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):