Today's meetings
8am - 8.30am: grace period; read daily post, watch videos, and generally prepare for day
8.30am - 9am: all students attendance and announcements meeting
~9am - noon: independant and small group learning time: course-specific study group links
Microsoft Excel (MSE)
Microsoft Word (MSW)
10am: MSW check-in
10.30am: MSE check-in
10.30am: OSK assignment check-in: Filing Rules, Citations
11am - noon: office hour - optional, drop-ins
after class: send me a progress email
*Please refer to this post for the full week's schedule and attendance breakdown.
Updates and progress email answers etc:
A reminder to stay in your study meeting for the duration of class. It does affect your attendance record. We will be online only for computer lab courses. We will use the same links for attendance and study groups all week.
ITC assignment criteria can be accessed here.
Newcomer reminders:
Remember you are responsible for knowing which course's directions to follow. Reach out if you have any questions. Please only complete assignments for the course in which you are enrolled. Note that videos on the Lectures tab are labelled per course. Citations lectures are only assigned for SSS students, though they are suggested for anyone who will be completing a research assignment for me (OSK, PSK, B1075R, sometimes ITC). If you are including paraphrased information or direct quotes from a source other than your own creativity and experience, you need to cite that material. This is standard academic integrity. I do not require that you include in-text citations or footnotes for course material; however, you should include a citation for your textbook or other materials if you regurgitate that information in your assignment. For creative assignments, like those in ITC, you are free to fabricate as the formatting is my primary interest.
Sign in on ECampus from 8am to noon (the duration of class) for further attendance tracking. I always take attendance manually, so the digital record is a back up. I also track attendance digitally using Teams. You are responsible for being active on one or both platforms for the duration of class.
If you wish to work with your peers outside of class hours, you can start your own meetings. Use the appropriate course channel.
If you haven't already, check out the FAQ subtag for your course.
If you haven't already, please watch the Welcome video(s) and read through your welcome documents including Lab Policies and any Suggested Daily Schedule. If you have difficulty locating anything, please watch the tour of this site:
I also really appreciate feedback about the site, which you can provide anonymously here. Let me know if you find any dead links or out-of-date material so I can fix it!
Note that this site is not optimized for mobile use and is intended to be viewed on a desktop or laptop computer. Chrome is the preferred browser.
Daily instruction by course:
B1075R:
Follow the Daily Schedule.
CES:
If you haven't already, email me a copy of your master ad. I will upload this to the DropBox for you as it needs to be shared with your peers to provide a baseline for each program's expectations.
With your classmates, please watch the video Cover Letter Guide (on your Courses page) and read its corresponding document in the DropBox. Also read through the tips in this post and this post. These should be your primary guides. Further resources are available in the DropBox and on your Courses page in both written and video formats; see the Suggested Daily Resource Schedule. Watching the videos will give you some perspectives from professionals on what to do or avoid. In particular, I like the advice from Dr Amina Yonis (at the very bottom of your Courses page).
Then, independently, write a cover letter for your field. Respond to your master ad and your NOC profile with your content. Note: please read the article on patchwriting; my integrity policies are very strict. Also note: if your classmates are in different programs than you, you will need to
When you have completed your cover letter, please update your resume as well - be sure to include your VaCC education. Send your cover letter drafts and up-to-date resumes to me via email before class begins tomorrow at the latest; I will upload your drafts to the DropBox (remember, when creating your letterhead, to only include contact info you are comfortable sharing with your classmates!). Be sure to send them as one or two Word documents (.docx) so they can be edited. Include your name in the file name. Tomorrow is dedicated workshop time to read each other's work and provide feedback; today you should focus on your own writing and formatting. I will also provide detailed feedback.
For tips on formatting your resume, please read this post and watch this video.
If you need assistance using Word, please refer to this page.
As well as the resources on your Courses page and within the DropBox, please read through the CES tag on this blog: https://caitlinbaird1.wixsite.com/thelab/blog/categories/ces
ITC:
Continue to follow the Daily Suggested Schedule.
You have the freedom to do your three assignments in any order, so I suggest starting with the program(s) with which you are most familiar (usually Word). You can start these whenever you feel ready; all are due on the final day of the course. Remember the instructions are on ECampus while example assignments are available via a button on your Courses page on this site. Note: you only need to complete three files, not nine. There are three case study options for each assignment; only choose one per assignment. For the Word assignment, please select case study 1 or 2; for Excel, I prefer case study 2 but encourage case study 1 for those with prior Excel experience or are entering APA or Pharmacy; for PowerPoint, all three are good options. My preferences are based on the manual formatting experience you'll gain from the activity.
Progress through the PDFs (on your Courses page) to fill in your study guides, using the corresponding talkthrough videos and study guides to show you where to focus your attention for memorization. On Wednesday/Thursday, I will assign the review video which corresponds with your study guide for our discussion Thursday at 10am. The exam will be based on the study guide questions; the quizzes have rough study guides available on the ITC subtag of this blog: Quizzes 1+2; Quizzes 3+4
Please note I have a full walkthrough of your Excel assignment and full demos for the creative PowerPoint and Word assignments on your Courses page.
More questions? Check out my Frequently Asked Questions for ITC.
KBD:
Continue with Paradigm and/or Typing Club and the games. Please let me know if you are unable to access any of the programs.
BCA, MSE, MSP, MSW:
Continue within Pearson. We will have check-in meetings today in your study groups. If you have any activities you want to work on with me, please ensure you know how to share your screen.
If you haven't yet, please watch the video "How to check your grades in Pearson." You have multiple attempts for the assignments etc; please send me an email if you want me to increase the tries available.
The simulation training and assessments are not for marks. You should think of these activities as lectures as these will teach you how to complete your assignments. The assignments are called "Graders" and will show as Activity 6 every few modules. I have full video walkthroughs of all of these for-marks assignments, including the corresponding tests as these are taken in the same way. To complete, download the documents and instructions as shown in my video walkthroughs. For MSE and MSP, there are four graders and four matching exams. For MSW, there are three graders and three matching exams. Remember, you can retake the graders AND exams multiple times.
Download your grades tracker form from your Courses page if you are yet to do so (MSP, MSW, MSE only). Remember this is how you will be recording and submitting your final grades. Use the "Comments" section to let me know if we discussed marks changes together. This is a Word document so can be easily completed.
MSW only: Start Pearson at Module 2, as Module 1 is a connector module ("common features") for students who have already taken PowerPoint. You are only doing three chapters - up to Module 10. Refer to your grades tracker and do not complete Modules 1, 11, 12, or 13, or Final Exam 2.
Note: if you complete the work early, you still need to sign in for attendance every day as per college policy. If you wish to start your next course early, please send me an email so I can forward the request to Student Services. Usually they prefer not to open courses early.
Remember that the Graders appear at the end of each chapter, not in every module. For clarification of terms, please utilize the Pearson glossary: https://caitlinbaird1.wixsite.com/thelab/post/pearson-glossary
Check the Pearson category on the blog for answers to common questions: https://caitlinbaird1.wixsite.com/thelab/blog/categories/pearson
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