Qn: Do you think the syllabus covered is appropriate? Is this what you expect in the module? If not, can you suggest what other useful topics to be included in CIP, OR what topics should not have been included at all (if any)?

Personally I feel that the chapters covered in CIP is relevant to our understanding of how a computer processes and communicates, what are the MUST dangers and precautions to note about computer. These topics certainly widen my knowledge on computer stuff.

Initially, I do not expect the module to have covered such a wide range of topics. However, after going through the lectures every week, I realised that all the topics are useful in order for us to "control" or narrow down the problems that a computer might give rise.

Qn: Are the workshops on MS Word, Powerpoint & Macromedia Dreamweaver, Flash interesting & useful? Are these appropriate in developing your IT hands-on skills?

I would say the workshops are the most interesting of all. It provides us deeper understanding of how to use application software in our work to enhance the results of the presentation. Unlike back in secondary school, where I only know the nitty gritty bit of MS word and PowerPoint, now I get to learn how to apply the more advance tools of what these software can produce.

For Macromedia Dreamwaver, I picked up the skills of making website which maybe relevant to me in future if I want to venture into business and create a webpage to promote my products.

As for Macromedia Flash, it's really a fresh software that I came to know about it. This software is useful in the sense that it enables me to draw and narrate my own stories. It allows my creativity to flow.

All in all, I definitely had harvest a handful of IT hands-on skills over the passed few months. If it's possible, I would suggest that the module to give and guide us through more other application softwares.

Qn: Are the PBL problems authentic enough for you to learn better? Does it provide an opportunity for you to work effectively in teams as well as develop problem solving skills?

PBL gave us a headache in solving the problems. However, in the process of cracking our brains, we learnt to depend on our own to solve these problems that are most likely to be faced in the real world out there.

Unity is strength - we cannot do things on our own or consider only our own ideas. We have to work together to generate ideas and listen to others opinion in order to submit a more agreeable/professional piece of work.

Sooner or later we have to face the real world, hence it's critical for us to start preparing and adapting to it now so it will not daunt us in future.

Qn: Are the lecturers and tutors helpful in your learning? Is the class size of 40 a good size for effective learning?

Both of them are helpful in my learning journey. Lecturer will kick-start the topic while my tutor will explain and guide me when I'm in doubt on my workshop assignments.

However, I do not really feel that a class size of 40 is good for effective learning. This is because we do not discuss as a whole class size of 40. Usually we only discuss in our groups of 4-6. Moreover, tutor will be kept busy if there is a lot of us having doubts to clear with her. Futhermore, our time will be wasted while waiting for our tutor to come to our rescue.

Qn: If there is 1 thing that you can change in CIP, what would it be?

I think they should extend the lecture time to 2 hours. Sometimes I feel that the lecturers are rushing through because the duration of 1 hour is not enough to finish on time.

To be frank, we all know that CIP lectures are kind of bored as it is all theory and facts that we need to learn. In order to spice up the lecture, maybe lecturer can bring in some media stuff (e.g. short video clip) when giving us a 10 minutes break before continuing.

Qn: If there is at least 1 useful thing that you appreciate in CIP, what would it be?

I think it would be the workshops. I have mastered the essential skills that a typical company will want to employ. At least if I cannot get a job in Accounting, I still have another alternative to rely on (just kidding).

Last but not least, not forgetting to mention - my tutor!! She's one great tutor that I have seen so far in poly.

It's been a long one month since I last update. We had our common test then. So what I have been learning so far? I learned how to use the more advance tools in MS words to create a proposal (which include table of contents and index). Apart from that, workshop exercise 2 give me an idea of how to create a number of identical letters with a given list of names, address. Well, soon our semester is going to end. Time flies...

Oh yea, gotten feedback from our tutor. From her point of view, she thought our group had done a lot of research, but some are irrelevant. The way we compare our desktop and printers are well presented, however, the notebook computers part was a little confusing, so not really well done. Just as I thought, our slides are wordy.. and I had a clear voice, good. Haha! Overall, we scored a B.

After 2 weeks of hard work, it's finally OVER! Over is over, but somehow I still dwell on the day we presented our proposal. We were the third group to present, and after seeing how my classmate done their presentation, it pressure us - their work are so much precise than ours.. I feel our slides are too wordy. In addition, my tutor seemed to be confuse as in which notebook computer we are choosing. Maybe it's due to our paraphrasing of words that made it unclear to her? 5% of final grade looks little, but it matters too. I hope we are doing fine.

In my own point of view, I think we did much better for the part on software. We managed to get most of the software required and of course suitable for the various departments. And we did make it a point to insert action buttons at the bottom of the slides as well as music on the last slide. Moreover, I have put animated hands (from the clip art) on our slide to make it clearer to the audience that we are purchasing that particular item out of the rest. While presenting, we've also used the highlighter to emhasis on the word that we talked about. Basically, we've applied what we've learned from our workshops.

In the next tutorial, our tutor will be giving us a review on how well we did for our presentation. I'll update in four days time, so stay tune.. hehe.

This week lecture was an interesting one! I got to learn how to create and publish a website. Actually I learnt it during my secondary school days.. but I could not recall how exactly to do it.. so this lecture really had refreshed my memory. I've been rather busy and I hope I can try out on dreamwaver soon..

Next week will be our PowerPoint presentation. I hope everything is smooth sailing, not like last semester, something just crops up in the last minute making us panic.

Yesterday I met up with my group members to get down on our CIP PBL. We've booked the library study room(Ruby) so that we can have our own area for discussion. Before settling in, we picked a few books related to computers and internet from the shelves, hoping that it could help us. However, we don't seem to figure out what it's trying to tell us. The terms used in the books are simply too hard for a computer idiot like me to understand.

The next resource that we most likely would turn to is the internet, and the internet definitely had a wide variety of information. Looks like this time we were information overloaded. By the way, we've tried finding out some info from the helpdesk the day before. One of the asisstant told us that vivisimo is a great site for researching, because it classifies our search into category and it's much more convenient and easy for us to look for the thing that we wanted. That was really thoughtful of him..

Doing research for hardware and software did sound easy task for us in the beginning, but it's not afterall. Not all hardware and software really fit to our criteria. Take for instance, sometimes we managed to find the product but the price was not stated. That made us took the whole afternoon doing the research, and yet to finish it. It sure doesn't make us feel good at all, cause we never had a proper lunch and dinner.

Well, ultimately we did complete some of the slides... but there's still a lot more to touch on.

When I came across CIP for the first time, I though it was just another IS module - Community Involvement Programme. After a second look at it, then I realised it's not. Haha!

Well, Computing and Information Processing(CIP) sounds easy and I hope it's not as difficult as Business Computing Application(BCA). Initially, I thought I knew everything about MS word and Powerpoint, and it's chicken feed... but I was wrong. Some of the tools and applications of Powerpoint that my tutor went through with us during the workshop was really something alien to me.

Basically, this module interest me. I've always wanted to understand and learn more about computers. I hope to:

1. get to know the functioning of a computer
2. how to protect my computer from danger
3. how to create and publish a website
4. what do I have to look out for if I want to purchase a computer
5. how to work with MS Access
6. (still thinking...)

Actually, I'm bless with a friendly tutor who is my advisor too. She's approachable and is there to help when we have doubts. I think the only way we can benefit from this module is to have her around. Heehee.. and of course we have to depend on our own initiative and effort to complete the work given and keeps on practising on the areas we are unfamiliar with.