How I Use to Begin IT Academy Jeff Dowd Renton High

Typical First Week o Parent Letter, Syllabus, o Introductions o Login name and passwords to district network o Network agreement forms o Teacher Website o Mr. Dowd’s Website Mr. Dowd’s Website o Keyboarding Test o Students dropping o Students joining How I Use OneNote to Begin IT Academy2

Logins, logins & MORE logins o School Network o Online Keyboarding program o Teacher website (just a bookmark) o Microsoft IT Academy (eLearning) o Certiport o Quizstar & Quizlet o Skyward to check grades, missing assignments o Others? o Library resources o News sites How I Use OneNote to Begin IT Academy3

Solution to Multiple Logins o Ctrl + Alt + Delete o Change password o Require school login password: o Minimum 8 characters o Include at least one uppercase character o Include at least one lowercase character o Include at least one number o Require use of that same password on ALL websites and other resources How I Use OneNote to Begin IT Academy4

What I Used To Do o Start with MS PowerPoint (or MS Word) o Talk about an online test that they’ve never seen or experienced o Spend 3.5 to 4 weeks teaching PowerPoint Skills (or longer) o Assign vocabulary quizzes and projects that reinforce skills BUT look nothing like the MOS exam o Assign PowerPoint projects that help with future classes BUT look nothing like the MOS exam o Spend another week for projects and test prep o Have students perform mediocre at best on the MOS Exam (and feel jealous of other schools with better success rates) How I Use OneNote to Begin IT Academy5

What I Do Now o Start with MS OneNote o Spend about two weeks teaching OneNote Skills o Use IT Academy online lessons o Only four lessons o Projects are short and relate directly to lesson/test objectives o Create a login information page o Spend about a week test prep’ing and taking the MOS exam o Use a study guide (created as a OneNote Notebook) o Start MS PowerPoint at start of fourth week o Students know what to expect o I teach PowerPoint using same method, same resources 6

Benefits of Starting with OneNote How I Use OneNote to Begin IT Academy7 o Is a quick unit o Start to finish, less than 3 weeks o Is a new application to most students o Keeps interest engaged during start of semester o A lot of OneNote is pretty intuitive o Students see usefulness immediately o Projects are designed to help students use OneNote for other classes, activities o Exam experience o Students now know what a MOS exam 'feels' like

Students experience ALL elements of class o All new logins and passwords are set up o Same logins o All websites explored, bookmarked o eLearning website explored o Vocabulary and Hot Key (shortcut) quizzes o Lesson style experienced o I teach the Exercise (demo) o Students do the Projects (application) o Send me their files via teacher website o MOS exam experienced o Students KNOW how to prep

Results o Spring 2012 o Less than two dozen MOS certifications earned, mainly in PowerPoint o Did NOT teach OneNote o Fall 2012 o Over 90 certifications (out of 130 students) by Thanksgiving o Named as a top five school in WA at year’s end (based on number of MOS certs earned) How I Use OneNote to Begin IT Academy9

Questions/Discussion Jeff Dowd Renton High