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Industrial Technology

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Workplace Communication

Literacy

Computer Software

Outcomes

This material addresses aspects of the following syllabus outcomes:

Source: Board of Studies (1999) Stage 6, Industrial Technology syllabus, preliminary and HSC courses. Board of Studies: Sydney.

Background

The Industrial Technology major project consists of a product and a folio, which will be examined in conjunction with one another. The criteria for examining the folio consists of evidence of a range of computer applications, e.g. word processing, spreadsheets, CAD, and multimedia.

Word Processing

Word processing is the single most popular computer application and involves working with words. With a word processor you enter the contents of a document into a computer by using the keyboard or scanning an existing document. The word processing software allows you to use a powerful set of editing commands to alter the appearance of the document. Microsoft Word© is one of the most common word processing computer application used today as it gives you a What You See Is What You Get view of the document and it allows you to create a document which can incorporate graphical images or photographs. A suitable word processing computer application should be used when completing your folio for your major project.

Screen Capture

When visiting web sites you sometimes see images or graphics that you would like to use in your folio. However, there are times when it appears that it is not possible to copy and save the image in a format that you can use on your computer, such as a portable document format (pdf). When this happens, you will need to screen capture or screen dump the image. To capture images from the screen follow the following steps;

1. Get the image you wish to save up on the screen. This may be a web page, a game image, or a CAD drawing.
   
   
2. Click on the Print Scrn button that can be found on the computer keyboard.
   
   
3. Open the Paint program from the accessories tool bar.
   
   
4. Select Edit from the top menu bar then click on Paste.
   
   
5. If we press screen capture with an 'industrial technology' document on the screen you would see the following image.
   
   
   
   
6. Click on the square select tool. This will allow you to crop the selection to the frame you want.
   
   
7. Select the image you want then right click over the selection and press copy. You can now paste this image into a word document, website or slide show presentation.

Copyright

It is not ethical to copy material from another persons work (such as a web site, photographs, or drawing files, etc) into your work without acknowledging that it belongs to another person. Images on web sites and files created by other people are generally 'owned' by the person who create them and the material is protected by law. It is copyright. Sometimes it is essential to get copyright release from an owner before you use their material. Where very small amounts of material are used it is generally acceptable to acknowledge the owner and the source of the material. If copied from a web site you should include in your work the web address (URL) and the date you accessed the site. If it is from a book you should quote the authors name, title, date of publication and the date of publication of the book.

Copyright is a very complicated issue, and if you are uncertain of what you should do, you should refer to the school librarian for advice.

Activity 1

Screen capture the door which is in a pdf format on page 13 of the 2004 Timber and Furniture Industries HSC exam. The exam is found on the Board of Studies website .

Answer

Spreadsheets

The use of computer spreadsheet programs makes the task of organising and maintaining data and information a simpler task when producing your folio. The main advantages of electronic spreadsheets include:

• Performing calculations
• Recalculating
• Developing reports
• Presenting information as a chart

Microsoft Excel© can be used to add up the cost of the components for your major project, add up the hours spent on your project or produce information in the form of a graph.

Activity 2

Open a Microsoft Excel© program and enter the following information representing costs incurred for your project.

Complete the following commands to demonstrate how to perform calculations using a spreadsheet.

1. Move the cursor to highlight cell G3.
   
   
2. Select the S (auto sum) function in the tool bar. Press Enter.
   
   
3. Select the bottom corner of cell G3 until a black cross appears and drag down to cell G16. Calculations have automatically been completed for the remaining blank cells in column G.
   
   
4. Move the cursor to cell G17 and select the S (auto sum) function in the tool bar. Press enter. The total of all receipts has been calculated.
   
   
5. In row 16 enter the following information.
   
   
   
   
6. When this information has been entered the spreadsheet automatically recalculates the cost of the project. This allows the cost of the project to be automatically recalculated as new costs are entered in the spreadsheet.

Answer

Activity 3

A spreadsheet can also be used to automatically tally the number of hours spent each week in completing your major project. Using Microsoft Excel enter the following information representing one term of work on your project.

Enter the following;

• 2 hrs for week 7
• 3 hrs for week 8
• 2 hrs for week 9 and,
• 4 hrs for week 10.

The spreadsheet will recalculate after each entry to give you a running tally of how many hours have been spent on your project during the term.

This information can be displayed in a chart or graph to show the breakdown of time spent in each area of construction.

1. Highlight the cells which contain the information required in a chart.
2. Select the chart wizard function on the toolbar.
3. Choose a pie graph and follow the prompts.

Answer

Computer Aided Drawing (CAD)

CAD is the use of computers to produce drawings that would normally be prepared manually. With the advent of CAD packages, traditional tools such as the compass, T-square, rule, pencils and erasers are being used less and less. Some advantages of CAD packages over manual drafting methods are: speed, accuracy, repetition, neatness, ability to edit changes without redrawing and legibility.

Drawing software can be 2Dimensional (2D) and 3Dimensional (3D). There is a lot of different software available which is designed to suit specific needs, such as house plans.

Examples of some CAD software programs are Cadsman, AutoCAD, Prodesktop and 3ds Max.

Multimedia

Multimedia is a collection of different forms of media combined together to provide good, effective communication. Multimedia can incorporate graphics, animation, sound and video. This method of communication is effective as a large proportion of the population have visual memories.

Examples of Multimedia software include Flash, Video Editor, Macromedia and 3ds Max.