Homework #1 is due Sunday Feb.24, 2013. Its about basic excel.
Watch the 2 videos below and then download the homework assignment here. Go to your classmarker.com account, this weekend, log-in and answer the HW#1 questions. Your HW#1 grade will be based on your quiz answers.
Again, you should watch the videos below before you attempt the quiz. You will need the downloaded excel file to answer the questions in the quiz.
The quiz will be available Saturday (2-23-13) noon until Sunday midnight (2-24-13).
In the year 2013, it is no longer enough to have objects in the hardcopy or tangible form. Now, everything must have a softcopy supplement, or be entirely on the Net. In our MIS class, we have recently been discussing the human move into the digital age, where everything has an electronic copy to it. The common book is no longer just on a self, but instead it can be found in online stores available for downloading. Furthermore, these books aren’t being downloaded into a hardcopy form, but rather the text is downloaded onto a device that can hold multiple different novels.
This option cuts down on clutter in a household and allows for more efficiency. Soon students won’t need to walk around with backpacks because everything will be able to fit on an iPad or Tablet. All textbooks will be downloaded to the device, and all class notes will be taken on the tablet, allowing students to simply carry one electronic device, and leave the backpack at home.
What I am currently speaking of, with the consolidation of tangible objects, seems great from a consumer standpoint, however the manufactures of these books, backpacks, loose-leaf paper, and ink pens probably are not so thrilled. This is now bad for business, and is actually causing quite a few places to go out of business.
The bookstore Borders is a prime example of the disappearance many companies are facing, the “E-Book” drove them out of business. It took away consumers from their market. iTunes has increased its market share by selling all genres of music, television shows, movies, and access to radio shows, while all of these CD manufactures and DVD manufactures are now struggling to find business.
Everything seems to be going digital. Even a mere letter in the postage is not good enough for some people. Individuals would rather send an email or an E-Card to recognize their friend’s birthday.
For me, as a person that was raised in this growing era, I am perfectly fine with the transition, and understand the conveniences of these new luxuries. However, as a business major I see the strain it has and will put on some households – in particular mom and pop business owners.
While I am still the guy who does not like to read books from a screen, I am definitely a fan of being able to have 5 books in my possession at one time and on one electronic device. The digital move is sweeping the world. This is global economy and the Internet proves that very point with each progressive day.
Thanks to one of your classmates, a solution was found for anymeeting.com (our cloud class) and your Ipad (may also work on Iphone).
As you know, the Ipad and Iphone does not work because Flash is required to use anymeeting. Well there is an app in the Itune store called puffin. You can install the free version for 14 days which will allow you to access our anymeeting classroom. After the 14 days you, your classmate says you can uninstall and then re-install the app. However, for $2.99, I recommend you buy the full version. It has many uses.
I tried it today on my wife's Ipad and it worked.
Here is what I did:
Went to Itunes
Downloaded and installed 'puffin' app
opened the app - It opens as a web browser
went to our course blog
clicked on anymeeting.com link
signed in with name. location and email
accessed meeting and it captured attendance
On Monday try your Ipad. You may need to use your headsets to hear the lecture or use your phone to hear the lecture.
To use your phone, you can choose that option while you are logging in and after it tests your network connection.
The other option is that once you are in the classroom, you can click the mic icon at the top-center and then choose phone.
In both cases, it will provide you with the phone number and access code to listen to the lecture on your phone.
Risk is exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or a dangerous chance. People take risks everyday whether it is personal or business. Whenever someone makes a decision they are taking a risk. The risk may be either positive or negative. Let’s relate risk-taking to a game of cards. It is not about the hand you are dealt, it is about how wisely you play your cards. This includes placing your cards in the right order and aiming big. Also, being willing to throw out your biggest cards and having the confidence of a successfully risk taker.
Consequently, most individuals face some type of risk in business throughout their life. Even if one attains stability, there is a great chance that you will face some type of obstacle. However, the most risky plans are typically the ones you should invest the most time, effort, and energy in, because they will result in the most gain. As a result, one’s greatest challenge is learning just exactly how much risk to take, in order to achieve success and economic prosperity. When an individual is considering taking a risk he or she must think appropriately. An appropriate risk is a risk that keeps you in the game even if you fail. If you take calculated risks you can push your business forward, instead of staying in one place all the time.
This type of advancement can lead to new products, expansion, investment, etc.
On Wednesday, January 30, 2013, Professor Sistrunk discussed Risks. According to his discussion taking a risk is taking a chance. Meaning there is a chance that something unexpected will happen and that unexpected occurrence turns out bad. As mentioned before we take risk every day. Some examples of daily risk he listed were driving a car, getting up the morning, asking someone on a date, and eating our choice of food. While covering entrepreneurship it was mentioned “the higher the risk the higher the return. Also, during this discussion Professor Sistrunk showed us the episode from when he appeared on the Television Series game show Deal or No Deal. In order to make his risk taking effective he had to manage his risks. Managing your risk is evaluating the data and information given. By managing your risk you can increase the odds of success while maintaining the return.
Trailing only
Norway, Australia and The Netherlands, The United States is currently
ranked fourth on The Human Development Index (measures standard of
living). Even at fourth place, when a man or woman living in the US
looks around, he or she may have a plethora of luxuries. Many
families in the US have more than one car, heating and central
cooling throughout their house, multiple appliances, and even
wireless Internet. And as many US citizens live this life of lavish,
very few people really think about how the way we live impacts the
very planet on which we reside. Very few people even ask if the lives
we live are even sustainable. This high standard of living is a
relatively new phenomenon. The many luxuries we could not live
without such as light bulbs, flushable toilets, air condition, and
cars all were either invented or became standard in most households
in just the past 200 years.
Oil is the
foundation to the lives we live today. Without oil and fossil fuels,
the lives we live would not be possible. Food for instance, is
something that we all need to survive, but with out oil most people
in the US cannot obtain it. To eat we all usually go to a restaurant
or grocery store. Nonetheless, before that food gets to the grocery
store or restaurant, it must be shipped from its place of harvest.
Unless a person knows how to grow cattle or how to grow fruits and
vegetables, they are not eating without oil.
This may not seem
that bad, until we all acknowledge the fact that fossil fuels are a
finite resource. There is a theory called Hubbert’s Peak that
states that we may have depleted over half of the world’s fossil
fuels back in the year 1995. And because we are producing and using
more gasoline and oil than we were in years past, the decline after
the peak is extremely steep. As fossil fuels become scarcer, this
current era that we call the “information age” may only be
sustainable to everyone for only twenty to thirty more years. With
less than one percent of people in the United States being farmers,
we would all have to learn how to hunt and or grow our own food,
bringing us back into another agricultural age. In a worst-case
scenario, we could all find ourselves living in “Book of Eli”-esque
world. This could be avoided if the search for sustainable
alternative energy sources is successful, and it has not been in the past.
The biggest problem
that we face with oil right now is the fact that it is so cheap and
under valued. When you think about how much it costs to get from
place to place, its really crazy. Journeys that used to take people
days or weeks to complete now can all be done in hours, all because
of gasoline, which only costs about $4-$5 a gallon. Think about how
much it would cost for you to pay someone to carry you to your
destinations. There’s no way a large cup of coffee at Starbucks
should cost more than a gallon of gas. One day we will run out of
oil, but we all value it and use it as if it were infinite. The
alternatives we have found to fossil fuels have either been too
expensive or do not have the same type of volume as fossil fuels.
Right now, we as a human race have become too dependent on fossil
fuels. It may be imposable to find alternatives before the supply
runs out.
In Management Information Systems (MIS), we learn about the many ways in which one can modify the traditional, or older, methods of running businesses in order to bring them up to speed with the technological advances and the Information Age.
One thing that we have talked about ad infinitum is the improvement and updating of the school system and the way that classes are taught. In MIS we have learned about many websites (mainly free to use) that allow for classes to be taught primarily over the Internet.
One website that we frequent is Anymeeting.com. Our class’ web address is Anymeeting.com/MISCourse1, and we log into it during each class period. This website provides a streaming video service so that we can see and hear what is going on in class, without having to physically be there. There is also a voice component that allows students to ask questions or to verify points made in class. It even takes attendance! This is one way that technology can be used to revolutionize the modern day classroom.
Another way that we can update our classrooms today is to move away from the antiquated system of writing down grades in a physical grade book.
In MIS we use Learnboost.com to get our grades. This website gives students access to their grades in a user-friendly format, which makes keeping up with a student’s progress easy.
Finally, as it pertains to actual assignments, our class currently uses Classmarker.com. This website is different than most online assignment websites because it allows for additional functionality in areas like short answer assignments.
A teacher can now have short answer assignments that can be automatically graded by the computer. This is something that was previously thought improbable and, admittedly, there have been some problems in that area with this website, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
Throughout MIS we will learn about ways to move our lives into the Information Age. I look forward to learning new ways to integrate technology into my education, and learning new skills, such as those in Excel.
