The following is the link paragraph which would be in my home page along with the other articles:
Teaching Computer Systems Management (CIS 455) in the Virtual Classroom Environment by Murray Turoff. This is a report to the Sloan Foundation for their project to introduce a complete remote degree program (BAIS, Bachelors of Arts in Information Science) utilizing the Virtual Classroom technology developed at NJIT.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Computer Systems Management
(CIS 455)
in the
Virtual Classroom Environment
by
Murray Turoff
New Jersey Institute of Technology
November 5, 1995
Report written for the Sloan Foundation Virtual Classroom project at NJIT
This is a report on experiences in teaching CIS 455, a senior level elective course, on the topic of the Management of Computer Systems, utilizing the Virtual Classroom technology during the 1994-1995 Academic year and the Fall of the 1995-1996 Academic year.. The first semester involved the use of Virtual Classroom with a face to face class. The students in the face-to-face class utilized the Virtual Classroom for the carrying out of many of their assignments and for class discussions.
The second semester involved the use of both a face to face class and remote students who are presented the lectures via video tapes. The video tapes were produced during this semester. In this offering the remote students and the face-to-face students are treated equally with respect to the online class discussion and the assignments. The only difference was that the remote students had an extra week to complete assignments because of delay in the delivery of video tapes.
The third semester involved only remote students taking CIS 455. Since this involved only about seven students the instructor chose to merge the remote CIS 679 (Management of Information Systems) students into the same conference. This remote class was only about five students. The graduate course is in the same topic area and although there are different books, lectures, and readings, there is sufficient overlap of discussion topics that this was considered a good way to establish a critical mass of students to maintain an active discussion flow.
The course CIS 455 has a very detailed syllabus that explains
the major requirements and readings for the course. That document
is attached as an appendix to this report for the benefit of the
reader. It does offer the reader insight into the illustrations
in the class discussion and the utility of the Virtual Classroom
for coordinating activities of the students on an individual and
group basis.
This course has the objective of providing students in Computer
Science and students in Information Systems with a basic understanding
of the management problems that are peculiar to the development
and operation of computer hardware and software systems. About
half the course is spent upon the typical systems development
process and the problems that can occur at each stage of the process
and how they can be dealt with.
The course relies on five Harvard Case Studies to provide the
student with realistic situations to which they must apply the
various considerations they have been learning in the course.
They are also encouraged to go into the professional literature
and read some of the recent work in this particular area of management.
For many students this is one of the few courses in which they
are exposed to professional articles in the field. In addition,
as a final project they are required to pick some changing area
of the technology and determine what sort of implications this
technology change will have for management in this field. This
also requires their use of the professional literature.
The course requires a great deal of reading material and the comprehension
of complex ideas and concepts and their application to the types
of pragmatic problems that managers face in dealing with Information
Systems. It is a different form of thinking than is usually required
of the students in the technically oriented Computer Science courses.
There is a great deal of what is termed "pragmatics"
in a course of this sort and one of the key advantages of the
use of the Virtual Classroom approach is the ability to generate
far more class discussion than is possible in the rather limited
amount of time offered in the face-to-face classroom environment.
In order to know if students have truly grasped a concept and
can apply it to a given situation the instructor has to be able
to see their reasoning process in addressing a particular question
or issue.
The content of the course builds upon itself so that it is important
that the material be developed in proper order. This also applies
to the benefit derived from the class discussions and it means
that the instructor strongly desires to keep the students in synchronization
with respect to what is done each week. The student who falls
behind is at a great disadvantage.
This is also a problem in running a combination of face to face
and remote students as a single class. There is the resulting
need to get both groups in synchronization as one class. Because
of this it is highly critical that the remote students receive
their materials in time to get started at the same time as the
face to face class. This has not been possible for a variety
of reasons, and often it does take the remote students three to
four weeks to catch up with the progress of the face to face students.
Ideally the remote students should have access to the conference
system at least two weeks prior to the start of the semester if
this is their first time use of such a communication facility.
However, many students delay their registration to the last minute.
For those who are normally face-to-face students, the decision
to sign up for a remote course may come only after they realize
there is a conflict in their planned courses, a course has been
canceled, or when a course has been over subscribed so they can
no longer get into the face-to-face offering. In the last semester
of this report there was an unusually high number of remote registrations
that the distance learning staff was unprepared for. The resulting
part time employees made many mistakes in the mailing of materials
and in some cases the students were a month into the course before
they obtained all the material.
Those students that are dropping out usually do not bother to
inform the instructor and one may not find out that a student
has dropped until the end of the semester. Usually I will attempt
to contact the student by phone during the first two weeks if
he or she has not been online. After that I will send electronic
mail if they appear to be dropping behind in the conference or
the assignments.
The online activity during the semester for CIS 455 can be summarized
in the following table. This is for the first two course offerings
mentioned above; the final offering is still underway.
The observation that the instructor made about 30% of the comments
in the class discussion conference is fairly typical of this instructor's
prior experience with the use of Computer Mediated Communications
for this purpose. The above did not include the private messages
nor the assignment conference. This was a separate conference
for both offerings where the larger text assignments (professional
article reviews and executive summaries of final project reports)
were entered separately. Entries in that conference by students
are typically a hundred to two hundred lines long.
While there are significant contributions in the class conference
by every student, there is still a 3 to 1 magnitude ratio in the
spread of contributions among the students. This is not unusual.
In these class discussions there were at least five entries that
had to be made by every student. These were in the form of Activity
Questions that had to be answered.
For the number of students the higher number is the number of
students that started the course and the lower number is the number
of students that finished. The actual grade distributions are
in the following table:
In the above an "I" stands for Incomplete and a "W"
stands for withdraw. I have found that 20-30% withdrawal is typical
of the courses I teach. Since they are electives if the student
gets overloaded withdrawal is likely choice. Even with warning
students that they are not keeping up some do actually go on an
flunk even though the withdrawal can be done like up to two thirds
of the way through the semester. In the Spring seven withdrawals
were for the remote students and there where for the face-to-face
students. I believe the high rate was due to the administrative
and access problems that the student faced in getting in synchronization
with the rest of the class.
Sometimes one has to deal with the results of poor or miscommunications
among the students. Some students, overcome with the amount of
material that can be generated in conferences, become very negative
and express displeasure to or towards other students.
C 103.12 CC 36.1.2.2 XXXXXXXXXXXXX 10/26/95 3:22 PM 25
lines
Subject: WASTING TIME
YYYY:
ZZZZ:
XXXXX:
Do you think you guys could *Please* do this through the private
Mail option in EIES. Type ++ then pick mail and send it that
way.....
It's bad enough that we have to belong to two conferences for
one class
which involves probably more than 50 students. Every time I log
on I have to sift through all these comments to decide which is
important to the class and which is not............
If you think its gonna help your participation grade by just having
more comments posted, I would guess that won't work. The CIS
350 class taught us that participation has to be based on more
than mere keystrokes.....
See Murray I did learn something after all........
C 103.12 CC 6.3.2.3 (ANONYMOUS) 10/3/95 1:56 PM 14 lines
Subject: petty
Oh yeah you mean like your incessant comment to the comment to
the comment, after a reply to replied to comments with a follow
up to the comment reply that you already replied to 3 times.
Now that's "petty".
Sorry had to do it, look XXXXX the participation is Great, but
lets not overdo it please??? I mean really we have enough to read
as it is without having to filter through all the really unneeded
comments from everyone.
M 15962 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 10/5/95 7:55 PM 19 lines
I received what has to be the rudest and most embarrassing note
I have ever gotten (n60087). I feel that the person could have
sent me an e-mail personally and not posted it where everyone
could read it. Anyway if that is the consensus opinion I apologize
to you and the rest of the class.
I am new to this and maybe I don't understand the etiquette as
I should. I will be cutting back my comments so as to not embarrass
myself for upset the others. I thought the idea was to get a
dialogue going so that is why I replied as I did. Again if I
was mistaken I apologize. It didn't seem like I was doing more
than others, but again I must have been wrong. IN over 16 years
of school I have never been insulted like that. It was also disappointing
that the person did it anonymously so I don't have the chance
to apologize to them and maybe they could find out someone is
new and learning. Anyway, I have enjoyed your lectures so far
and the class. If you don't see me commenting and participating
anymore I thought you should know why. Take care and thanks for
your help so far.
Please don't be discouraged from commenting further.
Thank you! The main point I wanted to make is that if I was out
of line I will most assuredly own up to it. What I'll try to
do is try to be diligent not to say something unless I think it
will be of real benefit. I do have 10 years of work experience
and since many of the class members are seniors with only some
experience I might have an idea or two that some may find useful.
Thank you again, your really picked up my day!
There are students who seem to disappear from the class and do
not keep up with the discussion. One has to begin sending private
messages to these students and try to determine what has happened
to them.
M 16468 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 2/10/95 10:25 PM 5
lines
M 16619 XXXXXXXXXX 2/18/95 10:46 AM 7 lines
Sorry for falling behind. I've just recently got my hands on
the case studies. I'll get the first one to you next week. I'd
get it to you sooner, but I have two midterms to take by the 23rd.
I'll pick the topic for my paper by then as well.
Sincerely
There have been cases of students not receiving the necessary
materials or receiving the wrong materials. One case was so bad
in terms of a sequence of mistakes that I had to ask the student
to document it in a letter so it might have an impact on improving
the administrative handling of materials.
M 15544 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 2/27/95 2:08 PM 7
lines
I hope your letter will help to eliminate these problems. I know
that does not help you this semester but as your instructor I
will try to give you any leeway you need in meeting and doing
assignments including putting off your final project to January
if you like.
M 17279 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 11/2/95 7:51 AM 25 lines
I have always been a good learner, but a poor student. By this
I mean that I have an active interest in learning for the sake
of learning, and often work harder in my classes than many "good
students." On the other hand, I also often let myself fall
behind schedule when a different interesting problem pops up.
I tend to focus on one topic or project for days at a time; it's
how I work. Anyway, it's not necessarily too good for trying
to be a student. It doesn't leave one any slack when other things
in one's life go awry. I've always been able to get by on my
ability to cram and learn things quickly, but this semester, it
backfired nicely for me.
I came across an interesting new situation, began to study it,
and decided to change the subject of my senior project in order
to study it some more. I let it consume my time. And then I
had some problems happen in my life, and since I had already let
myself fall behind in all my other classes, well, I had no slack
to catch me.
Without trying to sound like I'm making excuses, I have been dealing
with the mystery disease (my doctor likes me, because I'm an "interesting
case." After several expensive diagnostic tests proved non-diagnostic,
he is convinced that he has no idea what I have.) My disease
is not disabling anymore, but it is recurring and annoying. Next,
I had an accident while driving a truck for my friend who was
moving. This led to legal hassles and the necessity to drive
down to central Jersey several times, as well has having to deal
with a variety of insurance companies (mine, his, theirs, the
truck rental's, ugh) repeatedly on the phone. Then my aunt was
diagnosed with breast cancer and the doctors planned on a radical
mastectomy, which pissed me off, because it's already become well-known
that a radical mastectomy connotes no benefit relative to a more
limited lumpectomy. Or rather, it's become well known over here,
but not in Poland where my aunt is. I failed to reach the right
people in time. C'est la vie.
THEN my best friend was involved in an accident. He lives in
an apartment in Newark, and the only remaining family he had in
the area had moved to North Carolina, where the rest of his family
is. My friend had a head-on with a drunk driver while he was
on a motorcycle. Considering that this happened on McCarter Highway,
it's a miracle that he's alive at all. He was out for a few days,
but the net damage was only a concussion and a broken foot. And
soreness everywhere. (He's doing fine now, in case you're curious.
He's well enough to get around, has a walking cast, and left
yesterday to go visit family in the Carolinas.) At any rate,
at the time, he didn't have anyone to take care of him, so I,
another friend, and my sister took up the job. We took care of
paperwork for him (the hospital didn't know he had insurance;
suddenly, they weren't going to release him quite so early. .
.), brought him things from his home, got accident reports so
we could all know what happened (he still doesn't remember the
accident), recovered his motorcycle from the tow yard (the bill
grows daily until you do this, kind of like a savings bond), and
etc. After a week and a half or so, he was settled back in his
apartment, we were past any danger of serious brain injury (and
he was eating again), and all the other matters had been passed
into the capable hands of his new attorney from A.I.M. (Aid for
Injured Motorcyclists.)
Then, I had to prepare for an obligation I had given myself many
months ago. Remember the friend for whom I was driving the truck?
He was getting married, and I had promised to play the piano
for his wedding. I had already done this once before (ceremony,
cocktail hour. . .) for another friend, and it went great, and
so when they asked, I said sure. Then I realized that I had a
long list of pieces to learn to play, and it was only a week before
the wedding. So I set myself to doing nothing but practicing
for a week or so. (I had forgotten how much one's back and neck
can hurt when putting in those kind of hours at the keyboard.)
Anyway, I managed to pull of the wedding day to everyone's satisfaction
but mine (after all, I KNEW where I had made mistakes or skipped
difficult problems. The others were blissfully ignorant, except
those I told.)
So, in the end, things turned out OK for everyone but me. Oh,
did I mention that during this whole time, I was still working
weekends? I work as a dealer/floorperson in Atlantic City, and,
except for the wedding days (my friend's and my cousin's), I had
to drive on down to AC to work. I have no sick days left because
of my disease (which began late this summer), and they don't want
to give me a leave of absence. They are trying to hire new people,
but it's hard to get extra days off, especially when requests
are granted based on attendance. Anyway, after all that had gone
on, I was mentally exhausted, and I dropped out for a week. I
continued skipping all the classes I had missed for several weeks
and sat around, or drove places and did nothing. A couple of
times I took Derek (of the motorcycle accident) up to Garret Mountain
reservation and just sat there. It felt very, very, good not
to be doing anything, and not to be thinking about what I needed
to do. I guess I was pretty burned out.
Then, somewhat at the prodding of Derek (what are friends for?)
I started trying to pull my semester back together. I made arrangement
with all my other prof.'s so far, and will be making up work,
making up mid-terms I missed, and so on. I wasn't able to find
you on campus, and haven't started making up work for this class
until today (I started reading the conference again). Well, that's
not quite true; last week I spent a few hours in the library reading
articles. Oh, did I mention that I'm making up much of my work
as a sort of independent study? A week ago Thursday, my car was
stolen; it was parked by the Gymnasium. Remarkably, it didn't
phase me. The police and my friends were all very surprised at
how I handled it; it really seemed like no big deal to me, relative
to all that had gone on this semester. Anyway, driving in will
be difficult to arrange on many days, and the public transportation
near my house is not good. So my other classes will be running
kind of like this one was supposed to be!
The other thing that has surprised me is that my professors have
been very understanding. I don't mean that I didn't expect that,
but most of them didn't even want to know anything about what
had happened. The fact that I went to them, apologized, and asked
for the chance to make things up was enough. It's true, some
of them know me from other classes, but it was still enough to
make me want to cry. One prof only wanted a copy of the theft
report, so he has an official record of why I missed the mid-term.
Which brings me to the reason for writing this very long letter.
I don't know if you wanted to know all they details, but no one
else did. I guess I've taken this as my excuse to unload all
my troubles. In fact, I feel better just having written all of
this.
I'm not yet sure if I'll send you this, but if I do, thanks for
taking the time to read it.
I'm sure I can find what I need to do on the conference; I'll
be working as quickly as I can to catch up, and I hope to take
the final with everyone else when you offer it on campus. I'll
keep you posted on my progress in making up all the other work,
unless you send me mail indicating that it's too late to try and
make up the work. Please let me know soon; I'll be checking in
again Friday afternoon; right now I have to prepare for two finals
tomorrow.
You would have to get special permission to go beyond the six
month deadline on incompletes and wait till I get back to finish
the course.
So this leaves no flexibility. You have got to complete the work
according to the deadlines I have set, the exam in a few weeks,
the project by dec 21st, etc. or drop the course and pay tuition
for retaking it or another course later. I wish I had more flexibility
to help you but it is not possible in this situation.
But (and I verified this with Michael Tress today) I'm slated
to graduate this December/January, and it doesn't look like I'll
be able to afford to take an extra semester to make things up.
So I'll just do my best trying to meet the deadlines that are
already established. Given both our situations, I think this
is the most I could ask, and the most you could offer.
I'll be doing my best to make up what I'm missing in the conference
this weekend (which, I just learned by calling scheduling at the
casino, I have off!), and tomorrow afternoon I'm staying as late
as I can to study in the library, since my access to campus is
limited.
I'll also be checking in with the police again; I suspect my car
will be a loss, and I can't afford another; I'd rather not spend
my winter on a motorcycle AGAIN (I did that last time I had a
car stolen in Newark; a friend gave me his motorcycle), but I
may resort to buying a cheap motorcycle if I become desperate.
You can be on an insured motorcycle for $300 or so if you don't
care about aesthetics or high speed; that's something you just
can't pull off with a car. Also, some relatives were indicating
that they're ready to buy new cars, anyway, so perhaps I can get
a decent used car for a song; the insurance on my old car is still
paid up, so I should be able to credit that to any replacement
vehicle.
Anyway, thanks for giving me the opportunity to try. We'll see
if I'm capable by the time the exam has gone 'round, now won't
we?
The following is a presentation of the flow of the online class
discussion for CIS 455. It uses examples of the students' and
professor's inputs copied (with only minor editing) from the actual
conferences. The names of the particular students have been removed
so authorship cannot be identified.
The conference is set up with a limited number of comments already
made by the professor before the students are allowed in. These
have the nature of welcome and orientation objectives.
C 103.7 CC 1 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 1/14/95 11:42 PM
40 lines
There will also be a number of assignments that must be done on
line and entered in the conference.
I have picked out five Harvard Case Studies that I feel provide
important insight into the management of computer systems. The
HBR case studies are real situations that have occurred in companies.
I am noted for pushing students and my courses are not easy.
However, I hope you will end up agreeing that I have some important
and useful insights to provide you about this subject.
We can have a lot of fun with this topic and learn a lot if you
all participate and keep up. Late assignments will loose two
percentage points a day of a grade points.
This conference includes both the students in the face to face
class and the students in the remote section and you will all
be treated as part of one class.
Since the remote students receive the tapes about one week late
certain assignments may be a week late on the part of the remote
students if they require the lectures.
The case studies cannot be late as once I lecture on the given
case study I cannot give any credit for late case studies as you
will know the answers. Therefore case studies must be post marked
on the day of the lecture.
Mail you assignments to my home (see syllabus) and DO NOT require
any signature for delivery.
C 103.7 CC 2 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 1/15/95 0:01 AM
100 lines
Please be sure to fill in your directory and do include a phone
number where I can reach you if I need to.
EIES has a number of features you need to master. There is a
simple line editor for making corrections on line and you can
call up a speller if you wish (ask Help) or you can learn to upload
and download material (see ?upload and ?download). If you prepare
material in another editor it should be converted to ASCII before
uploading.
One of the features we will be using is attachments and activities.
These may be associated with any comment in the conference. One
type of activity is a "QUESTION" and when I use this
you should use the "activitY" choice to ANSWER the question.
You enter a "Y" to choose activitY. Until you supply
an answer to a QUESTION ACTIVITY you can not see the answers that
the other students have supplied. This encourages equal participation
in the discussion.
The next comment is a QUESTION ACTIVITY I am asking you to ANSWER.
Note any activity will have the "key" put on it of "activity"
When you compose something it starts a new root comment: (numbered
with integers). When you Reply to an existing comment it will
number that reply using the root number (e.g. 25.3 is the third
reply to comment 25). Being careful about using the Compose and
the Reply carefully will help us all to keep the discussion organized
for later retrieval or review.
The use of good "keys" is another way of keeping our
discussion structured. The FIND command will show you a list
of keys and how many comments are associated with each one.
When viewing your new material or waiting comments in a conference
you can put your own personal keys on them (private to you) and
there is a command +todo which will put that key on any item so
you can later retrieve it. You can also delete the key later
when you have taken care of the item.
There are number of public conference you can join and conference
1000 is a place to practice using conferences. Our class conference
is private and I control the membership as the monitor of the
conference. If you wish to see all the conferences available
when you see your conference list (that you are a member of) do
the All command to see all conferences and whether they are public
or private.
If you are having any problems using EIES send a message to HELP
and some one will reply with an answer fairly soon (usually within
a few hours).
Conference 1000 is set aside for practice if you are unsure about
how to enter comments or do other things. It is a very good idea
to try creating a comment there just for practice before entering
anything here.
You should try Find and choose keywords to see what it looks like.
You can also put personal keys (like "todo" ) on any
comment that only you can see. As get to 100's of comments you
will be very glad that all of us tried to make careful use of
keys to identify items you may wish to retrieve later.
EIES DOES NOT DELIVER the items YOU wrote as WAITING comments
or messages. They are created as Accepted for YOU and WAITING
only for the rest of us. If you want to see that what you wrote
is there you have to choose Accepted.
If you put things in the wrong place I will copy the item and
sent it back to you as a message so I can delete your entry. If
assignments are put in the wrong place I will not grade them.
Even for general discussion be sure to choose Reply and give
the comment number you are replying to when entering a reply.
If someone enters a comment like number 30 then replies will become
30.1 30.2 etc. and this is very useful in reviewing a discussion.
You can enter 30.. and get all the replies.
Good Luck
<
The next item represents the first use of an ACTIVITY on EIES
and it is where students are asked to introduce themselves and
some of their background relative to this course. They are also
asked to indicate what they hope to obtain from this course.
As the instructor I also answer this question and provide some
background on my experience relative to this course.
The examples provided below of the students' responses show the
tremendous variation possible in the backgrounds of students relative
to this course. This highlights the importance of giving students
the ability to improve the feedback that they can give the instructor.
In an area such as management certain things will be easily grasped
by those who have lived through relative management situations.
Other students will find it more difficult to comprehend the
situation. However, if the instructor can get the more experienced
students to restate certain knowledge in the context of specific
situations they have encountered this will make the material clearer
to the students who have not had the same experiences.
C 103.7 CC 3 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 1/15/95 0:15 AM
36 lines
Please introduce yourself to the class and after giving the basic
idea of where you are from and what you do, try to also answer
the following for my benefit.
What is your major and what sort of technical or management background
do you have with computer or information systems? If you have
no direct background, do you have any work experience where you
have observed the use and or abuse of Information Systems?
What is it you hope to learn and or understand from this course?
Try to keep your answer to about one or two screens.
When you enter Y for activitY it gives you a list of all activities
and whether or not you have DONE them. you can then enter D for
Do and then the comment number of the activity you wish to Do
and then R for responding to the Question. Only after you have
entered your response will you be allowed to see what others have
said. This is a tool we will use for a number of "questions"
I will have. Unlike a face to face class, everyone MUST respond
to these discussion questions and this illustrates one way in
which the on line class maybe a more effective learning device
than using discussion in face to face classes! This also illustrates
why applications done on the computer are never the same as the
manual version even if they "sound" the same (e.g. email
and the post office).
The following are typical examples of entries made by the students
in response to this first question.
C 103.7 CC 3.3 XXXXXXXXXXXX 1/19/95 10:16 PM 17 lines Subject:
Introduction. Modified on 1/19/95 11:04 PM by XXXXXXXXXXXXX
I hope to pick up insight on how to integrate and maintain a good
working relationship between the IS dept. and the rest of the
company. I would like to find ways to alleviate some of the power
plays and distrust that exists both for and inside the IS department.
IS has much to offer a corporation if cooperation and realistic
expectations are set. I would like to learn how to bring this
about in my future jobs.
I'm still learning much. There's a lot of computer information
out there and it's not always easy to make decisions about what
application or product would best suit your needs, etc. etc.
One of our projects for this year at the job is to begin firm
wide implementation of windows. Some of the issues we have are
training our users, some of whom will not be happy at all about
having to use windows, administration of windows on the network,
should applications go on hard drives or on the network?, need
new PCs with larger disk capacity, more memory, faster ... Enough
about my job. I hope to learn a lot in this class and look forward
to the good that's to come.
My name is XXXXXXXXXXX, I'm a Rutgers Information System Major
and I plan to graduate over the summer. I really don't have any
technical or work experience besides messing around with my one
computer.
In addition to the above during the first week of the course there
are a number of comments related to clarifying the early assignments
and setting a due date for the first case study report.
C 103.7 CC 5 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 1/15/95 1:18 AM
12 lines
Many students do not realize the difficulty of finding "good"
material and the time and effort to do so. We will be focusing
on professional literature and not material from trade magazines.
You should skim my lecture notes to get an idea ahead of the range
of topics we are talking about. There are lot of areas where
my lectures will only skim the surface and you can go deeper into
it.
C 103.7 CC 11 XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 1/28/95 11:22 AM 14 lines
Subject: Article Review R: 1/1
I think this article will show why people who are IS are managed
differently. It may also show that IS people need to be managed
differently compared with other people.
I hope this article is O.K.
The second week another question is introduced which is a relatively
easy assignment but encourages the students to share their experiences.
The objective of this exercise to convince the students that
the problem of managing computer and information systems is a
very real problem and that many companies of all types and sizes
can get into major problems with this technology.
It should be noted that some of the answers lead to interesting
comments by other students.
C 103.7 CC 12 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 1/29/95 3:18 PM
17 lines KEYS: bad management examples/Question/Activity/ R:
14/0 Subject: Examples of bad management
Those of you who have had work experience may have run into problems
that have occurred with the development or introduction of a software
system. I would like you to tell us about one such problem you
have seen first hand and also take a stab at trying to explain
what sort of underlying management problem might have been the
cause. This should be no more than a page.
It does not have to be of the scale (1.5 billion) of my examples
from Business Week. It can be quite small scale.
Those of you who have not had such an experience or no work experience
need to find another news item (Wall Street Journal, New York
Times, Business Week, etc.) about a development disaster and tell
us about it and give us the reference to the news article.
C 103.7 CC 12.6 XXXXXXXXXXXXX 2/4/95 11:25 AM 54 lines
Subject: Examples of bad management R: 1/1
That controlling PC had to be logged into the network in order
for anyone (firmwide) to use the printer it controlled (did that
make sense?). We were told by our vendor that lanspool did not
support 1000 user network. They recommended we go with something
called Print Assist which did support 1000 user networks. Well,
print assist was real nice to work with as it was easier to set
up than lanspool. With lanspool we had to setup on every PC that
was going to control a printer. You didn't have to do this with
print assist; could do everything at one PC. So, print assist
was setup. After the weekend 1000 upgrade and testing (login and
printing), everything appeared to be fine. Oh but when Monday
came, the crisis. (During our testing, we didn't login every
PC and printer in the entire firm, that's hundreds of equipment.)
To make this long story short, any user who controlled a printer,
and who had a login connection over 250 had big printing problems.
They could not print nor could anyone else who needed to use
the printer they controlled. So, in order to ensure that those
users who controlled printers got a connection below 250, we (MIS
staff) started coming in around 8: 00 a.m. for the next 3 weeks.
The manufacturers of Print Assist were notified that their product
did not work as advertised. They were trying to find a fix for
us. In the meantime it created a hell of a lot of problems.
Eventually we went back to another version of lanspool that claimed
to support 1000 user network if you do x, y and z. The people
at Print Assist long afterwards came out with a patch for its
product, but we got burned already and haven't tried it again.
As for our vendor who recommended print assist, they said they
told us (which means the MIS director) that we had to test the
product ourselves and that they never claimed to have actually
worked with print assist themselves. Network printing is one
of our biggest headache. And we catch a lot of flack from users
who cannot print. Perhaps MIS should have investigated print
assist a little more. For instance, find out if another large
firm or company with a 1000 users or more used print assist or
know anything about it. Perhaps MIS could I have contacted the
makers of print assist themselves for any information. Actually,
their product advertised 1000 user network support. Investigated
further what options we had with lanspool, because that's what
we ended up going back to. MIS biggest problem is that we're
, in my opinion, understaffed.
C 103.3 CC 20 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 10/4/94 1:58 PM
36 lines KEYS: /Question/Activity/ Subject: new technology
and risks
Certainly real time systems was a new technology in those days
and different than the batch programming environment. Therefore
it was unlikely that Heller had the technical people who understood
this new area.
We mentioned the example today of introducing object oriented
programming in a computer development environment where all the
programmers had never been trained in this technology and had
not been regularly updated. Clearly a manager would feel a great
feeling of risk in requiring all his current COBOL programmers
to begin doing things in SMALLTALK.
What is a recent or current example of new technology in information
systems that carries with it certain risks if a decision is made
to introduce it into the organization. What are the specific
risks or risk and what actions or practices should the manager
take to reduce the risk of introducing this technology? What
factors in the current organization might make the risk so great
that the manager might rightly decide that it is too soon to introduce
this new technology?
You can go back up to ten years and talk about the introduction
of a prior technology instead of something current if that is
easier to consider. For example, there are examples of companies
that have chosen not to network there PC's even today, even though
the technology has been around for a while. What risk factors
might explain that example?
Pick a specific technology (hardware or software) and discuss
the risks of introduction and the actions to minimize those risks.
You should be able to do this in less than three screens.
C 103.3 CC 20.3 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 10/14/94 11:37 AM
26 lines Subject: new technology and risks R: 2/9
Scanners are a method of point-of-sale data entry. As such, it
requires the kinds of controls that data entry usually has: rules,
functions, and an administrator.
As with any computer application introduction, there needs to
be a clear direction handed down from management: we WILL use
this, and this is exactly HOW. If a supermarket wants scanners,
they must commit to keeping their stock database ABSOLUTELY current.
A dirty barcode is no excuse, neither is a dirty laser head.
The actual laser scanning is only an extension of the database
you are using: UPC codes as indexes into the database. If your
supermarket can say: yes, we will keep the UPC database clean
and current; you can implement it with little problems. As a fallback,
keying in the UPC number should work just as well, if slower,
than the scanning. Overcharging is a problem of maintaining the
database. Errors in entry are unacceptable: your screen should
popup what the product is, i.e. 0090 is Rice Krispies, 25 oz,
$3.59 and 0098 is Shoe Polish, 3 oz. Black, $2.29, so key-in errors
are minimized if the cashier pops in 0090 and has a can of shoe
polish in hand. Dirty scanner heads? Come on. Excuses excuses.
If the cashier can't see it's dirty, are you hiring the blind?
Point-of-sale has its startup costs, its inherent need for database
administration to be strict and disciplined, but I find it to
be far more valuable in the long run. No more individual pricing,
instant discounts, automatic generation of sale-labels for the
item's location on the shelf, quick sales information, FAR more
data for sales analysis than ever possible...
Of course, I could be full of it.
C 103.3 CC 82 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 11/15/94 3:01
PM 14 lines KEYS: professionalism/Question/Activity/ Subject:
determining professionalism of an organization
What are three signs you might notice on your visit to the organization
that might be a sign of a professional organization?
What three questions would you expect them to ask you if they
were a professional organization?
What three questions would you ask them to try and determine with
they were a professional organization?
3 questions they would ask of me 1) What are your recent achievements,
both technically and administratively 2) What are doing with your
education and what are your future plans 3) What are your career
objectives
3 questions I would ask of them: 1) what is your management hierarchy
2) what are your education and training policies 3) what is the
IS strategic direction for the next 1 and 5 years
C 103.7 CC 85 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 4/17/95 3:51 PM
44 lines KEYS: medical records/Question/Activity/ Subject:
ethical issue activity R: 16/0
You have just jointed an elite group of systems people responsible
for the databases in the corporation. This is about nine programmers
and systems people. The maintain all the key central corporate
data bases.
This is a wonderful job opportunity and of course you are the
junior person and newest to the group.
One of the members of the group has let you know that one of the
data bases is medical records of a yearly physical that the company
gives to all its employees.
Some of the programmers have developed some special search routines
available as part of the maintenance software that only this group
has access to. This allows them to search for such things as
single females meeting certain physical criteria and allows them
access to such information as methods of birth control used.
Clearly this is used to pre determine which females in the company
they would like to meet and date.
Clearly this is an all male technical group and you are to answer
this assuming you are male as well. Among your choices might
be such things as:
So what would you do and why. This is an ACTIVITY and should
be answered as one. Once you answer you can discuss and comment
on the other answers presented. I will hold off saying anything
until I feel there has been adequate discussion.
The truth of the matter is that I would probably join in. I am
only human. But I think that once things started getting out of
hand, I would probably refrain from the temptation of all the
possibilities that were available to me. I do not think that
any man in his right mind would not be tempted to act on this
advantage of the job. So, of course, there would be widespread
participation throughout our programming and systems group. I
am not saying that it will and will not get out of hand because
there are always some people who will get guilty and stop, and
there are people who just do not know when to stop. The chances
of things going crazy would be a little over 50%. But I doubt
that it would get that far without being noticed by someone in
management. What I mean about getting out of hand is that knowledge
of this might leak into the rest of the corporation to a few employees
who may want to join in on the fun, or the possibility that the
women in the corporation find out that our group is slowly dating
an increasing number of them and they want to find out why. In
a situation like this anything and everything can happen. There
is no limitation on the damage and trouble that can be caused.
Personally, I think that after a while, I would grow tired of
the game and eventually stop. But I would not report it. If things
are found out, I will take responsibility for what I did, but
no one else's. I will not be used as an escape goat or use anyone
as my escape goat. But in this dog-eat-dog world of ours, I would
probably get fired for the whole mess (after all I am the junior
member of the group).
There is considerable reading material in the course and the students
are provided early in the conference with a set of sample questions
as a guide to the readings. This set of sample questions is stored
in an instructor's notebook and the ATTACHMENT ITEM facility is
used to convey that existing item to the class conference.
C 103.7 CC 15 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 1/31/95 9:59 PM
4 lines KEYS: exam/samples/questions/Attachment/Item/ Subject:
sample questions for exams in this course
ATTACHMENT:
C 103.4 CC 19 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 1/31/95 9:55 PM
30 lines KEYS: sample/questions/mois Subject: sample questions
for Man. of IS
Sample Questions:
Describe a significant management issue, policy issue, or planning
problem associated with the introduction of each of the following
technologies into an organization. It should be something specific
to the technology rather than general to any introduction of a
new technology. (I could put any changing technologies here)
What are the decision and agreement points in the development
process? Clarify for each one: when it occurs; what is the decision
or agreement required; and who is involved.
How would Mowshowitz classify each of the following and why?
(I could put in people and organizations you know about)
What the danger signs or primary conditions that could lead to
a software development project getting into serious trouble and
becoming a "runaway?" For each item explain how you
would detect it early.
What do you consider the most promising three approaches to increasing
software productivity and/or applications development within the
organization. Explain why and highlight any potential dangers
of these approaches.
For this exam I expect the students to be prepared to answer anything
about the software development process as covered in the lectures.
I also expect you to be able to answer anything about the two
required professional articles.
In the book part II gives important insights as to how specific
technologies can affect the organization and its management and
operation. Part iii gives additional insights into my lectures
on development with a lot of examples and some insight into the
history of the area.
Chapter 11 is not too important but chapter 12 is. Finally the
specific technologies in chapters 13 to 16 give an important feel
for how these four technologies impact the organization. You
can ignore part vi for this exam.
Note the book gives references for each chapter and covers most
of the areas you would do topics on so you can use it as a starting
point into a topic
C 103.7 CC 47 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 2/26/95 8:47 AM 10 lines
Subject: ARTICLE REVIEW SELECTION R: 1/1
Moad, Jeff, "WANTED: The Multithreaded CIO", Datamation,
v.40, April 15, 1994, pg. 34-38.
This article is relevant because it discusses what it takes to
be a good CIO. This article lists the 9 commandments for CIOs.
For an aspiring CIO, its an interesting reading.
Having the class on line provides other opportunities. One assignment
was to have the student experience INTERNET and see how it lives
up the press about the revolutionary "Information Highway."
C 103.7 CC 26 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 2/13/95 1:36 PM
23 lines KEYS: assignment/internet/www/Attachment/Item/ R:
1/3 Subject: assignment: explore internet (information highway!)
You can get to the World Wide Web from EIES by entering +WWW
also other NJIT machines have a WWW command so you can use other
machines you may have an account. check with the Computer Services
or if any of you know the other access you might comment here.
You have seen a great deal of press about the "Information
Highway and you can go spend a few thousand dollars on seminars
for business men to tell you how to make money using Internet.
The hoopla has arrived and you should all experience Internet
and find out what it is really like and make an assessment for
the rest of us. In conference 1.1 I put a 100 line item giving
frequently used sources of information on internet. As an attachment
to this comment I am providing an 1100 line item downloaded from
internet and titled "frequently asked questions about internet"
and it will give some background for those of you new to Internet.
Exploring new technology and understanding it is one of those
things you have to always be ready to do in the job environment
and this is therefore a very real sort of assignment.
C 103.12 CC 12.1 XXXXXXXXXX 2/17/95 12:20 PM
If anyone is interested in seeing what all the hype is about it
can be seen in the Co-lab on the 4th floor of ITC, you may have
to request an account or maybe the assistant on duty can show
you in his account.
Search Engines are used for exploring the "Net." The
most popular one that I know of is at http://www.yahoo.com/ after
entering this URL you will get a window with a search box in it.
This is where you type key words for your search (separated by
spaces) I typed:
mis management information systems
and this is one it returned along with many others. I'll just
put one so as others who may find them with the same search or
different keywords may use them. Remember you can type whatever
you want in this box. You could type : music <group name>
and get a page that contains info and/or sound clips of your favorite
music group, etc. For now though, I think we should find one
related to MIS first so Murray doesn't get mad at me...... :)
Heres one I looked at
http://www.cox.smu.edu///mis/misq/central.html
The page is described as: "an electronic extension of the
MIS Quarterly."
(*text* indicates actual links at the site.)
"This well respected scholarly journal publishes research
focused on
information systems (IS) management."
That's how they describe it as seen in the first paragraph on
the page.
There are many different links, such as *MISQ Archivist* which
contains
past issues, it's own search capability and more.......
There are other main sections such as *MISQ Discovery* and *MISQ
Roadmap*............
For those of you who have a genuine interest in MIS, if you look
through this page and it's links you'll see that you can interact
with the people their via e-mail or you can submit various works
of your own...
Have Fun XXXXXXXXX
C 103.7 CC 94 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 4/25/95 3:01 PM 23 lines
R: 1/3
Abstract: With the price war lowering prices, and the vast research
regarding Video Conferencing, the concept of Telecommuting in
the work place is now a reality, or is it? Nevertheless, companies
are taking advantage on the benefits of TELECOMMUTING, and managers
and employee are seeing some of the rewards as well as the heartaches.
References obtained:
1. Fryxell, David A, Telecommuting, Link-Up, vol. 11, iss: 3
date: May/Jun 1994, p: 18-19
Please let me know if my topic meets your requirement for the
Final Project. Thank you.
C 103.7 CC 31 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 2/19/95 4:56 PM
16 lines KEYS: reviews/103.6 R: 1/3 Subject: article reviews
and project summaries conference
Be sure to read the first comment where I give instructions on
how to format and utilize keys and subject fields. If you do
not follow the instructions you lose grade points.
You can see the reviews and executive summaries done by the students
last semester. They are in this conference. When you enter the
conference you can use the Intake command to move the existing
items waiting to accepted after you look at the first comment.
I would like to see all the article reviews put in by no later
than the end of the spring break.
For an article put in a short form of the title of the article
as the subject for the comment.
For the keys please put in the following keys
/first authors last name/ /journal title/ /volume(issue)/month
year/
Be sure to put the complete reference at the start of the content
as well. In the keys use a shorter form of the journal title
like for "Communications of the ACM" you can use CACM
This article specifically examines whether IS and non-IS people
are or should be managed differently. The findings that the authors
found are based on experimental studies regarding the differences
between the two groups in terms of their work-unit environment
and productivity. Two very important research questions are carefully
examined during the course of the studies: 1. Do work-unit environments
differ for IS and for non-IS people? 2. Is the relationship of
work-unit environment to productivity different for IS and non-IS
people?
To reach a relatively reliable answer, the authors emphasize on
three sets of managerial activities: 1. Enriching the job. 2.
Attending to interpersonal relations, involving the employee,
and reinforcing work behavior. 3. Attending to production and
targeting work behavior. It is found that within each of the three
different occupational groups - Clerical operations, Technical
professional, and Managerial employees - that there is no difference
between the work-unit environment of IS and non-IS people. Also,
some findings suggest when comparing two occupational groups -
Technical professional and Clerical operations people - where
productivity measures were obtained that there is no relationship
for IS and non-IS people. Thus, the findings arrived to the conclusion
that IS and non-IS employees at the same occupational level are
not and should be managed differently.
Although the results of the study are to some extent correct,
there is much debate regarding its correctness because the study
was done using a field survey from a non-random sample of insurance
companies rather than from some experimental or scientific methodology.
Moreover, a limited set of managerial activities and employee
behavior was investigated. And that is what prompt other researchers
who have done some studies in the field to question the validity
of these findings. According to the research study, although the
differences in individual characteristics within IS and non-IS
people have been investigated previously, the studies of motivational
differences was the way of investigation which is why a limited
set of characteristics within each individual was examined.
They do not investigate differences in the relationship of the
environment of employee behavior or environmental characteristics.
Instead, the study requires two explorations that need to be investigated
in order to find the differences between IS and non-IS people.
First, it uses analysis of the new scales which is validity and
reliability of the resulting scales that measures the directions.
Second, it uses the identifications of a limited number of types
of work-unit environment. As a whole, this study mostly concerns
about the behavior of employees which depend on the person and
the work-unit environment. The authors used a survey instrument
to ask questions about the work-unit environment, the organizational
environment, and individual characteristics, where work-unit which
is the most important is represented by the three major managerial
activities mentioned earlier. In the second set, work-unit environment
is represented by four different types of work environment identified
in exploratory analysis: 1. Low on all the three dimensions. 2.
Mid-range but relatively high on attention to production and targeting
work behavior. 3. Mid-range but relatively low on attention to
production and targeting work behavior. 4. High on all the three
dimensions. In the first research, there was no significant difference
at the 0.05 level of significance between IS and non-IS. In the
second research, there was no interaction effect that differed
from 0 at the 0.05 level of significance. All the results lead
to the very same conclusion. That one should not accept that the
relationship of work-unit environment to productivity does not
significantly differ for IS and non-IS people. This concludes
that managers should establish the same work-unit environment
for IS and non-IS personnel at the same occupational level. Assuming
that the above studies are reliable and some of the other research
do not prove otherwise.
Exam question: Would there be a difference between the skills
required for non-IS personnel to perform IS tasks, even though
the motivations and work-unit environments may not be different?
The article I reviewed described a seven step procedure that shows
Project Managers a way to identify risk factors that effect software
projects. The article also shows how to formulate a contingency
plan and how to conduct risk management. Included in the article
a case study that shows each step in action. 1) Identify risk
factors 2) Assess risk probabilities and effect on the project
3) Develop strategies to mitigate identified risk 4) Monitor risk
factors 5) Invoke a contingency plan 6) Manage the crisis 7) Recover
from a crisis
Identify risk factors- A risk is a potential problem, a problem
is a risk that has materialized. When does a risk become a problem
should be decided by all parties. In the case study the six risk
factors that were identified were time, available memory, lack
of experience with the hardware, lack of adequate software tools,
uncertainty of estimated code size and the complexity of software.
Assess risk probabilities and effect on the project- First you
must estimate the probability the risk will become a problem and
what effect will it have on the project. In the case study he
uses similar project evidence, analysis and some mathematical
equations to determine probabilities and effect. A probabilistic
cost model table was created taking the previously listed risk
factors into consideration.
Develop strategies to mitigate identified risk- Once the risk
goes over a predetermined threshold corrective action needs to
be taken. The corrective action should be determined ahead of
time. This is how a lot of projects get into trouble by not having
a predetermined plan in case things go wrong. In the case study
he suggest all affected parties publicly acknowledge risk factors
and accept them and for them also to become involved in preparing
t he contingency and crisis management plans.
Monitor risk factors- You must accurately monitor the risk data.
In the case study it is stated software is not a physical entity
so not subject to physical laws and mathematical theories that
is why it is so important to set thresholds and to stick to them.
The only way to do that in a software project is by monitoring
budget versus demonstrated value.
Invoke contingency plan- Contingency plan is invoked when the
preset threshold is reached. Early in the project people always
think that catch up is possible in the next phase, it seldom happens.
If the contingency plan goes over preset threshold a crisis management
plan is invoked. In the case study he gives step by step instructions
for preparing and forming a contingency plan. 1) Specify nature
of problem 2) Consider alternative approaches 3) Specify constraints
4) Analyze alternatives 5) Selecting an approach 6) Specify risk
factors 7) Specify tracking method 8) Specify responsible parties
9) Specify thresholds 10)Specify resource authorities 11)Specify
constraints
Manage the crisis- In spite of the team's best effort sometimes
contingency plans fail. The next step is the crisis phase. In
this phase there must be a plan to get the project through this
phase, also in this phase a Drop Dead Date is decided upon. This
is the date at which management must reevaluate the project.
In the case study he gives elements of crisis management. 1) Announce
and generally publicize the problem 2) Assign responsibilities
and authorities 3) Update status frequently 4) Relax resource
restraints 5) Have project personnel operate in burnout mode 6)
Establish a drop dead date 7) Clear out unessential personnel
Recover from a crisis- After the crisis is over certain action
is necessary, such as rewarding personnel that worked in burnout
mode and reevaluate the project as in terms of schedule and budget.
In the case study he gives step by step instruction of crisis
recovery. 1) Consider crisis postmortem 2) Calculate cost to the
complete project 3) Update plan schedule and work assignments
4) Compensate workers for extraordinary efforts 5) Formally recognize
outstanding performances and their families The article was interesting,
informative and not to mention long. It is a must read for anyone
that one day will be in the position of software project manager.
Question for the exam: Name the seven steps for risk management
for software projects and tell a little about each.
At the end of the course the last question that was asked was
the following:
C 103.3 CC 98 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 12/14/94 7:52
PM 5 lines KEYS: /Question/Activity/ Subject: feedback on the
course
What are the most important things I learned from this course
and how would I suggest improving the course.
C 103.3 CC 98.4 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 12/29/94 11:15 AM 30 lines
KEYS: feedback Subject: Feedback
This course served as my first exposure to the business applications
of our software design concepts, and gave me a good look at what
kind of interactions are present when joining a firm, working
within a firm, and even leaving a firm. It bridges a gap between
theory and practice, and my conviction is that this type of course
needs to be introduced earlier.
I learned how to apply my analytical thinking to business problems,
and this was my most important benefit from the course. I found
the case studies to be the most enjoyable, and the resultant discussions
were very interesting.
The online activities are a good idea. There should be at least
two a week. It should be stressed as an essential component to
the classroom.
The final project should have been done from day one. I believe
the projects would have been better if it was made clear that
our ways of thinking should be deep and not broad. A 3-page paper
the 2nd week, a 5-8 page paper by midterm, and a 15-page term
paper at the end would be a better way of getting us used to what
kind of thinking (and research) we should be doing.
1. How to look for the signs of someone undermining a project.
2. How to evaluate a system not just by cost, but also by how
much money it will save, and how much revenue it can be used to
generate.
3. Throwing technology at a company's problems won't solve them
unless the underlying reasons for the problem are addressed.
4. The signs to watch for to see if a project is becoming unmanageable,
and is likely to become a runaway.
The thing I like best about the course is the use of EIES. It
has its rough spots, but I think that it far enough advanced as
to be useful. It is good to be able to discuss topics online with
other people. It also helps to get constructive criticism from
people other than the teacher. I also liked the idea of giving
out the printout of the course notes to keep note taking to a
minimum.
What I didn't like was trying to remember all those notes for
the test. The notes are structured as headings followed by subheadings,
much like a well developed outline. I didn't think that they
had any substance to them, and trying to study them was like trying
to remember a bunch of lists. Using them as supplements to the
book would have been fine by me. I think that it is kind of tough
to remember direct lists rather than concepts.
The key problem that has occurred in all the offerings of the
courses is the situation where students are starting the course
out of synchronization with the other students. Underlying this
has been the problem the getting the students all the materials
they need prior to the actual start of the course.
The result is often that the instructor must track the progress
of each student on an individual basis and can not rely on normal
approaches to determining when a student is late and whether he
or she is to be penalized. In addition, the efficiencies of being
able to review all of the same homework assignment at one time
and doing the grading is completely lost. It is many times more
effort for the instructor to separately grade the same assignment
many different times because of the setup and rethink time that
is required.
Many aspects of this situation are not under the control of the
Professor when they occur. For the remote student we have no
way of determining when they have received what. It has been
recommended that distance education needs to set up a tracking
system by student so that there is a history of when a student
registered, when a student was sent various materials and when
the student made inquiries about specific problems and how they
were dealt with. Such a history on each student by distance education
would more easily clarify when a real problem exists and provide
more meaningful information to the instructor when he or she has
to check on a particular student.
Recommendation One:
The above problems have led this instructor to another conclusion
upon which he has the power to take direct action. This has been
the decision to get all the course materials that are created
by and under the control of the instructor placed as HTML files
on the Internet World Wide Web.
While many students may prefer to buy clear printed copies of
some of these materials, the availability of the material on the
WEB would mean that the student could have initial access to these
upon registering for the course. In this case this would include
the full detailed syllabus for the course and the files of presentation
overheads used in the lectures.
For CIS 455 there are approximately 300 such overheads.
I have also chosen to make my vita and a number of recent professional
papers available as well. This material is linked to my homepage
for the four courses I regularly teach and have responsibility
for. This includes
the CIS 447 (Human Computer Interface Design ) as well as the
CIS 455.
Both are electives in the BAIS and BSCS degrees now offered through
Virtual Classroom. The material can also be linked from pages
which describe the Distance Education Program in general and specific
offerings in any semester.
Recommendation Two:
Recommendation Three:
Recommendation Four
Currently the remote students do not have the same methods of
evaluating courses and providing feedback as the on campus students.
They are provided a survey by distance education which is completely
different than the one provided to the on campus students and
which does not, as a result, allow comparisons with the views
of on campus students. While the classes under the Sloan project
are receiving a much more comprehensive survey than either group,
when the Sloan effort ends there will be poorer coverage of the
remote students. All remote students should receive the standard
forms used for the various schools at NJIT. In addition, the
remote students have an opportunity to do more on their own:
Recommendation Five:
At many universities the students are able to conduct independent
evaluations and this would be extremely easy to start via this
technology.
What is needed is an unbiased party to setup and conduct a private
conference with the students.
This brings to mind the final, but no less major problem. Very
few of the regular offices that deal with the distance students
have any clear electronic address on EIES or at NJIT that is provided
the students. It was only with some effort that Distance Learning
has begun to recognize the need for this but even their written
material sent to students does not explain how the student may
send electronic mail to reach them.
The students should be able to contact such parts of NJIT as the
registrar, the book store, the computer store, student services,
the dean of students, the library, the tutoring center, the employment
office, etc. Anywhere on campus that a student would normally
be able to go to make inquiries, should have a clear electronic
mail address that the students can use and expect to get answers.
Given the difficulties of reaching people in these offices by
phone this should be a high priority item. There should be no
difference in access to any NJIT office between the on campus
student and the remote student.
Recommendation Six
Providing a complete electronic campus will be critical to the
long term success of this program. In line with that it should
be noted that we have to make the access problem straightforward
and obvious.
Recommendation Seven
While a student can access Internet from EIES once they have gotten
to the EIES Virtual Classroom most of the problems have been solved.
Currently we are forever dealing with too many different forms
of access. Besides necessitating an every increasing modem pool
and the associated costs we cannot provide one workable set of
instructions to all students on how to utilize communication software
and how to upload and download. The student almost expects that
we must be experts in every sort of access problem they may be
having. By providing a standard single access and providing it
we eliminate a lot of problems that are causing many people time
and effort far in excess of the typical $15 a month per student
that most Internet providers now charge.
By getting them on the WEB even before mastering on EIES we then
given the immediate access, or should, to all the materials on
the course. Furthermore there would be more incentive for the
faculty to seek out and utilize other relevant course materials
that might exist on the web.
This and other remote degree programs at NJIT have a great potential
but the University as a whole must commit to giving the remote
student true equality of treatment and access to the resources
need to be an effective remote student.
OBSERVATIONS
Student Activity
Total Comments Number of Max - Min
Number of made by Students Comments/
Comments instructor student
Fall 1994 294 91 / 31% 15-21 30 - 10
Spring 1995 329 102 / 31% 18-28 22 - 9
Grade Fall 1994 Spring 1995
A_ 2 5
B+ 3 2
B_ 5 6
C+ 1 2
C_ 1 0
D_ 0 0
F_ 2 1
I_ 1 2
W_ 6 10
Total 21 28
Information Overload and Reactions
YYYYY and ZZZZZZ wrote:
The prior example was fairly mild and easily dealt with, but here
is a more severe example that went a long way to inhibiting one
student's participation in the class conference. Even with the
discussion below he was very shy of making further comments in
the conference and continued to place more emphasis on communicating
with me via messages the rest of the semester.
> finally got mine. they found in the stockroom of the bookstore!
if your
> having a real hassle (I know, because I just lived it) let
me know and I
> could fax you a copy
> Thanks YYY ,but it looks like I found a classmate, who
> is willing to help me out by letting me copy the case studies,
if it
> doesn't work out, I may have to take you up on your offer.
ZZZZ
*Laugh* XXXXXX
Did XXXX say "petty" ???
The student who was being singled out here sent the instructor
a private message giving his reaction to this comment. And the
following dialogue ensued.
TO: Murray Subject: Too many comments
Sir,
M 15962.1 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 10/5/95 9:06 PM
6 lines
TO: XXXX Subject: really sorry - ignore that one
I found nothing wrong with your comments and I am the one that
counts. Sorry if the anonymous comment passed by me. I have
used this medium so long that I may not notice that sort of comment
as it is quite common in a lot of discussions when a student goes
into information overload because they have not kept up.
M 15962.2 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 10/7/95 10:37 AM 9 lines
TO: Murray Subject: Thank You
Sir,
M 15962.3 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 10/7/95 6:29 PM
1 line
TO: XXXXX Subject: Thank You
There was nothing out of line in what you did say.
Students Getting Behind
TO: XXXXX, YYYYYY Subject: need to catch up in c103.12
Those of you receiving this message seem to be quite far behind
in reading the comments in the class conference 103.12 or in doing
the activities there. Please try to catch up and if you are having
problems or have dropped the course you should let me know in
a message.
Here are some examples of the results of such an inquiry.
TO: Murray Subject: Lateness
Prof. Murray
M 15544.1 XXXXXXXXX 18 lines 10/3/95 10:02 PM
TO: Murray Subject: thanks for the letter
Hi Prof. Turoff, thank you very much for this mail, especially
your considerations. I will try my best to catch up. I plan to
finish the first case by Oct. 9 so I could be only one week behind.
This course is not easy to even if there is not these problems
as a remote student. The reading is overwhelming for me as a non-native
English speaker and I have minimal prior knowledge and experience.
On the other hand the potential gains from doing this course can
be enormous.
Many remote students seem to be taking on more than they should
and the better ones are able to catch up in what seem to be dramatic
spurts of effort.
TO: ZZZZZZZZZZ Subject: thanks for the letter
Thank you for the letter. I will see that your letter reaches
the people in the administration that are suppose to insure that
what happened to you semester does not happen to others in the
future.
There is no doubt that this medium of communications encourages
many students to be extremely frank and open about their lives
and the impact this has on their performance in the course. In
the years of using this medium I have had many extremely detailed
explanations of problems they have in their personal life. The
one below is an excellent example of the degree this can take.
Included are the subsequent replies.
TO: Murray Subject: the paradox we have
Hi, Dr. Turoff. Long time, no hear. I'm writing to you to fill
you in on what's been going on with me, why I have all those items
marked unread, why you have no project from me, etc.
M 17279.1 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 11/2/95 1:26 PM
15 lines
TO: xxxxxx Subject: the paradox I have
I am not sure how I can respond to this. Normally given your
circumstances which I actually believe(!!!) I would suggest you
take an incomplete and I would not mind you making up next semester.
However I go on sabbatical in January and am off to Australia
and New Zealand.
M 17279.1.1 XXXXXXXXXXXXX 11/2/95 7:51 PM 25 lines
TO: Murray Subject: the paradox we have
Normally, I wouldn't mind taking the incompletes from most of
my courses, allowing me to finish the others without great strain.
CLASS DISCUSSION
KEYS: welcome Subject: welcome to CIS 455
I would like to welcome you all to our class conference. This
is our primary place for discussion. If you have any questions
on the reading materials or the lectures you should enter them
as comments in this conference. My lectures do not duplicate
the reading material and if you do not ask questions about the
readings I will assume you understand them and can ask about any
of them in the course exams.
The next comment is some hints on using EIES, the conference system.
It attempts to head off what I have found to be the common things
that the students do wrong or do not understand. A great many
students feel it is a rite of passage to not have to read a manual
when learning a new system. Unfortunately in a communication
system some types of misuse or unintentional errors can make life
more difficult for the other participants.
KEYS: help/EIES Subject: Helpful hints on using EIES
Enter the command +who 103 and you will see I am listed in EIES
as: Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) Now enter +who (your id number)
you will discover that the stupid sign in routine has put a lot
of unnecessary garbage in your name and nickname. It is important
that you go to the directory and update your material including
redoing you name and nickname so they are what they should be.
The headings on EIES have fixed field length and this long name
and nicknames push useful material outside those total field lengths
and make the headings for comments you write incorrect and foul
up the name listing for the Gradebook. So it is urgent that you
correct this. We have been trying for a year to get Computer
services to change this but this is the way they wrote it and
once in software it is in concrete. Why IS organizations do things
like this is a valid topic for this course. When you go to the
directory choose Y for Your entry and you will be able to change
each field. You might want to look at mine to see what a "description"
is like.
Getting to Know One Another
KEYS: introductions/Question/Activity/ Subject: This is where
everyone introduces themselves
This is a QUESTION ACTIVITY so you must answer it by going through
the procedure of choosing "activitY" first. This will
give you a chance to practice with it.
The very first response to this question is answer by the instructor
where the student is present a summary of the instructors background
and some of the instructor's experiences that aid in qualifying
the instructor to teach the course. Also the student is provided
a short list of some of the publications by the instructor that
are relevant to the topic of the course.
Hi Professor and fellow students, My name is XXXXXXXXXX, but everyone
can call me "XXXXX." I'm from Jersey City, NJ. I'm
a CIS major. I currently work for Bell Atlantic Yellow Pages
as a Technical Services Supervisor. My company consist of 9 offices
(6 in PA and 3 in NJ), and I manage 3 of the 9 division's Technical
Services department. I have experience in supporting applications
and devices in the areas of PC's, UNIX, Dec., and Networking.
Aside from providing customer support, a good part of my time
is spent evaluating technology that may improve in how company
does business. Also, I manage 8 technical administrators, and
I also provide internal and external training. In taking this
class, I intend to enhance my knowledge and experience in managing
system information and people. Also, if possible I hope to benefit
from other students as well as everyone benefiting from me. Looking
forward to working with everyone.
C 103.7 CC 3.4 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 1/23/95 5:28 PM 8 lines
Subject: Hello everyone!
Hi everyone, My name is XXXXXXXXXXXX but most people call me
XXX. I'm a junior here at NJIT majoring in CIS with a minor in
management. I don't have any work experience in the field, so
my background comprise of the classroom experience only. I hope
that this course will give me some conceptual and practical guidelines
for dealing with information technology and for making efficient
and effective decision with the management of information systems.
C 103.7 CC 3.6 XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 1/25/95 2:39 PM 18 lines
KEYS:/greet Subject: Hello everybody
Hello, My name is XXXXXXXXXX and I am a 2nd semester senior in
computer science at NJIT. I am a drop in student after leaving
college and working in the computer industry for 4 years. I have
run the gauntlet of jobs from operations and programming on an
AS400 at a major hospital to a network administrator/technician
at another major hospital. I have seen the good and the bad of
IS departments from the inside. I have been lucky enough to have
good managers over me but have also seen poor management from
higher level admin.
C 103.7 CC 3.8 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 1/25/95 8:30 PM 20 lines
Subject: HI
My name is XXXXXXXXXX and I'm a Rutger's senior majoring in IS.
I should say I'm a part-time student working full-time who has
been going to school evenings for a long time. I work with a
large law firm in Morristown, NJ. My job involves assisting the
MIS Director with managing our Novell network. We have about
300 PC users. It's a lot of work which I find very challenging
and frustrating at the same time. I kind of fell into computer
when I started in word processing. I'm still involved with word
processing at the Firm, but have broaden my base network management.
C 103.7 CC 3.20 XXXXXXXXXXXXX 2/22/95 10:34 PM 9 lines
Subject: This is where everyone introduces themselves
Hi there,
Class Clarifications
KEYS: warning Subject: start thinking about your project now
You should start thinking about what you want to do your project
on NOW and not wait till the last month of the course. You should
choose your review to be in the area you wish to work on.
Some students are very quick to begin to ask questions and to
consider the assignments. They often want quick feedback.
For the article review, I have selected the following: Ferrat,
T.W., L.E. Short, "Are Information Systems People Different?
An Investigation Of How They Are And Should Be Managed,"
MIS Quarterly, September, 1988, pp. 426-443. There is no volume
# or issue # that I could find.
C 103.7 CC 11.1 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 1/29/95 3:08
PM 1 line
Subject: Article Review
That is a perfect choice of an article!!
Discussion Questions
This is your first assignment for a discussion online and it is
a QUESTION ACTIVITY.
Some of the answers by the students will generate comments by
the instructor and even a certain amount of discussion
I don't know if this qualifies; but, in December of '94, we (MIS
dept) upgraded from 250 user to 1000 user novell network and had
major printing problems! Before the upgrade, we used lanspool
for managing network printing. One secretary PC out of every
4 was a controlling PC
C 103.7 CC 12.6.1 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 2/4/95 5:56
PM 6 lines Subject: printer problems
A very interesting aspect of your example is that I suspect none
of the your regular users cared whether it was your vender or
your consultant firm that made a mistake. They BLAMED the MIS
people which is the natural thing for them to do. In their thinking
it was your mistake to trust the vendor or to pick an incompetent
consulting firm.
C 103.7 CC 12.11 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 2/9/95 3:02 PM 49 lines
KEYS: bad management Subject: Examples of bad management R:
1/3
There is one example of bad management that I would like to mention
here. It was about a year ago when I was employed by a small mail
order firm. I was a junior programmer in the company for about
2 months when the incident took place. Due to the business expansion
and high demand of the Christmas season there were serious concerns
about modifying the information system. This lead to the decision
by the upper management of the company to ask the IS department
to develop a project that would speed up the processing of customer
orders within hours rather than 2 days, which was the current
situation. This resulted in the development of a project which
would automate the file-transfer to the DMGT network for the credit
authorization and other processing matters. Several phases of
the system had to be re-programmed o r at least modified to some
extent in order to complete the project. We, the team of 8 available
programmers for this project needed at least a month to complete
the project but we were given only 2 weeks by the system operator
as he could not object to the upper management somehow. This was
clearly the case where the upper management had clearly overlooked
the limitations of the IS dept. and systems resources. Although
at the end of 2 weeks we were able to completely code the project,
there were some parts of the system that had to tested to finalize
the project. However, due to the constant extensive pressure from
the upper management, the system operator decided to implement
the project into the main system without extensive testing and
debugging, which was a must. The systems seemed to be working
fine with the DMGT file transfer and credit processing and there
was no problem until the middle of the day. The system all of
a sudden crashed during the DMGT transfer. After verifying with
DMGT, it was concluded that it was our system that had the problem.
This resulted in the complete mess of several customer files and
financial data. Fortunately we had the Backup working to recover
most of the data. After hours of mind-sweeping debugging, we were
able to find the bug and fix it. As we looked at the problem,
it seemed that one routine had been not modified by the senior
programmer to comply with the newly formed routines of the project.
This multiplied the error several times through the processing
with in-appropriate data when the order size of a customer had
exceeded a certain limit. The fact that the upper management
unfairly insisted on the implementation of the project within
in-sufficient time and the fact that the system manager of the
IS Department agreed to that, somehow seemed to be the main reason
for the whole disaster. Although the problem was solved within
hours, it certainly depicts a poor management situation in the
company.
C 103.7 CC 12.11.1 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 2/9/95 8:29
PM 6 lines Subject: common problem but there is a recourse
R: 2/2
I suspect management held you programmers to blame rather than
themselves. in situations like that the senior member of the
programming group should write a memo for the record with everyone
signing it that the group did not feel there was sufficient time
allowed for adequate testing. I am serious about doing such things
when unreasonable requirements are laid on the technical people.
C 103.7 CC 12.11.1.1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 2/12/95 2:41 PM 13
lines Subject: unreasonable expectations with few resources
R: 1/1
The recourse that you suggested seemed to be the logical solution
that came to our mind at that time. At about halfway through the
project, we also tried explaining to the management that even
though we could finish the project, there was insufficient time
for the adequate amount of testing as you mentioned. However,
the request was reviewed, and then ignored by the upper management.
Although I hate to mention any individual reference to that situation,
I personally felt (just like many of us in the company) that the
president of the company (who was the owner too) had too high
expectations for the amount of resources he had provided to the
IS department and other departments. This was one of many other
unreasonable expectations that many departments had gone through.
C 103.7 CC 12.11.1.2 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 2/12/95
5:06 PM 8 lines Subject: unreasonable expectations or a style
of management
A book I highly recommend is "the soul of a new machine"
by kidder. It is a major computer development effort in data general
which was well documented and it talks about all the practices
to get technical people to work 70 hours a week when they are
only paid for 40 and how to spend five years skimming the cream
before firing them and hiring new naive younger fresh graduates
to repeat the cycle. Also how to practice "mushroom management
(keep in the dark and feed them lots of ...)
C 103.7 CC 12.8 XXXXXXXXXXXXX 2/6/95 5:44 PM 18 lines
Subject: Examples of bad management
I have two examples of what I consider bad management. My first
example at the company I presently work at we implemented a new
system for claims processing. The system had so many bugs in
it, it took approx. 30 months on a project that was scheduled
to be done in 12 months. The cost of the project was and still
is a big secret, but a lot of people lost their job for poor management
judgment. The other case was at an another insurance company
that had so much computer technology that I believe only one person
in the whole company knew how to operate most of the equipment
or what is was used for. I was a computer operator at this company
and never was giving technical training or any kind of training
on this equipment, but when problems came up I was suppose to
know how to fix and correct these problems. Very poor management.
Throughout the course a number of questions were introduced as
both a stimulus to discussion and as a way of providing the instructor
insight into the manner in which the students had absorbed the
readings and lectures.
In the first case study we saw that one of the factors to consider
is the RISK that a manager has to take when introducing a new
technology.
C 103.3 CC 20.2 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 10/12/94 11:37 PM 15
lines Subject: new technology and risks
This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I have been
studying relational technology and structured analysis for about
five years now. I have found that most upper management type have
no idea what the benefits of this technology can provide them.
It has been very frustrating! The bottom line is that the information
that supports a corporation's enterprise has been deemed (recently)
as a corporate asset - that is it can be used as a catalyst for
service and growth (in the form of new products). The problem
remains that most upper management have been left behind in the
technological realms and don't understand the flexibility available
in designing your company's data. My only hope is that in 5 to
10 years there is a resurgence in the industry of technology comprehension
that allows techies like me to make wave and progress in the business.
Sometimes it is rather surprising what topic generates a very
active discussion. It is advisable to allow the students to continue
the discussion and wait till it has slowed down before inserting
any further insights or considerations.
The technology that I will discuss is the use of scanners in all
types of stores. If, for instance, a supermarket decides to install
such a system, there are certain things that must be considered.
First of all, besides buying the scanners, a new machine must
be bought to hold the centralized database. This database must
constantly be maintained and must be updated every time there
is a sale, and also when the sale ends. This means that new employees
must be hired to do the job. The charges made by the scanners
at the checkout counter will probably be part of an integrated
package, so there will have to be computer personnel to make sure
that the integration programs flow shamelessly. Another point
to consider is how the present checkout employees feel about the
systems. They may feel intimidated by the machines, and when
the scanners don't work, they may feel that they are more trouble
than they are worth. It has been my experience that the scanners
may help the stores with their inventory and accounting, but does
very little for consumers. The use of scanners hasn't diminished
the time spent on checkout lines at all. In some case I would
say that they increase the time. This is due to dirty scanners,
bad bar code labels, or entries not in the system. Also, studies
have shown that scanners overcharge up to 23% of the time. If
consumers become more aware, or fed up with the time it takes
for cashiers to keep scanning products because it won't pick up
the codes, then some of these places might lose business. If a
company is small, then they might decide that the startup cost
of adding scanners might be too costly. Also, they may not want
to hire new people to maintain the database or the software, and
they may not be sure that the current employees would readily
adapt to a new system.
C 103.3 CC 20.3.1 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 10/15/94 1:00
AM 5 lines Subject: new technology and risks
Remind me in class to talk about the error checking system in
a welfare system. It does seem like most systems always error
against the consumer and I suspect it has something to do with
the objectives of the design.
C 103.3 CC 20.3.2 XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 10/16/94 1:55 PM 36 lines
KEYS: point-of-sale/supermarket/database/risks R: 7/7 Subject:
new technology and risks
I gotta respond to this scanners problem.
C 103.3 CC 20.3.2.1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 10/16/94 2:05 PM
10 lines Subject: new technology and risks R: 1/5
XXXXXX, Everything you said about scanners is true in theory.
However, in practice, I have seen dirty or scratched glass that
causes the scanners to work at less than peak performance. Also,
when there is a big sale going on, a lot of prices have to be
changed. The people doing this might become bored or tired, and
they could key in the wrong information. From a company standpoint,
I believe scanners are a great asset. But, customer satisfaction
might keep the business afloat.
C 103.3 CC 20.3.2.2 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 5 lines 10/18/94
4:30 PM KEYS: scanners/risk Subject: Scanners are nice.
This isn't a problem with the scanner technology, it's a problem
with the people.
C 103.3 CC 20.3.2.3 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 10/18/94 4:43 PM 4
lines Subject: Scanners are nice.
I agree that it is a problem with the people, but people are also
a resource of a company. All your resources should mesh, or problems
occur.
C 103.3 CC 20.3.2.4 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 6 lines 10/19/94 11:05
PM KEYS: scanners/risk/management Subject: Scanners are people
too?
Ah, but then it's no longer a risk of technology, but a function
of your training for employees, and the technology issue becomes
moot.
C 103.3 CC 20.3.2.5 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 10/20/94 4:23 PM
5 lines Subject: Scanners are people too?
I think that it is as much a risk of technology as it was when
going from COBOL to RAMSIS II. Both sets of employees must be
trained, and in both instances, some will be good, and some will
be bad.
C 103.3 CC 20.3.2.6 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 10/20/94 7:10 PM
2 lines KEYS: cis455/technology Subject: new technology and risks
no way man. You're right on. Discipline, hard work and tenacity
are the best road to excellence
C 103.3 CC 20.3.2.7 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 10/22/94
9:54 PM 10 lines Subject: psychological problems cause risk
too
Don't forget the psychological problem. A person who learned
to master an adding machine and remember many product prices will
feel that they are being deskilled and resent that now any high
school student can do their job without much training. Not the
level of professional mastery that they obtained. By the way
have you ever been in a market line and their was a missing price
code that could not be scanned. It causes quite a turmoil. I
had printing in high school and learned to set type and run a
press. Glad that I did not choose to follow that as a profession.
But they are a good example of a displaced skill no longer necessary.
Printers had a great deal of professional pride in their skills
as crafts people.
Some questions are constructed to be extremely relevant to the
student so that they will generate very considered responses.
As we discussed in class one of the key concerns for all of you
is determining the degree of professionalism in the organization
that you are interviewing for a job.
C 103.3 CC 82.3 XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 11/23/94 8:49 PM 16 lines
KEYS: professional/interviews Subject: determining professionalism
of an organization
3 signs of a professional organization: 1) Multiple interviewers
including manager, technical manager and future (potential) collages
2) A library of manuals, reference materials and documentation
3) High quality equipment (on desktops)
Some questions do stir up considerable disagreement and discussion
We have not had much of a chance to talk about professional responsibility
and ethics. So here is a QUESTION activity where you need to
answer this with what you would do if faced with the following
situation and why you would do this.
C 103.7 CC 85.1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 4/18/95 12:04 PM R: 1/4
29 lines Subject: ethical issue activity
a) join in the fun
b) don't participate and ignore it
c) urge them to stop
d) report them to management
e) report them to NOW and / or the ACLU, etc.
f) contact the star ledger
g) go to the ACM ethics committee
h) look for insight in the ACM code of ethics etc. etc.
Ethical Responsibility
C 103.7 CC 85.1.1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 4/23/95 8:06 PM R: 3/3
5 lines Subject: ethical issue activity
Lloyd, That's right. You're only human and for that fact alone
I think you should refrain yourself right now before things get
ugly. Besides taking advantage of others is morally wrong, and
can cost you your job. I think it would be best not to invade
the privacy of these females now. Don't you?
C 103.7 CC 85.1.1.3 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 4/24/95 6:51 AM 13
lines KEYS: reply Subject: ethical issue activity
Hi everyone, I read many responses about this ethical issue.
In most of them I noted one important concern: "being new
in the company". In response to that, what about following
the ethical code of privacy and access to justify the overall
good for the company? The ethical code does not differ for a new
employee and a senior employee! I think that there is a lot more
to this issue than just "having fun" when it gets out
of hand eventually. In any case following fun" when it gets
out of hand eventually. I think that temptation of getting involved
in this activity is very high but as responsible professional,
we ought to think better. Refraining from this activity is an
easy choice to make, but is it the best choice? I don't think
so.
Class Guidance
To help you in doing your readings and reviewing the lectures
I have attached samples of questions I have used on past exams.
This should give you the best possible idea on what are the things
I consider important for you to learn as a result of this course.
C 103.7 CC 68 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 3/28/95 4:09 PM
25 lines KEYS: exam Subject: exam
In response to a message I receive I NEVER ask multiple choice
questions, don't believe in them. My questions either require
lists of answers (short phrases) or short one to three paragraph
essays. There have been example questions placed in this conference.
The student must select a professional article to review and often
undergraduate students do not understand the distinction between
a professional journal and a trade magazine.
I'd like to review the following article:
C 103.7 CC 47.1 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 2/26/95 7:06
PM 9 lines, Subject: article not approved
XXXXXX, DATAMATION is NOT a professional journal and therefore
articles there are not allowed. For the review you must find
an article in a professional journal and NOT a trade magazine.
For the project one can have about a 1/3 of the references in
trade magazines but the rest have to be professional articles.
To start with professional articles reference prior work upon
which they are building. Most trade articles have no references
and do not spend any real effort on explaining the evidence leading
to a conclusion.
Other Assignments
A new assignment is to go into Internet and find something of
use to us in this course and to tell us in this conference what
you found and how we could get it or if it is short bring it back
and make it an attachment.
An example of a response to this assignment is as follows:
46 lines Subject: surfing the net as an assignment in this
course
First off to "Surf the Net" I use Netscape, a very user
friendly graphical browser on a PC hooked to the Network system
here at NJIT.
The student is required to present his or her choice for a final
project report which presents at least three relevant references.
What follows is a sample of that entry and the discussion that
resulted between the student and the instructor.
Topic for my final project: Title: Video Conferencing, has it
made Telecommuting a reality for employer and employee.
C 103.7 CC 94.1 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 4/25/95 3:21
PM 8 lines Subject: be careful of this topic R: 1/2
2. Maynard, Roberta, The Growing Appeal of Telecommuting, Nation's
Business, vol: 82, iss: 8, date: Aug 1994, p: 61-62
3. Taylor, Kiernan M., WAN Videoconferencing without High-Priced
Hardware, Data Communications, vol: 32, iss: 17, date: Nov.
21, 1994, p: 45-46
4. Zeile, Art, Bridging the gap in Corporate Communications, Satellite
Communications, vol: 18, iss: 10, date: Oct 1994, p: 22-24
If it involves video conferencing and video use through computer
digital networks it is appropriate. But video conferencing as
an analog process is just like audio phone conferencing and it
is not relevant to this course. Multimedia conferencing over
networks is the appropriate topic and you can use insightful information
from experiences with video but the technology is not video conferencing
in the traditional video conferencing sense
C 103.7 CC 94.1.1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 4/27/95 7:56 PM 5 lines
Subject: be careful of this topic R: 1/1
So, if I focus my paper on topics such as video conference and
video use through computer digital computer network, or multimedia
conferencing over network, or related experience, it will be appropriate
for my paper. In addition, is information regarding management
issues about video conferencing okay also? Please advise.
C 103.7 CC 94.1.1.1 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 4/28/95
6:29 PM 3 lines Subject: be careful of this topic
Management issues of multimedia conferencing over computer networks
including the use of video, but not only considering video use
of the network, would be appropriate.
The student's review of a professional article and an executive
summary of the final report go into a separate conference since
these are items that do not usually generate discussion. Examples
of these are:
When you are ready to do your article review you will enter it
in Conference 103.6. I have made you members but you have to
enter it to trigger the membership.
C 103.6 CC 1 Murray Turoff (Murray, 103) 10/12/94 11:11
PM 16 lines KEYS: format Subject: article review format R:
1/3
This conference is where you will put your article reviews and
later on put your executive summaries for your projects.
C 103.6 CC 44 XXXXXXXXXXXXX 3/23/95 5:14 PM 49 lines KEYS:
/Ferrat/MISQ/12(2)/1988/ Subject: Article Review
Ferratt, T.W. and Short, L.E. "Are Information Systems People
Different? An Investigation of How They Are and Should Be Managed".
Mis Quarterly, September 1988, Pages 426-443.
C 103.6 CC 33 XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 3/18/95 2:14 AM 97 lines KEYS:
/Farley/Richard/RMFSP/IEEE SOFTWARE/VOLUME 11/ISSUE 3/MAY 1994/
Subject: Article Review R: 1/1
Farley, Richard, Risk Management For Software Projects, IEEE Software,
Volume 11, Issue 3, May, 1994, 57 - 67
COURSE FEEDBACK
Here is a final question activity which you do not have to answer
till after I have done the grades.
C 103.3 CC 98.3 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 12/27/94 5:40 PM 30 lines
Subject: feedback on the course
I think that the most important things that I learned in this
course are:
C 103.3 CC 98.1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 12/16/94 9:14 PM 14 lines
Subject: feedback on the course
Oh boy! Now I don't even remember the wording of the question.
Why, oh why didn't I write it down! Let's see it has something
to do with what I learned. I learned a great deal about new technologies,
both the technical side and the managerial side taught / researched.
The insight I gained relevant to the managerial aspect was tremendous.
I found the political aspect of implementing a project quite fascinating
and I think most of the ideas/advice can be applied to any other
project i.e. project that are not information systems related.
I think I will use some of the contercounterimplementation advice
and the other helpful advice in my community work. There are
many sneaky "helpful" people who will covertly try to
sabotage one's project simply because it was not their brainchild.
Merry Christmas everyone! Got to go, Jamaica is calling.
CONCLUSIONS
There needs to be a tracking system to keep a record of the
events dealing with a particular student including the tracking
of particular problems that have occurred (e.g. being sent the
wrong material).
The material generated by a Professor for a course to be offered
in the distance education program should be made available on
the Internet WEB before the start of the course.
I also feel strongly that having this material publicly available
would greatly aid the student in making an intelligent decision
as to whether they are ready or able to take the given course.
We now have too many students who sign up for a course and discover
it is more work than they originally estimated. The offices they
often deal with are not in a position, nor they have the talent
to counsel a student as to how much effort a set of courses would
be and to what degree they are prepared to take them.
There needs to be a department advisor online on EIES who will
act as a counselor to the students when they wish to discuss what
they plan to take and when.
As the number of students builds up there should be more of an
attempt to encourage the types of activities on campus students
can now engage in when they meet in groups on campus.
Student organizations and clubs on campus should be encouraged
to develop electronic components that better tie the remote student
to campus.
Such organizations receive space on campus and some funds to carry
out their activity. It should become normal practice to conduct
some activities on line and to allow on line access for remote
students.
There should be a conference for the students taking remote
courses where they can privately discuss their experiences in
taking various courses and evaluate it collectively as a student
group.
There should be an NJIT directory for students available over
the WEB that gives the electronic mail addresses that students
can use to reach any office that the student would normally have
access to on campus.
Even in the CIS department, the tutoring center function for students
who can walk into a graduate student's office has not yet been
put on line for the benefit of remote students who need tutoring.
We should adapt a policy and approach that all remote students
must be able to access NJIT via the Internet and be able to access
other WEB sites as well.
This is a small cost today relative to the fact that we already
require them to have the hardware and software needed. We could
even choose a provider of Internet access that we know is reliable
and let students know about the specific option. The on campus
student at NJIT is provided a computer. There is a view that
we should provide the network access to the remote student. We
could pay for the network access membership of remote students
during at least their first semester as students.
Back to homepage of Murray
Turoff
Back to homepage of Roxanne Hiltz