Class, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and prepare you for our ADM 316 Computers and Information Systems class starting Thursday October 2.
First, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but the university should be providing laptops to each of you for the duration of this course. I know that’s something that students like to hear about. You will need to bring them to every class, as we will be using them during lab time. The laptops you receive should have a wireless network connection, and they are also preloaded with the Excel assignments you will need to use for this course. If you want to use your own laptop for the course, I don’t mind, although you will have to let them know when they drop off your computer that you don’t want it.
You can view my syllabus and assignment list at any time by clicking on the course tabs at the top of this page. I’m not going to change the assignments due for Workshop 1, but I have made some changes to the course of which you will want to take note.
You are NOT required to complete any of the “hands-on Excel exercises” prior to coming to class. We will complete these activities during the in-class lab time. However, if you are new to Excel, you might find completing some of these on your own to be helpful. These exercises go step-by-step through the process, practically down to the keystroke level.
I have modified the project team assignments a bit. There was an assignment due Workshop 3 to provide the goals of the organization you will be presenting in your Team Project. That assignment was eliminated, and the project outline will be due that week instead. I like to give feedback on these things as early as possible so that you can make the best use of that feedback.
There will be no weekly quizzes, but there will be a take-home final exam instead. The last time I taught this course, I didn’t think the quizzes were beneficial to learning and mostly served to punish students that didn’t understand the material.
The weekly chapter review questions that have been assigned are in your Student Guides. See p. 21 of your Student Guide for the questions due Workshop 1. Please do not turn in handwritten answers from the book. I require typed responses for all homework assignments.
Since many of the weekly assignments you’ll be working on will be done in Excel, I would prefer that you submit those assignments by e-mail. My address is in my syllabus. Papers and other assignments can be handed in via hard copy, but it would be a lot less time-consuming for me to get emails from all of you than having to download off of everybody’s burned CDs and flash drives during class. Excel assignments need to be emailed to me prior to class according to my on-time policy.
I’m not sure what everyone’s comfort level with the PC is yet, but this is a very user-friendly course that I think makes the subject matter accessible to everyone. Even if you are already experienced using computers and the Microsoft Office Suite, there are some things that I’ve even learned from this course about little-known features of the software. Also, I plan to invoke the “buddy system” (just like when you learned to swim, although you will not be required to wear life-jackets in class) so that those who are experienced won’t have an excuse to be bored and camp out on MySpace, Facebook, or Bejeweled all night long and those who aren’t so experienced won’t get frustrated and break their laptops in half.
This classroom blog is an experiment of mine I’ve been working on for a few months to see how students use a collaborative workspace in a non-online course. Plus, it’s nice to have all my classroom information organized in one place online. Please keep visiting daily to see what is new. If you have any suggestions of what you’d like to see on this page, please let me know, and I will see if I can get something up there. Above all else, this tool is here to serve you the student, so please offer whatever feedback you would like.
In the meantime, feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and I look forward to meeting all of you on the 2nd!
