Reflections on Session 12 / Culminating Blog

Session 12

I was surprised at the backlash against social networking sites. A handful of students found it novel, fun and interesting however most saw it as a total waste of time and/or a serious security vulnerability. Although I respect the latter's opinion, I must say that these sites have gained tremendous popularity during the last few years and they are being accepted into the corporate environment (check out http://www.linkedin.com).

With Ning, you could focus on one particular area of interest (whether it is Asian fusion cooking or DoD security policies). Personally, it has been fun for me to have a Facebook account and keep in touch with my daughter in New Orleans as well as my close buddies. I can keep in touch with my colleagues who share a mutual interest in educational technology. The younger generation (such as my daughter) uses Facebook (and text/IM messaging) in lieu of e-mail to communicate.

I hope that we can keep in touch after this semester...either with Ning or Facebook.

Culminating Posting

This is the sad part of the course when I have to say goodbye to my students. It is never easy. Sometimes I mechanically go back into WebTycho after the end of the semester expecting to see another bunch of provocative postings but disappointed to find none. This class was special because the students were particularly motivated and bright. There were several colorful characters (they know who they are!). I know all of the students will do well academically and in life.

As we put a close on this semester, I hope that you reflected on your new knowledge and skills you have gained in this class. You have a better idea about blogs, wikis (and Wikipedia), social networks, security breaches, CRM and other key IT concepts by now.

Best wishes for a most successful career and a fulfilling life!

And for those of you who are graduating...



Do more with,

Les

Reflections on Session 11 - the Final Exam

Most of students were able to effectively synthesize what they learned and apply it to the final exam questions. I was struck by their comments on the products of the other teams -- specifically how the information in the papers can help in their work environments.

I think having students look at every others' research paper assist in developing what I call a "critical eye." I sense that students are more critical of things such as new technologies. They are not kidding when they say that technology is a two-edge sword! Also, don't believe what the vendor is saying!

As we proceed to the final week, I am sad that I will no longer have this class. There are some sharp, funny and interesting personalities in this one. I hope that they will show up for graduation -- I always show up for that and volunteer do the hooding of the graduates. This is why I love my job!

Reflections on Session 10

Looks like the students now have a greater appreciation why we profs HATE Wikipedia when it is used as a reference in a research effort (posting, paper or thesis). I'll be honest...I often look at Wikipedia first to get "quick and dirty" information but I never ever use it as a reference in my papers because it is so easy to access and make wholesale changes without a "peer" review.

Joseph proved that point by inserting some ridiculous information onto the OLAP article:

"ILAP This is the newest version of OLAP as you might guess, it is an exclusive version of OLAP deployed ONLY via the web This is a new product introduced by ITEC solution, an enterprising data solution company founded 2015."

It was up for several hours during which anyone could have used that information. Yes, after a few hours, it was taken down but imagine if the article monitor was less than an expert and kept the narrative up longer?



More dire warnings:

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Wikipedia-Founder-Discourages/2305 - Even the founder of Wikipedia discourages it use in academic papers!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citing_Wikipedia
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/26/wiki

Students posted interesting original topics for discussion. I am glad a few of them challenged the current ways of thinking -- such as the viability of cloud computing and alternatives to SDLC.

The final exam is this week and wish the students good luck! I feel that it is a challenging one requiring synthesizing everything you have learned. After the exam, we have one more week of classes when we can reflect on what we have learned.

Reflections on Session 9

I was surprised that the class did not address more on thumbdrive security, patch management, data-at-rest (e.g., stolen laptops) and social engineering in their submissions. These threats have been in the news lately.

In past years, the issues surrounded viruses, spyware, worms, and other malware. During the more recent semesters, the common postings were on wireless issues (lack of encryption), server security, laptop and thumbdrive security, social engineering, shoulder surfing, tailgating, identity theft, and dumpster diving. This reflects a broader perspective of security beyond the intrusions from the World Wide Web.

Passwords are a common issue that students bring up. Yes, I am favor in two-factor authentication (what you know such as passwords or a PIN...plus what you have like a token or smart card...or what you are such as biometrics). However, particularly in our rough economic times, it takes money to pay for additional security like tokens or biometrics. But, is it a worthy investment? Well, it depends...it depends on what you are trying to protect, what financial resources you have, and other factors. Of course, if you are protecting the nation's secrets or sensitive financial/personal data, the answer is yes. However for other situations, the answer is not so clear.

Personally, I am disappointed with passwords themselves which are long, complex and impossible to memorize. And they say not to write it down. There MUST be a better system. Here is one answer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0biryfzCW0&feature=player_embedded

BTW, my favorite encryption tool is TrueCrypt (no endorsement implied). It is an easy way to protect your data and the price is right (free)!

I feel so insecure after learning from you some of the threats that are out there! Anyway, speaking of insecurity...

Reflections on Session 8

We are closing in on the end of the semester. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I hope that we proceeding well with the group projects. I noted one or two non-participants and I have encouraged them to join the group effort. Otherwise, I predict that the peer evaluations will not be very positive for them. Pay me now or pay me later!

Session 8 revealed to me a lot about the students. The discussion question on the value of planning showed that students know the importance of planning and how it ensures success. However, long time planning (ten years out) can be difficult because of our dynamic environment. IMHO, it is useless to do detailed long term planning and instead we should focus on the vision for the company.

I have to disagree with most students on the SDLC application for web developers. I hoped that students would think outside the box (see the end of this posting) and suggest alternative approaches such as agile and extreme programming. My experience with SDLC is that it is necessary for large complex projects but it gets to be unwieldy for smaller, short-deadline projects in a dynamic environment.

The answer to the conversion strategies question is "it depends". It depends on many variables - project size, cost considerations, schedule constraints, help desk availability, risk aversion, cultural aspects, level of user expertise, etc. I understand why most students advocated the less risky phased approach but it is not the best in all situations. In the future, avoid "shooting from the hip" and consider all circumstances. One size often does not fit all when it comes to IT!

I hope the students found the SWOT analysis to be useful. Some of them did such a great job that they should become management strategists! However, a few did not understand the concept of opportunities -- for example, identifying a new lucrative market, a source of funding or resources, a change in consumer behavior, etc. Goals need to be primarily based on this opportunity factor with appropriate consideration to the other three parameters (strengths, weakness and threats).

We move on this week to security -- one of my favorite topics. I am looking forward to seeing kewl videos/movies about security-related issues. I better buy some popcorn and enjoy the shows!

It is important to think outside of the box...but there are exceptions!

Reflections on Session 7

I was amazed at the high level of emotion found in the discussion thread re: offshore outsourcing. Some folks said that we need to be patriotic and not send our jobs to foreign countries while others pointed out that we live in a global economy and the mighty dollar rules. There were some good points -- when national security or quality customer service is involved, we need to keep things internal. Of course, the answer to this is "it depends." You need to look at TCO - the total cost of offshoring - for your organization, specifically, the hidden costs that people often overlook. Check out this CIO magazine article for more information on this concept.

Regarding the use of Fedscope, I am glad that most of the students were exposed to a powerful OLAP tool. They are seeing a Cognos (now IBM) product formerly called PowerPlay, but there are other companies such as BusinessObjects, Microsoft, Oracle, who can produce similar cubes and interfaces. These tools are certainly easier to use than pivot tables in spreadsheets. I am always impressed when I see the insightful trends and relationships students identified and the derived strategies based on these findings.

Although lots of students wanted to recruit and hire more staff, some of the strategies focused on social inequities such as the lack of diversity in various dimensions (gender, race, age, etc.) I am glad this class is cognizant of these social issues. Speaking of social issues, too bad the cubes did not contain any "green" information. I'm sure that a student would to address that timely issue.

Reflections on Session 6 - the Midterm

I am generally very pleased with the results of the midterm. There were many A's in the class and those who got B's were in striking distance of getting an A. Hmmmmmm....I wonder if my midterm was too easy and I may have to make my final exam more difficult?

I did notice that some students did not meet the 1-2 page requirement. This is necessary to ensure that significant thought and analysis went into your answer. I will assess a tough penalty for not meeting this requirement in the final!

I continue to be appalled by the number of grammatical/spelling errors in the submissions. I would think that the word processor would catch these errors and the students would edit them. I hope that this will not occur in future submission... including postings.

I noticed no one got a perfect score in the midterm...I have HIGH expectations from my students (unlike Calvin)! Check out this link.