Friday, April 19th

Class Hours: 10:05 – 2:45
Mr. Cronin

Notes

Everyone have a great vacation! Remember your CAWD work, if you didn’t finish it this week, finish it over vacation.
Mia early dismissal at 1:15 and happy birthday next week!
We are heading outside after our lunch. Be prepared to be out there for the duration, we will come back inside about 2:35 to get books / bags. If you are leaving early for a 7/8 class bring everything with you when we head out, as we won’t be coming back in the room.

10:05 Attendance and Article

10:10 CAWD Web Certification / IRC

As part of CAWD, we pay for students to take an exam to earn an Industry Recognized Credential, also known as a certification. In the IT field certifications are ways to demonstrate to an employer or college that you are well versed in a certain subject area – and this is done by a third party. CAWD doesn’t create it, CAWD doesn’t grade it. CAWD just helps you prepare for it, and pays for it.

Our goal is to have you all pass the Certified Web Designer exam at the Associate Level. This is the highest level of passing for this exam, roughly akin to having an Associates Degree – or 2 years of college – under your belt. I would imagine that 5 students in CAWD pass at this level. This is our brass ring to strive for. This is will be hard.

If you don’t pass at the highest level, you can still pass and earn a certification at the Apprentice level. Apprentices are designers that are starting out in industry. New to the field, but they are knowledgeable. I would imagine that most of you will pass at this level – which is reasonable, as you are still in high school.

If you don’t pass at the Apprentice level, there is one more level you can pass at, which is the Novice level. This level was specifically created for international students who would fail the exam, and in their cultures it brought great shame to their families. Literally this is why this level exists, so students from different countries wouldn’t fail and have serious life problems at home. This level is not recognized by the state of Vermont Department of Education. I would imagine we have 2-3 novices in the room.

Finally, you can fail.

Try your best / that is all we ask

We pay for it regardless. As long as you try your best, we are happy.

Certifications make your college application packet look better. Certifications help you stand out from your peers for internships and interviews. They help polish your professional existence as you head into the real world.

Preparing for the Certification Exam / The Study Guide

Obviously the work we do in class will prepare you for the exam. There are elements that we just can’t get to in a semester of high school work. Most people that take this exam are past high school and in the industry, so how do we fill the gaps in your knowledge?

In CAWD I try to use gamification in the 4th quarter to help fill these gaps.

What is gamification?

Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. This strategy is used to enhance user engagement, organizational productivity, learning, crowd-sourcing, and more. Key elements of gamification include points, badges, leaderboards, challenges, and rewards. These components are designed to leverage people’s natural desires for socializing, learning, mastery, competition, achievement, status, and self-expression.

In CAWD I had created a web application (Study Guide) which we will use daily from today on. Think of this as flash cards related to content you know, as well as a lot of content you don’t know. This is graded as a “Pass / Fail” and featured into your T&E grade daily.

What can you expect from our Study Guide?

Multiple choice questions with 4 possible answers. Random questions, randomly ordered answers. You have to select the right answer to move on. Everything is ALWAYS open book, open internet. If you don’t know the answer Google it, use a former project, etc. This is preparation.
A Scoring System. You must earn a certain amount of points per day. This will go up as we move through the quarter. This is meant to “gently” move you away from spam clicking answers. You can of course, but your accuracy percentage goes down. We don’t want you to rush on the exam, so we don’t want you to rush on the Study Guide.
A Timer. Based on the amount of time we have for the exam, there is a target time for each question. During the our Study Guide you will see a real time display of how long you are spending per question, compared to what the goal is for the actual high stakes exam. It is there to help you slow down, speed up, and get acclimated to the speed you have to take the exam with.
A minimum accuracy percentage. You must protect your accuracy rating. If you have too many wrong, you tank your accuracy, and you may be forced to get more questions correct in an attempt to drag accuracy up. This is to reward accuracy on the certification exam. (Sometimes if you nuke your accuracy it can be best to just hit refresh and start over…)
Prizes. Each day we will have prizes to the student that finishes first. When complete, raise your hand, and tell me the pass phrase that shows up on your screen. The pass phrase changes each day. These prizes can be kept at your station as badges of honor – showing that you won and are smart. What type of prizes? Imagine the best things you have ever thought of, then double it.
Get out of Jail. If you are the first to complete the Study Guide, you don’t have to do it the next day. You get extra time to work and silently feel better than your classmates. Work hard, get out of jail. Just like Work Keys.
Random Bonus points and Speed Bumps. Just like the randomness of a loot box some answers are gimmies, and some are painful.
Go at your own speed – once you have completed it, you move onto production. You aren’t held hostage by the speed of others.

Today we will start our Study Guide. When you complete raise your hand and I will come over to see the Pass Phrase. It could take you 5 minutes. It could take you all the way to break. It is up to you.

Today the first 3 students to finish will get prizes, and the top student will not have to do the Study Guide the Monday we return from vacation!

When complete use the rest of time for production silently.

10:50 Morning Break (10 minutes)

10 Minute break – you have to exit the room.
When the door near the TV is open, you are welcome to come back in.

11:00 English

11:55 Lunch

No food in the room / eat in the Cafe.
You are welcome to return to the room when you have finished eating and work / hang out.

12:55 Attendance and Article

1:00 CAWD Goes Outside for the Afternoon!

Bring everything with you if leaving for a 7/8 class
You don’t need to play, you are welcome to sit and hang and socizalize, draw, whatever.
We are coming in about 2:35