IFs and Comix

We continued with advanced Microsoft Excel functions tonight. The IF function consists of 3 parts: 1) a condition; 2) a True part and; 3) a False part. IF allows one to specify a condition, and if the condition is met then Excel will return the specified result (the True part). This result can be calculation or even a line of text. Should the condition not be met then Excel will return an alternative result (the False part).  

We took this one step further by using a Nested IF. A nested if is when we put a second IF statement inside of an existing IF, in the place of the False part. This way one can build on the outcomes by having three possible outcomes instead of two. In the example we used, we created an admission system to our own 'night club' for 13 year olds. People of age 12 and under were sent back home, 13 year olds were welcomed in, those aged 14 and older were turned away. :-) By the way, one can have up to 7 Nested IFs inside one another. 

Comix

We also looked at a cool website used to create your own short comic strips. Make Beliefs Comix allows you to make a comic of 2 - 3 panels. It has a multitude of characters, props, speech bubbles, thought bubbles, and panel prompts to choose from. You can add colour and adjust the position and scale of everything you add to your panels.  These comics can then be printed or emailed. The computer club members were asked to go home and make their own comic strip about the computer club and mail it to me.

Diary

It looks like the computer club won't meet for a long time. With the outdoor education week, a public holiday, and the September school holiday coming up, we'll only meet again on 15 October 2012.

Until next time. Have a wonderful holiday and come back home safely.

Glen Williams 

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Lookup & Moovl

We can't always just have fun - we need to do some serious work too.  :-) This evening the Sunridge Computer Club looked into Microsoft Excel - specifically the VLOOKUP function. This is probably one of the most useful functions Excel has to offer. It allows you to look up a value from a pre-defined list (table) by referencing it with a value you enter into the spreadsheet. 

One such useful application for this function is for us teachers to have a list of percentages 0% - 100%, and alongside that are listed the various levels used on our learners' reports for grades 6 & 7 for example.  Using this method, we can have one centrally located correct list where all the teachers can work from. Teachers enter their marks onto their own spreadsheet which converts the mark to a percentage. Their spreadsheet then uses that percentage to reference the level from the appropriate column in the pre-defined list.

Needless to say, the computer club members had no problem mastering this function - despite the fact that the VLOOKUP function uses four variables. I'll have to think up something more complicated next time. :-)

We had some time left so we had a look at a nifty online app (also available for smartboards) called Moovl. Moovle applies the laws of physics by allowing you to draw objects and have you manipulate factors such as gravity, it's density, and firmness by changing an objects "stickiness", "slippiness", and other fun descriptions.

Diary
Our next club meeting will be on Monday evening, 3 September 2012.

Until next time...

30 Seconds...

We looked at how to create our own online educational computer games tonight. There are various such websites available but Classtools.net is the one we used. Classtools.net has many templates available for you to simply add your questions and answers before turning it into a game. What's great about this website is that you do not need to register or log in at all. 

These games have great educational value as teachers can copy and paste questions and answers into the website and have it generate an exciting game with one or two clicks of the mouse. The games can even be password protected so that the questions are not meddled with. This way the same game can be used over and over for different classes.

The templates on offer take many different formats. You can shoot, catch, pick, and match the answers to name but just a few.

Our Game

We tried the Classtools.net out by creating a "30 seconds" type game. We had a long list of clues (with descriptions), and a second list with all the SCC members' names. A Jackpot slot machine-like game picked teams of 2 at random. One team member was made to sit down with his/her back towards the projector screen while the other stands in front of them describing the clue (which was also randomly produced) with hand movements and actions. Another website acted as the countdown timer. The rest of us played the part of the audience as we sat back ...and laughed team members frantically tried to get their message across before their 30 seconds were up.

Diary
Our next club meeting will be on 20 August 2012 @ 17:15 in Mr. Williams' computer lab.

Until next time...

QR Codes - Scan 'em

We see them more and more all over the these days - in magazines, all over the internet, on your Blackberry, and many other places. I'm talking about QR Codes (see image on the right).

This evening's computer club activity was very cool. Club members had to move around the school, find, and scan 6 QR Codes in order to answer two  questions.

The 6 QR Codes were:

1. Google map location (The White House in Washington DC)
2. Wikipedia page on Barack Obama
3. A local website
4. A line of text
5. An email address
6. A telephone number

What are QR Codes:

QR stands for Quick Response. A QR Code is like the barcode (UPC barcodes = universal  product codes) you see on products your Mum buys at Spar.

What do they look like? For those of you who’s never scanned a BB PIN, it is a series of (black) squares arranged in the shape of a larger square. It was invented by a part of Toyota in Japan. A QR Code has 3 very obvious squares on three corners and another smaller square near the 4^th corner.  The scanner uses these squares to normalise the image size, orientation, and angle. The small dots are then converted to binary numbers.

The normal barcode you see on a product tells the till (Point of Sale) what the product is being scanned and it's price. But a QR Code can do so much more than a normal barcode.

It can take you to an online location like: A website; Google map location; Youtube video; Facebook page; Twitter account; Linkedin account; Foursquare account; An app store download; iTunes link; Open up a new email message with the “To” field already filled in; Open a Skype call. It can also hold: Lines of text like a sentence; VCard; VCalendar; An Email address; Telephone number.

The Process:

Club members were instructed to download a free QR Scanner. They were divided into 6 teams. Each team received a form with the two questions and a pen. Armed with their mobile devices, they had to find and scan the 6 QR Codes in order to reveal the clues. They then had to Google and piece together the clues. This quiz was hard but the computer club boffins proved themselves worthy again. "Excitement" was at the order of the day as they hurried through the clues and kept their answered secret from the other teams - very competitive. :-)

The Questions

1. Who is the focus of this scavenger hunt?

2. Who should we send this information to and in which South African city does he/she live?

The Winners

And the winners were Jana, Gerrit, and Frans. The 3 of you may come collect your prizes from me on Thursday, 26 July. Well done!!!

Diary

Our next club meeting will be on Monday, 6 August 2012.

Until next time... Take care.

iNtErNeT SAFEty

The Sunridge Computer Club started off it's club meeting tonight with a brainstorming session. We all got down to each other's level (seriously - we all sat on the floor) and discussed ideas and shared our thoughts on internet safety. We soon realized that it EASY to say something but you need to understand WHY in order to back it up. Here are just some of the ideas the club members mentioned. Some relate to cyber bullying too:

• Don't give out your address and telephone numbers online
• Don't give information about your family's movements - like that your parents go out every Wednesday night leaving you and your baby sister home alone
• Watch out for posting pictures which could identify your location - like a landmark in the background, or your house number or street name
• Educate and reprimand your friends for the pics they post of you. Your best friend could inadvertently be your enemy
• Once you put something on the internet you can usually delete it but other people can copy it and repost it before that. And then you have no control
• Don't say anything online which you won't say to somebody's face
• Don't friend people online whom you don't know in real life
• Don't cyber bully. It's just as bad as bullying on the playground
• Be careful of competition and survey websites which often just want your information
• Some websites are age restricted - for a reason
• Tell you parents as soon as something doesn't feel right - even if it's sure to land you in a whole bunch of trouble

We also watched a YouTube video about how a seemingly nice British lad got up to mischief by friending an unsuspecting girl. You can watch the video by clicking here.

We rounded off the educational part of this evening's lesson by completing an online quiz or two. You can see these for yourself bu clicking the following two links:

Quiz 1

Quiz 2

Monster Basement

We had about 10 minutes left so we just had some fun with an online game. Monster Basement is hardly educational but it does provide for some fun. And that it sure did. I even got a bit of a scare (don't tell anyone).

You can find the Monster Basement game at:      http://www.godlimations.com/webfolder/monsterbasement.html

Thank you

Thank you to all the parents for picking up your kids on time. It was great not having to wait in the cold and dark for anyone.

Diary

Our next club meeting will be in term 3. I'll communicate the date to you at the beginning of the term but it will probably be on the 2nd Monday of the new term.

Until then. Goodbye, and enjoy the June holiday.

Movie Magic...

Tonight was PJ night. The entire computer club (me included) came to the meeting dressed in our pajamas. :-)

I introduced our new SCC (Sunridge Computer Club) project tonight. The plan is to create a promotional video of Sunridge Primary using cell phones.  This video will be uploaded to YouTube for all to learn about our wonderful school and Sunshine family.

We started off by watching a view YouTube Videos of other schools - both local and abroad - to get some ideas. Here are three of the videos if you'd like to see what we're aiming for. Simply click on the schools' names below.

• Laurier High
• Woodridge College
• Belton High

The idea is for the computer club members to go around the school armed with their cell phones, cameras, and other recording devices to record footage of... well anything really. Then the really hard work starts - putting it all together. Splicing, stitching, narrating, adding special effects, transitions, etc. We would like to include scenes from:

• Sporting events - matches and practices
• The hustle and bustle as learners swap classes after the bell goes
• Interactive moments in Grade 1 classes
• Playground activities, learners kicking balls around, girls sitting on the benches eating their lunch and chatting
• Art class
• Science class
• Computer classes
• Music class
• Band practice
• Learners queuing at the tuck shop

 I will arrange with the staff to give the computer club members some freedom with their cell phones as this is usually not allowed. I'm hoping that the following 2 weeks will be enough time to collect plenty of footage which we can use in the video.

Diary
Please note that our next club meeting will be in 3 weeks time to allow me time to mark the computer literacy and Cami maths test our learners are writing as of today. The next club meeting thus, will be on 11 June 2012.

Until then...

Serving Servers

We had an interesting talk by our very own on-site technician. We visited Chris in our server room where he gave us a rundown of the six Sunridge servers.  He also covered topics like: how the firewall works; the operation of the switches; rooting; and explained our new 6KVA Uninterrupted Power Supply which maintains power to our server in the event of a power failure.  There were plenty of questions asked – one of the most popular questions was “on which machine is scadsys kept?” For those of you who don’t know, scadsys is the software which we use for – amongst other things – to record detention point.  I think we might have a prospective saboteur in our midst. J

Thank you Chris