Exploring Information Technology

The information below is intended to help you understand the expectations for my class.

Communication: Cooperation and communication between students, parents, and me is a must for success in this class. I expect students to communicate with parents about this class. Students must check Microsoft Teams daily for information on assignments. My e-mail is Taylor.Vizthum@fresnounified.org . That is the only email I will respond to students or parents from. Please make sure to include a subject for the email or it will be deleted as SPAM. Please know I will only read and respond to email during my workday. You should expect email responses within 24-36 hours.

Grading: Basic Grade Standards: All work will be individual work unless specifically designated otherwise. The final grade for each quarter is based on the total points earned. There should be minimal need to work outside the class period time, but students must exclusively work on this class during all allocated class sessions.

You will earn an ‘A’ if your final percentage is 90% or higher. You will earn a ‘B’ if your final percentage is 80% through 89.999%. You will earn a ‘C’ if your final percentage is 70% through 79.999%. You will earn a ‘D’ if your final percentage is 60% through 69.999%. And you will earn an ‘F’ if your final percentage is 59.999% or less. Grades for one quarter do not carry over to the next quarter.

Late Work/Re-Do’s: Assignments and projects not turned in when they are due earn one level less than if they had been turned in on time. During distance learning, most assignments will be eligible to be turned in as a re-do up to the late work final deadline. Assignments completed as a re-do will be eligible for improved scores, but not full credit.

Attendance: It is important that students log into class for every class session. Attendance will be taken during live class sessions. Students are expected to spend the entire hour for each class session completing work for this class only. You will fall behind if you make other choices.

Course Summary: In this course students will be learning how to “code” in an applied setting. This means learning how to use code to solve problems. We will be using a variety of platforms for coding.

Course Content: This course is designed around the content standards for the Software and Systems Development Pathway. They can be found at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ct/sf/documents/infocomtech.pdf

Disclaimer: Although every attempt has been made to provide essential information in this syllabus, it is not possible to cover every potential topic. Adaptations, modification, and clarification will be made on an as needed basis to ensure the best learning environment. All accommodation plans will be followed in the best possible way. Please communicate with Mr. Vizthum if there is anything you feel is not meeting the guidelines of an accommodation plan.

Live Class Session Backgrounds: Students are NOT required to have their cameras turned on during live class sessions. If students choose to have their cameras turned on, they must use one of the 6 approved backgrounds for this course. Students are strongly encouraged to use a physical cover for their cameras to prevent “going live” when they do not intend.

Technology and Project-Based Courses Letter To Parents:

As you are aware, Fresno Unified School District will be starting the school year in a completely digital learning model. This can understandably bring concerns and questions. We, the project-based class teachers, would like to provide some clarifying information for you.

1) We believe in “Excellence Through Innovation”. We also believe in a model of students “learning by doing”. Even in a completely digital environment, we want to continue providing opportunities aligned with these core beliefs.

2) “Live Instruction” does not mean “Direct Instruction”. We understand that many families are concerned students will spend many hours per day listening to a teacher talk through a computer. Within our department, most of our content is organized through projects and student hands-on experiences. Although we cannot meet in person yet, we have been working all summer to create unique opportunities that allow similar experiences through distance learning. We are happy to say that you can expect direct instruction only when necessary. We plan to have students actively engaged in projects for most class sessions.

3) We try to make learning fun. Please know that many of our class activities are designed to make learning fun. If it ever seems like a student is “just playing a game”, that is a great opportunity to talk with them about what they are doing/learning. Although it is possible they are trying to avoid classwork, it is also possible that we have designed the learning to contain the elements of a game. You might hear this approach called “Gamifying” education.

4) Students are expected to log in during the live class sessions. We want to make certain students are supported, and regular attendance will be documented by utilizing live class sessions online through Microsoft Teams. It is possible that students will often be permitted to log out of the live class session after attendance has been recorded, but they will be expected to work for their assigned class during the whole period. The teacher will remain live for student support, as needed. Most often, students will be working on projects that utilize special software or virtual lab environments. These digital environments often function better when students are not also trying to stream a live video conference.

5) Students need to check out a computer from Fresno Unified. It is not possible for us to account for every potential variation of computer that Computech families might use in their personal lives, and we utilize some software that licensing does not allow to be installed on non-school owned devices. Therefore, it is critical that your student checks out a Fresno Unified computer. Fresno Unified School District provides support for district computers, but we are not able to provide any support beyond this, or for non-district devices. It is our hope that your family has a wonderful experience this year at Computech 7-8. We are all navigating this new experience together, and we appreciate your patience as there will be glitches along the way. Thank you for letting us serve you, and please reach out to any of your student’s teachers with additional questions you might have.

Thank You!