My Last Month in IS101

My Review of IS101

I enjoyed going to IS101 because it gave me higher confidence in using different applications for Microsoft. The different skills that I’ve learned will be helpful for formatting a document. For example, using page breaks will allow me to move the cursor to the next page without having to press Enter multiple times. I liked working on the assignments for CompTIA because they gave me practice in doing tasks are important for Microsoft.

Support from my Professor and Classmates

I liked how caring that Professor Wu was in the classroom. One of the things that I liked about him was that he took the time to help me complete tasks that I was having a hard time on. I also liked how kind that my classmates were online. They have encouraged me to keep pursuing my dream career.

My Knowledge from Chapter 6

The topic that I chose to talk about for Chapter 6 is Section 6.7.1: PowerPoint Charts. To create a chart, you must choose what kind of chart that you will use from the Insert Chart dialog box. Choosing the right chart for the situations will help your audience easily see relationships between different pieces of data. A line chart shows how data changes overtime while a column chart allows people to compare different series of data.

Importance of Doing Your Best

One thing that I like about this class is that it has given me practice in doing my best on tasks without rushing on them. This is a good way to help you to prepare for your career. You should not rush on a task for your career because doing that will cause you to not complete it to the best of your ability or even make you accidentally skip a task. I have rushed to get an essay finished before the deadline so I would at least get a grade. However, that caused me to accidentally skip the step of checking to see if I follow all the instructions of choosing it and that caused me to choose a topic that I have a hard time coming up with support for.

Journey Through the Toughest Weeks in IS101

My Performance in Phase 2

I think that I did excellently in learning the major concepts in Phase 2: Microsoft Excel and URL Components & Social Engineering. However, some of the chapters were hard at first due to the complex steps that you had to memorize. What helped me with understanding these topics is taking notes on them and practicing on the concepts multiple times. This knowledge in Excel is what allowed me to enjoy working on A6: Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer. What I liked about it was that it gave me practice in using Excel without the restrictions of the labs in CompTIA.

Studying Large Data Sets

The topic that I chose to talk about for my third blog post is Section 5.3.3 – Large Data Sets. A concept that is important to understand in this topic is freezing rows and columns. This helps people see what data is connected to what row headers and column headings. What is also important to understand in this topic is hiding columns and rows.  Doing this will help you ignore data that is not needed to answer a certain research question.

My Use of Excel Outside the Classroom

While working on Phase 2, I have learned about how to create tables. Excel tables will be helpful during my career as a radiologic technologist as they can perform calculations about multiple pieces of data about a patient. This will make solving certain calculations faster.  Freezing row headers and columns headings will also be necessary for studying these tables because they will allow me to see what data is connected to what patient as I scroll around the application.

Will I Focus on the Highest Achievement

Even though I had a high performance in Phase 2, I will not be able to focus on getting the highest achievement in class. However, I will work on A9: Query Options and If Statement, A10: Workbook Investigation and Bonus Quiz 14 so I can practice on complex features of Word and Excel that I am not familiar with. Doing these assignments might improve my knowledge of Microsoft applications for my resume to become a radiologic technologist. I will not work on A8: Improved Slideshow Presentation because I am already proud of myself for the presentation that I gave in my IS101 class. There is nothing I can improve on except speaking loud enough so my entire audience can hear.

My Experience in IS101

Reflection on my performance on Phase 1

            During my time in IS101, I have struggled with getting 100% on the sections in the first two chapter, but when I started working on Chapter 3 - Microsoft Office Features I got the better hang of it. One of the major skills that I have learned in the class is to select a word, right-click it and then, look into the thesaurus. This will help me look for words that are more suitable for a specific context. In fact, I enjoy taking IS101 because you learn skills that help make it convenient to fulfill tasks in Microsoft Office. However, my earlier experiences were not as fun.

            Earlier in the semester, I am disappointed in myself for rushing finish three of the sections in Chapter 2 – Computer Essentials and Section 1.4 - Online Safety and Security. The reason is because I wanted to catch up to work on my Chapter 3- Common Office Features and Chapter 4 - Microsoft Word assignments. I was struggling with getting the tasks in the assignments done before the due dates because I didn’t start working on the introductory coursework a week in advance. For next time, I will make sure I work at least five days in advance for assignments.

My Knowledge in using Bulleted and Numbered Lists

            I have chosen Section 4.4.3 - Bulleted and Numbered Lists as the section to talk about for this blog. I use bullet points to see all the tasks that I need to accomplish for the day separately. I also use numbered lists to help myself see the required order of steps to fulfill a task. To start the list, I set my cursor on an empty line, press the numbering button on the paragraph group to start numbered list and then, press enter to start the next note. However, I struggled with with knowing how to decrease the indent for a bullet point when I accidentally indented it too far to the right. I struggle with that whenever there is a bullet point on the next line. However, watching the tutorial video on Section 4.4.3 - Bulleted and Numbered Lists taught me that there is a Decrease Indent button on the paragraph group. I can use that button to decrease the indent for a bullet point.

My plan to prepare myself for the Word Certification exam 

            The first step that I will take to get a good grade on the Certification exam is to make a list of the lessons in LabSim that I still need to review. I will then review that video to recall what it talked about. To help myself understand the topic for the section, I will write down the summary of what was talked about. The last step that I will take to prepare myself for the exam is study the lesson for that topic.

What to Share about My Life

            One of the things that I enjoy about college is that you get to learn skills that will help you make an impact in your career. For example, in my Introduction to Information Systems class, I learned how to switch between different styles of text on Microsoft Word. This allows me to give the text that I use as headings in a different format than the text that I use as notes. However, I do face problems in college.

            One of the biggest stressors that I have dealt with in college is enrolling in an Introduction to Oral Communications class in which the curriculum was not suitable for me. In the class, the teacher required the class to read two chapters a week, along with working on the quizzes based on those chapters, which was hard for me to handle with other classes that I had. I enrolled into that class since it was the best Introduction to Oral Communications class available since I didn’t start looking for classes as early as possible. However, you can learn from your mistakes in college. After making that choice, I learned that the quality of the curriculum of a class matters as much as the effort that you put in to get a good grade. If you are a full-time student and all your classes that you enroll in are tedious, you can struggle having time getting good grades in all of them, even though you might be trying to study those classes every day. After learning this major lesson, I can prevent myself from waiting to pick classes after they opened and then, enrolling into a class in which the curriculum is hard to manage.

Introduction to my Goals and Knowledge in IS101

Who I Am and What My Goals Are 

            My name is Makell Duncan. I am a College of Southern Nevada student who is pursuing a degree in Associate of Science to become a radiologic technologist. I look forward to being in this IS101 class because it will give me higher skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This will help me stand out when I apply to become a radiologic technologist and be more creative in these applications in general. What got me into being a radiologic technologist is that I am familiar with how to use Microsoft applications like Word. I think that by taking IS101, I will be able to have better skills in recording information about the health of a patient while I work as a radiologic technologist.

What I Learned About Using Outlook

            I didn’t know much about the different layouts in Outlook until I watched the CompTIA chapter, Section 1.3.8 - Checking Your Email. I now understand that there are four different sections in Outlook, “Mail View”, “Calendar View”, “People View”, and “Task View.” Calendar and Task View will allow me to record tasks online while People View can help me access the email of the recipient that I want to send a message to. Another feature that I like is that you can “flag” a message. This feature will remind me that I have a task related to the email that is important.

My Hobbies

            Some of the activities that I enjoy doing are working out and drawing. Whenever I work out, I usually do strength training workouts because they allow me to become stronger, so I feel more energized for future chores. I work out at home instead of going to the gym because I don’t always have the chance to go to the gym. During times when I am not physically active, I draw natural landscapes and animals. I have recently started drawing liminal spaces after being inspired by the mystery of those that I have seen on Google.