WELCOME TO INTRO TO COMPUTERS
Fall 2020
Jt

Powerpoint Slides for Scratch Lectures

Podcasts are the main mechanism for presenting the lecture material to you all this semester. See the next section below for info on how to subscribe to the podcasts. Later in the course, we will learn how to code using the Scratch programming language. Jt's lectures on Scratch will be available as podcast episodes. However, you may want to study individual slides more carefully (podcasts use low quality images). With that in mind, here are the PDF files of the actual PowerPoint slides that will be shown within the Scratch podcasts that will be presented later this semester. You can open these using any PDF viewer and such software should allow you to zoom in on any slide.

Scratch Lesson 1: Introduction
Scratch Lesson 2: Solving a Problem
Scratch Lesson 3A: Decisions
Scratch Lesson 3B: Multiple Decisions Within One Script
Scratch Lesson 4: Multiple Choice Decisions
Scratch Lesson 5: Loops
Scratch Lesson 5B: Sentinel Loops
Scratch Lesson 6: Counted Loops
Scratch Lesson 7: Lists

Powerpoint slides for the non-Scratch lectures will not be made available. Those lectures and slides are simple enough for you to follow along with in the podcasts without needing closeup detail.

Podcasts of Jt's CS110 Lectures

For over a decade I have been podcasting my in-person lectures and placing them online. Many students have been using these podcasts to review lecture material. They have been highly popular. Based on this working successfuly, I am opting to use podcasts as the mechamism to share this semester's lectures to you in an asynchronous manner.

These podcasts contain both audio and video components. In particular, you hear me discuss topics and describe what is occuring on my screen. At the same time, you will also see all that is displayed on my computer - both powerpoint slides - and the window views as I demo various software applications or working code.

Although the course is not being held in person, I can assure you that the material being presented in these podcasts is as detailed as any I have ever presented in an actual classroom. In truth, it is being presented in a more careful and complete manner than the thousands of lectures I have given live over the years. And of course, you can replay sections of any podcast if you did not understand what was explained during the first time through the material. So in many ways, these podcasts should be more valuable to your learning experience than you would have otherwise gotten. However, since I will be focusing on presenting what is displayed on the computer screen - rather than showing you video of me speaking, this may make the experience seem more impersonal and that may bother some of you. I apologize if that is the case, but I believe focusing on presenting the actual content to you will be the best way to help you all do well in the course.

There are many ways to view a podcast. A wide selection of software on various computer platforms, apps for phones and so on are available. You can use any method you want, but you will have to figure out the details of using the particular software or app you opt to utilize. The key issue to realize is these podcasts are not available on any particular online public server or store. So for example, you can not use the normal Search command in Apple's Podcast App to find them. Instead, you have to use the proper command to access the podcast from a given URL - such as "Add a Show by URL" in the Podcast app on Apple devices, or the "Subscribe to Podcast" command on the Advanced menu in iTunes.

These podcasts are available on a Rutgers server. The URL you need to use is: http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/courses/110/classes/fall_2020_jt/PodCasts/podcast.rss

Before leaving this webpage, make sure you read the section at the end to avoid a couple simple issues that you may run into if you are not yet familiar with podcast software.

Here are a few suggestions for software you might opt to use:

iTunes for Macintoshes and PCs
One method to access these Podcasts that has worked for students for many years is iTunes from Apple. This software runs on PCs or Macintoshes. (You can get this software here: iTunes) Once you have iTunes installed, click the link at the end of this section to "subscribe" to the lectures. This is a one time step that you will never have to do again. iTunes will handle the rest. It will automatically update the entry in the podcast  section of iTunes with the names of new lectures as they become available. (Depending on your setup, you may have to hit the triangle next the podcast name, to open up the list and see all the lectures. Also, you may have to click the Get button next to a lecture name before actually playing it.) So any time you reopen iTunes, you will be able to access all the lectures, including any new ones that have recently become available.   You DO NOT need an Apple device to access these lectures. You can see them on any computer that you have installed the free iTunes software on. Of course, if you happen to have an Apple device, iTunes will also automatically synch the lectures down to your phone or tablet, so you can play them on those devices too. 

When you have the latest version of iTunes installed and are ready to subscribe to Jt's CS110 lectures click this link: Click here to subscribe
  • If you have problems, open iTunes directly and then use the Subscribe To Podcast command under the Advanced menu; copy/paste the following as the URL when asked: http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/courses/110/classes/fall_2020_jt/PodCasts/podcast.rss

    • Podcast App for Apple Computers and Devices

    Recently Apple has shifted away from relying on iTunes to handle a wide assortment of multimedia tasks, and instead has created separate applications. In particular, Apple now offers a specialized Podcast App on its mobile devices (iPhones and iPads) and on its computers running the latest version of Mac OS. When using the Podcasts App on mobile devices, you can subscribe to the podcast for this class by going to the Library, hitting the Edit button, and using the "Add a Show by URL..." command. When using a Mac, you will find the "Add a Show by URL..." command on the File menu of the Podcast application. When prompted on your mobile device or on a Mac, you should provide the URL mentioned above: http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/courses/110/classes/fall_2020_jt/PodCasts/podcast.rss
    This article has more details: Adding a URL to Apple Podcast

    Other Popular Podcast software

    For Windows there is a variety of software that you can use for watching podcasts. This page gives some options: Podcast Apps for Windows 10. You may find other choices elsewhere. Pick a product that you prefer.

    Android and other platforms also have their own Podcast apps. This article goes through some popular software applications: Popular Podcast software and apps

    This article explains how to subscribe to a URL in various products: Adding a URL in Various Podcast software

    IMPORTANT : Become Familiar With The Software and Refresh the Feeds

    Podcasts software is very easy to use. Still, you will want to spend some time getting familiar with the podcast software that you have chosen. There are often different screens for different purposes - some might show podcasts you already watched, while other screens show podcasts you have not yet viewed. Some times folks do not see a new lecture simply because they are looking at the wrong screen.

    Also be aware that your podcasts software will have to go look for new episodes (lectures in our case) from time to time. It does this by accessing the servers that hold the individual podcasts and downloading them to your own device. This is called "refreshing the feed." You will want to make sure the preferences or settings in your software are set to automatically refresh the feed often. The default might be once a week, which may not work for our purposes in this class. (There are often two lecture/podcasts each week.) In most software, you can have it check once an hour if you want. Alternatively, in most software, you can manually force it to refresh the feeds whenever you want to check to see if there are new episodes. This is generally done with a command such as "Refresh Feeds" on a menu, or a control that does the equiavalent action. Use the Help menu, or search online to find out how to manually refresh and change the default settings in the podcast software you have chosen. As an example, in the Apple Podcast application on a Mac, the command is "Refresh Feeds" on the File menu. On the left-most menu, the Preference command can be use to change the settings to refresh the feed automatically every hour as opposed to weekly.

    The Last Resort

    If all else fails and you are having trouble with your podcaast software, visit the following page where you can download each lecture manually.

    Download Each Podcast Manually