December Exam

1. Explain the different types of operating systems and give an example of each.
2. Describe the steps necessary to design a simulation to try to predict the number of students who will choose each sport in a school where students can opt amongst six optional sports.
3. How would you develop an expert system to help potential car buyers decide the car that best suits them best?
4. Outline the steps from the moment somebody types an internet address on the browser to the moment the page is displayed. Include any checks or controls along the way.
5. Explain when you would choose a router over a switch when designing a network.
6. How can technology impact environmental issues?
7. Give three examples of technology applications for modern businesses.

End of the Year Exam

Send completed answers to itgs.sass@gmail.com

1- You are called to act as a technical advisor for the owner of a shop that sells parts for radio controlled cars. The owner of the firm tells you that he rents a shop but that it is becoming very expensive, not enough people visit it and he is thinking of reconverting to an e-business.

a.       Does it make sense for him to go to e-commerce? Why?

b.       What are the most important factors he needs to consider before he sets up his e-shop? What would you advise him?

c.       He is worried that people might hack into his e-commerce portal and take money from his bank account. Can this happen? How? How can he protect himself against hacking frauds?

d.       He is also concerned that his catalog is stored on the same computer where he holds personal files, family photos, etc. Could a hacker break into them? What would you suggest to him regarding web hosting?

e.       In that case, how can he protect his personal files to ensure that even if they break in the contents are not compromised?

2 -      Give examples of how technology impacts:

a.       Special effects in videos.

b.       Medical assistance to remote areas where there are no doctors.

c.       Political campaigns.

3 -      A languages institute has two schools. In the smaller of the two schools, there are 5 computers where students log in and do multimedia language courses. When they log in, they access their profile and continue with the multimedia intensive course where they learn various languages through interactive videos. This small school also has a single computer for the site administrator as well as a laser printer where they print certificates and brochures. The institute also has a second school, where there are 7 computers for students to do the courses, as well as a central office where there are 4 computers for the administrative personnel. This second school also has a printer for brochures and certificates. Utilizing the Network Design Simulator, design the network for the institute. Where will the courses be located and why? How will the two schools be connected?

4 -      Many firms are implementing a mixed model where employees work a few days at home but they are required to go to the office at least a couple of days every week. Why would this model be preferable over teleworking?

5 -      Amazon has released Alexa, Apple has Siri and Windows Cortana, as well as Google Assistant for all platforms. How do these AI assistants work? Do they recognize natural language? How can they improve? Do any of them feature expert system capabilities and why?

6 -      You are hired by Ines who wants her page to expand to schools and universities in Argentina. She wants to appear higher than every other website when people search for school help. How would you improve her page to ensure that it ranks high when poor unsuspecting students search for help for a test?

7 -      Explain the difference between a firewall and a proxy server. When would you use each?

 

Blog on application to specific scenarios

In order to tackle this strand, we will divide the work so as to find resources that can later be used to study. To do that, we will work on a multi user blog.

• Initially, send me an email with your preferred email address to become an author in the blog. You will receive an invitation to join the multiuser blog http://itgsoptions.wordpress.com  
• After joining as an author, your objective is to create one blog entry for each of the themes that you chose. These posts should be about articles or links to Internet sites that relate to these themes and should include:
• URL of the site
• Justification of why the authors are valid
• Short summary of why the site is relevant to the topic studied.

Do not forget to categorize each post.

Education Documentary Template

Every group must complete, in full, the following Documentary Template before the end of the lesson and post it on each person's blog, clearly specifying the names of the members of the group.

Areas of impact: computers in education

One of the areas of impact that we will be studying within the syllabus is Education.

Today we will introduce the topic and briefly discuss some of the social implications of the technological advances in Education.

The following is the list of topics for the unit as stated by IB:
• Telelearning: isolated and remote areas; use in hospitals, prisons, retirement homes
• Modification of hardware and software for special needs: voice recognition software, text-to-speech, special input and output devices, Internet resources
• Software in the classroom: science experiments, social studies modelling and simulation, instructional tools and media, computer-aided instruction, computer-aided learning
• School library systems: catalogues, security systems, online research • Hardware in the classroom: laptops, notebooks, teleconferencing
• Software in school administration: record keeping, scheduling, Intranets, public information
• Training, tutorials, simulators

Your assignment, working in groups of 3 students, this time will consist in the production of a short video based freely on one of these topics. The video should be entirely based on evidence gathered at the school, interviews and/or other filming done at school and should address the implications of the chosen topic based on research to be performed at school.

Steps:
- Supporting web based research, sequence and overall plan for the video (to be submitted at the end of today’s lesson)
- Script and plan of interviews -
- Video in digital format (date TBD)

Networking Test

1. 1-      A sporting goods shop has a store at Unicenter and a warehouse where they also have a central office. At the store, there are three computers that are used for invoicing and sales, all of them connected to a printer that is used for invoices, and there are also two computers that are used to show interactive videos to customers. 
2. At the central office there are three computers connected to a laser printer, and there is another computer at the warehouse that deals primarily with stock control, this one is connected to its own printer. The central office is 2 km from the store.
3. Draw the network configuration for both sites, explain your choices, and clarify also how both sites are connected to each other.
4. 2-      For each of the hacking techniques that you used in the game, explain whether they are oversimplified and why, what the real tools are like, and their limitations.
5. 3-      Suppose you wanted to hack a Smart TV, to change its menus, appearance, and program some functions of your own. How would you do it? What do you need to find out?
6. 4-      Explain clearly the difference between a proxy server and a firewall. What are the functions of each?
7. 5-      Why would firms be concerned with including ergonomic furniture at work?
8. 6-      Suppose you are developing software to design and print advertising brochures. What services would the operating system provide you with?
9. 7-      Justify using biometrics over passwords, give examples of applications.

Constructing queries

Today's assignment will focus on how to construct queries, that is, the search terms that are entered in the search box and that are sent to the search engine.
Suppose you had to write a paper for your Biology class on possibilities for life existing on other planets. Working in pairs, your task is to identify four good sources to help you in the assignment. In order to do so, you need to construct successive queries that build upon what is found out in previous searches to better approximate the answers needed.
Your assignment should include:
- A description of how you constructed/refined your successive queries, how the first searches were used to approximate the answers.
- An analysis of why/how the search engine responded to your search terms, relevancy of the sites returned, a comparison of the efficiency of each query.
- The URLs of the sources.
- If you were the instructor of the class and had to give advice to your students on performing the search, without mentioning specific web sites, what would you tell them on how to build the query?
Assignments should be posted on your blogs before the end of the lesson.