Newsletter August 2009

(Back to School Edition)

Brought to you by RMRoberts.com

 

We hope you all had a great summer!  It’s time to get back into the swing of things!

To view this letter in PDF format select the following link.

 

RMRoberts.com/Newsletter_August_2009

 

This month’s newsletter will feature:

 

 

Computer Service and Repair

 

1)    Another new pop quiz for CompTIA A+ certification. This brings to total to 180 free A+ practice questions.  A+ Pop Quiz 9

2)    CompTIA Update - CompTIA has redesigned the CompTIA A+ certification exam once more. The latest version (2009 Edition) of the CompTIA A+ Certification exam is now available as of August 2009.  The newest version of the CompTIA A+ consists of only two exams, CompTIA A+ Essentials (220-701), and CompTIA A+ Practical Application (22-702).  The first exam CompTIA A+ Essentials (220-701) is very similar to the original version of Essentials.   The new version of the exam will emphasize “scenario” questions in the second test (220-702) according to the CompTIA website.   The previous version of CompTIA A+ exams (220-601, 220-602, 220-603, 220-604) will still be available until July 31, 2010.

To download the newest version of CompTIA 2009 Edition objects select the following link A+ 2009 Objectives.

3)    This month’s featured website is- www.proprofs.com . You must register at the site to have access to all articles and forums.  The registration process is painless and they do not sell your email address or generate any email span.  The site is FREE and an excellent source of information for both students and instructors.  I am an active member of the website and highly recommend it to you.  You can create your own test/quizzes on line, and post them for your students at no cost.  The results of the test are posted to your account, and you can review the results for each student and guest. 

Check out this network+ link that was recommended by a person participating in the Proprofs Network+ forum.

http://www.learntcpip.com/LTSN/default.htm

Another link provided at Proprofs is -

http://www.semsim.com/ccna/tutorial/subnetting/subnetting.html

This is typical of the help and resources you’ll find at Proprofs at no cost.  I personally recommend Proprofs for you and your students. Join the website today.   

There are both A+ and Network+ forums where students participate, and will learn what to expect from the test from other students.  The forums provide the student as well as the instructor with a great learning opportunity.

Electricity and Electronics

1)    See the list of recommended websites for Electronics (click here) including a new link for free courseware from MIT.

2)    Are you going to be teaching basic IC Packages at the beginning of this year in your Electronics Course?  If so, visit the following Philips website to see a wide array of IC package designs.

Six page handout introducing the basics -

http://www.standardics.nxp.com/packaging/handbook/

 

or more detailed information using either link below -

http://www.standardics.nxp.com/packaging/package.outlines/#bga

 

or

http://www.standardics.nxp.com/packaging/

 

3)    Thinking of Robotics in Your Electronics Class?

 

Check out the Carnegie Mellon website to see how Robotics has been presented at

http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/index.htm

There are a lot of links to curriculum and related areas.

Also take a look at Cal U (University of California in Pennsylvania) Robotics Program. They recently host a Vex robot contest in July and will host another in November 2009.

http://www.cup.edu/eberly/aet/index.jsp?pageId=1580830010421172764543843

 

Try out the robot programming language ROBOTC

http://www.robotc.net/index.html

 

Check out the Parallax web site -

They have a wide selection of interesting robots and other related technology kits.   http://www.parallax.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

 

They have a good deal of free to download robot curriculum you might be interested it.   Click on the Education tab on the home page. Another great area is the Resources home page.

 

Networking Fundamentals

 

1)    Free Novell  SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Training

Want to expand your course section about Linux?  Novell has a complete set of course materials available for FREE.  Check out the student workbook and instructor guide, and open source operating system.  This provides everything you need for your LINUX course!

http://ocw.novell.com/suse-linux-enterprise-desktop/get-ready-for-open-source-suse-linux-enterprise-desktop-book-1/course-materials

Or conduct a search using the key words “SUSE Linux Desktop Course materials.”

2)    Select the link to download a new lab activity for networking Vista computers  Networking Lab for Vista Sharing.

 

3)    Select the following link for a copy of a new handout for introducing the network adapter properties dialog box Network Adapter.

 

4)    This month’s featured website is- www.proprofs.com . You must register at the site to have access to all articles and forums.  The registration process is painless and they do not sell your email address or generate any email span.  The site is FREE and an excellent source of information for both students and instructors.  I am an active member of the website and highly recommend it to you.  You can create your own test/quizzes on line, and post them for your students at no cost.  The results of the test are posted to your account, and you can review the results for each student and guest.