Session 35: Skills Lab 4: Connected & Safe

At a glance: a practice-only Skills Lab. Pupils do a 3-minute typing check and four timed stations (a Canva poster, a shared document with comments, a meeting invitation with a cloud folder link, and a safety triple), then fix and re-try, and can earn the Silver Passport for Sessions 16–35. · Time: 90 minutes (adjust the timings if your period is shorter) · Workbook pages: 6

Learning outcomes

By the end of the session, pupils can:

1. Design a readable poster in Canva from a brief and download it with a correct file name, and co-edit a shared document using helpful comments, resolving and version history.
2. Organise files in a cloud folder, share it with the right permission and send a calendar invitation with a video-call link and the folder link.
3. Choose safe sharing permissions, check a viral post with W.A.I.T. and remove P.I.I. from a profile, and show the Silver typing target of 25 words per minute at 92% accuracy.

Before the session

• Station 1: print one Open Day details card per PC: "BIH Tech Club Open Day · Saturday 14 November · 10:00 am – 1:00 pm · Bozoma Innovation Hub, main hall · Come and see our robots, games and websites!" (change the date and place to suit you). Check every PC can sign in to Canva with the Hub's learning account.
• Station 2: for each pair, make a Google Doc called OpenDay_Programme_Team1, Team2 and so on. Give it a Heading 1 title (BIH Tech Club Open Day Programme), two finished sections with Heading 2 headings (Welcome and Poster Gallery), and an empty space for the pupils' sections. Share it with both partners as Editor. Create it a day or more before, so version history shows a clear first version.
• Station 3: write your mentor (or club) email address on the board. Use a mentor address inside the Hub's organisation, or check external sharing is allowed. Make sure pupils' learning accounts can use Google Drive, Google Calendar and Google Meet, and that you can check your inbox during the session.
• Station 4: nothing extra; it uses the workbook page and Drive.
• Test the Feed Check and Club Planner labs on a spare PC for pupils who are waiting; keep the offline pack on USB.
• Prepare a class score chart on the board (team names × stations) for team points.

Running order

Rotation for few PCs: with fewer PCs than pupils, run Station 4 (mostly paper) as a "home base" table. Split the class in half: half do Stations 1 and 3 on PCs while the other half do Station 4 and then the 3D labs; swap after 30 minutes. Station 2 needs two PCs per pair; if that is impossible, one partner types while the other comments from a second PC or a phone, then they swap roles. Station 3 needs the poster from Station 1; a pupil who has not finished it can upload any file to the folder.

Team points: 1 point for every station passed first time, 1 point for every station fixed in the re-try, and 1 bonus point for a team member who helps someone else without touching their mouse.

Key ideas and how to explain them

• A Skills Lab proves, it doesn't teach: no new content. Pupils show what they already know. An unticked box is a practice target, not a failure.
• Try first, then hints: the hints are for the re-try. Real-world work rarely comes with step-by-step help.
• Honest checklists: the mentor ticks; pupils don't tick their own. Praise pupils who say "I'm not sure that one is right."
• Station 1 (Session 27): a brief has must-haves (all the details, readable, one allowed picture, downloaded and named).
• Station 2 (Session 29): in a shared file you comment instead of deleting someone's work. Comment frames: "I understood…", "One question I have is…", "One helpful suggestion is…". Resolve (✓) when fixed. Version history is the time machine.
• Station 3 (Session 30): a good invitation has a clear title, the right date and time, a video link, the guests and the files people need.
• Station 4 (Sessions 29, 33, 34): match the permission to how much the person needs to do; W.A.I.T. before you share; the P.I.I. shield.
• The Silver Passport: Sessions 16–35. It needs the office skills from Skills Lab 3, today's four stations and 25 wpm at 92% accuracy.

The 3D lab

Two labs warm up the skills for pupils waiting for a PC or who finish early. Feed Check (scroll a pretend social media feed; spot fake news, report bullying, fix privacy settings and see how the feed learns what you like) rehearses Station 4 (its W.A.I.T. part is Station 4B; its privacy settings go with the P.I.I. clean-up in 4C). Club Planner (schedule a club meeting and invite members, run a mock video call, and move files into the cloud cupboard) rehearses Station 3. Pupils who are stuck on a station can do the matching lab missions first, then try the real station again. Don't demonstrate them to the whole class today; just point pupils to them.

Common mistakes and quick fixes

When things go wrong

• No internet: Stations 1–3 need the internet. Do the typing check and Station 4 parts B and C on paper, and give pupils the 3D labs (offline pack) as practice. Run Stations 1–3 in the next session; don't award Silver until they are done.
• Not enough PCs: use the rotation above. A pupil can also do Station 1 in Canva on a Hub tablet.
• A PC freezes or the power goes: Canva, Google Docs, Drive and Calendar save in the cloud, so work is not lost. Restart and sign in again, and add the lost minutes to the pupil's time.
• A pupil is very anxious about being tested: remind them this is practice; they can re-try today and in the catch-up session. Let them start with the station they feel best at.

Answer key

Typing check (Page 1): Silver is met at 25 wpm or more with 92% accuracy or more, both at once. A faster speed with lower accuracy does not meet it.

Station 1, Open Day Poster (Page 2): a portrait poster with the event name as the biggest text, the date, time and place exactly as on the card, one inviting sentence, one picture from Canva's library, strong contrast, 2–3 fonts at most, named TechClub_OpenDayPoster_[YourName] and downloaded as a PNG into Downloads.

Station 2, Shared Programme (Page 3): both new sections (Robot Corner and Typing Race) use Heading 2 and have two sentences each. Each partner's comment starts with a frame, for example "One helpful suggestion is to say what time Robot Corner starts." Each comment is resolved after the fix. The first-created date and time is the oldest entry at the bottom of version history (the time you created the document).

Station 3, Planning Meeting (Page 4): a folder named OpenDay_Planning_[YourName] containing the poster, shared with the mentor as Viewer only; an event called Open Day Planning next Wednesday 4:00–4:30 pm, with a Google Meet link, the mentor as a guest and the folder link (starting https://drive.google.com/) in the description. The invitation arrives in the mentor's inbox, and the mentor can open the folder but not edit it.

Station 4, Safety Triple (Page 5)

• A: the teammate who only suggests: Commenter. The Designer who fixes the layout: Editor. The whole school, who only read: Viewer. The poster is shared in Drive with the Station 2 partner as Commenter.
• B: warning signs (any two): Who: an unknown page created 3 days ago, not the Ministry. Anyone else: no trusted news reports it. Time: "ends TONIGHT", "share with all your friends" is pressure. Also: a strange .xyz web address, and it asks for P.I.I. and a parent's MoMo number (a phishing sign from Session 33). Decision: don't share, don't register, report the post and tell an adult.
• C: strike out the full name (Akosua Owusu), age (12), class and school (JHS 1 at Bozoma Model JHS), home address and landmark (House 17 behind the big mango tree on Ring Road), routine and place (Saturdays at 7 am at Kaneshie market), phone number (055 000 1234) and the password clue (Bingo). Safe version, for example: "Hi! I'm Akosua. I love drawing, netball and jollof, and one day I want to be an architect." A first name only is acceptable on a Hub-only page.

Support and stretch

• Needs more support: let them start with the station they feel strongest in. For the re-try, sit beside them and read the hints aloud while they do the clicking. Award the Passport only when every part is done, but plan a catch-up slot rather than leaving them behind.
• Finished early: make a matching Instagram-post-sized version of the poster in Canva with Resize (if the account allows it) or a new design, add a third comment that answers a partner's question, or help as a "station helper" who gives hints by pointing, not clicking.

Evidence for sign-off

Award the Silver Passport when the pupil: has passed Skills Lab 3 (Office Triathlon); has every checklist item ticked by a mentor for all four stations today (first time or in the re-try); and has a typing result of at least 25 wpm at 92% accuracy in the trainer. If one part is missing, write the re-try date on Page 6 and award Silver at the catch-up.

Safety and wellbeing

Pupils use the Hub's learning accounts only. The poster must not include photos of real pupils or any personal details. Check that no pupil shares a folder or file publicly ("Anyone with the link") during Station 3 or 4. The profile in Station 4 and the viral post are fictional; don't use real pupils' names. Keep the atmosphere encouraging: some pupils find timed tasks stressful, so celebrate improvement over their Bronze typing result as much as reaching the target.