School is almost out for the summer

I have had an amazing experience with this class IS101 I am very sad for it to be over because it has honestly been one of my favorites. I love the flexibility, motivation and ability for bonus credit. I have not only learned a lot about MOS systems, but I have also had the pleasure to get to know my classmates a bit better. Getting to discuss fears, goal and aspirations with everyone has been uplifting. Knowing that we all may be facing different experiences and obstacles but have the drive to finish strong is so connecting. I want to say thank you for all the kind words, I hope I make my 3 sons proud, I am proud of myself for not giving up. I am still wanting to achieve my bachelor's degree but as someone pointed out to me recently and Associates is no small feat and I should celebrate my progress. I have only 3 courses left before I graduate in the fall. 

I chose 6.9.3 Slide Zoom for my discussion post. I never knew this was an option, but I really like this feature. To use this feature, click on the Inset Tab, place your cursor where you would like to insert the slide zoom option then choose which slides you would like to feature. The purpose of the slide zoom is to navigate between the slides out of order. After inserting the chosen slides make sure that they do not overlap and voila you are done!

I would just like to end this post saying that regardless of where you ended up in this course it was very tough. For those who did exceedingly well congrats, and for those who fell behind I just hope you learned something. Life is full of trials and tribulations and if we fail at something it just means we have to better prepared next time. There will always be challenges in life at work, home, school etc.... don't get tied up in the small things. If you have to take this class again or others at least it will be so much easier since you know what to expect. 

I just about fell apart last semester because I've been acing all my classes and I thought I failed my pre-calculus class. Turns out I passed with a C+, to me that still felt like failure because it is my worst grade, but I learned something. I had taken the course online in a self-teach fashion and with my idiosyncrasy's my ADHD in particular, I struggled to keep up. The class demanded so much, and I pushed myself but still struggled with the timed test. I now know that self-paced classes are not my style and going into class I absorb so much more. With that being said, everyone faces challenges and I hope you keep your head up and continue to face them. Challenge yourself and remember that showing up is half the battle!

My presentation this year was about hiking because you always want to put your mask on first. You want to take care of your mind body and soul, so remember to exercise, hiking is a great way to relief stress and enjoy a nice adventure. Keep pushing forward and living life, stop to smell the roses and don't forget why you started your journey to begin with.

The Importance of mindfulness to enhance productivity

One important part of growth is understanding your limitations. Life is not a race; task may have a time limit but there are reasons why some tasks need to be broken down. For phase two I really enjoyed learning about excel but I guided myself through the learning material so quickly I didn't grasp as much as I had hoped. Also, by moving too quickly I got burned out and the next tasks became tougher to keep up with. This brings me back to a story I heard when I was young an Aesop tale about a tortoise and a hare. Just because you may be faster doesn't mean you will win the race. We all have our limitations and sometimes slow and steady wins the race.

I will definitely be able to use what I learned about making tables and charts in real life. I want to create a budget sheet for my upcoming goals, and I want to keep practicing the easy methods like using sequence to fill out charts faster. I learned from the A6 Spreadsheet Analysis Trailer that it's not just about putting charts together; it's about keeping everything aesthetic. The font should be the same in similar sizes across the worksheet, the colors should be printable in black and white, sometimes icons are fun to add but unnecessary and distracting. I enjoyed piecing together the different elements. 

For my Chapter I chose 5.6.3 Add and Average using the auto sum makes everything simpler. If you place the cursor below the total you want to add you can click the auto sum button and it will automatically total the numbers together. If you are working with only a few numbers you can press the equal sign and add each number with a plus sign. If you want to use the sum function you would type the equal sign, sum, open parenthesis and select the range of data you would like to sum. The same goes when you are looking for the average of a particular set of numbers you would type the equal sign, average, open parenthesis and select the range of numbers that you would like to average. These steps making adding and averaging much easier.

I am excited to learn more about Phase 3 and the creativity aspect of using PowerPoint. Looking ahead our A7 Mail Merge assignment seems a bit complex and might take some work to get right the first time. I have finally passed both practice exams for Excel and feel almost ready to take the real exam. I always get a bit sluggish toward the end of the semester, but I hope that I can shake it off. Good luck to everyone else on their success this semester and remember to slow down when necessary and be mindful. 

Living the Vision

Hello,

I decided to take my MO-110 exam last week which put me a bit ahead of the pace with my CompTIA labs. In case anyone was curious I got an A-, I was a little nervous when taking my exam, but after taking it I felt that I was adequately prepared from the prep materials provided. Wednesday, February 25th I completed chapter 5 Microsoft Excel, which means that I have only my prep until I will be ready for my MO-210 Exam. I almost feel ready to take the exam but I am not comfortable with some of the functions. If I were to do anything differently in Phase 1 of class I would study a bit more for my bonus quizzes. I dedicate up to two hours to study and sometimes the information doesn't quite stick.

I am excited to keep learning, but I know that the best thing I can do to improve my knowledge is practice and take my time. Excel is a really fun chapter I liked making Pivot charts and creating IF functions. For my chapter 4 skill I chose 4.9.3 Themes and Style Sets, I have very little experience using this tool. When you change the theme of a document you also change the document formatting and you change the Style options including the heading. The Themes are a preset option but you can adjust the color, font, spacing and effects.

Moving forward in IS101 and PSC101 I am enjoying both classes very much. My political science class is full of friendly debates and current events. It's very exciting being able to discuss the upcoming midterm elections with younger adults. It would be nice to have more than a two-party system so that politicians can be a better fit for the younger generations. Majority of my classmates don't feel as if they are represented and therefore don't feel the need to vote. I hope that everyone that can vote finds a reason to vote. My reasons may vary, but I vote to exercise my right to vote.

I am hoping that before I graduate I can join a club or get more involved in school events. I am so close to wrapping up this part of my journey. I only have to take a literature, statistics and a natural science class. College is a lot of work, but I hope that I can convince my teenager to take college classes early. My son is very talented, he plays the clarinet and consistently maintains good grades. We haven't discussed what school he may want to attend but I am worried that he will choose one that is far from home. I am happy that even though it took me awhile to get back in school that I can encourage my boys to continue their education by setting an example.

Vibrant Learner

Hello,

My name is Zakiyyah and I am a second-year student at the College of Southern Nevada. My first impression of IS101 is that it is a very rigorous time-consuming class but also that is very beneficial. Something my mother used to say to me was that "nothing good comes easy". I am hoping with a bit of focus and determination that I make it through the next 14 weeks feeling a sense of accomplishment. My first impression of the College of Southern Nevada was a great sense of community. I have been to the annual job fair, visited the career center, joined the Student Leadership Academy, traveled with my peers to Carson City and was inducted into the National Society of Leadership and Success. I have had the pleasure of meeting many multicultural, intelligent and ambitious individuals.

I am very pleased to have taken steps to complete my education after 15 years. Truth be told I applied a few times and decided not to take the leap, I was told the education in Nevada did not compare to the level of education in California, so I planned on returning to California to continue my education. I decided to stay in Las Vegas because it is more affordable than Ventura County and my husband gave me the push I needed to continue my education. I thought it may have been too late to go back to school or that I would not be able to handle the material. CSN leadership has been truly inspiring and although I am excited for graduation and to continue forward in my education, I am also sad to leave.

For my skill of choice, I chose 2.3.5 Shared Storage-Map a Drive to a Shared Folder. My experience with this skill was from my previous job working at Caesars Palace as a hotel manager. We often had to share files with each other so anytime we would get a new computer we would have to make sure we shared the existing drives so we could edit and share the same information. This was very beneficial because we had to update and distribute reports hourly to upper management and having a shared drive meant any individual with access could assist with this task.

I have high hopes of being a successful college student and keeping my grade point average above a 3.5. I plan to transfer to UNLV to complete my Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree. The end goal is to find a higher paid position in a career where I have little or no hands-on experience. I have a passion for economics, the way that the economy controls how or why products are manufactured and distributed has always piqued my interest. I recently discovered I also have an interest in accounting, discovering how companies can make a comeback with the right financial tools and budget is incredible. I have a feeling that my interest and goals will change over the next 3 years, but I am enjoying the journey. If you were able to make it through my blog thank you for reading my story. I hope I was able to inspire at least one individual to keep on learning.