ADDRESS

SEMESTER 1 SESI 2014/2015

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I hereby declare that the work in this projects report is my own except for quotations

and summaries which have been duly acknowledged.

Student :

Date :

Supervisor :

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By the grace of God

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CONTENTS

TITLE 1

DECLARATION 2

DEDICATION 3

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 6

1.1 Company Background 6

1.2 Organization Structure 8

1.3 Companys Workforce 9

1.4 Classroom Physical Dimension 10

1.5 Business Nature 11

1.6 Target Customer 13

CHAPTER 2 SCOPE OF INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 14

2.1 Overview of Industrial Trainings Scope 14

CHAPTER 3 CONTENT OF THE INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 17

3.1 Overview 17

3.2 Observation Phase 17

3.3 Teaching Training Phase 20

3.4 Hardware and Software Maintenance Phase 31

3.5 Update and Improvisation of Teaching Plan 43

3.6 Finalizing FutureKids Payment Record System 47

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CHAPTER 4 SUGGESTIONS 48

4.1 Overall Suggestions 48

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 51

5.1 Conclusion of the Industrial Training 51

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

FutureKids, Inc. is a privately held internationally franchised K12 educational

software company headquartered in El Segundo, California; which focuses on

technological literacy and computer literacy.

Figure 1.1.1 FutureKids Computer Learning Centres Logo

"Our mission is to help schools become future schools andto help children become FutureKids - creating a worldwide

learning community that has integrated the power oftechnology to facilities and improve student performance"

Figure 1.1.2 FutureKids Computer Learning Centres Mission

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The company currently offers professional development programs and K12

technology curriculum in schools in 65 countries. It focuses on the integration of

technology and the use of computers in the educational process. Their professional

development course is used in the Los Angeles Unified School District,

Pennsylvania, and other districts around the world and offered through Dell training

and technology certification, and is certified in a number of universities for

continuing education units (CEUs) needed for teaching re-certification in the United

States of America.

Computer skills would be just as important as learning how toread and write

FutureKids Computer Learning Centre Sdn Bhd is the master franchisor of

FutureKids in Malaysia. The first FutureKids Computer Learning Center opened at 1

Utama Shopping Complex in September 1995. Student enrolment reached in excess

of 200 students within three months of opening. Since starting its operations in

Malaysia, FutureKids has established 14 Learning Centers and more than 30 On

Locations in school and kindergartens throughout Malaysia. In addition to their

children's programs, Futurekids also conducts training for adults.

Figure 1.1.3 FutureKids Computer Learning Centres Branch in West Malaysia

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FutureKids Computer Learning Centre,

Miri Franchise

FutureKids Computer Learning Centre

Sdn. Bhd.

FutureKids Inc.

1.2 Organization Structure

FutureKids Computer Learning Centre, Miri Franchise is practically a very small

setup which consists of the owner, Mdm. Christina Tan Li Choo; and the teacher,

Mdm. Stella Chen Siew Chin. The teacher is directly involved with the fees

collections, teaching and the management of Miri Franchise starting from year 1998

as in Miri alone, FutureKids is collaborating with SMK Chung Hua only.

Figure 1.2.1 Organization Structure

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Mdm. Christina Tan Li Choo

Miri Franchise Owner

Mdm. Stella Chen Siew Chin

Teacher

1.3 Companys Workforce

Figure 1.3.1 FutureKids Computer Learning Centre, Miri Franchise workforce

Based on the 2014 school year, only one worker is working in Miri Branch as only

two school years were involved which were Transition and Form 1. The number of

teachers required are based on the school's requirement each year. Based on the

record, only one teacher will be enough to conduct ICT lessons for two school years

in daily basis per school.

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1.4 Classroom Physical Dimension

Legend

Name SymbolDoor DStudent S1 S33Teacher T1-T2Whiteboard W

Figure 1.4.1 ICT Lab Arrangement

FutureKids Computer Learning Centre, SMK Chung Hua Miri is the only franchise in Miri.It consists of a single ICT lab located within SMK Chung Hua Miri premise at First Floor,

Block B. The ICT lab consists of 33 students computers and two teachers computers. A

whiteboard located at the front of the classroom will be used as the main teaching tool for

students. There is a fire extinguisher located next to the door.

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W

DS2

S1

S6

S5

S4

S3

S12

S11

S10

S8

S7

S9

S18

S17

S16

S155

S14

S13

S24S23

S22

S21

S20

S19

T1S30

S29

S28

S27

S26

S25

T2S32

S31

S33

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1.5 Business Nature

FutureKids Computer Learning Centre, Miri; is an educational franchise which with

a focus on tutored computer learning centers and pre-school technology learning that

operates in Miri, Sarawak. The aim of the company is to ensure the students are able

to operate computer and utilize office production suite that helps students in latter

stage of life.

FutureKids works directly with schools and kindergartens to provide quality and

professional Information Technology and Communication Technology class that

focuses on technological literacy and basic computer literacy.

FutureKids will cater to those students by constantly upgrading and updating the

teaching materials to ensure that students are learning the latest technologies rather

than dated information.

In Miri alone, FutureKids Computer Learning Centre works closely with SMK

Chung Hua Miri since 1990's. More than 500 students will be enrolled for this ICT

Class each school year which also shows the financial strength of the Miri Franchise.

As compared to lots of other ICT training centres, FutureKids uses Outcome-Based

Education (OBE) as the framework for all syllabi to ensure students are taught to use

the software rather than just hard-facts that are bound to be forgotten by learners.

Through OBE, students are given with plenty of assignment-based work to help

students to learn with very practical means and situations.

For example, in Microsoft Office Word's chapter; each of the students is required to

come out with an official letter to apply for permission in order to organize an

activity in school. This gives student a clear example on how to use the software

while allowing students to practice their essay writing and persuasive skill. This is a

very holistic approach as compared to many conventional methods of teaching which

solely depends on memorization.

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Parents

Reg ister C h ild fo r C om p uter C la ssM ake paym ent

FutureKids

Rece ive m on th ly paym e nt from Pare nts /S tuden tsProv ide qua liy IC T E ducation fo r the s tud entsPay the agre em ent fees to partne r sch oo l

Partner School

Rece ive p aym en t from Futu reK id sA llow Futu reK id s to p rov id e q ua lity IC T Education

Students

Rece ive qua lity ICT Ed ucation from Fu tu reK ids

Figure 1.5.1 Business Flow Chart

Based on my observations, the business flow chart for FutureKids Computer

Learning Centre Miri Franchise starts off with parents which register their children

for ICT education in school. FutureKids will then receive monthly fees payment

from the parents or students in order to provide quality ICT Education for the

students. FutureKids will need to pay 10% of royalty to the partner school as part of

the agreement made with the school administration. Lastly, Students will be the one

to receive quality ICT education.

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1.6 Target Customer

Since FutureKids Computer Learning Centre is an ICT educational company, its

major customer group would be those who would like to learn to use computer. As

for Miri franchise alone, FutureKids Computer Learning Centres major target

customer would be public and private schools students.

Based on all the available syllabi, FutureKids Computer Learning Centre is able to

provide quality, flexible and affordable learning platform for schools, colleges and

universities that like to incorporate ICT into part of their syllabi with latest,

innovative and award winning services provided by our parent company in the

United States.

FutureKids has a wonderful potential especially in Sarawak region. This is due to the

fact that the competition in Sarawak is not as intense compared to West Malaysia.

Besides, they are not many ICT educational company that has the same competency

like FutureKids.

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CHAPTER 2

SCOPE OF INDUSTRIAL TRANING

Working at FutureKids Computer Learning Centre was a great experience. I was able

to be exposed to multidisciplinary works that include education, editorial work,

computer hardware and software maintenance; finance and multimedia. When I was

a trainee, my supervisor gave me a lot of freedom by exposing me to different kinds

of works.

Starting from 2nd week to the 9th week, I was given the chance to teach. I taught

students on typography, document formatting, text arrangement, English terms for

Technology and many more. Through teaching, I was able to recall what I had learnt

from many subjects in Tun Hussein Onn University (UTHM).

For example, I remembered some of the key topics from my first semesters course:

Introduction to Information Technology. I recalled what Mdm. Rafizah had explained

on the computing processes such as Input, Process, Output and Storage; and the

differences between input and output device. I was amazed to be able to answer

many interesting questions brought up by the students.

Besides, I was able to improve my communication skills throughout the teaching

process by constantly relating my materials with my students by using layman's

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terms rather than many technical and hard-to-remember jargons which was to ensure

my students were able to comprehend what I tried to convey.

Moreover, I also utilized what I have learnt and realized during my studies in

UTHM; which was to create slides rather than using the whiteboard all the time.

With slides, I was able to attract students' attention in a classroom setting and

students were able to recommit their focus on my teachings. Other than that, slide

animations played an important role too by shifting students attention towards my

teaching as well.

At first, it was quite tough as talking and communicating were not really my

strengths, I had a lot of problems without knowing the ways to overcome. Mdm.

Stella gave me a lot of encouragements and guidance so that I was able to overcome

the difficulties. She told me to keep calm and never freak out in front of students. I

was told to maintain my composure at all times.

Mdm. Stella was really a great help and definitely with her expertise in teaching, I

was able to learn a thing or two from her. From how to behave in front of students to

showing respects, I started to gain the momentum on teaching from the 5 th week

onwards. It was quite a pleasant experience and definitely a lesson learnt in terms of

teaching.

From 9th weeks onwards, I was to do computer repair that involved both hardware

and software of Windows Workstations in the ICT lab to ensure students are able to

have conducive environment in order to fully utilize all the materials that had been

given by the teacher. I was to ensure all computers were in working conditions and to

fix all the computer problems and issues in the ICT lab.

Besides, I was involved in a large-scale computer lab maintenance after the

schooling period which took 20 days of works. I was to reformat and reassembly all

the Workstations while ordering parts through Mdm. Stella to repair some of the

computers. Throughout the maintenance, I was able to comprehend many of the

major hardware components and learn to troubleshoot in order to pinpoint some of

the major errors to solve the problems.

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Other than that, I was able to be involved in Teaching Plan editing. I was given the

chance to modify and update the current Teaching Plan for Microsoft Office 2013

Suite for year 2015s students. I was in charge of two school year: Transition and

Form 1.

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CHAPTER 3

CONTENT OF THE INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

My Industrial Training can be divided into five different phases: Observation,

Teaching Training, Hardware and Software Maintenance; Update and Improvise

Teaching Plan; and System Maintenance. Each phase was important for me as I was

exposed to different kinds of works that helped me in many ways. All the important

details will be emphasized and some of the details especially on teaching plan cannot

be shown due to companys policies.

3.2 Observation Phase

As for the first phase, Observation phase; I was told to observe the workflow of the

company during the first week of my internship. I was stationed in the ICT Lab in

SMK Chung Hua Miri which I was told to learn about. During the course of one

week, Mdm. Stella requested me to understand her daily routine and to come out

with solution for problems that I detected during my observation.

One of the issues that I would like to highlight would be the nuisance of recording

the students' payments in every single class. Most of the classes started off with

recording students' payments. Five to ten students would came up and made their

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payments which took about ten to fifteen minutes of the precious time. I realized a

proper and effective system can definitely help the teacher to reduce the amount of

time taken for payment recording. This was the sole reason why I came out with an

automatic payment record system in the later stage of my internship after my

presentation of my findings in the second week.

Figure 3.2.1 The mockup interface of the proposed system

Next, the second problem would be students were not focusing in class and wasted

their times changing the computer settings. This was the reason why I suggested

Mdm. Stella to create a secondary account in every workstation and lock the control

panels to prevent students from changing the settings.

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Figure 3.2.2 The main page of the PowerPoint Slides

After locking the settings, students were not able to make any changes to the

computer settings. With the new user account, students can only access certain

permitted software and without Mdm. Stellas password, students were not able to

change any settings. This helped students paying their attentions in the classroom

rather than doing nonsense. Mdm. Stella was happy for my observation and

congratulated me for a job well done.

Figure 3.2.3 Setting up Student User Account

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3.3 Teaching Training Phase

After the first week, I gave a short presentation on my findings to Mdm. Stella. I

highlighted the issues found and she agreed with all my points. Mdm. Stella also

encouraged me to be more observant when I started my Teaching Training phase.

During the second phase, I was instructed to handle a few classes each week. I was

required to use my knowledge in Computer Science to teach students based on the

teaching plan. The topics that I taught were Microsoft Office Word and Microsoft

Office PowerPoint. I was given a set of teaching plan for me to modify and follow.

Due to the fact that the software was of a newer version so some of the teaching plan

cannot be followed. I modified certain part of the teaching plan in order to ensure

that students were able to follow my teachings.

Other than that, I was able to help out with the administration work like fees

collections. It took me more than fifteen minutes to finish fees collections in each

class as I was not used to it. I took note of things that can be solved so that the

system that I wanted to develop can be as helpful to the teacher as possible.

Mdm. Stella gave me a lot of freedom and encouraged me to read more during my

free time and asked me to enjoy working because we must love and happy with our

work to improve work performance. She emphasized the importance of rest and

encouraged me to use my free time to read and learn. I was greatly encouraged by

her affirming words.

Lastly, during this phase, I came out with a payment record system for FutureKids

and later also known as FutureKids Payment Record System (FutureKids PR

System) after discussing the name with Mdm. Stella. The cultivation of the payment

record system started off with the one week observation, which I realized a proper

system will be able to help out the current teacher in recording students monthly

payments. After a series of discussion with my supervisor, she agreed with my

suggestion and allowed me to proceed with my idea.

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3.3.1 FutureKids Payment Record System

The cultivation of the payment record system started off with the one week

observation, which I realized a proper system will be able to help out the current

teacher in recording students monthly payments. After a series of discussion with

my supervisor, she agreed with my suggestion and allowed me to proceed with my

idea.

FutureKids Payment Record System is a payment record system specially created for

FutureKids Computer Learning Centre branch at SMK Chung Hua, Miri. It was

designed with easy-to-use in mind as the main user will be computer teacher rather

than a programmer. The concept of the system must be simple and effective due to

the nature of the end user. No online module is required due to the fact that this

system will only be used offline.

The objectives of the system with the suggestion of Mdm. Stella were:

1. To create a simple and efficient payment record system for the use of

FutureKids Computer Learning Centre, SMK Chung Hua Miri Branch.

2. To assist teacher to record students information in order to track their

payments.

3. To be able to generate parents contact information of those with excessive

overdue fees.

4. To ensure the end user is able to maintain the system produced.

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3.3.1.1 Planning Phase

The planning phase started right after the one week observation period with the most

conventional methodology, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The planning

phase concludes all the information I got from my observation from the first week

and some of the common issues faced by teachers that were identified by Mdm.

Stella and I.

Figure 3.3.1.1.1 Model of the systems development life cycle

A list of common issues was given by the teacher-in-charge as well in order to

improve the system such as low system resource usage, easy to use and maintain; and

so on. This was due to the fact that the system will be used on normal computer

(inexpensive), the system resource usage must be low.

One of the factors that structured almost the whole project was that the end user

would be a computer teacher who has no prior programming experience and

therefore to create a complex system with programming language was hardly

feasible. Therefore, the plan of creating a fully independent system with a specific

programming language was immediately scrapped off from the list.

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3.3.1.2 Analysis Phase

As of the analysis phase, it started right after I had decided to use Microsoft Office

Access as the framework for the system. Based on all the information gathered and

given by the end user, this was the best solution. Two of the most prominent reasons

would be the fact that the system will be solely maintained by a computer teacher

and the emphasis by the end-user requesting the system to be easily maintainable.

Moreover, the system environment was very important in this phase as well. Based

on the teacher computer in the ICT lab with Microsoft Windows XP SP3, the RAM

usage must be low and the design of the system will be constrained by that.

Other than that, there were a list of identified features such as:

1. Insert New Student

2. Edit New Student

3. Delete New Student

4. Make Payment Record

5. Payment Inquiry

6. Overdue Fees Inquiry

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3.3.1.3 Design Phase

Design Phase started off with the layout of the system. Since I was a teacher at

during the same time, I started off drawing the layout on a piece of paper.

Understanding the fact that human-computer interaction (HCI) is very important as

the end-user would be teachers with no programming experience, the design

approach was to ensure that it can be easily understood.

Other than that, since the system will be implemented on a basic computer, the

choices of multimedia elements were to be limited. The systems multimedia

elements were kept at the lowest to ensure the usability of the system. Still, there

were a few elements which I concluded as part of the HCI design and were carefully

applied throughout the system.

Figure 3.3.1.3.1 Easy to use main interface

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Here are some of the icons used:

Payment Receive

Cash

Students

Parents

FutureKids Computer Learning Centre Logo

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3.3.1.4 Implementation Phase

Next, the implementation phase started on 7th week. After five weeks of design

phase, the FutureKids Payment Record System was ready for production testing. It

was first tested on my personal computer on a Virtual Box Windows Technical

Preview Operating System. After that, the system was tested on Teachers PC1 in

ICT lab.

Since no new student will be registered until the new school term, old data was

inserted into the system to see the reliability of the system in order to troubleshoot

the system as requested by the supervisor. In the first round, no error was found and

every single button was able to perform as it was intended.

After the first series on testing, my supervisor, Mdm. Stella; requested me to try reset

and re-insert old data into the system. Just like the first trial, no error can be found

and the implementation was a success.

Figure 3.3.1.4.1 Inserting New Student

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Figure 3.3.1.4.2 Inserting New Student

Figure 3.3.1.4.3 Edit Student Information

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Figure 3.3.1.4.4 Entering New Payment Record

Figure 3.3.1.4.4 Student Payment Generator (PDF)

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3.3.1.5 Maintenance Phase

As of maintenance phase, it cannot be done due to the fact that the system will only

be used when new students register. The maintenance phase was more to training of

teacher to use the system and to do the documentation for the system. Mdm. Stella

requested me to create a users manual for the end user so the features of the system

can be easily taught to the new workers in the future.

Figure 3.3.1.5.1 Users Manuals Content

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3.3.1.6 Gantt Chart

Figure 3.3.1.6 Gantt chart

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3.4 Hardware and Software Maintenance Phase

During the schools yearend holiday, I was told to do an overall computer hardware

and software maintenance after a discussion with Mdm. Stella. I was given a months

time for the job but everything went right on place in twenty days. For the first 7

days, from 4th of November 2014 to 12nd November 2014; computer hardware

maintenance initiated. There were thirty six computers of different brands like Dell

and Asus with different processors ranging from Pentium Dual Core to Core i5.

Model ProcessorIntel Pentium Dual-Core E6800

Intel Pentium 4 HT 661

Intel Core i5-3470T

Intel Core i5-4570T

Some of the major issues found and repaired were:

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One computer had overheating issue.

1. I suspected the CPU heat sink was the culprit and I went straight

to the problem by removing the heat sink.

Figure 3.4.1 Pentium 4 HT Computer case without heat sink

2. I blew away the dust using the blower and clean it with a piece of

cloth.

Figure 3.4.2 Dust blower

3. After the cleaning process, I applied a thin layer of thermal paste.

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Figure 3.4.3 Pentium 4 HT with Thermal Paste

4. Reinstalling the heat sink on the CPU.

Figure 3.4.4 PC without heat sink

5. Right after the installation, I stress tested the CPU with a software,

StressMyPC; for 15 minutes.

6. No major errors were found.

Five computers Power Supply Unit (PSU) were faulty after tested using the

PSU tester. Two of the PSU will produce electric spark right at the socket.

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1. The PSUs were first removed from the chassis after the 24-pin

CPU Plug and 4-pin Processor were plugged off.

Figure 3.4.5 Motherboard 24-pin Plug

Figure 3.4.6 Processor 4-pin Plug

2. A brand new ATX 500 Watts PSU were installed

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Figure 3.4.7 ATX 500 Watt PSU

3. The 24-pin CPU Plug and 4-pin Processor were re-plugged

4. The computers were warm booted and stress tested the PSU with

StressMyPC with Full Ram and CPU Load for 15 minutes.

Figure 3.4.8 StressMyPC Interface

5. No errors were found.

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Figure 3.4.9 Removed Dell Proprietary PSU 235 Watt (Malfunctioned)

Two 80 mm fans of two of the computers were found to be faulty as well.

1. The fan was removed from the chassis after unplugged the fan 3-

pin power plug.

2. The new fan was tested by plugging the 3-pin power plug.

3. The new fan was installed in place of the old fan.

Figure 3.4.10 4-pin Female Power Plug to 3-pin Male Fan Power Plug

I was able to salvage some components from the inoperable computers. The

list of items salvaged and tested were:

1. DDR2-800 RAM 1GB 3 pieces (Samsung, Mushkin with timing

11-11-11)

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Figure 3.4.11 Two Samsung RAM

Figure 3.4.12 One Mushkin RAM

2. 8mm Chassis Fan 3 pieces (Assorted Brand)

Figure 3.4.13 8mm Chassis Fan

3. MSI Intel Motherboard (Socket 775) motherboard 1 piece

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Figure 3.4.14 MSI Motherboard

4. 400 watts Power Supply Unit 3 pieces

Figure 3.4.15 Assorted PSU

5. Computer Power Cord (UK Plug) 2 pieces

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For the rest of the first two weeks, I helped out with Mdm. Stella new table

arrangement. That was to prevent students from talking as one particular row behind

the class was the noisiest compared to other rows.

Other than that, I helped out with the ICT lab decoration for the next school term.

Next, a few plastic chairs were not in good condition and were replaced with new

chairs as well.

Starting from Day 11 to Day 20, computers were formatted and installed with the

software. A user account was setup in every single computer as well to prevent user

from changing settings without authorization.

The steps of computer software reinstallation were as below:

1. Hard Disk was reformatted with 2 partitions. Drive C for Operating

System and Drive D for Personal Files.

Figure 3.4.16 Setting up partitions.

2. Operating System was installed and activated on Drive C. On Windows

XP Professional SP3, additional SATA driver was required.

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3. Proper graphic driver for each motherboard was installed.

Figure 3.4.17 Installing Nvidia Graphic Driver

4. Proper audio driver for each motherboard was installed.

Figure 3.4.18 Installing Realtek Audio Driver (Windows XP

Professional SP3)

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5. NOD32 antivirus was installed.

Figure 3.4.19 Installing NOD32

6. Microsoft Office 2013 Professional (64-bit) with Volume License Key

was installed on every computer.

Figure 3.4.20 Installing Microsoft Office Professional 2013

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7. All computer peripherals such as mouse and keyboard were tested. All

older mechanical mice were replaced by optical mice.

8. Every computer was stress tested with StressMyPC.

9. Every computer was defragmented with UltraDefrag.

Figure 3.4.21 Analyzing the hard disk

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3.5 Update and Improvisation of Teaching Plan

I was involved in Teaching Plan update and improvization as well. The teaching

plans for Transition and Form 1 that I was told to do were Microsoft Office Word

2013, Microsoft Office Excel 2013, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2013 and

Microsoft Office Publisher 2013.

Figure 3.5.1 New WordArt Icon

Some of the improvements were listed as below:

New icons were taken

New screenshots were taken

Alternatives methods were included such as Keyboard Shortcut.

New teaching plan layout

Figure 3.5.2 New Microsoft Office Word Interface

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As of the individual topics or elements that were identified as important for

Microsoft Office Word 2013 were:

SmartArt

Layout

Paragraph

Font and Font Size

Font type and Font Color

As of the individual topics or elements that were identified as important for

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2013 were:

Slideshow design

Theme

Transitions

Animations

Slideshow rehearsal

Figure 3.5.3 New Slide Transitions

As of the individual topics or elements that were identified as important for

Microsoft Office Excel 2013 were:

Cell formatting

Height and Width

Cell Conditions

Formula

Graph

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Figure 3.5.4 New Features like Recommended Charts and PowerView

As of the individual topics or elements that were identified as important for

Microsoft Office Publisher 2013 were:

Design template

Page Part

Borders & Accents

WordArt

Orientation

Ruler Guides

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Figure 3.5.5 Brand new Publisher Interface

After sixteen days of hard work, the Teaching Plan for ICT class of 2015 was finally

done on 29th of December 2014. The teaching plan was finalized after showing to

Mdm. Stella and the teaching plan was compiled into one single PDF document and

was submitted to Mdm. Stella.

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3.6 Finalizing FutureKids Payment Record System (Documentation)

On 30th of December 2014, Mdm. Stella requested me to help her with the system

implementation of the system. Mdm. Stella wanted me to help her with some student

data input and teach her on how to maintain the system. Since the beginning, the

system was designed to have ease-to-use as the most important component, the

process was not long and lasted for few hours. Mdm. Stella was able to comprehend

the overall workflow of the system and she was happy with my progress and thanked

me for helping her with the system.

Figure 3.6.1 The interface of FutureKids PR System

Other than teaching the functionality of the system to Mdm. Stella, I was instructed

to create a Users Manual for the system just in case she wish to refer to it in the

future. I was given a week for me to finish this users manual.

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CHAPTER 4

SUGGESTIONS

It was a pleasant experience working with FutureKids Computer Learning Centre,

Miri Franchise at SMK Chung Hua for eighteen weeks from 8th September 2014 to

9th January 2015. After working with FutureKids, I realized there are nothing much I

can nitpicking about. However, there are definitely elements and things that can be

improved to further increase the productivity and the quality of the company.

First off, I believe by increasing the amount of workers will definitely help to

improve the teaching experience. Since 1998, Mdm. Stella has been teaching for

FutureKids and from what I had learnt from her, the company had only hired three

teachers at maximum. This definitely makes the teacher to be stressful and unable to

fully focus on teaching. Moreover, with the extra teacher, FutureKids can even

organize multiple fieldtrips that help students to learn and observe from the industry

perspective.

Besides, I believe FutureKids should definitely include more software such as Adobe

Photoshop and Lightroom into the syllabi for different year of students. These are the

current highly sought after skills that meet the current market. I am quite certain that

students will be very happy in class to learn these sets of skills that benefit their

whole life.

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Some of the skills that FutureKids are capable to teach are:

1. Graphic Design

2. Web Design

3. Database Management

4. Programming

These skills are considered important and although these skills cannot be taught to

students by 100 percent but FutureKids should definitely emphasize and linking the

importance of these skills to the current syllabi for different school years. This is to

ensure that students will realize the importance of Information and Communication

Technology so they will not waste their time during classes. By equipping students

with these skills, students are able to be outstanding compared to others and help

students to even secure a job in the future.

Figure 4.1 Top 10 IT skill sets

Besides, as for those students who longs to earn a living by themselves, they can

even be a freelancer to provide photograph editing or touchup service and so on.

Normally, students will face difficulties when it comes to these software but with our

help, we can break the barrier so that these students can know the basics and to even

further their skills with the help of internet.

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Next, based on my experience with FutureKids Computer Learning Centre in Miri,

Sarawak; I believe it is an excellent company for diploma and bachelors degree

students who specialized in Information Technology or any related fields. The

working hour is just right and the pay for the internship is reasonable too as of

Semester 1 Session 2014/2015. With the available working scoop or training

programme, FutureKids can really be an excellent place for student to learn many

practical skills.

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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

Albert Einstein states that, The only source of knowledge is experience. My

industrial training semester for eighteen weeks was finally over. I am very grateful

for being able to work for FutureKids. Working in a company with such caliber is

definitely a wonderful experience. I get to learn a lot more about information

technology and ways to help people to understand many concepts using laymans

term.

First of all, I was able to be involved in teaching. Before I worked with FutureKids, I

thought teaching would be the easiest job in the world. Now, I realized that I was

totally wrong as I get to teach some of the classes which students were hardly paying

attentions. Many of times, students cannot comprehend many important terms like

CPU, input and output device and so on. As a teacher, I was to come out with many

different ways for students to absorb my teachings. I tried using colourful slides,

short video clips and even short animations for the sake of students understandings.

Other than that, I was able to improve my communication skills as well. By

constantly working with students, I was forced to open up myself in a good way. I

realized the importance of knowing my audience because everyone is different. For

example, the elite class in school behaves exceptionally well every day is totally

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different as compared to the usual classes which make a lot of noise. I will need to

adapt to each class and give different responses to different situations.

Next, I was very happy to be involved in a mid-scale computer lab renovation. I was

to repair and renovate all the available computers in the lab. I was assigned to

disassembly all the computer in the lab and to do a thorough checkup. It took me

nine days to check and repair all the computers in the lab. Throughout the process, I

was able to recall many things that I had learned during the previous semesters with a

very practical way.

Throughout the process, I learnt the importance of time management as well. As this

was the first time for me to be in charge of so many computers, I found it very

stressful at first. Mdm. Stella gave me a lot of encouragements and I did not freaked

out. She taught me the importance of making the time worth it. I realized the

importance of making a schedule for the computer hardware and software

maintenance.

After 9 days of hard work, all the computers were finally in excellent condition.

Other than hardware maintenance, I was to reformat and reinstall all the available

computers too. Software reinstallations were much easier compared to hardware

maintenance. In order to ensure the stability of all computers, I ran StressMyPC on

all computers to do a stress test to ensure all computers were stable.

Furthermore, I learnt that end user would be the most important element of software

development. Before working with FutureKids, I had a bad habit of designing the

complex software that will incorporate many features without realizing the fact that

the user of the system will be the final judge of the system. Many of times, the

system will be functional but it became too complicated. The earlier development of

FutureKids Payment Record System was the exact proof for it.

In the beginning, I thought of creating the system using Visual Basic .NET because I

was familiar with the programming language. Besides, it will be easy for me to

maintain the system as well. Once I started explaining my concepts to Mdm. Stella,

she told me that she wanted me to create something simple because she would not

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want to learn a programming language just because she wanted to maintain a new

payment record system. I was suddenly reminded of the importance of simplicity.

That was definitely an important moment that changed my thoughts on software

development.

Lastly, I get to know myself too throughout the internship semester. As Mdm. Stella

encouraged me to read and improve myself, I got to know more about my interest in

computer science. I found many articles on Artificial Intelligence (AI) were

fascinating. I also started to know that AI would definitely be something I would like

to work on next time.

Just like what the Danish philosopher, Sren Aabye Kierkegaard; had said: Life can

only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards, I firmly believe in the

importance of internship as we get to learn from the past and face new challenges in

the future. Without all these experiences, I believe I would never be able to face

tomorrow. Once again, I would like to express my towards my soon-to-be alma mater

that shaped my life in such a way.

Besides, I would also like to use this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude

towards all the lecturers who had shaped my life. I simply cannot imagine my life

without the guidance of all the professors as I was trying to find out my own interests

and personality. Words can never be enough to represent my thankfulness.

Teachers can change lives with just the right mix of chalk andchallenges.

Joyce Meyer

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