Phase 1 - Complete!

Hi all! IS101 Phase 1 has come to a finish. Looking back on the journey of Phase 1, I think I managed pretty well. Not going to lie, it was pretty rough finding my footing with managing 4 classes, working full-time, and still having time to spend with my family, but I made it through! I managed to stay up-to-date with my LabSims assignments, and even found myself ahead at times. Go me! Of course, there is always room for improvement. I think I could have focused more on the bonus quizzes. I have only taken the first two, so that's definitely a goal of mine moving forward. I do think that I have good study habits, as I check the IS101 assignments daily, so I think that will continue to be helpful with the upcoming phases.

During Phase 1, we started Chapter 4, which is all about Microsoft Word. Specifically 4.4 is about how to format paragraphs. Formatting paragraphs properly is such an important skills to have. At work, we use a lot of template forms for various things, and sometimes the formatting can get a bit wonky. Properly learning the different ways to format paragraphs with indentations and tabs, along with how to actually read and understand the formatting symbols, has made a world of difference! It has greatly improved the efficiency in which I can fix the formatting issues that I run into with those wonky work templates.

Looking ahead, we have our MO-110 Word Certification Exam in 2 weeks. To be fully prepared, I am going to make sure that I am fully complete with Chapter 4, again, which is all about Word. I am also going to revisit any topics that I may have had difficulty with the first time around to make sure that I have mastered it. You can definitely bet that if I need additional help, I will reach out to Professor Wu who is always willing to help to make sure we are set up for success.

I'm looking forward to learning the proper ways to utilize Microsoft applications and making my life easier by implementing those best practices. I am nervous for the MO- 110 Word Certification Exam since I haven't started on the live projects just yet, but I am confident that I will be ready to crush it! I am ready to be a certified proficient Word user. :)

Introductions - Katelyn Thompson and IS101

Hello! My name is Katelyn Thompson and I am currently a student at CSN. I am currently working on my Associate of Business degree. I aspire to continue my education after earning my Associate Degree with my end goal being a Master of Business Administration.

One of the classes that I am currently taking is Information Systems 101 (IS101). This class is designed to help elevate digital literacy and helps with understanding key concepts and functions of different computer programs such as Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. My first impression of this course is that it requires you to be very engaged and involved. There are many components to understand the basic concepts of digital literacy and making sure that you are utilizing each concept or the tips for better efficiency of each functionality requires a great deal of attention to detail. 

During this course, we use a program called LabSim to study each chapter section. I have found this very helpful because it allows you to watch videos that explain each concept with visual representation. Additionally, there are also summaries for each concept allowing you to read about the concept. Having multiple ways of learn the concept has helped greatly in making sure that the material is fully understood. LabSim also has labs at the end of each chapter section that allows you to practice the skills learned in the chapter studied. The set up of using LabSim for the course is wildly different that just sitting in the classroom, listening to a lecture while trying to keep up with notes, and then being expected to understand enough to perform well on exams.

One of the sections that I recently completed is on Network Servers. A network server provides services such as email, file sharing, online gaming, and printing. I have used network servers for data storage/file sharing for many years, because of my employment. I have been in my field for over 6 years and I use the network server everyday. I work at a law firm, so in order to access any client folder, document, photo or video, I need to access the server to view it. The server is our community data storage so that anyone in our firm such as attorneys, paralegals or assistants can access a client folder and the files within. This helps minimize the problem of saving files to a personal desktop, which means that if someone is out of the office, nobody has access to files that may be needed. This has been a holy grail and we like to treat it in a way where “if it’s not in the server, it doesn’t exist”.