Headed for strike?

The way things are going at EMU, I would not be surprised to see a strike in the near future.  Due to the recent budget crunch, the president wants to cut back on spending, including faculty salaries.  The faculty union of course doesn't like this and suggests spending cuts should come primarily from athletics and administration.  The president has stated that athletic cuts are not on the table and administration cuts... well, it probably won't be enough.  That to me, looks like an impasse.

I don't care one way or another because I'm moving to a new institution (Hello, ECU!).  All that I ask is that they hold off on any strikes until after I receive my last check.

University research

What passes for research these days?

While exploring the titles of grant titles for the "New Faculty Research Grant" at EMU, I was amazed by the titles of some research projects that received grants.  (Note: I received the same grant in 2009 and have a great deal of respect for the research committee and provost decisions.  Yet, these projects left me shaking my head.)

Here are some titles I found particularly difficult to understand:
"Early Modern Pornographies"
"Community & Culture: Creating a Plan for Washtenaw County"
"Improving Student Achievement Through an Afterschool Knitting Program"
"Contingency Management for Smoking Cessation Among Sorority Members"
"Gathering the Gossips"

Reading and Writing in Information Systems

Edited notes from the Writing Across the Curriculum workshop.

Purposes for writing in our field

• To inform
• To record thoughts
• To communicate problems/solutions
• To document ideas/work
• To plan

Genres of writing in our field

• Documentation – technical & user
• Diagrams and mockups 
• Reports
• User manuals
• Meeting minutes
• Message boards
• Blogs
• Email

Audiences for IS writers

• Clients
• Users of a system
• Other IS professionals
• Management
• Self

As an IS professional, what are my reading purposes

• Learning new skills and knowledge
• Integrating ideas from multiple sources
• Conducting literature reviews for research
• To better understand requirements
• Enjoyment

Kinds of documents I read

• Business books
• General IS books
• Technical books
• Research articles
• Web sites
• Blogs
• Trade publications

Strategies I use for reading

• With blogs and message boards, I scan headings to find interesting content to read
• With books, I tend to read in depth
• With articles – depends on context, but often skip to parts of interest.
• An over arching strategy I use is dedicate time slots for reading.  This is done to minimize distractions and allow better focus and comprehension of material.

The Difference between Novices and Experts

Edited notes from the Writing Across the Curriculum workshop I completed recently.


Write down 3-5 qualities of effective writing in your discipline

• Unique or fresh perspective on an issue
• Well structured
• Good use of evidence to support claims

Write down 3-5 qualities of effective student writing

• Error free
• Well structured
• Logical arguments
• Broad understanding of an issue

Compare the two lists.  What stands out?
Since students are novices (not experts), I generally expect them to be developing the knowledge and skills of topics or issues, but not necessarily bringing a fresh or unique perspective to the topic.   Especially in a field such as information systems, with detailed technical knowledge necessary for professional work, the emphasis in an undergraduate program is on developing the knowledge and skills of programming, networking, data modeling, analyzing systems, designing systems, security, etc.  While some of the more advanced students can bring fresh perspectives, that level of integration of ideas is beyond most students.

My typical writing process

The following set of posts are my edited notes from the Writing Across the Curriculum workshop I recently completed.


My typical wring process for research articles: 
I generally start with a research proposal.  In this proposal, I start with various research questions that have a common theme, perform a literature review of the area, develop hypotheses, design the method for answering hypotheses, and identify analysis to be used.  I generally seek some feedback from other academics at various points in this process, either one-on-one or at conferences.

Once I am satisfied with the proposal, I conduct the research and analysis.  With the results, I complete the paper, by adding discussion and conclusion.  Then its back to editing, editing, and more editing.  Lastly, I start the publishing process.

According to WAC, the stages of writing development:
Prewriting (brainstorming, planning, outlining, lists, reading and reviewing other successful approaches to writing in a genre)
Drafting - Free writing, writing sections/chunks, fill in an outline, audience
Revising – restructuring arguments, adding/deleting sections, rethinking, and rewriting
Proofreading – spelling and grammar checks, reading carefully, having someone else read it
Publishing – sharing the work with an audience
Reflecting – helps writers to analyze their own writing process.

Why do I write?

The following set of posts are edited notes from the Writing Across the Curriculum workshop I recently completed.

Why do I write?
My writing usually consists of 3 goals. 
1. To publish my thoughts and/or research about a topic of interest
2.For clarity or to receive feedback from other friends on my thinking
3.To advice and/or instruct others

Do I enjoy writing?
Yes!!!  Considering I was not a strong writer in high school or college (more math oriented), its surprising that today I enjoy the process of writing so much.  But I attribute that to my realization that it helps me think through problems.  The process of writing forces me to articulate my thoughts in a systematic way.

What makes writing fun and/or challenging?
The challenging parts to writing are my lack of skills at quickly writing something well.  I did not receive the type of training in writing that I wish I could have had.  So grammatical mistakes often plague my early drafts.  When I’m done with drafts, I often want to publish before I completely edit my work.  Unfortunately, poorly edited writing does me no favors.

EMU Ethos week

Yesterday I attended the final luncheon for our College of Business Ethos week.  While I have a number of thoughts on the purpose and effectiveness of the week, today I'll talk about the last speaker, Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager of the Detroit Public Schools.  Mr. Bobb started his talk off on the right foot with a quote from Aristotle.  But, as I expected, the majority of his talk was a mixed bag.  He mixes Aristotle's ethics with Christian philosophy (through St. Thomas Aquinas) and tries to justify Faith, Hope, and Charity.  He then tries to tie these Christian values with our Ethos statement virtues of integrity, honesty, trustworthiness, respect, learning, and work ethic.  Given the impossibility of the challenge, it is not surprising that the speech was disintegrated and difficult to follow.

He made some interesting points about organizational transparency (which reminded me of Diana Hsieh's discussion of privacy) that I need to think more about.  He also made some blatantly biased observations when discussing Aristotle's Rhetoric and his notions ethos, pathos, and logos. During this discussion, he claims that the Tea Party uses pathos - emotional appeal - to convince people of the dangers in Obama's policies.  While I do not deny that some in the Tea Party have used occasional emotional appeals, it is not their primary means of persuasion.  But consider Obama's use of individuals without insurance, with severe financial problems, and with medical problems requiring large amounts of money to cure.  The intent is clear - to make people feel sorry for that poor soul and vote them some money.  That is clear pathos.

But overall, I was impressed with Mr. Bobb's attempt to address ethical philosophy and explain its role in our decision-making.  Even if he misses the mark, the approach is one that too few people attempt. 

Victim punches car jacker

While I don't necessary advocate confronting a thug, this recent news story made me laugh.

The Eastern Michigan University Police Department is investigating an attempt carjacking that occurred this evening at approximately 9:11 p.m.

The incident occurred in the Oakwood South Commuter Lot. The victim, an EMU student, entered her vehicle and noticed a male in the backseat. The male demanded her keys and threatened to harm her if she didn’t give them to her. The victim punched the suspect in the face, and then fled her vehicle. The suspect fled in an unknown direction. The victim injured her hand during the incident. [Bold mine]

You go girl!

My first requested interview

Yesterday, I received two solicitations for interviews. Considering that no one has done this before, I was quite tickled. Apparently, a journalism professor requires his students to interview professors that have gone through the Academic Service-Learning Fellowship at EMU. I am one of those professors.

As I've stated before, ASL is a mixed bag of ideas. At first, I was a bit apprehensive about speaking to a journalism student about this experience in part because there is a real possibility that it may get published in the school's newspaper. When I speak, I speak my mind. If my views became public knowledge, it could make my experience at EMU...let's just say interesting. Considering that I have a full plate already, I really do not need the extra distractions.

However, I reconsidered. I realized that the truth about ASL should not be hidden just because it might inconvenience me a bit. If I cannot be proud of my beliefs and willing to stand by them, then by default the wrong ideas will be perpetuated. This does not mean I will be antagonistic. In fact, I will be very careful in how I choose my words so as to respect the other faculty involved. I do still have to work with them after all. But I can still speak strongly against the elements in ASL that should not be part of our education. And this I will do.

Even if these interviews never see the light of day, speaking to the students will be good practice and may - just may - help that student to see things a bit more objectively.

Auto economics - the future of Chrysler, GM, and other auto manufacturers

On Friday morning, I attended a presentation by Charles Chesbrough, Senior Economist at CSM Worldwide, about the future of the automotive industry. This presentation was part of the Dean's Breakfast series at EMU's College of Business. Overall, the presentation was informative but did contain several major shortcomings.

The interesting:

1. Overview, I enjoyed the review of metrics used to track economic growth and contraction in general. According to Charles, we should see solid turn-around numbers middle to late this year.
   
2. Obama's stimulus bill is larger than all other major U.S. spending projects in history - COMBINED. Using inflation adjusted dollars, the $8.7 trillion available in TARP funds is bigger than the Louisiana Purchase, the New Deal, the Marshal Plan, WW II, Vietnam War, the space program, and Iraq-Afgan War - combined.
   
3. Because of #2, the federal deficit may reach 100% of GDP by 2014. Again, the U.S. is reaching an unprecedented area. Either taxes will have to increased dramatically, more money will have to printed (inflation?) or our federal government will go bankrupt.
   
4. On the automotive side, expected car sales in countries such as India and China (assuming they continue their current growth) will likely be larger than the U.S. within 30 years. For the companies that can establish a footprint in this two countries, they will likely see excellent growth.
   
5. Chrysler will likely have a prolonged death. According to Charles, there are no new technologies in the pipeline for Chrysler. So even with the massive bailout today, in 5 years, Chrysler cars will not be even remotely competitive. Even with its merger with Fiat, its doubtful that anyone in the U.S. will want to buy a Fiat.
   
6. Many auto suppliers will go out of business. For the past 20 years, the big 3 have been squeezing the margins of the suppliers. Their profit margins are so low, that many will likely have to file for bankruptcy before the recession is over.
   
7. Many of the Asian car manufacturers will weather the recession quite well. Honda and Toyota have lean dealership networks, less overhead, and higher profit margins. While their sales have fallen, it has not been as severe as the big 3. They will likely bounce back quickly after the recession.
   

The short comings with the presentation:

1. Although Charles never explicitly admits to being a Keynesian economist, he supports Obama's economic policies and calls Obama's policies Keynesian. Unfortunately, Keynesian has a history of being wrong.
   
2. No discussion of inflation potential. With the massive spending of unprecedented scale, their is a real fear of high inflation over the next few years. Charles does not discuss that impact on the recovery.
   
3. Charles does not understand the causes of economic growth. As one questioner explicitly challenged the presenter with, Charles assumes the economy must be stimulated. He believes that the government can throw money around and that will fix all the problems. He states that the government needs to create "desire". But these measures must take money away from other sources. Besides being highly inefficient, its profoundly immoral.
   
4. And not too surprisingly considering the above, Charles argued for a higher gas tax to force consumers to buy small cars, thereby allowing automotive companies to better predict the future. Nothing like good old fashioned communism economic engineering.

[Update: Fixed factual error on the extent of the spending. Its 8.7 trillion, not billion. And its from the TARP funds, not the stimulus.]

Do you need a free website?

During the Winter semester, student groups enrolled in my web development class will design and build web sites for non-profit organizations and small businesses as an ASL project. Because this is an introductory web development class, only web sites that are more informational in nature will be considered. I do not expect that many students (if any at all) will be able to handle any complex, data driven web development.

The process:
If your organization's web project is in alignment with student skills, it will be added to a list of potential projects. Student groups will then contact potential organizations and decide if the project is a good fit (organizations have the same option if they are not comfortable with a group of students). Once selected however, students must use a specific methodology that ensures that the project meets the organization's expectations. It is my job to make sure they have the skills to make it a success.

Another caveat - although not a requirement, I've found that student proximity to the organization usually facilitates higher quality products due to face-to-face interactions resulting in better communication. If you are not located in southeast Michigan area (near Detroit and/or Ann Arbor areas), be aware of the potential problems this entails.

Contact me at john.drake(at)emich.edu or at 734.487.2454 if interested.

AS-L Fellowship follow-up

Not surprisingly, when I presented my syllabus proposal to the AS-L director, one of her main complaints was that I included for-profit businesses as a potential outlet for project sponsors. But here is the kicker, she correctly identified that in reality, there is little difference between a for-profit and a non-for-profit except a legal definition. Yet she refused to accept that service-learning can include service to a large for-profit business. She tried to leave wiggle room for small start-up businesses, with some sort of pseudo claim that they directly help the local community. But the arbitrary distinction can not be supported by any rational argument. By her own standards, she can't support her distinction. I could easily counter that companies such as Ford and GM have a much greater impact on the local economy in southeast Michigan than an small business. If building a free web site for them (granted it would probably be a tiny subset of their overall web services) could help them save even a couple bucks at a time they desperately need to save money, how is that not a service to the local community? I don't believe that the focus on the "local community" is legitimate, but she does and by her standards she can't support her argument.

In addition, we obviously have a different definition of service. For me, any consulting is a service activity. An academic project that provides a service to any organizations is an academic service learning project. Galt, how I hate how deeply the altruistic doctrine has corrupted academia.

That being said, I expect nearly all of the sponsors to come from non-profits, university organizations, and small businesses. But there is no reason for me to limit for whom my students build websites, except that it must be some sort of organization.

Free speech at EMU

Yesterday I noticed a large crowd in front of the library at EMU. Several of the individuals in the crowd were carrying signs of which I could not read. If figured some sort of protest or campaign was taking place, but did not see a reason to investigate further. Today I received the following email from the President of the University.

Our campus community has been challenged over the past few days as a result of the activities of several individuals who are not affiliated in any way with the University. As many of you are aware, while stationed outside of Halle Library, these individuals have proceeded to express their views on a variety of subjects. Some of these comments have been both hurtful and offensive to many members of the campus community. Students, faculty and staff have expressed concern that the activities of these individuals are not consistent with the values of the University that seek to promote an appreciation of human diversity and the maintenance of an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect. While I share the concerns that many of you have expressed, I must also note with great pride that the University, as a public institution of higher education, is strongly committed and legally obligated to promote and protect the rights of all individuals to engage in free and open debate on campus, however controversial the subject area. As many of you may be aware, individuals expressing similar views have for a number of years annually visited our campus as well as many other college campuses within Michigan and the region. When students, faculty and staff encounter these individuals this week or in the future, one option is to avoid any invitation to engage in dialogue or to stop and create an audience if you disagree with their views. Please note that the University’s Public Safety Department and other campus officials have been and will continue to monitor this situation on site to ensure that there are no violations of the law and to protect the safety of our students. Finally, I am asking Provost Loppnow to organize an educational campus forum about the issues that this event has raised so we can all learn from this moment on our campus. In the past, university communities came together to have “teach-ins” that educated and provided the opportunity to express different points of view. [bold added]

This statement gives me hope that if an Objectivist speaker came to EMU to speak on topics such as the Danish cartoons, our president would continue the tradition of protecting free speech.

Dewey at his worst

I have found myself in the midst of possibly one of the worst incarnations of Dewey's pedagogy. It is a mix of some really great ideas and some really horrific ideas. Can it be salvaged? My short answer is "Yes". But should it be? Perhaps.

This creature I'm talking about is Academic Service-Learning (AS-L). AS-L has many different definitions and various proponents in the academic sphere. At my university, there is an AS-L office that offers fellowships for interested faculty members. I am one of the fellows thanks to an overly "helpful" department head who signed me up without asking me first.

As for the definition, AS-L is commonly defined as a teaching methodology that utilizes community service to help students gain a deeper understanding of course content, gain new knowledge and engage in civic activity. [Bold mine] At its best, AS-L provides students with a means of developing knowledge inductively through active engagement with course content in real world settings. Individual reflections on the engagement is a key component of AS-L and focuses the student on lessons learned, helping students to understand complex, theoretical subjects. An outside project I use for systems analysis and design could fall under this best view of AS-L. For this project students must contact outside organizations, discover an information system need they have, then analyze and design a system for them. Their outside project mirrors the lessons I present in class on the procedures for analyzing and designing information systems. While students may receive a highly theoretical understanding of analysis and design in the class, the real world case concertizes the issues for them. Reflection throughout the semester helps them to tie the concrete project experiences to the theory learned in class.

At its worst, AS-L focuses on the bold part of the definition above. Some argue that AS-L is only AS-L if civic responsibility is an integral part of the experience. They state that service to the community is an end in itself. They refer to helping the disadvantaged, whether poor, old, mentally impaired, or anyone else who is unable to help themselves. Its an attempt to instill specific philosophic beliefs on students by forcing them to view the world through the instructors point of view. Sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit is the stance that a community is only as good as the worst elements in it. Advocates appeal to socialism as a political ideal and selflessness as a moral truth. Worse still, it is done in the disguise of academic learning.

Are the best and worst elements unavoidably intertwined? No. While there are some in academic spheres who would argue yes, they are wishing that it is so that they can control the usage of the term AS-L. In their world, if you are doing academic learning through service to some organization or group of people that is not needy or non-for-profit or fits their narrow view, then you should call it something other than AS-L. But that is complete non-sense. There is no logical reason to have two terms for the same thing.

Can AS-L be rescued from those attempting to pervert its usefulness in academic learning? Maybe, but it'll take many advocates that I'm not sure exist at this point. Most academics in general, and nearly all familiar with AS-L tend to be highly socialistic. To fight for clear and unadulterated use of the term AS-L will take more advocates than exist at this point. Its a battle that probably won't be won in the near future and probably one that won't be won unless a new term is adopted. But when I say I use AS-L in my classroom, please understand what I mean by it is not the convoluted mess that others mean by it.

SPARK Ann Arbor

As part of my AS-L fellowship at Eastern Michigan, I have to volunteer with an organization throughout the semester and keep a journal of my activities. I approached SPARK Ann Arbor, a non-profit organization whose mission is to start, grow, and retain businesses in the Ann Arbor/ Ypsilanti area. One of their most noted successes was helping Google open an office in downtown Ann Arbor. Google now has over 250 employees with plans for significant growth.

This post details my interaction with them.

Last week, I contacted Amy Cell, Talent Enhancement, at SPARK. Over the phone, I explained what I was doing and why I was interested in establishing a relationship with SPARK. First was for the immediate need of volunteering my services. Second, was to establish a relationship with them such that we might be able to match student groups performing real world class projects with businesses in need of information systems. She forwarded my information on to their team and set up a meeting with me to meet.

The next day I received a call from Scott Olson with regards to the first need. SPARK conducts an Entrepreneur Boot Camp for new businesses. In this boot camp, participant companies are partnered with industry mentors to help them with questions and advice they may have. This sounded like an exciting opportunity and agreed to be a mentor. It would be a great way for me to connect with businesses, build a reputation as an expert in the field, and establish a positive relationship with SPARK.

I met Amy face-to-face yesterday, along with Greg Fronizer, and we further discussed how I could build a relationship with SPARK. When I experienced interest in being an IT consultant, Amy’s eyes immediately lit up because that is one important role that SPARK provides to new businesses. She mentioned that my involvement with the entrepreneur boot camp is an excellent first step in building our relationship, especially if I want to be a consultant recommended by SPARK.

All-in-all, this looks like a great opportunity for me. I was a bit hesitant about the AS-L fellowship when I first applied, but it should work out tremendously for me in the long run.