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 :-)

Click on the image for a larger/clearer view

Click on an image for a larger/clearer view

Click on the image for a larger/clearer view

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)?

Click on the image for a larger/clearer view

Click on an image for a larger/clearer view

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

https://www.forbes.com/sites/martijngrooten/2018/11/12/cinema-chain-sees-bad-movie-script-play-out-as-it-loses-millions-in-email-scam/

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

https://www.wired.com/2012/08/apple-amazon-mat-honan-hacking/

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbCQKODKv1o

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 ^_^