My Fall 2013 Schedule

I have had a few students ask about my schedule for upcoming semesters.

SUMMER 2013
I will not be teaching summer classes. Between authoring, teaching, and outside the classroom work, I am very much looking forward to a summer off!

FALL 2013
CIS 101 M08 Computer Concepts and Applications Monday/Wednesday 10:20 AM to 11:35 AM
CIS 107 M01 Information Technology Fundamentals and Applications Monday/Wednesday 11:45 AM to 1:00 PM
CIS 125 M02 Microcomputer Software I Tuesday/Thursday 10:20 AM to 11:35 AM
CIS 152 ME1 Internet/E-Commerce Technologies Thursday 7:05 PM to 9:35 PM
CIS 170 M01 (GD 170 M01) Website Design & Tools Tuesday/Thursday 11:45 AM to 1:00 PM
CIS 294 M01 (GD 294 M01) CIS Internship Program

Rate Your Professors

When I was an undergraduate at Montclair State University in the late 1990's, people used to have entire binders of professor ratings. You would look to register for, say, and art class, and if you knew the right person, you could get a look at the binder of art professors and see who people liked. I ended up taking a class called Art Forum because it involved listening to speakers on art and writing a reaction paper each week. I always liked writing, so this wasn't too scary for me, and I figured seeing a new speaker each week would be interesting. Professor Lay was the instructor, and to this day I would recommend that course (if you didn't mind writing).

Anyway, the problem was you were at the mercy of knowing someone. Today, you don't have that issue, because of a site like RateMyProfessors.com. The site allows students to rate professors anonymously on Helpfulness, Clarity, and Easiness, on a scale of one through five.

For example, if you search for me there, you will find I currently have a 4.2/5.0 for helpfulness, 4.2/5.0 for clarity, and a 3.2/5.0 for easiness. I think these are fair assessments. I tell students the first day that tests include stuff from the book, even if I do not lecture on it, because my expectation is that you are reading the book.

Check me out there if you are really interested and see if your experiences match what other people say:
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=252178

Of course, as someone who has taught for 13 years, I have a lot of ratings. Professor Mosley has even more, due to his large class sizes. Someone who is in their first semester may not have any ratings.

Every time I show this in class I get a good laugh!

Spring 2013 Registration @ PCCC

Spring 2013 registration is going on now. If you can register online, do it as soon as you can! Classes are filling up quickly. If you need to register in-person, the College will have large crowds starting the 17th. If you can make it to the Passaic campus or Wanaque campus, those are usually much quieter. Of course, you may want to see someone in your major, and if so, Paterson is your best bet.

If you are an IT major and want to see me in-person, I will be doing registration at the Passaic campus (2 Paulison Ave, Passaic, NJ) during the following times:
Thursday 1/17: 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Friday 1/18: 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

If you need advising, I will be on campus to interview a part-time faculty member this Tuesday evening, and I can schedule an appointment with you if you are an IT or Graphic Design major, or have questions about the internship program.

Regardless of where you register, you can ask to see someone in your major only. Especially in Paterson, it seems like people get sent to the next available person, but if it takes you an extra ten minutes to see someone in your major who knows a lot about that program, that probably is a good choice.

In Passaic or Wanaque, that may not be an option, but in Paterson, take advantage of that.

My Spring 2013 Semester Schedule

I can't believe it has been almost 6 months since I blogged. Writing certainly has taken up some of my free time!

Just wanted to post my Spring 2013 schedule. It looks like, as I write this, CIS-125-M02 and CIS-101-M13 are full, but there is plenty of room in the other classes so far!

CIS-101-M09	Computer Concepts & Applications	Tuesday, Thursday 11:45AM - 01:00PM
CIS-101-M13	Computer Concepts & Applications	Monday, Wednesday 11:45AM - 01:00PM
CIS-107-M01	IT Fundamentals & Applications	Monday, Wednesday 10:20AM - 11:35AM
CIS-125-M02	Microcomputer Software I	Tuesday, Thursday 10:20AM - 11:35AM
CIS-273-ME1 GD-273-ME1	Web Graphics	Thursday 07:05PM - 09:35PM
CIS-294-M01 GD-294-M01	CIS/GD Internship	Days/Times To Be Arranged with Employer

Fall 2012 Registration

If you haven't registered for the Fall 2012 semester, you can probably register online through Campus Cruiser.

However, if you cannot, or if you would prefer someone works with you, you can also register in person. I will be doing in-person registration at the campus in Passaic, NJ (2 Paulison Ave, Passaic) at the following times:
Tuesday, August 28: 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Thursday, August 30: 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

In my experience, the lines at the Passaic campus are usually much shorter than the Paterson gym registration is, so if you can get to Passaic, it might save you some time.

In addition, for students in the Computer Science or Information Technology majors, if you want someone to double-check your schedule, please feel free to email me a copy of your degree audit and any questions you have.

Here is the College's official list of registration times and dates. Remember the Fall semester starts September 5th!
http://www.pccc.edu/registration-info/times2register

Don't Look Now, Here Comes Office 2013

As soon as we become comfortable with technology, we are probably behind. For example, many of you at Passaic and Bergen have just received training in the state of the art Office 2010. The biggest feature that will take some retraining is the touch-screen support. Windows 8 and Office 2013 will support touch-screen input, so if you have a touch-screen, you can use that instead of a mouse.

I am interested in seeing the changes they have made, so I will be downloading the free consumer preview and seeing how I like the changes.

Anyone can download and try out the consumer preview for free:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en

If you already have Office, I would not recommend removing your old version, as preview versions expire eventually. However, if you don't have Office at all and would like to play with it, or if you are a little more tech-savvy, here is your chance to be the first kid on the block to try it out.

That is my plan for Tuesday!

Evolution of an Operating System (and my Windows 8 book)

I am finishing up my second book, a Windows 8 book for Pearson/Prentice Hall. Apparently, it will be published on October 12, according to Amazon (Link to my Windows 8 book here).

Delving in to the new operating system has been instructive for a few reasons. First of all, this version of Windows is going to change things. This rivals Windows 95 as the biggest change I've seen to Windows. Short summary: they have removed the Start menu and replaced it with a Start screen.

Wait, no, that is the Partridge family bus. You can see my confusion.

Yep, that's the Start screen!

You can of course add and move tiles. Notice my user name is my Gmail account. You can sign in with a Microsoft account and keep your files and settings "in the cloud". In other words, if I design my Start screen on my desktop, I can log in to my laptop and have the same screen. If I add bookmarks and pictures, they can follow me as well! Microsoft has also added the ability to log in using picture passwords and PINs, much like some cell phones.

The Windows Explorer interface has changed to include the Ribbon, which is the interface you may be used to from Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010.

Other key points: Windows 8 supports touch-screen monitors, so I am guessing in five years or so most people will have touch-screen monitors at home.

They've added new searching functions, gestures (like "pinching" on the screen to zoom), and basically ripped the heart out of the operating system.

There are many changes to be discussed, and a blog entry just won't summarize this. Just prepare to retrain!

My Fall 2012 Schedule

I have a pretty good handle on my Fall 2012 schedule at this point. Here's how to avoid me in the Fall 2012 semester!

Passaic (Paterson Campus):
Computer Concepts & Applications (CIS 101 M13) Mon/Wed 11:45 AM to 1:00 PM
Microcomputer Software I (CIS 125 M02) Tue/Thu 10:20 AM to 11:35 AM
Internet/E-Commerce Technologies (CIS 152 ME1) Thu 7:05 PM to 9:35 PM
Website Design & Tools (CIS 170 M01): Tues/Thu 11:45 AM to 1:00 PM
CIS Internship (CIS 294 M01)

Bergen:
Due to my writing, I won't be teaching a class at Bergen in the Fall.

Credit Card Reporting

I have heard this story a few times. A married person brings their child for a car, goes to take out a car loan, and finds their credit is ruined. The reasons can be anything from identity theft to marriage problems. Either way, however, it is a bad situation to be in.

Maybe you have heard the "free credit report" Web sites advertising. The main one of these, freecreditreport.com, is free but requires users to sign up for services in order to get their "free" report. However, why do that when the companies that keep track of your history are legally required to provide you this information for free once a year?

In 2001, I graduated from college, and a friend mentioned that New Jersey residents could get copies of their credit reports by sending a letter to each agency. When I got the report, I was surprised to find I had a few active credit card accounts. They were open because I applied. Since I wasn't living at home, I didn't get my mail often, so I had accounts open. I recall applying for one in college in exchange for a t-shirt, and I filled one out at a Devils game for a hat. I spent a while calling credit card companies and closing accounts I did not use.

At that point in time, each state had different laws regarding this, but today, residents of the United States have the right to view this information online once a year for free from each of the three credit reporting bureaus. In order to get a copy of your report, you can log on to the Web site the three agencies have set up:

www.annualcreditreport.com

They may offer to sell you extra services, but if you decline, you will not be charged anything. The general rule of thumb is if they offer premium services, you don't want those.

In my experience, it was good to do a credit report for the first time to see what information they had there. Today, I check it for identity theft or fraud, and fix any errors they might have on there (they may have mistakes, and if it costs you a loan, that is bad).

For most users, an annual credit report for free is enough, but there are services for people who want something more (like real-time monitoring, or access to your credit score). For most users, I think spending an hour a year on this is a great idea. I put it on my calendar to do each year, so if something does happen, I should become aware of it.

It's Official! I am an Author!

As some of you know, I took the 2010-2011 academic year off at Passaic to work on some projects. One of these projects was writing a textbook, and it was awesome to see it has been published and is on Amazon's Web site.

It really has been a dream of mine to actually author a textbook, and Pearson gave me a chance to do this with a small textbook in their Your Office series. The series editor, Amy Kinser, had a vision for how she felt the books should be, and it sounded a lot like the way I try to teach application software. Instead of "click click click", I try to talk about how certain features may be useful in a business environment.

Visit my book on Amazon!

Interestingly enough, the writing wasn't difficult for me. The most tedious part ended up being creating good screen shots, getting them labeled, getting permissions, and so on.

The book definitely will not make me rich - as it is designed to be packaged with the Your Office: Microsoft Office 2010, Volume 1 textbook, I was paid a flat fee rather than a commission. However, it was an exciting start to an authoring career. I hope to contribute more to other texts in the future, and having gone through the process, I know I can do it.

Death Wishes via Twitter

As a Giants fan, yesterday was a good day. The 49ers played a great game, but in the end, a few mistakes by a player pushed in to an unfamiliar role did them in.

The last time the Giants and 49ers faced each other in the playoffs (2003) the same sort of thing happened. A player named Trey Junkin was signed out of retirement to snap the ball for field goal attempts. He messed up a snap earlier in the game, and at the end of the game, he messed up another field goal snap and the Giants lost the game. Junkin faded away in to relative anonymity, though he had to read about the Giants in the newspapers.

In last night's game, a young player named Kyle Williams was pushed in to the role of punt returner because of an injury to the player who regularly filled that role, Ted Ginn Jr. Williams had only returned two punts this season. In the early part of the game, Williams made a mistake and the Giants got the ball. In overtime, he fumbled the ball, which led to the Giants kicking the winning field goal.

Trey Junkin was 41 years old at the time of his mistake, while Williams is 23 and a part of the 49ers team plans. The thing I want to highlight, however, is how the Web changed the reaction.

A number of fans of the 49ers went to Twitter, and Kyle Williams had his account listed and available for fans. Fans rushed to Twitter and starting sending him death wishes. Though a number of news outlets have called them "death threats", I haven't seen any evidence of that online. As opposed to threatening to kill him, they have sent messages saying they hope he, his wife, kids and family die, or that they hope he gets AIDS and dies. (Read some of the quotes here). Of course, if they were really extreme, they may have been deleted or reported to Twitter.

It is a shame how Web 2.0 technologies can lead to things like this.

The Perils of Communication

This is a story that 20 years ago probably might have made the local news, and not CNN.

An Asian Papa John's customer in New York City ordered a pizza and after she left she noticed the area that says "customer name" listed her name as "lady chinky eyes". Obviously, a cashier thought they were being funny identifying her in this way.

Twenty years ago, she might have just ignored it after being annoyed. These days, she posted a tweet with a picture of the receipt, and it went viral.

This led to the employee being fired within 48 hours and an official apology being posted on Papa John's Facebook page.

The perils of being a smart ass in the information age!

Link to CNN story

Photoshop Phriday

There are a lot of bizarre little Web sites on the Internet. One of them is SomethingAwful, which does a pretty good job of being funny and sometimes offensive. They have a contest every week called Photoshop Phriday, where you are given a theme and offered the chance to create an image to go with that theme. Sometimes they put out a starting image and people make changes to it. Definitely amusing, if you are not easily offended! That is always the problem with sites that are based on user contributions, of course.

Link to site

The End of Another Semester

So, the semester comes to an end again, a group of students moves on, and a new group prepares for the Spring semester.

Back in the stone ages of the 1990's, when I was in college, some fraternities used to carry around books containing teacher ratings. Of course, nowadays, it is much easier on the Internet. I love the idea behind ratemyprofessor.com - this is a free site that does not require signing up, and it allows you to anonymously post ratings for your professors.

Of course, there are always students who dislike certain professors who everyone else loves, but the more ratings a professor receives, the more accurate you would assume the rating is.

In terms of positives in my class, I know I have a passion for the material and I do try very hard to make it something students can relate to. I also try to encourage dialog in the classroom, and make it safe for students to ask questions. I also try to be entertaining and avoid using the PowerPoint presentations. Sometimes students don't like that teaching style. I also know some students dislike that they need to read the book, be on time to class, and turn work in on time. Personally, I feel like timeliness is critical one students transition to the business world, so I choose to emphasize these things in my classroom.

It's a great site, and here are links directly to my ratings pages:

Ratemyprofessor for me (Passaic)

Ratemyprofessor for me (Bergen)

When Web marketing goes wrong...

There are a few companies making names for themselves in marketing. LivingSocial, Groupon, Gilt Groupe, and restaurant.com are some of the sites that have popped up that offer consumers deep discounts on various types of services. LivingSocial and Groupon are sites that are especially geared towards localized services. For example, my students and I looked at the sites the other day, and we saw packages such as a spa day, keratin hair products, and a day of go-kart racing, all offered at a discounted rate. The advantage for a company is they attract new customers by offering a discount, and the advantage to the consumer is they save money.

Is this a sustainable business model? I am not sure. I do know you sometimes hear horror stories about sites like that. Generally, they have to do with the stampede effect created by Groupon and LivingSocial. As opposed to restaurant.com, which will give businesses a random amount of business, Groupon and LivingSocial tend to bring a stampede of business in around the same time. Some companies report regular customers being driven away by deal-seekers.

These sites do allow businesses to limit the amount of purchases (see Groupon terms here). However, businesses sometimes underestimate the demand for deal-seekers. For example, a British bakery recently offered a deal for a dozen of their gourmet cupcakes for $10. This was 75% off their normal price. This bakery chose to do all the deals at once (link to article), rather than spreading them out over a few weeks, and also chose not to cap the number of purchases, which many companies do. The normal monthly sale volume was around 1,200 cupcakes a month, they ended up making about 102,000. The owner had to bring in temporary workers just to meet their end of the bargain.

Now, could Groupon do a better job helping the customer avoid disasters like this? I am sure they could. However, the bakery owner also has to realize that caps exist for a reason, and should have seen the potential issue with opening it up to everyone with no restriction. That said, you have to feel for the owner who made this decision and cut in to what was likely a thin profit margin.