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How Google holds its meetings
The phrase “Internet time” became popular in the mid 1990s, as dot-coms worked at an an accelerated pace. This is an effective way to raise additional barriers to entry in an industry. If competitors...
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Tips for submitting assignments to TurnItIn.com
Both of my Paper 1 assignments are due this week. IS 6100 students must turn in their Paper 1 assignments by noon HT on Wednesday, January 31. IS 7010 students must submit their Paper 1 assignments by...
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IS 7010 grading
For my IS 7010 students, I am finishing my grades on Paper 4 and Paper 5 during the next two days. Then I am turning my attention to the IS 7010 final exams. I apologize that some of the Paper 4 grades...
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Spring 2007 course files have been archived
My Spring 2007 course materials are no longer available on this web site. I’ve archived most of the PowerPoint and PDF files for my Spring 2007 IS 6100 and IS 7010 courses. Some of the old links are...
View ArticleUniversity of Chicago MBA applicants must submit a PowerPoint show
I wish I was making this story up, but it’s true. According to the AP, the University of Chicago, one of the world’s leading business schools, will require each MBA applicant to include a four-slide...
View ArticleIt’s TurnItIn.com, not WebCT, for my Fall 2007 students
I’ve decided to use TurnItIn.com for my Fall 2007 IS 6100-EO and IS 7010-EO courses. I considered using WebCT, as I mentioned on July 20. However, the setup time for WebCT is more than I can handle....
View Article20 seconds of pecha kucha
Wired ran an article a few days ago about pecha kucha, an art-house event that turns PowerPoint on its ear and makes presentations bearable. The rules are simple: 20 slides per presenter 20 seconds...
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Is that research worth anything?
After all these years, I still write academic research. I also work with MSIS students on their professional papers. So today’s entry in Piled Higher and Deeper comics made me giggle. By the time I got...
View ArticleA little update to the menu
The IS 6100 and IS 7010 links at the top of this page now lead to the Fall 2007 pages for those courses. This should help my students get to the proper pages faster. Of course, it’s easy for students...
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Got a question about my courses?
Just a quick reminder for my students: if you have a question about the course and you need an answer within 24 hours, send me an email message. My email address is in the Facebook badge on this page....
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Class changes and cancellations – Pipeline or RSS?
HPU students can check the front page of Pipeline to see a list of changed and canceled classes. This is a good example of a pull system. Students have to log in to Pipeline and look at the channel to...
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I am holding extra office hours today
My university office hours for the fall term are noon to 2 pm on Monday and Wednesday. Because yesterday was a university holiday and today is the first day of classes, I will be working in my...
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A few more tweaks to the blog
I completed some tweaks to the blog Thursday evening, and they’re worth mentioning. It’s easy to update articles in WordPress, the server software I use for this blog. Sometimes I edit an article to...
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Are you seeing “This expired post is no longer available” in some of the...
I did a little maintenance on this site today. A few of my new students asked if my posts from the spring term would help them on their fall 2007 assignments. My answer: “not really”. I tend to change...
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How to write a great email subject line
School’s back in session, and my email traffic now includes messages from my students. I receive hundreds of email messages every day. Most of these messages are unsolicited commercial email (UCE or...
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Does it take too long to earn a doctorate?
The New York Times has published an article on doctoral education, with a long discussion on shortening the process: The average student takes 8.2 years to get a Ph.D.; in education, that figure...
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The scoring matrix
When I graded the Paper 2 assignments for my courses, I tried a feature in TurnItIn.com’s GradeMark system. It’s a scoring matrix that helps me calculate assignment grades. I usually have a scoring...
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I’m offline for the next few days
Starting this afternoon, I will be offline until Monday, 15 October. Students who have questions about the current assignments should email me, but I might not respond until Tuesday, 16 October. I’m...
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Is that employee really ill?
Business Week has a good article about electronic monitoring and employee absenteeism. There are more IS-related tools that support absence management. Some companies give their employees flexible...
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I’m using two monitors to grade assignments
As the semester moves along, the assignments get longer. I avoid printing the assignments whenever possible. It makes little sense, as I would have to scan each graded hard copy before returning the...
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Citing Wikipedia
‘Tis the season for final papers and exams. As time grows short in the semester, I’ve seen more of my graduate students cite Wikipedia in their papers. Some students have noticed that I cite Wikipedia...
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Today’s lecture in IS 6000
I’m doing a guest lecture on action research in Larry Rowland’s IS 6000 course in a few minutes. The PPT file is here.
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Happy new year!
Welcome to 2008! After a three week respite from my blog, I’m back. I’ll start posting new content for my Term 2 IS 7010 course later this week. That is a face-to-face course that meets for the first...
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IS 7010 Term 2 syllabus and schedule
The syllabus and schedule for my Term 2 IS 7010 course are available on the course web page in this PDF file. I will post the syllabus and schedule for the Spring 2008 online course by 15 January 2008....
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Impression management and Facebook
I’ve been removing apps from my Facebook account over the last month. Some of these apps sounded fun when these apps were a novelty. Over time, I got more and more invitations from other Facebook...
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What are we learning?
Michael Wesch of Kansas State University produced this video commentary on classroom learning. I found it interesting. I haven’t been in a “cattle-call hall” since my undergraduate years. I don’t miss...
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IS 6100 Spring 2008 syllabus and schedule are available
I’ve posted a PDF file with the syllabus and schedule for my online IS 6100-AO course. Just click the preceding link and look for the PDF file icon. The course starts on Tuesday, 22 January 2008. I’ll...
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IS 7010 Spring 2008 Paper 1
I have posted the Paper 1 writing assignment for my online IS 7010 section. See this page for more details. Students need to sign in for TurnItIn.com to submit the assignment. Again, see the above link...
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Authority and convenience
Courtesy of the Chronicle of Higher Education, I found links to two articles in the Times of London. In the first article, Professor Tara Brarbazon describes the research policy for her first-year...
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Facebook gets too sticky
The New York Times reported on 11 February 2008 that Facebook users were unable to delete their profiles and data from the social networking site. Manhattan consultant Nipon Das has become a reluctant...
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IS 6100 and IS 7010 in Fall 2008
I’ve posted pages for my IS 6100 onine section and my IS 7010 sections for the Fall 2008 term. I haven’t posted syllabi or schedules yet, but I’m planning on my usual format of weekly readings and...
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Avoiding the splogs
A post by WordPress founding developer Matt Mullenweg claims that 80 percent of the world’s blogs are actually spam blogs. Kevin Burton claims this number is as high as 90 percent, and that most of the...
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The professors strike back
The New York Times published an article yesterday about an mtvU television series called Professors Strike Back. MTV purchased RateMyProfessors.com last year, and has been offering professors a chance...
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Trust is not transitive
When the FAA allowed airline pilots to carry guns, supporters claimed that armed pilots could be trusted. After all, pilots are responsible for flying multimillion dollar jets filled with people,...
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PowerPoint isn’t pretty
It’s that special time of year when students start assembling their presentations for class. Comedian Don McMillan has some very good tips for PowerPoint users in this funny bit of stand-up. Click here...
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Blogging and teaching
On Saturday, 5 April 2008, I discussed the issue of stress in the blogging industry. In this billso.com article, my topic is how I use my blog as a teaching tool. My interests in technology, privacy...
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The rules of business blogging
As business blogging becomes a key success factor in some industries, business bloggers sometimes face pressure to produce excellent metrics right from the start. Their managers sometimes try shortcuts...
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IS 7010 Spring 2008 final exam
The final exam for my Spring 2008 IS 7010 course is described on this web page.
View ArticleGrading my final exams
I’ve been grading the last batch of papers and final exams for my online students this week. Some of my blog posts are shorter than usual, but I have been posting some long articles that I had finished...
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Spring 2008 IS 6100 final grades are available
I’ve posted the final grades for my Spring 2008 IS 6100 online students. The marks can be viewed in the TurnItIn.com gradebook.
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Spring 2008 IS 7010 final grades are available
I’ve finished grading my IS 7010 course for Spring 2008. Grades are available in the TurnItIn.com gradebook.
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Divided attention and food in the classroom
I teach graduate courses on information systems. This fall, I’m teaching two undergraduate sections of an entry-level computer science course about Microsoft Office. I’ve been polishing up my syllabus,...
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Teaching college students online
I started teaching online courses at my university back in January 2005. This morning’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin features an article about Honolulu universities and their online programs — see Online...
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IS 6100 and MGMT 6050 syllabus is available
I’ve posted my Fall 2008 syllabus for Information Systems Management, also known as IS 6100 and MGMT 6050 at Hawaii Pacific University. This is an online course that starts next Tuesday, 2 September...
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IS 6700 information is available for my Fall 2008 students
I’ve posted the course syllabus and schedule for my face-to-face and online sections of IS 6700. This is the Technology Strategy course that used to be called IS 7010. See this web page and WebCT to...
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WebCT is down today
Just a reminder for my HPU students: WebCT is down for maintenance until 1200 HT tomorrow, Thursday, 28 August 2008 1800 HT this evening. I’ve posted the syllabi and schedules for my graduate courses...
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Welcome back, students
The fall semester starts today at HPU. I’m teaching 2 sections of a freshman course this morning, and my graduate course on Technology Strategy this evening. I also have online sections of Technology...
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I’ve been juggling
I’ve been spending much less time on billso.com and more time wrestling with WebCT during the last 6 weeks, as I’m teaching two additional classes this fall. Up until August 2008, I was posting at...
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New textbooks for Technology Strategy in Spring 2009
I’m using two new textbooks for my IS 6700 Technology Strategy course this spring: one of these books is IT Strategy in Action by Jim McKeen and Heather Smith. I’ve also compiled a custom collection of...
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My public Facebook page
I’ve set up a public page for myself on Facebook that will feature my work at Hawaii Pacific University and as an indepedent consultant. My public Facebook page is located here and I also have a short...
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