Today may have been the final class session, but I have until this coming Wednesday to submit students' grades and will continue to help students in catching/cleaning-up for each student to finish IS101-3003, Spring 2023 strong! Even afterward, I will help each student go above-and-beyond IS101.
Last evening, Linette took on and passed MO-300 PowerPoint and became the sixth Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Associate. Bonus Quiz 14 – OLE, Average, URL, IPOS Perspective, Bloom’s Taxonomy launched today's class session. Elijah and Heather scored the highest on this capstone bonus quiz.
I then shined spotlights on various students' achievements and distinctions throughout the semester, the details of which will be the glorious centerpiece of a future blog post. The final hour of our official gathering saw Elijah catapulting our imagination into orbit with a very brief introduction to rocket design as his A10 Improved Slideshow Presentation.
The space rocket enthusiast not only made me proud by applying my feedback on his A5 Slideshow Presentation to his A10 but managed to touch my heart again as he had done with A5 with his poignant tributes to the astronauts that lost their lives in their missions.
Elijah's improved slideshow (a) incorporated vibrant images that accentuated each topic throughout the presentation while leaving no empty areas on each slide, (b) applied animation effects, slide transitions, and motion paths that complimented the moving objects, and (c) required NO polishing from me but I will help him shrink the 20MB PowerPoint file without any noticeable loss in visual quality.
Elijah's leveraged a laser pointer to help the audience to follow his focus during the presentation.
Elijah's Q & A session was immersive as he brought components – both 3D-printed and electronic devices – for the audience to touch, explore, and pass around.
Any or all of those three attributes would not have earned him bonus credit on this bonus assignment, but this did: the evening before his presentation, Elijah shared with me that knowing Tsz's language gap, he will print out his slideshow with notes so Tsz can better follow along but he will have printouts for everyone so to NOT single out Tsz.
During my closing review of Elijah's A10, I commended Elijah's for his thoughtfulness toward his classmate but for the benefit of all students, I had to shared the reason that earned Elijah bonus credit on this bonus assignment. With practice and creativity, anyone can create a dazzling slideshow; with confidence and passion, anyone can delivery a memorable presentation; but knowing the audience's need and take an extra step to not only help with that need while avoiding singling out an audience member is not only the hallmark of a good presenter but a good human being ^_^
Elijah's A10 not only served to close out our final official gathering on a memorable note but opened the door for the former U.S. Navy sailor to hit a Grand Slam: (1) achieving a MOS Homerun, (2) exemplary performance on my bonus quizzes, and (3) completing all ten of my signature assignments.
Elijah has satisfied (2) with his stellar performance on BQ12 – Microsoft Excel 2019 and Spreadsheet Analysis and BQ13 – Apex of Excel. I have no doubt he will conquer MO-101 Word Expert and MO-201 Excel Expert to hit (1). I wonder if Elijah will have the hunger to complete A8 Query Options and IF Statement, A9 Workbook Investigation, A3 Tailored Cover Letter and Resume, and A4 Homepage, Website, Online Publishing? If so, he would be the second student of mine – ever – to achieve (3).
Linette and Jimena stayed after class to catch-up and clean-up while Tsz continued with his Speed Run MO-201. Tsz stayed long after both ladies left and his hard work paid off as he conquered MO-201 and emerged as the first MOS Expert of IS101-3003, Spring 2023 :-)
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Students,
I look forward to helping you catching-up and cleaning-up this coming week and showcasing everyone's achievements and distinctions in my next blog post.
To conclude my run on the John Oliver videos, please watch this 22:07 min video on Ransomware.
Back in the Spring 2017 semester, I shared with my students that 2016 had the highest number of ransomware attacks in recent years and a student shared with me that he had never heard of the term 'ransomware'. From the 2021 video, I learned about the three factors that likely contributed to that surge in 2016. Thank you John Oliver.
What I also appreciate are his three advices:
(1) Enable multi-factor authentication to make hacking your accounts less easy for bad actors. Remember Mat Honan's Epic Hack?
(2) Keep your computer update to date with antivirus software & operating system fixes, patches, and updates.
(3) Don't click on suspicious links or emails.
Please share your professional thoughts on what you learned from his video in your comment to this blog post.
I didn't know that the first ransomware attack took place with floppy discs, that's insane. It reminds me of the common USB Drive drops outside of companies. All it takes is one employee to plug in the drive and the company’s network is compromised. This was also depicted in the TV show Mr. Robot, but with a police station. Absolutely wild.
ReplyDeleteJohn Oliver's segment on ransomware was really informative and eye-opening. It showed how dangerous and damaging ransomware attacks can be, both for individuals and businesses. The segment emphasized the importance of strong cybersecurity measures to prevent these attacks. "to pay or not to pay" the ransomware; even on 'butt plugs' ;-D
ReplyDeleteI also didn't know what a ransomware was, and it sounds scary to have hackers lock up your device in exchange for money. If hackers were able to attack a major pipeline company causing gas shortages it must be super easy for them to hack a personal computer such as my own, although my computer is up to date and has a virus protection. This made me aware that I should never save my debit/credit card information in my computer.
ReplyDeleteIt blows my mind these companies and hospitals either didn't have a cybersecurity team employed or set up a multifactor authentication system. Especially places like hospitals where people trust they will keep our medical records confidential and away from harm. The idea that numerous cancer patients could not receive the care they needed because there was no access to their records is ludacris. The more I watch these videos, the more I am convinced the internet and making everything available online is of the devil. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Given the nature of human beings, this should and probably was foreseen. Yet here we are trying to catch up with hackers who appear always one step ahead. And we the consumers are constantly trying to and asked to update, add to, come up with and buy things. All to either curtail the hackers or try to be one step ahead of. Is anyone else tired? I know I am.
ReplyDeleteWe're now starting to see mainstream media coverage about just how dangerous ransomware really is.Ransomware attacks are increasing, and they are a type of malicious software that locks up computer systems or files until a ransom is paid. This is happening more because it's profitable for attackers, and they are using more advanced techniques. To tackle this problem, it's important to regularly back up data, have strong security measures, educate others, and enforce stricter cybersecurity regulations. Collaboration and sharing information between organizations and countries are also vital. Investing in advanced detection technologies and staying aware can help prevent and respond to ransomware attacks more effectively.
ReplyDelete"The more we pay to ransomware, the more these attacks will be encouraged." I think that maybe one of the reasons why Bitcoin became expensive was that a lot of people, especially government organizations, bought Bitcoin to pay for ransoms. Hundreds of government organizations bought Bitcoin, causing its demand to increase. I think that I should invest in a cryptocurrency used frequently which will have real value on it and become another Bitcoin.
ReplyDelete