Your final grade consists of the following units described below:

Unit 1: Orientation, Organization, Foundations: Understanding current digital technologies, when to use them, and how to use them optimally; technology-related social, legal, and ethical issues

Unit 2: Features of Current Word Processing Software: Exploration, understanding, and practice; modern word-processors do much more than basic text formatting and spell-checking, this module introduces students to the full set of tools available in workplace-dominant software, currently Microsoft Word

Unit 3: Spreadsheets: Fundamental skills most employers expect: formulas and functions, proper data formatting; sorting, filtering, using series, controlling chart layouts and printing options, analyzing data

Unit 4: Communicating to a Group: Professional Presentations: As Microsoft Word is a robust word-processor, Microsoft PowerPoint is an equally robust presentation tool, particularly with the new Office Mix features. Students learn the many advanced features of this software application as well as equally robust presentation tools such as Adobe Spark.

Unit 5: Specialization (choose one)

Each of the units described above will consist of all or some of the following activities:

• Reading: Read the assigned chapter in the e-text.
• Quizzes: untimed, multiple-choice self-tests to be completed by 11:59 pm on the due date. Quizzes are set to provide three attempts per question. After all questions have been answered and submitted, any incorrect questions will be presented a second (and possibly third) time with the incorrect answer selected. Students are welcome to work ahead on these as they become available.
• A SAM Path: A SAM Path is a learning environment customized for each student. A SAM Path determines what skills, if any, you already understand. A customized training is then created for any or all of the skills you need to work on. You then take a test to demonstrate you have learned those skills. A SAM Path consists of three parts described below:
• 1. Pre-Test: At the beginning of each unit, a pre-test will be available for students to determine which skills, if any, they are able to perform accurately and which skills require better understanding. Pre-test questions are completed in a simulated Windows/Microsoft Office 365/2016 environment. It is not required that you have the Office software installed to complete a SAM Path. Each task or question has three attempts available. If the student can’t perform the task accurately in three attempts, the task is marked incorrect. Students may skip questions and return to them later, but the three attempts will not be reset. Note: Try not to think of this part as a test. There is no expectation that students score high or even above zero. These merely determine what training skills each student needs on an individual basis. A low score on a pre-test does not mean a low score for the unit!
  2. Training: For any pre-test questions the student misses, a training lesson will be available.
  3. Post-Test: A post-test will be available based on the questions missed on the pretest. The score for the SAM Path will be the sum of the questions answered correctly in the pre-test and the post-test together as described below.

• Capstone Projects: After completion of the individual units for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, a SAM Capstone Project will be assigned: These include instruction files and one or more downloadable files that the student edits in the actual application according to the instructions. Students then upload the finished file and submit it for grading. SAM will grade the student submission and will provide feedback on any incorrect items. Students then have four additional opportunities to correct the file and resubmit for grading. (Five attempts total.) The highest grade will be used in calculations. Project scoring is based on exact matches to the solution file.  If a word is misspelled or a period is missing, the task will be counted wrong. That is easy to fix and is why you have 5 attempts. Be sure you retrieve the detailed grading report which will clearly show you where any errors were found. Please also be aware that the SAM Project grading system encodes the downloadable files and compares the submitted work with the original. If the encoding does not match, the software flags the submission as a possible integrity violation. Both parties are identified even if students are in different sections, courses, or even schools. In such a case, both parties will receive a grade of zero. “Borrowing a friend’s computer” and accidently submitting your friend’s project file instead of your own is not an excuse. You and your friend will both receive grades of zero. Leaving a file available for others to access, even inadvertently, can result in a zero for the project. SAM Projects must be completed in Microsoft Office 365/2016. If you don’t already have this version of Office, UNCW now offers it for FREE to the campus community for both Windows and Mac platforms. (See Requirements section above.) Projects completed in Office 2007, 2010, 2013 or Office 2011 for Mac may not receive full credit as not all required features will be available.
• There will also be a final project due on Monday, June 18 at 11:59pm.  Late submissions will not be accepted. Project details will be available in Blackboard and an email will be sent as a reminder.