December Exam

 

1.       A friend of yours wants to create a new search engine. Explain to him what he would need to do, including advice on how to make his search engine efficient in retrieving results.

2.       Explain what criteria you would use to select whether to use hubs, switches or routers in a network.

3.       Analyze why technology has not advanced in education as much as in other activities. How can teachers effectively use technology in the classroom?

4.       Outline advantages and disadvantages of using simulations for training. On what criteria would you rate a simulation?

5.       Explain how an AI bot is programmed to engage in a conversation.

6.       Can a robot be conscious of its own existence? How would that be achieved or simulated?

7.       Give examples and applications of what encryption is used for.

8.       What measures should a firm take to prevent the consequences of hacking? What can these consequences be?

Final Exam

1. Explain, for each of the following actions, using the appropriate relevant terms, how each of the following actions takes place in terms of the data transfer, software and hardware used, protocols.
   a) A user tries to access an unauthorized web site and is prevented from doing so by the network operating system.
   b) A user installs a special videoconference software and when trying to run the software the system refuses to execute for security reasons.
   c) An email is sent from a computer in Argentina to another computer in England.
2. What are the most important characteristics of expert systems? Give one example, and explain in detail why the application chosen is an expert system. 
3. For what activities would you recommend teleworking? What can be some of the problems associated with teleworking?
    
4. A shoe store wants to set up its IT operation. They own a shop where they sell shoes to the public, and at the shop they have 5 point of sale (POS) computers that use a common printer for the printing of invoices. The manager of the store has his own computer and printer that needs to be networked to all the others. All computers in the store access the Internet though a cablemodem. The store needs to be connected to the firm’s central office and warehouse. At the central office, the administration has 4 computers with their own file server and printer, and they are also connected to 3 computers in the warehouse that are used for stock control and that have their own printer. All computers at the central office and warehouse are connected to the Internet.
   a) Draw a diagram that depicts the schematics of the network, including images of the various components (hubs, switches, etc.) that you can easily obtain from the Internet.
   b) Write a rationale for the design decisions that were made, explaining the reasons for them.
    
5. Describe two hacking techniques that you learned thorugh SlaveHack and what their limitatios are in real life as compared to the game.
6. Choose one of these topics and comment how technology can enhance activities within that sector, as well as the impact that these technological applications may have on individuals and society.
   a. Health
   b. Arts, Entertainment and Leisure
   c. Science and the environment
   d. Politics and government
7. Give an account of what specific functions are performed by the operating system from the moment in which the computer is turned on until it is ready to receive user input. How does the CPU/Operating System achieve multitasking?
    
8. Explain in detail how a robot processes outside information and responds accordingly, utilizing technical terms. 

Practice for Final Exam

1- Explain, for each of the following actions, using the appropriate relevant terms, how each of the following actions takes place in terms of the data transfer, software and hardware used, protocols.
a) A user tries to access an unauthorized web site and is prevented from doing so by the network operating system.
b) A user installs a special videoconference software and when trying to run the software the system refuses to execute for security reasons.
c) An email is sent from a computer in Argentina to another computer in England.

 

2. A family who plans to relocate to Argentina wants to find information about St. Andrew’s Scots School. In order to do that, it uses Google to search for the name of the school. Explain in detail:
a. How the search engine knows which pages contain information about our school.
b. How it ranks these pages so as to return them in order of decreasing relevance.
c. The process by which the user types the query and receives the links returned by the search engine.
d. How the school could make sure that the school’s web site appears first on the list.

3- A small university has two different campuses. The main campus houses the central office, that has 5 computers which deal with administrative tasks and that also house the server that contains all course materials and software to manage the distance learning program that allows many students to study from home. These five computers share a colour printer. There are two classrooms, with 4 computers each, and these have access to the file server that stores all student data.The other campus, which is 20 km away, has a small office with two computers and three classrooms with one computer each, the idea is that all students in this campus should connect to the network via WiFi and be able to access their files located on the other campus file server. There is a single printer on this campus, shared by all computers.Draw a schematic diagram of the network, and write a short paragraph explaining the rationale for your design.

4- Give a short summary of the hacking techniques that you learned in Slavehack. How can a user prevent access from hackers?

5- Explain how technology has impacted one of the following areas, giving specific examples that you have researched:

-          Arts and entertainment OR

-          Health and medicine    OR

-          Politics   OR

-          Science and the environment.

6- How is a conversational robot developed? Would you say that it constitutes an expert system? Why? How is the quality of a conversational engine generally tested?

7 – Explain in detail how students may benefit from the application of technology in the classroom and why teachers may be somewhat worried about the extended use of technology in schools.

Technology in Education

Working individually, you will answer the following questions and send your answers to me at itgs.sass@gmail.com

Many schools are now offering a new educational resource for their students. Families and teachers have access to a password-protected web site where students may find information that has been provided for them.

In this web site there are links to different subject areas where teachers can place exercises, past exam papers, revision tools and even photographs from past field trips. Students and parents may access this site from school or from home.

 (a) Describe how a password-protected web site operates.

(b) Describe two IT features that a computer user would require to access or use this site.

(c) Explain how the new web site could improve student learning.

(d) This system may be a great advantage for students, but it may place teachers with limited IT skills under great pressure. Discuss the concerns of some teachers when they are asked to make this new resource available for the students.

Games for the Classroom

After studying about the application of technology to education in general, and to our school in particular, you may have reflected on the possibilities that, amongst other technologies, video games have to offer.

Your assignment today will be, working in pairs, to identify a video game available online that can be used for learning purposes in any of the subjects that you have studied for the last two years.

The games must fulfill the following conditions:

• Be downloadable online
• Free or low cost (under u$s 50)

Your assignment consists in identifying the game, and including in your report:

• URL of the downloadable game.
• Subject for which it can be applied.
• Brief description of the game and why you think it can be applied.
• Ideas on how the teacher would be able to assess student learning after playing the game.

Please post your entry within your blog at the end of the lesson.

Robotics / AI Test

1. Give 3 examples of situations in which a robot would be used over a human and explain, in detail, the reasons why a robot would be the preferred choice.
   2. During one of the videos that we watched, a robot machine sorted out chocolates and placed them within their correct wrappings. Explain clearly how the robot can achieve this. You are expected to use the relevant technical terms when appropriate.
   3. How is an expert system developed? What special characteristic does an expert system have?
   4. Explain how a bot is developed and how it can increase its ability to recognize natural language.
   5. How would you program a robot to simulate feelings? Explain what Roboethics deals with and the potential implications on individuals and society.
   6. Robots will surpass human intelligence. Discuss briefly.

 

Networks Test

1- Give an example of a firm where you would justify investing on the complete refurbishing of furniture to conform to ergonomic standards. Explain the reason for your choice.
2- What is the role and function of an operating system? Can a computer function without an operating system? Why?
3- A bank offers its clients an electronic service by which they can handle their accounts and another personalized service by which they can have access to safety vaults to store their valuables. What authentication method would you use for each and why? Justify your decisions.
4- What are the advantages and disadvantages of working from home? Give examples of professions that are well suited for teleworking.
5- An airline company has a counter and an office at the airport. At the counter, five employees use their computers for checking in passengers and printing out boarding passes on a special printer, and they are connected to an office at the same airport, where administrative employees work on four computers and share a printer. All the transactions at the airport are connected to the airline’s headquarters downtown, where a sales office comprises six computers and a printer, and an administrative office features four other computers and two printers. All the computers at the headquarters location use a single colour printer for travel brochures.
Design an appropriate network suing clear drawings and connectors, and add a paragraph explaining your rationale for choosing the main hardware elements.

Send your answers to itgs.sass@gmail.com and check that the email has arrived before you leave the room.

Assessment #2

INSTRUCTIONS

Read and answer all questions carefully. Answers must be written on a Word file, spell-checked and submitted before the end of the lesson to itgs.sass@gmail.com


Marking criteria
Each question is worth 10 points, with the exception of question 1, which is worth 20 points. 

Assessment criteria include:

• Answering to the point. Read the questions carefully and answer what is asked, not more, not less.
• Clarity and precision of answers.
• Ability to apply the concepts learned revealing good technical knowledge of concepts involved.

Do not include definitions, no credit will be given for definitions. No copy/pasting is allowed, I will check for the originality of your answers.

1. A company sells insurance plans to customers. Its headquarters are located in Capital Federal, and they have there one network that comprises 5 computers in the administration area that share one printer. They also have 3 other computers that are in a small commercial office that sells policies to customers within the same site and that have one printer. There is a file server at this location that hosts all records from customers and that should be accessed by all computers in this central office as well as the other branch. This central office accesses the Internet through a dedicated cablemodem.
   The company also has one commercial office in Olivos, where it sells directly to customers. In the Olivos branch there are 4 computers that are linked using Token Ring sharing a printer, and 3 computers that are used for administration purposes. They all share one colour printer. This branch is connected to the Internet though a cablemodem and needs to instantly access the database in Headquarters. Design a suitable network for this configuration and add any explanation that you think is relevant as to the choices made.
2. A friend of yours has just been appointed as administrator of a school network. He is worried about hacking and issues that have to do with users accessing unauthorized web sites. What measures can he take to prevent those two issues?
3. Discuss the following statement: “Each year, corporations lose substantial amounts of money through poor or inadequate design of elements for the workplace”
4. You are hired to provide advice to an entrepreneur seeking to establish an e-commerce presence of an existing business. What general and specific advice would you give this person with respect to the differences between a standard business and e-commerce and about the profile of the person to hire to run his e-commerce operation?
5. A firm wishes to establish a control system for its employees to access their individual computers and also to gain access to a central server that stores very confidential information on personal data of customers. What access system would you use in each of these cases and why?
6. What type of person would benefit most or least from teleworking?

E-commerce test

Outline the differences between an e-business and a commercial business in each of the following areas:
- Management
- Stock
- Advertisement
- Risks
- Types of products that can be sold.

Send your answers to itgs.sass@gmail.com

Test Search Engines

1-      Explain each of the following, including technical terms and the underlying mechanisms that take place:

a.       A user types an address and the computer returns “DNS domain not found”.

b.      If a new IP addressing system is not created the Internet will run out of IPs.

c.       The difference between the World Wide Web and the Internet.

2-      How does a search engine know what pages to return when a search has been entered? What makes a search engine better than others?

3-      The owner of a company that sells used cars hires you to position their company higher in the search engine rankings. How would you do it?

4-      In the future, wearable devices (Google glasses, Sixth Sense) will allow users to find information in real time about people, objects, etc. Explain in detail how this can be accomplished technically.

5-       How can search engines become a threat to people’s privacy? Can search customization limit the scope of the result of the search? Discuss.

When you finish, please submit the test as an attachment to itgs.sass@gmail.com Please check that I hace received it before you leave.

Status of Pending Work

How Search Engines Work

Our first topic for analysis and discussion is how search engines work. Search engines have become an essential component of everyday life and their influence is undoubtedly far reaching.

We will learn about the topic by watching the following video from a lecture by Dr. Marti Hearst at the University of California at Berkeley.




There is plenty of information available on the inner workings of search engines. Two such links include: - The Animated Internet: How Search Engines Work - How Internet Search Engines Work at howstuffworks.

Impact of technology

What is the impact of technlogy in your lives?

ITGS Generalities

As part of the course, you will be required to create your own blog, so as to be able to post all of your projects and assignments.

The blog must be named itgs-yoursurname.blogspot.com

In order to start the blog, please access www.blogspot.com and follow the instructions to create a new blog. You will need a Gmail account, so if you do not have one please sign up for a new account.

Classroom materials and assignments will be posted on itgssass.blogspot.com For every unit or topic, you are expected to find one web-based resource and post it on your blog.
Whenever an assignment is due, you will create a blog entry that includes a link to the document in Google docs.

As part of the class expectations, you are expected to access other classmates' blogs and comment on their entries.

Assessment of the course will be based on:

- Assignments.
- Formal evaluations.
- Class participation.
- Blog entries created.
- Access and comments to blog entries from classmates.

You can reach my at itgs.sass@gmail.com whenever you have any issues or doubts.