IP30 2007

Here is a quick overview of where we are at the end of November:

1-Computer Technology (Maintenance): introduced, and research begun. You have 2 charts to complete with research on selected computer components. Remember to include the url address of the sources of your information. These charts will be referred to again at the next stage of the module, when we will take an inside look. These are due on Monday December 3. Can you maintain/clean or assemble a working computer?

2-Photography: introduced. We had a quick overview of the topic, then covered the three things you can control to get the desired exposure: aperture, shutter speed and ISO (sensitivity). So far, we have manipulated shutter speed. Indoors, without a flash, this resulted in mostly very dark or very blurry images.

3-Scanning and Photo-editing: the scanning tasks should be completed by now, and you should have a book cover image to work with. So far, you are responsible for knowing how to use the following tools in the Gimp photo-editing program: crop, paintbrush, clone (rubber stamp), as well as how to adjust things such as brush size and colour, and how to save as a .jpg file. Also, you need to know how to scale an image to make it smaller, and blur a scanned print image in order to make it appear sharper (how odd this sounds, until you actually do it). Please explore further as we work on photo-editing, as well as access tutorials to find out the capabilities of this technology.

4-Other: We also have taken time to look into and discuss topics related to information processing in a more general sense, including copyright and the concept of Web 2.0. This will continue with related discussion on topics such information handling by entities such as Facebook and Google.

Your task will be to scan a book cover that can then be submitted to Wikipedia. Instructions for scanning are available on the “How to Scan” page of the Online IP30 Module on Scanning and Design. Links on how to submit images to Wikipedia are found on the page at http://wblrd.sk.ca/~ip30_dev/m7_phga39_scanning/lo_res_task.html

Task 1: Do an online seach to find a website that uses scanned images (not digital photos or digital drawings). As a comment to this post, submit the link you found and the name of the website/organization, and summarize briefly the type and purpose of the the scanned images.

Task 2: Go to the online scanning module (http://wblrd.sk.ca/~ip30_dev/m7_phga39_scanning/scanning_index.html), and then to the page called “Scanning Options”. Complete the task described (enter your answer into Word, print out and put in your portfolio).

1-Create a Table of Contents page for your portfolio/binder. Make sure your notes are as complete as you can manage (print out all projects that we have done, and label them with a title and date). Your index should eb the first page in your binder, and refer to the name and page number of each document in your binder (OR, if you prefer, create sections in your binder and refer to each section (for example: Section 1-Log Sheets, Section 2-Management Module, Section 3-Spreadsheets). Then use dividers or tabs to mark each section. You will receive a mark this period to represent how organized and complete your notes for this course are.

2-Then finish up any remaining projects (spreadsheets, newspaper, Wikipedia) that you would like to get credit for on the Term 1 report card and make sure the teacher SEES your work.

3-If you are caught up, please log onto wikipedia, make sure your article is completed and error free, and then go to other RM articles and make constructive edits for credit.

NOTE: The last two intermediate spreadsheet activities are how to name ranges, cells and constants, and a formula called VLOOKUP. By going through the tasks in the links under Spreadsheets, you will learn these and even more! It’s true!

Answer the following in a typewritten response in Word, and hand it in by Thursday November 8.

There are numerous ways that students could express their ideas and opinions to others through written articles, such as a monthly newspaper handed out to students, a regularly-updated blog, a web site, email and more. Describe the way you think would best suit DHS, and explain your choice in detail. Consider such things as amount of work and time required by the contributors, learning opportunities for contributors, and potential audience. Also include if you think a project like this should be part of a course, such as Media Studies or IP30, something contributed to by all students in the school though their ELA classes for credit, an extra-curricular activity like drama, or something else.

Can you afford that new car? Can you afford to not know how to use the PMT function in Excel? In any case, that is your task for today. Please follow the instructions found by following the link provided to Intermediate SS 3: Financial Functions.

Alright. Here we go.

You should already be able to use the IF function (review Intermediate Spreadsheet 1 if necessary). Nesting involved putting another function inside another, and you are going to learn about two more terms; AND and OR.

a) Follow the instructions found by following appropriate link listed under Spreadsheets.

b) Create a new spreadsheet that demonstrates how to convert student marks in percents to a letter grade. Create sample students and data with marks ranging from F to A to test your function. Use the following criteria:

A=90%-100%, B=80%-89%, C=70%-79%, D=50%-69%, and F=anything less than 50%

NEXT IN SPREADSHEETS: Using Financial Functions to see if you can afford that new car…

Good afternoon.

Today is the last period to create a 4 page newsletter composed of articles written by you and your classmates. Remember that you can use articles from the first version (most are found on the “Daily Raider” page of this blog), as well as from the most recent ones (place these in the public drive so others can access them).

Make sure your name is clearly indicated so that people know whose work is being used. You are allowed to edit and make corrections to other people’s articles that you place in your 4-page layout. Try to give everyone about 1/2 page of space, although 1/4 to 3/4 is acceptable.

When you are done, print out your newspaper and submit it to the teacher. Then check over your Wikipedia article to make sure it is complete and error-free. Any editing (improvements) you do to other articles in Wikipedia, or efforts to improve your own further will contribute to your grade for this project. An easy way to begin this would be to go to other RM articles not created by this year’s IP30 class, and fix their errors and update them with new information.

We will continue with Spreadsheet work next. if you did not do the first intermediate activity using IF functions, please see the teacher.

Those of you who bothered to come to class today learned about the logical function IF, and how to use it.

Ahem. We began the Intemediate Spreadsheet module with how to use the logical function “IF”. To review, using an IF formula in a cell of a spreadsheet allows the computer to make a decision. For example, if a teacher wanted the computer to automatically convert grades, such as 90% and up to an “A”, they could use the formula =IF(B2>89,”A”,”"), which in English means “If the value in cell B2 is 90 or larger, then give the student an A!” Of course, the grade would have to be in cell B2 in this case. Note that brackets go around the expression, and quotation marks go around things you want to appear as labels (words). Commas seperate what should appear if the statement is true (“A”) or if it is false (“” means nothing will appear. “Oops” would mean “Oops” wopuld appear.

Enter the following data into Excel, then use the IF function in the “Adjusted Price Column” to add a 10% increase to items that are under $100. If you need to, imagine some scenario where you own a store and you are increasing the prices of just your cheaper items.

Here are links to the articles the class has created:

Once you are done your own article, print out what it looks like as an article as well as in edit view. You may have to copy and paste the code into Word to print it. Put these in your portfolio.

Also print out your introductory spreadsheet work. Arrange these on a spreadsheet so that you don’t need a full sheet of paper for each small chart. Find and use the “Set Print Area” function to find out where the printable area of your spreadsheet is.