Student Presentations and Heading Toward the 1st Milestone

It's been a fast rising February in IS101-3003/5, Spring 2026!

Ninety percent of the forty students have been doing the coursework consistently as they transition from the grey bar to the blue bar in Phase 1 (see my previous blog post). Phase 1 will end with the first milestone: the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) MO-110 Word certification exam.

Viviana led the charge by completing Chapter 4 Microsoft Word and the preparation materials for MO-110 Word certification exam way ahead of schedule -- the earliest I have ever seen! Three days into February, the first MOS certificate was earned :-)

Ten days later, Kevin followed suit. Seven days more, Zakiyyah joined the club. Seven days afterward, Josias rounded out the quartet of early achievers. MOS certificates are not the only source of recognitions of student achievements in February.

Twenty-eight students challenged Bonus Quiz 3 – File E. & A. and Special Characters in File Name. Kevin, JD, and Scott earned a perfect score while Nicholas, Izabelle, Avery, Gian, and Ivette eared a near-perfect score.

Twenty-one students challenged Bonus Quiz 4 – Display, Shift/Ctrl, Boot-up, Binary, IPOS. Nicholas, Kevin, Scott, JD, and Ivette earned the highest score.

Seventeen students challenged Bonus Quiz 5 – Social Engineering & Purchasing Rationale. Zakiyyah, Kevin, and Ivette eared a near-perfect score. 

Twelve students challenged Bonus Quiz 6 – Shortcut, Recycle Bin, and File Types. Kevin alone earned a perfect score while Scott, Nicholas, JD, Gian, Zakiyyah, and Ivette earned a near-perfect score.

Bonus quizzes 2 (January) through 6 (February) form the first of two major bonus quiz blocks. In this block, Kevin earned the highest cumulative score while one point separates The Pessimistic Hedgehog and Scott & Ivette while one point separates the duo and twenty-one others. The twenty-one students are clustered together with only half a point separating each layer of cumulative score ranking.

I lead by example for A5 Slideshow Presentation by giving Lecture 3: Hardware, Troubleshooting, Social Engineering, Purchasing Rationale. Nineteen students have presented their A5 to the class where each student showcased interests, favorite food, homeland, and passion.

Vania, Ivette, and Kevin were the first trio to send in their drafts. Josias, Zakiyyah, Nicholas kicked off the Friday evening student presentations while Vania, Ivette, and Kevin kicked off the Saturday morning student presentations. All six students received bonus credit for being the first presenters.

Chae earned bonus credit by (a) sending in a draft slideshow that required only a minute (extremely small) cosmetic touch-up from me, (b) despite having double the suggested number of slides, the quiet young lady managed to stay with the allotted presentation time window, and most critically, (c) her intuitive way of visually illustrating 6,000+ ft instead of simply stating over six thousand feet.

Honorable mentions go to Kevin and Josias who almost achieve the same feat (a) as Chae except both left off their own names on their draft slideshows. A different honorable mention goes to JD whose meticulous attention to details and creative recruitment approach prompted me to ask "How do I join the Jaeger Training Program"?

The remaining fifteen students' title slides are arranged in the order of presentation. Rafa surprised me with his addition of an "Expected Learning Outcome" slide. Josephine piqued my and many classmates' interest about where she grew up.

Click on the image for a larger/clearer view

Next week begins the MO-110 Word certification exam. Majority of the students are primed to finish Chapter 4 Microsoft Word and the preparation materials. I see Kevin, Viviana, and Zakiyyah are working through Chapter 5 Microsoft Excel. Next class session, I will also give my Lecture 4: The Internet. I am excited ^_^

Until then, here are the slideshows (click on an image for a larger view):

Double the Fun/Trouble and Should I Just Stay In the Classroom?

It's been over a decade since I taught more than one section of IS101 Introduction to Information Systems. For this semester, Spring 2026, I asked for a Friday evening section (3003) in addition to my usual Saturday morning section (3005). Hmm... should I just stay in the classroom in-between?

Doubling down on my efforts to build individual rapport with each student, I must have spent 30+ hours each week in the past two weeks meeting with students via WebEx. I learned much about each student's background and character.

Each section has twenty-two seats. As some students joined and exited the rosters, I met a total of fifty-one people, almost all before the semester officially began. Now forty-one seats are filled.

Nineteen students kept on fixing their Bonus Quiz 1 – Syllabus based on my feedback until they reached 100%. Kevin was the first student to accomplish this feat. Viviana pleasantly surprised me by achieving this on her very first submission -- it's been a few years since anyone earned this distinction.

Forty students have successfully completed their A1 Accounts Setup and Professional Communication.

Thirty-eight students participated in D1 Self Introduction, Availability, Management, Responsibility.

Thirty-seven students have successfully completed their A2 Customer Email Inbox Rules (Order Driven).

Thirty-six students began their D2 Individual Experience, Footprint, Progress, Creativity.

This assignment, A3 Blog Posts, Articles, Videos, Comments, will help students conclude their D2. The most public and long lasting assignment from my set of signature assignments kicks off with this post for January and will last until the end of the semester.

In the past two days, thirty-two students either came to the classroom early or stayed late to challenge Bonus Quiz 2 – Self Reliance and Self-Responsibility. Chantalle alone earned a perfect score while Kevin, Scott, James, Gian, and Izabelle earned a near-perfect score. I hope more students will participate in Bonus Quiz 3 – File E. & A. and Special Characters in File Name this upcoming class.

Most students are keeping pace with the semester timetable as they are working through Chapter 2 Computing Essentials. A handful of students are behind in Chapter 1 Internet Essentials. Chantelle and Ivette are beginning Chapter 3 Common Microsoft Office Features. Gian, James, Ashton, and Vania are much further along in the same chapter. Kevin is approaching the end of Chapter 4 Microsoft Word, longer than the first three short chapters combined.

Viviana has not only conquered the first of three long chapters but also the preparatory materials for the MO-110 Word certification exam. The future IT professional informed me that she is ready to take on her first Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification exam as I am drafting this post. I am so excited ^_^ After MO-110, I will walk through A4 Using a Table to Format & Align a Design and A5 Slideshow Presentation with the student in the pole position.

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+++++Phase 1: Forming, Norming, Storming+++++

The first two or three weeks (grey section) are where students get their sea legs by setting up their accounts for organization and success, adapt/reacclimate to college schoolwork, and complete the essential skills for living online & computing concepts and common Microsoft Office skills.

The following several weeks (blue section) often elicit exclamations such as "I didn't know Microsoft Word can do this" and "So this is the way to do this properly".

Above average students continue their momentum from BQ1 & BQ2 and show up to the classroom early or stay late to challenge BQ3 through BQ6 to elevate their course grade at the end of the semester.

For almost all students, passing the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) MO-110 Word certification exam and earning their first digital literacy badge bring a sense of accomplishment and foreshadow future MOS Associates.

+++++Phase 2: Performing (Determined and Analytical)+++++

The next several weeks (green section) will force the cogs in their brain into overdrive, rotate students' thought process and perspective on their axis, and take students to the apex of IS101.

Microsoft Excel is often the most challenging software application for students as it is the least familiar compared to Word and PowerPoint. A pleasant surprise or rude awakening or both is/are instore for those believe they know Excel because they can use SUM or AVERAGE as CONCAT, TEXTJOIN, UNIQUE, COUNTIF, VLOOKUP/HLOOKUP, pivot tables, and others are introduced.

Majority of my signature lectures, demonstrations, and walkthroughs permeate this phase. One of my signature topic/skill contribute significantly to BQ7 through BQ11.

The middle phase culminates in the MO-210 Excel certification Capstone Assignment 1 (a.k.a. A6 Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer). A6 will require students to pay attention to details as they apply what they learned in Chapter 5 Microsoft Excel, practice quality control for their own work output, and orient their perspectives when viewing and responding to a business scenario. Capstone Assignment 1 also makes up the base for BQ12 & BQ13 which can raise a student's course grade by half a letter grade.

+++++Phase 3: Performing (Creative)+++++

Capstone Assignment 2 kicks off the final and shortest phase (orange section) of the course. Chapter 6 Microsoft PowerPoint is the least taxing, most fun, and a wonderful way to conclude the required portion of the coursework. By this phase, all students would each have had his/her/their opportunity to do A5 Slideshow Presentation. MO-310 PowerPoint will give students the opportunity who passed the two earlier exams to become MOS Associates.

+++++Beyond IS101: Out-Performing (Actualizing)+++++

Above average students will create their own phase (black section) to go beyond what's required by outperforming/actualizing their digital literacy potentials by:

(a) Doing bonus assignments A8 Improved Slideshow Presentation, A9 Query Options and IF Statement, and A10 Workbook Investigation.

(b) Taking bonus quizzes BQ12 & BQ13 (taken together as a pair) BQ14, BQ15 and more impromptu bonus challenges. 

(c) Challenging more MOS certification exams MO-400 Outlook, MO-500 Access, MO-111 Word Expert, and MO-211 Excel Expert. A select few stand out by earning the MOS Expert distinction. An even fewer stand out by hitting a MOS Homerun by passing ALL available seven (7) MOS certification exams.

Students,

Looking ahead to our semester together, one key highlight is your opportunity to bolster your résumé by earning certifications from the company that makes the most commonly used business productivity software application suite.

Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) in the Workforce

By Certiport, February 20, 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI9olyets48 (3 min 19 sec video)

Here is a video I have used to kick off each semester for the past few years:

Neil deGrasse Tyson's Ultimate Advice for Students & Young People – HOW TO SUCCEED IN LIFE

By Motivation2Study, July 26, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yv6r8Kl4bM (11 min 13 sec video)

See you in the classroom or a WebEx meeting :-)