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Making an Activity Card

An activity card can be useful for your students and yourself during lab sessions. It gives the students the big picture of the project. It is an abbreviated form of the directions to which the students can refer back later. It is also a place where students can take notes. It can also serve as a checklist where students mark off the steps that they have accomplished. This can be very useful if the project lasts more than one computer lab session. If you use activity cards regularly, it would help the students if these cards share common features and general look.

An activity card:

• Only mentions the major steps
• Numbers each step for easy following
• Includes examples (e.g. screen shots)
• Can have more than one column to make it short
• Includes a clear title of the project or unit

To make an activity card:

1. Open a Word Processing document.
2. Insert or View Header. Type the title of the activity in the header. Fill the header with color.
3. Use the Column button to create three columns.
4. Type the major steps that the students need to follow.
5. Insert screen shots where appropriate.

To capture a screen:

PC:

1. Press the “Print Screen” key on your keyboard. The image of your computer screen is copied into the computer’s memory.
2. Open a paint program and go to Edit>Paste.
3. Use the Marquee tool to select the portion that you want to use for the activity card.
4. Go to Edit>Copy.
5. Go back to the activity card in work processing, Edit>Paste.

Mac:

1. Press the Apple key + the shift key +3.
2. Open the computer hard drive icon on the desktop and locate the file Picture 1 (for the first screen shot).
3. Double click the file Picture 1.
4. Use the cursor to mark the area of the picture that you want to use for the activity card.
5. Go to Edit>Copy.
6. Go back to the activity card in word processing, Edit>Paste.

Courtesy of Pflugerville Independent District