Hybrid Course & My expectations - This course is a sixteen week course, organized into weekly class sessions with multiple topics. You will need to arrive on time, stay the entire class session and meet all deadlines to succeed. The class is taught with 1.5 hours in the classroom and 1.5 hour online per week (not counting homework) through the Blackboard online instructional software.

Outside of class, you will read the textbook, take Assessments (quizzes) online , post and respond to Discussion topics online, and work on Assignments using the Microsoft Office software.

Classroom instruction will use the instructor's website (http://www.cabrillo.edu/~dambrosini) for lecture material, as well as explanations of coursework material found at the Blackboard site.

Online instruction uses the "Blackboard Learning System,". Students will use Blackboard weekly for coursework material, Announcements, Assessments (quizzes), Assignments, Discussion topics, Calendar and checking grades. (https://cabrillo.blackboard.com/)

The course textbook, Computers are your Future, by Bill Daley, has a student website that will be used in support of your coursework. (http://wps.prenhall.com/bp_daley_cayf_9/)

Classroom: Room 515 has 30 Laptops, parked in a closet, in the back of the room. Each day that we use computers in the classroom, but not every day, I will open the cabinet and you will check out a Laptop, boot it up and login to activate the computer so you can access the Internet and your personal materials.

You will be given a personal student folder on our network drive, only accessible when logged onto a campus classroom or lab computer, in which you can store and retrieve files. You will need a Floppy, CD, Zip, Flash, etc. disk if transporting from off-campus to campus.

CTC Labs: You can use our Computer Technology Center Labs (CTC Labs) in the 1400 building on the Aptos campus or at the Watsonville Center room Wat4510.

Elsewhere: You can access all of the Web materials from my website or the the author's website from any computer that is connected to the Internet, anywhere without needing a login. You will need a login to access the Blackboard site.

A Login (or Logon) consists of a username & a password.

• First two weeks - Temporary Login (a user name and password) for using computers will be given to you by your instructor. Lookup your semester login ASAP; the Temp login quits working.
  
• Using Blackboard . You will visit the Blackboard link below or the CTC link and create your own account for logging into Blackboard as follows:
  • Go to Blackboard Or CTC Website and entering your own information (you will need your Student ID#)
  • Click on the "Lookup username and password" link on the left.
  • Enter "Last Name"
  • Enter "Date of Birth" (MMDDYY)
  • Enter "Student ID" or Datatel ID (NOT SS#)
  • Enter password (student creates their own password; Note: if you forget your password repeat these steps and create a new one)
  • Submit (click once and wait!)
  • NOTE: If you activate your account from off campus, you may need to re-activate on campus in order to use the campus computers.
    
• Using Classroom Computers To use the Room 515 classroom laptops you will:
  • power them on
  • login using username = 515 , password = 515
  • to access the Internet with the laptop, open a browser and a 2nd login window appears. Login using your semester username & password

(click here for printable directions )

CTC (Computer Technology Center) The CTC is open as follows:

CTC Printing cost is 10¢ for bw or 50¢ for color.The CTC requires you to open an account for a minimum of $5.00 at the help counter. For details, click here.

The most popular browsers worldwide are Firefox and Internet Explorer, but there are many others you can download and install for free. They have advantages and disadvantages as well as personal loyalties and perceived advantages and disadvantages. Click on the links to see browser stats.

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

http://www.upsdell.com/BrowserNews/index.htm

However, Blackboard doesn't support (run correctly) on all browsers and operating systems: some because they are too old, some too new or not yet popular enough. Click on these links: to see what browsers and operating systems are supported by Blackboard.

link1 | link 2

Three things that may help you do the coursework and navigate the three class websites:

• Tabs
• Multiple windows
• Tab menus. bookmarks and personal browser settings

Let's explore the class website. (my website for Bus5) It can be accessed through:

• my Faculty Home Page
  http://www.cabrillo.edu/~dambrosini
• directly through the Bus5 course home page.
  http://www.cabrillo.edu/~dambrosini/Bus5Web/index.htm

Let's explore the Blackboard Learning System, online instructional home page: https://cabrillo.blackboard.com/

The Author, Bill Daley, has a Companion Website for Computers Are Your Future. You can use it to view TechTV Videos for each chapter in the textbook. You will click on any chapter on the horizontal menu that is across the whole window then clicking on the TechTV Video Library link at the bottom of the left-side menu.
(NOTE: the TechTV Video Library listing is not really alphabetized.)

You can also use the website to take practice quizzes before taking the real quizzes under "Assessments" link on Blackboard. The practice quizzes are found in the left-side menu by clicking on "Online Study Guide."

While in Blackboard, complete the following now.

1. Post a personal Introduction about yourself using the Blackboard Discussion link (left-side menu) Respond to other student's postings. Include things like: Who you are, Career goals, Interests, why taking this class, your favorite __________?
2. Take the practice Assessment titled "Syllabus Review." It's only five questions.

Software: MS Office 2007is available on our classrooms Laptops and in the CTC labs. If you are using a Mac, please be SURE to save your files in the PC format so the instructor can open them. Files saved in the Mac format cannot be opened by the instructor.

Be aware that some of you may not have Access on your MS Office software if you don't have MS Office Pro version. You can use a trial version of Access available from Microsoft or complete the assignments at the Cabrillo lab(s).

The Class Session materials are written in both a 2003 and a 2007 version. Lectures will feature MS 2010 for demo and instruction. The two version look different on the interface but have virtually all the same commands.

MS Office 2010 is backwards compatible - it can open and edit files made in older versions like 2003. You can also save files in 2007 as older versions so they can be opened and edited by the older versions or MS Office. If you want to do this, when saving files in the 2007 version, choose "Save As" and then for the "Save As Type" choose "Word 97-2003 document" for a Word file or "Excel 97-2003 document" for an Excel file and so on.

You can tell what version a document was created and saved in by noticing its file extension.

This weeks activities

Complete the following:

1. Familiarize yourself with my website, course requirements and the Blackboard website.
2. The above in-class activities if you didn't complete them (Due 1st week)
• Personal Introduction Discussion Posting
• Syllabus Review in Assessments (a practice quiz)
3. Get your permanent Logon info if you didn't already do so as noted above
4. Get your textbook immediately
5. Read your textbook Chapter 1
6. Perform Browser checks
7. Take Quiz 1 (in Blackboard > Assessments> Quiz Chap 1) (Due 1st Week)
8. Visit the CTC (optional)
9. Post the extra credit PC vs Apple Discussion (Due 2nd Week) (in Blackboard> Assessments> PC vs Apple) (optional)