but creative), adding a graphic from the library, and adding new text. Print your painting  (you may use a B&W printer) and hand in on paper. Be sure that your name and section appears at the top of the drawing.

Weeks 11 - 12: Spreadsheets

11. (May. 1, 4) Spreadsheets I.
Fundamental concepts of spreadsheets.  Opening and saving a spreadsheet. Moving around a spreadsheet. Using formulas and functions for calculations. Printing.

• Reports: Team 8 presents a 5-minute report and leads a 5-minute discussion.
• Reading: CW, Chapter 8.
• Lab Activity (SS1): CW, Chapter 8: Work through Practice 1 through Practice 8. Complete CW, Chapter 8, Exercise 3. You should replace the data given in the example with different data of your own choosing. Add some additional months. Print your completed spreadsheet in landscape orientation. Also, choose the Options|Display to display formulas and print the spreadsheet with the formulas displayed. Complete formulas should show in the printed version.  Hand in both on paper to your instructor

12. (May. 8, 11) Spreadsheets II.
Types of data and formatting the contents of cells. Relative and absolute copying. Inserting rows and columns.

• Reports: Team 9 presents a 5-minute report and leads a 5-minute discussion.
• Reading: CW, Chapter 9.
• Lab Activity (SS1): CW, Chapter 9: Work through Practice 1 through Practice 8. Complete CW, Chapter 9, Exercise 5, parts a through e. Extra credit will be given if you use absolute referencing to a cell to get the values for the price and the cost.  Extra credit will also be given if you do part f. Print your completed spreadsheet in landscape orientation. Also print the spreadsheet with the formulas displayed. Hand in both on paper to your instructor.

Weeks 13: Database Management Programs

13. (May. 15, 18) Database management programs.
Introduction to database management programs. Fields and records. Querying a database. Sorting records.

• Reports: Team 10 presents a 5-minute report and leads a 5-minute discussion.
• Reading: CW, Chapter 5 and 6, Sections 6.9, 6.10, 6.11, 6.12, 6.13, 7.8.
• Lab Activity (DB): Be sure to copy the Country database file from the Mac : Ed Tech I  : Data folder to your own floppy disk and work with this copy. Complete the written exercise (or download and print the online version) on querying databases that was distributed in the lecture.

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Appendix: Topics for Student Reports

Reading List

Signup for Report

Team Assignments