COMPUTER STUDIES & PROGRAMMING
Welcome!
Welcome to Holy Cross' IT program! On this page, you'll have the chance to meet some of HC's best and get to know what's going on inside of room 217!
AN INTERVIEW WITH MRS PEDERSEN!
We also had the opportunity of meeting with the lovely Mrs Pedersen at her usual hangout, the Learning Commons! Want to know more about her exclusively girls only IT club and all the other amazing opportunities that IT offers? Read on to find out!
Could you please tell us your name, what you like to be addressed by and the pronouns you prefer?
"Adora Pedersen, pronoun: Mrs and preferred name is Mrs. Pedersen!"
Could you please tell us a bit about the course, what the course focuses on?
"IT 10 has 3 different courses, the first one is Robotics 10, and so in that one we talk about electronics, so electricity, circuits, as well as some basics of robotics! This year we're working with a kit called Arduinos (check out this link to learn more about them! https://www.arduino.cc/) and they can work with different processors and build a few things aren't your traditional ideas and preconceptions of robots, as well as talking about sustainability.
Then theres Computer Studies 10 and that one is just a general course of computers and technology, so hardware for computers, software, security and basic things like that!
And then the last on is Website Development 10! So that's about webdesign, websites, different languages that people use for websites, as well as security, different standards in general around the globe and databases, thats about it!"
If you could be an animal, what would you be?
"That's a good question haha! Let's go with... an eagle! "
When is IT offered and when do you recommend people join?
"IT this year, because of COVID, is a quarter elective for 10's. Otherwise in a normal year it's a semester (elective). I encourage people to start taking computers classes in Grader 8 so that way they continue building on their knowledge, so as they got more advanced. But it's of those courses where if you're motivated enough, and you want to challenge yourself you can hop in at any point, at least in the junior classes for sure. We do review some basics of programming each year so that nobody really "falls behind", but it definitely makes it easier if you start taking classes in Grade 8."
How long have you been teaching here at Holy Cross?
"Since September 2002! So that would make that... 18 years!"
What kind of opportunities does IT offer?
"Depends, junior IT is more difficult, there are less things involved. The past few years we used to do this all girls coding/program day called Hacker Gal, and so i did and hosted that a couple times. They used a different platform using Python and they developed throughout the day a- almost like little video game. Otherwise there are hours of code that people can do, and teacher have done in the past as well. Other than that we haven't really branched out much, I think in the future we'd like to do some sort of robot war type things... but who knows!"
Could you please tell us a bit about your educational background?
"Well, I attended Holy Cross and graduated from here. For university, I went to SFU (Simon Fraser University),
did my Bachelors in Science and Biology then UBC (The University of British Columbia)
for my Bachelors of Education to become a teacher, and UBC for my Masters of Educational Technology as well!"
Lastly, what do you expect of new students? Do you think that they need any previous knowledge before taking up IT?
"In terms of expectations, I would love students coming in just with enthusiasm, right? Wanting to learn about it, having their own ideas, wanting to challenge themselves, not just sitting back and taking it easy. And no! Like i said before, we always review some basic things but it definitely helps. So any previous knowledge you come in with, the easier it definitely gets. "
MEET YOUR FUTURE TEACHERS!
MR SINSAY
Computer Programming 12
Computer Programming 11
Webteam
HC Grad!
MRS PEDERSON
Computer Studies 10
Robotics 10
ADST (IT) 9
HC Grad!
MRS PEDERSON
ADST (IT) 8
MR CABRALDA
Director of Technology
WebTeam