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.