Today's meetings
8.30am - 9am: attendance and announcements meeting - all students
9am - noon: peer study time
11am - noon: office hour
after class: send me a progress email
Click here to preview the rest of the week's meetings.
Click here to preview December events, holidays, etc including dates for winter break
Daily instruction: everyone
Progress email answers/updates:
If you are used to a Monday to Thursday class schedule and therefore work or have an appointment Friday, I will honour that; however, you must let me know via email today if you are not available Friday. Please check the blog for an adapted schedule. If I don't have your request in writing, you will not be excused. Note if you wish to take advantage of the condensed schedule you are expected to stay an hour after class - until one o'clock instead of noon.
If you are having issues accessing Teams, ECampus, Pearson, Typing Club, or Office, let me know right away so we can get you connected. Click here for info on ECampus resources - most resources are on this site. Remember to take screenshots of any technical issues.
To access Teams and the Office suite, sign in with your student credentials: studentnumber@vacc.college and your ECampus password.
The study groups are meant to simulate a classroom environment. You can work in groups, pairs, or solo. Please stay in the study groups for the duration of class to track your attendance.
If you are using a Chromebook or other cloud-based device, you won't be able to download Office programs. This means you are limited to the browser freeware - please refer to point 7 below. If you are in ITC, you will be able to perform most of the formatting required; if you are in a Pearson course, it is imperative you use a different device for your Graders, Midterms (if applicable), and Finals. Please see this post to help you select an appropriate ITC case study.
If you are using a Mac, check out my Mac resources. Note my demos are done on a Mac.
ITC: Please watch the Windows 10/11 tour video for Modules 1 and 2. Click here for details. I have updated the daily schedule to include this and a few other newer resources. Please note the schedule is your guide through the resources, but as this is a computers course you are responsible for adapting to the user interface of this site etc and locating items as listed. Most of your resources will be on your Courses page and all are clearly labeled. I have two search engines built into the site to assist you along with tutorials in written and video formats to support various learning styles.
ITC: You must use the Microsoft Office suite for this course; do not use Google docs/slides/sheets, Open Office, etc. For full functionality, you need the desktop programs. Please submit your assignments in their original file format - do not convert to pdf. You will upload the files to ECampus. All assignments are due on the final day of your course so please don't rush yourself.
Pearson and ITC (suggested for OSK also): Please watch the Browser vs Desktop Office video. We will discuss this further in class today.
Again, if you want me to look at an assignment before submission, you need to join me in office hour or the final-day assignment check meeting Friday. Please see this post for details about premarking.
I do not telephone students or provide my personal number; if you wish to have a one-on-one conversation, let me know and I will call you on Teams during class. Remember drop-in office hour (linked above) runs daily from 11 until noon; utilize this meeting to ask questions and work on assignments with me.
Reminders:
Remember you are responsible for knowing which course's directions to follow. 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, 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 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.
Please take a moment this morning to read through yesterday's posts and the FAQ tab of the blog: https://caitlinbaird1.wixsite.com/thelab/blog/categories/faqs
If you haven't already, check out the FAQ subtag for your course.
Please watch the Tuesday video (on the Lectures tab) and come prepared to the 8.30 meeting with your questions.
If you haven't already, please watch the Welcome video and resource tour videos and read through your welcome documents including Lab Policies and any Suggested Daily Schedule. Along with the course-specific "tour" videos on your Courses pages, you will find a generic tour of the site on the Lectures tab, alongside a tour of the Writing Resources. The "tour" videos show you where to find all the resources for your course.
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.
Be sure to check the meeting schedule which I've posted here. I updated all the meetings so they should show in your Office calendar if you are signed in with your student account.
Remember, if you would like to work with me on an assignment, the meetings are already scheduled. Please take advantage of the daily office hour and the meetings scheduled for your course. Further, I encourage you to utilize the study groups available on Teams.
Please continue to send your daily progress email. These are mandatory but informal. Details can be found here: https://caitlinbaird1.wixsite.com/thelab/post/progress-email-faq
Daily instruction by course:
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.
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 documents, 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.
MSE, MSP, MSW:
Continue within Pearson. We will have check-in meetings today in your study groups.
If you haven't yet, please watch the video "How to check your grades in Pearson" on the Lectures tab. 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. 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
OSK:
Check out the daily schedule document and meet with me at 10.30 to discuss it and the Alphabetical Filing Rules (Chapter 11: Information Management).
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