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Schedule Winter-07 Syllabus & Info. How to Log On Dave Sullivan
 

BA131 Home Page -- Winter 2007

BA131, Business Productivity Software, teaches students how to use a computer as a powerful tool in completing everyday business and analytical tasks. This class teaches you how to use office productivity software so that you will be prepared not only to learn the office software for your future employer, but also so that you can produce effective and professional course work.

Announcements:

Thursday, March 15th:

  • Molly Murphy and Nicole Niedermeyer will conduct a review session for the final exam on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. in Bexell 324. I recommend attending this session.
  • Of course, you can also attend Friday’s usual help session times at 8, 9, 11, and 12 o’clock.
  • In any event, I strongly suggest working through the Practice Version of the Final Exam.
  • Overall, I’m hoping things will go well for you during the final exam … and I know the more you practice, the more likely it will go smoothly for you.

Wednesday, March 14th:

I sent out the initial results from the Integrated Activity #7 this morning. The due date for making corrections to this activity and resubmitting it for grading will be extended until Thursday at midnight.

Saturday, March 10th:

I've spent the day rewriting the Practice Final Exam to make it shorter and clearer. For example, it no longer has a pivot table, and many other operations have been eliminated or simplified. I also included more screen-captured images to make it easier to know whether you have done things as expected. Finally, it includes hyperlinks that you can use to test whether your files are at the correct network location.

I plan on making similar changes to the actual final exam ... so you should test to make sure the practice version is something you can do.

Tuesday, March 6th: Two quick ideas:

  • First, I want to encourage everyone to complete this quick on-line survey about the sort of classroom standards you would like to see used in the College of Business. Many students completed it in class on Monday. If you have already completed it, thank you. If you haven't, I'd like you to add your voice to how we should conduct classes in the college. Everyone who completes the survey by this Monday, March 12th, at midnight will earn 10 Quiz points as part of the Excel Charting assignment.
  • Second, I want to encourage everyone to attend class on Monday. This weekend I will rewrite the practice final exam, and I will talk about how to do well on this term's final exam. I also will ask everyone to fill out course evaluation forms. For both these reasons -- even if you normally have not been coming to class on Monday -- I'd like you to come to class on Monday, March 12th.

Sunday, March 4th:

  • I finished grading activity #6, Excel Charts, and I re-graded activity #5, Income Statements. I have not yet re-graded the midterm exams.
  • In tomorrow's class, I will ask everyone to fill out this quick on-line survey about the sort of classroom standards you would like to see used in the College of Business.
  • Stockamp and Associates will provide an information session on IT job opportunities next Tuesday (March 6) at 6 p.m. in Bexell 321.
  • Standard Insurance will provide an information session on IT internship opportunities next Wednesday (March 7) at 6 p.m. in Bexell 321.  Standard expects to hire six to eight students for internship positions.

Sunday, February 25th:

Here are a couple of fun graphs built with Excel (and a bunch of Countif functions) from the BA131 Midcourse/Honor Code Survey:

Wednesday, February 21st, part 2

Tomorrow I will be helping conduct interviews for student internships and teaching from 8 a.m. through until 4 p.m. Thus, I will not begin harvesting or grading Assignment 5 or the Midterm Regrades until late Thursday afternoon at the earliest. -- Dave Sullivan

Wednesday, February 21st, part 1

One of your colleagues asks: I am in your newly acquired BA131 Class. I just had a question about the practices. Do you grade those, or consider those at all within your grading system?

My reply: No … and as I understand things, neither did Ray Tanner. I am following his lead about essentially all grading issues.

Sunday, February 18th:

Tomorrow's lecture will deal at least in part with the Fluffy Spreadsheet Model-Building activity that I just added to this BA131 website. If you wish to do this exercise, I must receive it by Wednesday, February 28th at midnight.

Friday, February 16th:

One of your colleagues asks:  I received 25 out of 30 points on the first section of the midterm exam about correct folders. This is the section that says “Folders/Files (P-Drive file and folder names and locations)”. However, there were no comments on how to fix it and the TA’s were also unsure of the problem. Could you explain what this error is? I’m concerned about losing so many points on my midterm for something that should be so basic!

My reply: Ray Tanner says he intended this first section of the midterm to have only 25 points possible – not the 30 points that his midterm grade sheet reported. So everyone in the class was told they had lost 5 points – but were not given an explanation why. If you earned 25 points on this section, then you received full credit.

One of your colleagues asks: If I want to resubmit my midterm, where do I send the midterm instructions email, and should I attach the files again?

My reply: Follow the instructions Ray gave you about how to submit the midterm for re-grading. This will involve sending a message to Ray Tanner’s box with four files attached. Ray has set up an automatic rule which forwards these messages to me. I expect to re-grade the midterms next Thursday morning.

Saturday, February 10th:

  • I have worked through the instructions for Assignment 5: Spreadsheet Models. After revising the instructions to make them clearer (at least from my perspective) ... I have placed the instructions in this website. Feel free to begin that assignment now.
  • I want everyone to fill out a relatively quick BA131 Mid-Course and Honor Code on-line survey. It will give me a quick way to learn a bit about you, and it includes an honor code pledge. I really like the idea of using an honor code -- it lets me work with students rather than police them. I also believe the saying, "To find an honest person, begin by trusting the people around you."
  • I made relatively minor changes to the syllabus, primarily to the Instructor and Information and Materials sections.

Friday, February 9th:

  • I, Dave Sullivan, will take over as the primary BA131 instructor for the last five weeks of the term. I feel fortunate to have inherited such a well organized course. I do not plan on making any major changes in grading, assignments, or schedule. I feel especially lucky to have the continuing support of the three first-rate Teaching Assistants: Molly Murphy, Nicole Niedermeyer, and Erik Olson.
  • You can find more information about me by clicking on the [Dave Sullivan] button in the link bar at the top of this page.
  • I will use this BA131 Home Page to make announcements throughout the term. Please check this page whenever you arrive at the BA131 website. You are responsible for checking for new announcements at least once a week.
  • I have reorganized the Schedule -- Winter 07 page for weeks 6 through 10. I did this partly to attempt to make the Monday-Wednesday-Friday class structure clearer, but also it helped me understand exactly when everything will happen. Feel free to look at the new layout, but don't expect to find any fundamental changes.