Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Choices... _____ Adapt! _____ Mo' MOS?

What a semester!

IS101-3210, Fall 2025 started out like any past semesters. Throughout this semester, many students lost steam or disappeared much more than before. Even up to the final classroom session, it looked like only six students will pass the course but five more used the rest of that day the following four days to finish strong. After working down to the wire and submitting the student grades, I continued to reflect upon the rollercoaster ride and its nail-biting finish.

One variable that jumped out this semester is the age of the student population. Except for one student, all  students on the roster are under thirty with the significant majority being twenty two or younger. Making less than optimal choices or not having choices to focus, or both, I believe youthful stamina helped them catch up during overtime ^_^

Throughout this semester, I adapted to individually help each student earlier and more involved than past years. Looking to the next semester, there are more changes coming down from the Computer and Information Technology (CIT) Department. I am already planning for those changes.

Focusing back on my Fall 2025 students, these are their distinctions, aggregate statistics, and job hunting/interviewing tip/reminder answers:





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+++++Earl: 1 of 11+++++

North Star.

"This semester would have been very depressing if you weren't here." is what I said to Earl -- at least twice! The honorably discharged former military personnel -- thank you for your service, Earl -- is the most proactive and consistent student this semester :-) Always taking notes and participating in classroom discussions, the longest living student this semester earned the most awards:
  1. Highest course grade in IS101-3210, Fall 2025.
  2. Achieved the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Associate distinction by qualifying and passing all three certification exams one month ahead of schedule.
  3. Highest score on MO-110 Word certification exam.
  4. Co-holder of the highest cumulative score from all three MOS certification exams.
  5. Most bonus quizzes taken.
  6. Best performance on A6 Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer.
  7. The first from the first trio of students to present A3 Slideshow Presentation.
Toward the end of the semester, the pole position student apologized to me for not doing more bonus quizzes as he prioritized his mental health above peak performance. I recall at our meet-and-greet WebEx meeting before the semester began, he mentioned changing his degree pursuit from an Associate of Arts in Computing Science to Psychology. Whatever/wherever Earl decides to focus his time and energy, I know he will not only Aim High but Fly-Fight-Win ^_^


+++++Andrea: 2 of 11+++++

Despicable Me/Minions.

Starting her first college semester and her first job on the same day must have been a significant life change right after graduating high school. Andrea struggled to keep up with the semester schedule until the final two weeks. Through A5 Using a Table to Format and Align a Design, the reserved young lady impressed me with her intricate design of a Minion, a adorable character from her favorite movie franchise Despicable Me. Another accolade Andrea earned is holder of the highest score on the MO-210 Excel certification exam. One more accolade is being the co-holder of the highest score on the MO-310 PowerPoint certification exam.

Perhaps the best moment came after the semester officially ended but before I had to submit student grades: as the Minions broke out of the Despicable Me franchise, with a perfect score on Bonus Quiz 15 CountIF, Andrea propelled herself from third place to second place in IS101-3210, Fall 2025! Already reached the highest letter grade, I was pleasantly surprised by the quiet one's BQ15 :-) With that ambitious streak, I know an Associate of Science in Biological Science will be hers ^_^


+++++A'marian: 3 of 11+++++

Head Start.

This is the second semester that A'marian is earning college credits while attending high school. Two of his six high school courses also gave him college credits and the studious lad is taking two college courses on top of that. Juggling eight courses and a part-time job, I was surprised and proud to see the youngest student achieved the MOS Associate distinction the evening before Thanksgiving, two weeks ahead of schedule! He also took Bonus Quizzes 12 Key Excel and Spreadsheet Analysis Concepts & 13 Apex of Excel, the only student to do so in IS101-3210, Fall 2025 :-) I see a bright future for A'marian ^_^


+++++Sonia: 4 of 11+++++

Overtime then Extra Time.

Until the final classroom session, it didn't look like Sonia would pass the course. I was elated with her reappearance and her follow through down to the wire until I need to submit student grades. This renewed focus during overtime not only facilitate a quantum leap from the lowest letter to the highest letter, but also earned the distinction of the biggest come back -- ever!

Three legitimate distinctions Sonia earned are: (1) producing such a polished draft slideshow that the only suggestion I could offer is a simply cosmetic fix, this only happened once before in my memory, (2) best performance on the second capstone assignment A7 Mail Merge, and (3) co-holder of the highest cumulative score from all three MOS certification exams. Even after I submitted student grades, the young lady still worked to complete her remaining discussions, blogging activities, and Bonus Quiz 15. This removed the minus on her grade and raised her ranking IS101-3210, Fall 2025 by two positions :-) Go Sonia go ^_^


+++++Audrey: 5 of 11+++++

Ven.

The avid gamer, livestreamer, and novel reader/writer goes by "Ven" when she is online besting other players. Audrey definitely distinguished herself when she answered both questions on Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) for the second capstone assignment, A7 Mail Merge, fully and correctly -- the only student to do so in IS101-3210, Fall 2025! Ven showed her mastery of OLE when she answered  the questions in her own words instead of simply taking the results from something else ^_^

She who does not like to use AI tools is also a co-holder of the highest score on the MO-310 PowerPoint certification exam. The allure of vacation lured Audrey from completing the final pieces of her coursework. Gamer, writer, student... Whichever world/task Ven is in/doing, she will reach top player status!


+++++Alicia: 6 of 11+++++

Sanrio.

"I'm obsessed with Sanrio" is what Alicia exclaimed. I believe the young woman as she updated her blog background with a photo of her room filled with Sanrio products/characters. She who obsesses hard, worked hard! Prioritizing her Cyber Security courses over IS101, the always smiling one left Bonus Quiz 14 on the table. I will remember her sunshine personality and think about how Alicia will start a career in information technology after earning her Associate of Applied Science in Computing and Information Technology – Network Security :-)


+++++Naxaly: 7 of 11+++++

Came Back.

Naxaly and the top student played leap frog with each other at the beginning of the semester. The technology savvy young professional actually earned the first spot to present her A3 Slideshow Presentation but chose to have her classmates go first. She who has already earned a Bachelor degree did a beautiful job of showcasing her favorite movie to the class to conclude the first trio of student presentations :-)

Midway through the semester, the potential top student uncharacteristically disappeared. I was cautiously optimistic when Naxaly returned after Thanksgiving. Relief flooded me when she took advantage of the overtime to finish IS101-3210, Fall 2025 on a positive note ^_^


+++++Oliver: 8 of 11+++++

Adding One.

The respectable young man found out unplanned happy news second week into the semester. As the semester progressed, Oliver struggled to keep up but his spirit never wavered. After the semester (including his other courses) officially ended, the expectant father focused all of his precious free moments to catch up and finish IS101-3210, Fall 2025 on a positive note ^_^ May Oliver earn his Associate of Business degree and his positive attitude pass on to the next generation!


+++++Andrew: 9 of 11+++++

Fighting the Weather.

Juggling a motorcycle mechanic job and a fast food job with fluctuating work schedule, Andrew did his best to keep up with the IS101-3210, Fall 2025 course schedule. The witty young man did stand out from one of the early bonus quizzes with a near-perfect score while everyone else who took the same bonus quiz walked away empty-handed. I was relieved to see Andrew fighting through a nasty bout of coughing and sniffles to finish the course on a decent note before the semester officially ended :-)


+++++Luis: 10 of 11+++++

Head of Family Business.

Luis is no stranger to higher education and having a professional work ethics. Earning a college degree is a requirement from his family for the international student to meet in order to take over the family business. Incidental business logistical challenges and caring for a loved one out of state conspired to derail his academic pursuit one semester before the finish line but Luis managed to finish IS101-3210, Fall 2025 on a decent note after our final classroom session :-)


+++++Brianna: 11 of 11+++++

Head of Household.

Having a milestone birthday at the beginning of the semester foreshadowed the role Brianna will play. The newly minted high school graduate was solid and in the forefront of doing coursework ahead of schedule until a week after mid-semester. Until the final classroom session, the missing in action student kept me in the loop on how she is handling the double-whammy challenges at home by stepping up to be caretaker and breadwinner. I was relieved to see Brianna showing up to the classroom after the last classroom session ended and used the final weekend we have access to the classroom to finish IS101-3210, Fall 2025 on a decent note :-)


+++++Casina+++++

Miss Congeniality.

Personal issues robbed Casina from IS101-3210, Fall 2025! Part of the first trio of students to present their A3 Slideshow Presentation, the most bubbly presenter brightened the classroom and left an indelible impression. She who educated the class on Self Care, did her best to catch up but did not reply to my final check in. I hope Casina is doing well and thriving :-)


+++++Cassandra+++++
Artist.

Never fully engaged with IS101-3210, Fall 2025, Cassandra made a massive push to qualify and conquer the MO-110 Word certification exam. The young woman stayed a little longer to present her A3 Slideshow Presentation and sharing with me the change in her living location and degree pursuit. I will remember Why I [Cassandra] Love Art and wish she well :-)
 

+++++Others+++++
Four students on the class roster earned less than four percent (4%) of the course credit (i.e. 3.9%, 2.52%, 0.07%, 0.01%) before disappearing.


Adapting to individually help each student earlier and more involved than past years was easy. Adapting to the evolving of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and guiding students to use such tools properly will require more work.

Last month, Dr. Mark Taormino, former program director for Digital Literacy, published an article: https://www.ecampusnews.com/ai-in-education/2025/11/05/ai-is-an-iceberg-we-cant-ignore-its-unseen-potential/

I had planned a classroom presentation/walkthrough on AI for this semester toward the end but with majority of the students in catch up mode after Thanksgiving, I scratched it to give students more classroom time in December to finish their coursework.

Here is a quick summary of my earlier four blog posts:

  • Most significant change for IS101 in Fall 2025
  • First impression via Bonus Quiz 1 - Syllabus
  • Phases of IS101 Introduction to Information Systems
  • Artificial intelligence, ghost students, ransomware

  • Accolades of students' best performances since previous post
  • First two presentation/demonstration/walkthrough from professor
  • First six student slideshow presentations
  • Social engineering examples

  • First certification exam: MO-110 Word
  • Accolades of students' best performances since previous post
  • Next three and a half presentation/demonstration/walkthrough from professor
  • Five more student slideshow presentations

  • Final two student slideshow presentations
  • Final one and a half presentation/demonstration/walkthrough from professor
  • Capstone assignments
  • Reflection and roadmap to finish strong

While drafting this December/final blog post to memorialize IS101-3210, Fall 2025, I also thought and planned ahead for IS101-3003 (Friday evening) and IS101-3005 (Saturday morning) next semester.

(a) Will students from each of my two IS101 sections next semester interact with students from the other section both in-person and virtually?

(b) With Dr. Mark Taormino creating an online version of his Fun with Functions exercise, if he completes an online version and share it, I will re-incorporate it back to my IS101 curriculum next semester.

(c) As the top student from IS101-3205, Spring 2025 re-visited the classroom to challenge the MO-400 Outlook certification exam (beyond what is required for IS101), I wonder if any student from IS101-3210, Fall 2025 will return to the classroom to challenge more Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification exams such as MO-500 Access, MO-111 Word Expert, and MO-211 Excel Expert? As Jorge was battling MO-400, Earl asked me if I would proctor more MOS certification exams after our semester ends, I answered: "As long as the licenses and resources are available to me, yes :-)"
at 4 comments:

Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Early MOS Associates, Reflection Begins, Thankful

This past month was the journey to the apex of IS101-3210, Fall 2025 as students:
  • worked through the rest of Chapter 5 Microsoft Excel
  • learned how to manage a spreadsheet, mostly notably, how to use commonly used formula and functions
  • tested their metal with the first of two capstone assignments, A6 Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer
  • conquered/will conquer the MO-210 Excel certification exam.
Two students have not only accomplish that but, ahead of schedule:
  • worked through Chapter 6 Microsoft PowerPoint
  • learned how to create and present a slideshow, mostly vividly, how to use animation effects, slide transitions, timing, and motion paths
  • conquered the MO-310 PowerPoint certification exam
  • thus became the first two students to earned the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Associate distinction!
The two students are now doing the second capstone assignment, A7 Mail Merge and the remaining discussions and blogging activities. They also declared their intention to do A8 Improved Slideshow Presentation. I look forward to seeing their A7 and A8 before we return to the classroom after Thanksgiving Break :-)

Here are the highlights in the past month:

Andrea storyboarded the plot of Despicable Me for the class as her A3 Slideshow Presentation. The studious young lady applied her passion for the movie franchise to the Minion character in her A5 Using a Table to Format and Align a Design, producing the best design using a table in Microsoft Word I have seen in a long time.

Luis closed off A3 by shedding light on why some of his best friends never say a word to him with My Best Friend, Chucho, his favorite dog.

I demonstrated eight (8) Key Excel Concepts and Skills as Part 2 of Lecture/Demonstration 6 -- see my previous blog post for a visual.

I walked through my Lecture/Demonstration 7: Charts/Visualization where I kick off with my signature two-question decision tree to determine which of the four commonly used chart types and wrap up with less common, specialized chart types where people can use to convey complex data or mislead the audience.

LD7 is the final piece of education that will contribute to A6 Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer. This first capstone assignment is not only an opportunity for students to demonstrate what they learned but the graduation from relying on click-by-click instructions from LabSim to determining what and how they need to do to fulfill the required outcomes.

Almost one month before the official end of our semester, Earl qualified for, took, and passed the MO-210 ahead of schedule after doing the same a month prior with MO-310 thus becoming the first Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Associate of IS101-3210, Fall 2025. Well done Earl, well done!

In the class session before Thanksgiving Break, I gave the class a roadmap on how to finish IS101 strong. Earl showed me his work-in-progress A8 Improved Slideshow Presentation. Another student asked to meet with me before he has to fly out for Turkey Day gathering.

Earlier today, A'marian and I met at the classroom where the polite young man hit the trifecta of earning the highest score on MO-210 so far, took Bonus Quizzes 12 & 13, and conquered MO-310, becoming the second MOS Associate.

The two early MOS Associates represent =Max([Age]) and =Min([Age]). I look forward to seeing the rest of the class joining them in the final two weeks of our semester together :-)



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A6 Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer is not just about a spreadsheet (quantitative and presentation). It is also about qualitative and perspective -- how to arrest audience's focus so they will see/listen to your spreadsheet/message.

+++Reflection 1: have you ever had to do something similar to what Chancellor Rogers did with the TV anchor to get the audience to better see your point (e.g. what you see is not the whole picture)?


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A7 Mail Merge is the second and final capstone assignment where students will demonstrate their digital independence in fulfilling business scenario's needs without click-by-click instructions. Object Linking and Embedding (OLE), the concept behind A7, will contribute to Bonus Quiz 14.

Like the 2008 memorandum I used in A6, these are two more gem articles that arrested my attention in past years but they are still relevant in 2025:

Cinema Chain Sees Bad Movie Script Play Out As It Loses Millions In Email Scam
By Martijn Grooten | November 12, 2018, 3:12pm
For an easier reading experience, I extracted the content and created a PDF in [Week 10] in Canvas.

+++Reflection 2: even chief executive-level officers fall for social engineering such as an business email compromise scam. What social engineering/scam have you encountered? How did you deal with it?

How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking
By Mat Honan | August 6, 2012, 8:01 PM
For an easier reading experience, I extracted the content and created a PDF in [Week 11] in Canvas. The PDF contains two articles, one after another. Only the first article is required reading.

+++Reflection 3: after reading the first article, how would you bolster your end-user cybersecurity posture (i.e. improve the way you manage your credentials/usernames/passwords)?

+++Reflection 4: do you have a disaster recovery plan for your most precious data (e.g. family photos, important financial documents)? By choosing the convenience of linking his accounts, when one account was compromised, all of Mat Honan's accounts -- including his cloud storage -- were compromised. He did not have a disaster recovery plan.

Just published today, please watch this 9 min 57 sec video: 

How artificial intelligence is reshaping college for students and professors
By PBS NewsHour | November 25, 2025
This year’s senior class is the first to have spent nearly its entire college career in the age of generative AI, a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content, like text and images. As the technology improves, it's harder to distinguish from human work, and it’s shaking academia to its core. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports for our series, Rethinking College.

+++++Reflection 5: have you used artificial intelligence tools in doing your schoolwork (any class)? Have you experienced what are described in the video?

This semester, Fall 2025, the student persistent rate is noticeably lower than past semester. Reflecting back, the semester started like any other but two factors stood out that are unique to this semester: the demographic, specifically the age composition, and external influences. At least one of these three external influences directly impacted at least one of the stellar students this semester: tariff, I.C.E. enforcement, longest government shutdown (no pay for federal employees).

I am thankful of the remaining students who are still working hard to succeed in IS101. At least a handful of students indicated they will work on their IS101 coursework during the Thanksgiving Break.


Students,

In the comment to this blog post, please share your thoughts on these four topics:

(I) How did you handle the transition from the click-by-click instructions of LabSim to doing capstone assignments of A6 and A7? How did you proceed to fulfill the needs of the business scenarios without click-by-click instructions?

(II) How will you use the roadmap to finish IS101-3210, Fall 2025 strong? Bonus Quizzes 7 through 11, BQ 12 & 13, and BQ 14 can help you raise your grade.

(III) Please share your experience and examples for at least two of the five reflections. For Reflection 3, if you are not comfortable sharing your thoughts publicly in the comment to this blog post, please state so in your comment and update your reply to Discussion 1, Part 5 in Canvas.

(IV) Anything else on your mind?

Please save your final thoughts, feedback, and well wishes for my next and final blog post ^_^
at 5 comments:

Monday, October 27, 2025

100% Pass Rate on MOS Certification Exams and Crossing the Half Point Mark

We reached our first milestone earlier this month: MO-110 Word certification exam. Ten students qualified for, took, and passed their first Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification exam earning their first certificate. One of the ten even achieved the same for MO-310 PowerPoint certification exam :-)

Another milestone is that we crossed the half-point mark of the Fall 2025 semester. Most students have ventured into Chapter 5 Excel. Thirteen students have now occupied the full spectrum of coursework progress: ahead and leading, right where they should be, a little behind, and dangerously behind.

These are the highlights and accolades in the past month since my previous blog post:

Sonia educated the class on one of her cultural roots: Salsa Music Artists. Her draft PowerPoint slideshow was so polished that it was ready for presentation without polishing. Bonus credit earned!

Oliver wet the audience's appetite with Foods that I [Oliver] love to cook and eat. An earlier student presenter offered to make cheeseburger eggrolls for the class before the end of the semester, I wonder...

For Lecture/Demo 3: Using a Table to Format & Align a Design, I shared Actual and Borders Visible.

Brianna resumed playing video games and shared My [Brianna's] Favorite Video Games: Wuthering Waves, Century: Age of Ashes, Tiny Glade, and Honkai: Star Rail with the class.

I gave my double-feature Lecture/Demonstration LD4: The Internet which contribute to Bonus Quizzes 7 through 11. One key topic is my signature way of walking students through how to properly dissect a uniformed resource locator (URL).

Andrew left with a broken rib from the mosh pit at a concert by one of his two favorite rappers: Travis Scott and Playboi Carti. While helping the young concert-goer polishing his draft slideshow, I explained the downside of embedding video clips into his PowerPoint file so he uploaded his concert video clips to YouTube and then provided links to them (Utopia Tour and Complexcon) in his PowerPoint slideshow as mitigation.

As I draft this blog post and verify the two links, I see that his YoutTube account has been set to private. The key downside of linking to a file/object (e.g. a video clip) instead of embedding it to the destination file (e.g. slideshow) is that you may lose access to the source file/object for various reasons such as the source file/object is no longer available, location/path of the source file/object changed, or you lost internet/network connectivity.

Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) will be the theme for a later assignment, A7 Mail Merge, and future Bonus Quiz 14. Both of which are worth half a letter grade of IS101-3210, Fall 2025. I will elaborate more on OLE on my next blog post.

The most interactive LD from my signature set of lectures, demonstrations, and walkthroughs is LD5 Straight Average vs. Weighted Average. The title only reflects half of the LD5 experience. LD5 is so valuable that I walked through it again on the following classroom session. Oliver captured Impromptu Bonus Challenge 3 as he keenly realized during the LD5 experience when it was no longer about which average to use and correctly provided the logic to calculate the answer.

Students began taking their first MOS certification exam. By the time of this blog post, ten students qualified for, took, and passed the MO-110 Word certification exam. Earl not only earned the highest score so far on MO-110 but worked ahead to qualify, took, and passed the MO-310 PowerPoint certification exam. I am proud of Earl, Naxaly, Audrey, Brianna, A'marian, Andrew, Cassandra, Andrea, Alicia, and Luis.

Earl not only leads in the exams but continues to earn the highest score bonus quizzes as well:

BQ6 – Shortcut, Recycle Bin, and File Types
BQ7 – TCP/IP, URL, and Generic Top-Level Domains
BQ8 – Domain Name Registration, ccTLD Hack, and URL Parts

Cassandra broke through her shell to tell the class Why I [Cassandra] Love Art. Her realistic pencil drawings definitely made an impression on me but what I will remember for a long time is her statement during the Q & A post-presentation: "separate the art from the person" and the context behind it.

I separated LD6 Key Excel Concepts and Skills into two parts since I walked through LD5 twice and ate up time from LD6. Next week, I will walk through the second part of LD6. I hope I will see more participations on the bonus quizzes and those who are behind in their coursework catch-up.




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Students,

At the time of this blog post, ten students earned their first MOS certificate -- two for Earl. It would be a shame if no one outside of IS101-3210, Fall 2025 knows about your accomplishment. Yes, you can download a PDF version of your MOS Word Associate certificate and/or MOS PowerPoint Associate certificate from your Certiport.com account and share the PDF(s) with a potential employer.

But the most professional -- and verifiable -- way for a potential employer to accept that the certificate is authentic is for the potential employer to visit https://verify.certiport.com/ and input/copy-and-paste your certificate code (a unique code listed on each of your MOS certificate) for Certiport to authoritatively display that specific MOS certificate bearing your name and the software application in question.

(1) Will you implement a way for a visitor to your blog to do the above? If you have yet to earn your first MOS certificate, what is your strategy to qualify for the MO-110 Word certification exam?

(2) How does your experience in Chapter 5 Excel differ from that in Chapter 4 Word? If you have yet to start on Chapter 5 Excel, what changes will you make in your life so you can devote more time and energy to catch-up so you don't miss out on MO-210 Excel certification exam?

(3) Most students that reach the end of the semester land in the B+/A- zone. Bonus Quizzes can give you the needed push to the top. Bonus Quizzes 7 through 11 (study guides are in Canvas) are based on LD4: The Internet. Until I review the answers of each BQ with you or when I announce their closure, they are available for you to do. Will you take advantage of this opportunity?

(4) Anything else on your mind? What are your thoughts on the presentations you have seen from your classmates, including the ones prior to this blog post? What are your thoughts on the lecture/demonstrations from me?
at 6 comments:

Monday, September 29, 2025

Getting Sea Legs, Student Presentations, Heading into First Exam

This past Saturday brought me great relief as the student participation on bonus quizzes matched past semesters.

Two Saturdays ago, the first trio of students took the classroom stage as they kicked off A3 Slideshow Presentation.

Three Saturdays ago, I gave my first lecture LD2: Hardware, Troubleshoot, Social Engineering, Purchasing Rationale.

Four Saturdays ago, I demonstrated LD1: Email Inbox Rules (Order Driven) to help students declutter their CSN Student Email account and direct future email traffic into designated email folders.

The past month saw most students getting acclimated to IS101. Some go above and beyond what is required. These are the students that have either earned highest score or volunteered to be the first to present their slideshow:

Casina had the best performance on Bonus Quiz 2 – Self-Reliance and Self-Responsibility.

A'marian and Earl earned the highest score on Bonus Quiz 3 – File E. & A. and Special Characters in File Name.

Earl and Sonia conquered Impromptu Bonus Challenge 1.

Alicia seized Impromptu Bonus Challenge 2.

Earl, Casina, and Naxaly jumped at the opportunity to lead in A3 Slideshow Presentation.

Andrew earned the highest score on Bonus Quiz 4 – Display, Shift/Ctrl, Boot-up, Binary, IPOS Life Cycle.

Earl and Audrey earned the highest score on Bonus Quiz 5 – Social Engineering & Purchasing Rationale.

Six (6) students have presented their A3 in the past two class sessions:

Earl diligently researched and educated the class on Pit Bulls: Origin, History, Facts & Myths. The very first student presenter each semester always hold a shining spot in my mind.

Casina bubbly shared her Self-Care routines and healthy lifestyle habits on spirituality, hygiene, and cuisine balancing being healthy with indulgence. Cheeseburger egg rolls? I want to try.

Naxaly spotlighted her favorite movie La La Land. Her brilliant use of color-grading to match the movie's color-grading and her logical flow made polishing her slideshow easy for me.

A'marian impressed upon us why Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best Marvel movie ever: character over action; themes of identity, belonging, redemption and healing. I'm curious about this movie.

Alicia smitten the crowd with Sanrio, its characters, and "kawaii" (cute) culture. I know she will have a blast at “Sanrio Puroland” when she visits. I didn't know Hello Kitty is the same age as me.

Audrey sparked curiosity from the audience and startled me a little with her obsession with Hatsune Miku, the vocaloid. Hatsu = first, ne = sound, miku = future. I'll have to check out the music.

Seven (7) of the eight (8) students from the leading half the class are mentioned above.




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One topic in my lecture LD2: Hardware, Troubleshoot, Social Engineering, Purchasing Rationale was social engineering.




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Fake apartment ad scams growing on social media (4 min 41 sec)
By NBC News on September 24, 2025

How to rescue your number from a ‘Google Voice’ scam (1 min 57 sec)
By CBS4 Indy on July 21, 2023

Home listing scam: How scammers use public records against you (2 min 29 sec)
By WSPA 7News on March 5, 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) was mentioned in my previous blog post. When AI and social engineering meet...

How to protect yourself from deepfake and other A.I. scams (4 min 46 sec)
By FOX 32 Chicago on August 6, 2025

@My students of IS101-3210, Fall 2025:

Be sure to watch all four videos above. In your comment to this blog post,

(i) Please provide your thoughts and/or share experience you encountered for each of four videos/scenarios.

(ii) How do you think you adapted and performed in IS101? Will you do anything different going forward in the semester?

(iii) How are you preparing for the upcoming MO-110 Word certification exam?

(iv) Anything else you would like to share with the world?
at 10 comments:

Sunday, August 31, 2025

Return to....., AI Killed Fun With Functions, How Will You Achieve, Succeed, and Prosper?

Kicking off my twenty seventh year of teaching part-time in higher education, mostly at College of Southern Nevada (CSN), the most significant change this semester is this:

The Digital Literacy program has been disbanded and rolled under the Software program in the Computer Information Technology (CIT) Department.

Adapting to the aftermath of this change: (i) shortened the time window for my early outreach to the students before the semester officially began, (ii) delayed the drafting and publishing of this inaugural blog post, and (iii) gave me an opportunity help a new fellow adjunct faculty. As I walk through the coursework for the newcomer, my mind returns to the fundamentals :-)

All but two students who enrolled in IS101-3210, Fall 2025 before the semester began meeting with me via WebEx. Fifteen (15) students sent in their Bonus Quiz 1 – Syllabus. Earl, A'Marian, Andrew, Oliver, Audrey, Justin, and Andrea continuously fixed their BQ1 until they reached 100%, leaving a positive first impression on me. Nineteen (19) students attended the first classroom session yesterday morning. In less than a minute is the deadline for students to enroll in a class for the 16-week session.

As with previous semesters, our 16-week IS101 Introduction to Information Systems journey together will be marked by three phases:




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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 and show up to the classroom early to challenge BQ2 through BQ6 and/or 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 A3 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.

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The Digital Literacy program may be no more but IS101 Introduction to Information Systems the course is still humming along.

The most meaningful change at the course level is that at least one artificial intelligence (AI) tool on the market has evolved to the point that it can immediately produce all the answers for the Fun with Functions workbook created by the then Digital Literacy program director Dr. Mark Taormino. Many IS101 faculty chose to continue to using the self-grading workbook this semester but my two signature capstone assignments easily fill the void. Let's see an AI tool do my capstone assignments!

Along the vein of ensuring human-talent doing the work instead of a human using AI tool(s) and passing the work off as his/her/their talent:




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This article & video arrested my attention back in 2018:

Artificial Intelligence: The Robots Are Now Hiring
See how new data-science tools are determining who gets hired, in this episode of Moving Upstream
By Hilke Schellmann and Jason Bellini of Wall Street Journal | September 20, 2018

A week before the Fall 2025 semester officially began, I came across this article also from WSJ:

AI is Forcing the Return of the In-Person Job Interview
More companies are returning to face-to-face meetings to counter cheating by candidates—and more ominous digital threats
By Ray A. Smith of Wall Street Journal | August 12, 2025

It's one thing to use AI to help do one's work to show one's talent, but how about using AI to change one's appearance, digitally at least?

This video from two and half a year ago came to my attention earlier this year:

This viral TikTok filter is creating unrealistic beauty expectations
A new viral TikTok filter, which has been used more than 8.5 million times, is stirring conversation on whether it is creating unrealistic beauty expectations. NBC’s Valerie Castro got the un-filtered view from people on the streets of New York.
By Valerie Castro of NBC News | March 1, 2023

Two months ago, I laughed hard from this video: (it made me think and question everything)

AI Slop: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
John Oliver explains why you’ve been seeing more AI-generated content online, the harm it can do, and – sadly – why it is threatening his marriage. Do you hear us, cabbage Hulk? Stay the hell away from John’s cabbage wife.
By LastWeekTonight with John Oliver | June 22, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWpg1RmzAbc (29 min 4 sec video -- see note below)
Note: Video contains strong and adult language. If you are under the age of 18, ask your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) for permission. If you are unable or unwilling to ask for permission, then skip this video.

Earlier this month at the CSN Part-Time Faculty conference, I attended AI workshops by Dr. Mary Ann Hughes Butts of CSN's AI Task Force. I learned much. With her permission, I will use a small portion from her AI Red Flags presentation as a later lecture/demonstration/walkthrough in IS101-3210 on how to discern whether an image is natural or generated by AI. I hope my students will share their experience with the AI Task Force: https://news.csn.edu/share-your-a-i-experience/

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Technology can be used for good and bad. 

Also from attending the Part-Time Faculty conference earlier this month, I learned that this semester, Fall 2025, student enrollment increased by 7% while we lost over $7 millions due to scams from the Spring 2025 semester.

CSN loses $7.4M in ‘Ghost Students’ scheme
An external audit showed CSN accumulated a debt of $7.43 million tied to the “ghost students” scheme. The debt included tuition, fees, and write-offs. CSN also had to pay back the U.S. Department of Education for the federal loans it awarded the fake students.
By: Joshua Peguero of 8 News Now | March 6, 2025

Nevada is certain not alone in dealing with ghost students. As the federal-level agencies step up their efforts in combating this type of scam, one result is the later disbursement of financial aid.

How scammers are siphoning college financial aid with stolen student identities
Ali Rogin speaks with Fortune editor Amanda Gerut to learn more about this growing scam.
By PBS NewsHour | August 24, 2025

The evening before Fall 2025 began, the State of Nevada suffered a cyber attack. The outage of systems at the state-level did affect operations at the county and city -levels.

Ransomware attack cripples Nevada services; officials confirm state data was taken
Nevada officials said at a Wednesday press conference in Carson City that the state became the target of a “sophisticated, ransomware-based” cyberattack detected early Sunday, prompting teams to isolate and take some systems offline to contain the threat.
By Jeffrey Meehan of Reno Gazette Journal | August 28, 2025

This reminded me of another John Oliver video I saw from four years ago:

Ransomware: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
John Oliver discusses ransomware attacks, why they’re on the rise, and what can be done about them.
By LastWeekTonight with John Oliver | August 15, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqD-ATqw3js (22 min 6 sec video -- see note below)
Note: Video contains strong and adult language. If you are under the age of 18, ask your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) for permission. If you are unable or unwilling to ask for permission, then skip this video.





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Alright, enough with the bad news from bad actors.

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

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

Be sure to read the articles, listen to the audio clip, and watch the videos I included in this blog post ^_^

In your comment to this blog post, please share your thoughts on:

(A) At least one of the videos you watched from above.

(B) Your digital literacy level now -- for reflection at the end of the semester of your digital literacy level then.

(C) How would Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certifications benefit you? Do you have any ambition to pursue the expert-level MOS certifications (beyond the scope of IS101)?

(D) How will you achieve, succeed, and prosper in IS101-3210, Fall 2025 and beyond?
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