Info Tech Buzz: Welcome to IT 102-50

Hello to all who are currently signed up for this section of IT
102-50! Looking forward to seeing you all in class a week from
tonight.

We'll be using a 'Team Teaching' approach. This class will be
primarily taught by myself, but we are fortunate to have Mr. William
"Bill" Reynolds fill in for me a few times throughout the semester
when I will unfortunately be on business travel. Bill happens to be
one of the best and most fun teachers of MS Office you will ever meet.
Between the two of us we will help you explore everything Information
Technology has to offer and take advantage of the extensive IT
resources available to you at Monmouth U!

We'll go over what is required for the class in detail on the first
night of class, but a few of you have emailed me about what books you
need to buy as you budget for the semester. There is a special
'package' of books for the IT 100/102 class that are bundled together
at the bookstore, it comes with some codes that are needed to get
access to our digital tools for the class. ***All in one shot the
books are sold as a bundle which must be purchased together. Please
note that the bundle IS required and you must purchase it directly
from our own book store, which has not only worked to get you a very
good price but also bundles in a code which gets you access to the SAM
technology which we use throughout the class. ***

The required bundle is ISBN: 1435468872
***TEXTBOOKS REQUIRED: Bundle ISBN: 1435468872 (also listed as ISBN
9781435468870).***

Bundle includes the following components:

Title Author Component ISBN
SECURITY AWARENESS: APPLYING PRACTICAL SECURITY- 3rd Edition Mark
Ciampa 1435454146
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS & TECHNIQUES, Premium
Video Edition (Vista) Shelly/Cashman/Vermaat 0324826842
CURRENT TOPICS IN TECHNOLOGY Paparella/Simko 1439038708
SAM 2007 Assessment and Projects 4.0 Printed Access Card, 1st Edition
Course Technology 1439044058

TEXTBOOK RECOMMENDED:

Discovering Computers 2010: Complete, Living in a
Digital World
Gary B. Shelly | Misty E. Vermaat
ISBN 10: 032478645X | ISBN 13: 9780324786453
©2010

Also be sure to log in to see the details at:
http://ecampus.monmouth.edu
That site will be updated with Drop Boxes, the Syllabus, and forum
questions before the first class.

My email should you need to get me fastest is: sposten@gmail.com and
Bill can be reached at: WilliamSReynolds@aol.com

I do not recommend you use posten@monmouth.edu tho you can CC that
address and samuel.posten@l-3com.com if you want to be sure I'll see
your mail the first time I go to one of my email clients.

Couple of things we want you thinking about as you come to our first meeting:
-How much do you _really_ know about computers? Do you know just
enough to get your work done or have you looked into ways that
computers are invading every aspect of our lives?
-What applications do you use regularly? Is it mostly Email and Word
processing with a few games thrown in, or do you use a wide variety of
traditional and "web 2.0" type applications?
-How much are you into the "social networks" like old standards of
Facebook and Myspace, or are you on to the new grounds like Twitter,
Friendfeed or something even more cutting edge?
-What are computers doing today that we never expected just a few years ago?
-What is more important to you where technology is concerned:
Flexibility, stability, coolness or ease of use?
-What do you want to get out of this course? Are you here just because
it's a requirement or does technology genuinely really excite you?
-Now that 'everybody' uses computers how can you be sure who is really
competent in using them versus just someone who knows Word and Mail
and not much more?
-If you are someone who excels at information technology, how can you
prove that? How can you "Stand out from the crowd"?
-How have computers crept into our lives in ways that we don't even
think about any more? Where are computers being used in ways that are
almost invisible to us?
-Have you tried any computer operating systems besides those made by
Microsoft? Have you gone to an Apple Store (closest ones to us are in
the Freehold and Menlo Park Malls) to see the differences between
Windows and OSX?
-Have you tried an E-Book like the Kindle or Nook? How about an iPod
Touch Kindle app? Or even the blio Software for Windows?
-Have you tried Android or Linux?
-Do you believe that a company like Apple or Sony can sell you a
device and then dictate what you can and cannot run on that device?
Would you buy a car from Ford if they told you you are not allowed to
tinker with the engine?
-Would you trust people who break into software for their own use? Or
do you think that changing a system beyond what a vendor thought was
possible is cool and exciting?
-Have you ever had a computer virus? Have you ever lost data due to
malware or hardware crashes? Are you worried about 'hackers' stealing
your identity?
-Do you have virus scanning software installed? Do you have a backup
strategy? Have you thought about how you might want your digital
assets treated if something were to happen to you?
-Do you think that all the cool computer technology has already been
invented and now we'll just see little refinements over time or are
there tons of BIG new developments as earthshaking as the Internet
still to come?
-What do you wish computers could do that they just can't accomplish
given today's state of the art technology?

Did you know you can get the FULL MS office for just $60 as a student?
You can get Windows Vista and maybe even Windows 7 cheaply through
this program too. It's an amazing deal, Microsoft calls it the
Ultimate Steal:
http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx

We'll make big use of this classwide email capability, tho we havent
really started much on the pre-class email blasts, you should start
seeing random news bits coming in from me, and you can see the links
from previous years if you go to:
http://infotechbuzz.blogspot.com/

If you find good articles about new technology that interests you,
please send them my way. Could be that your story will make it back
to the list for the whole class to talk about. Hopefully you already
have a few favorite sources for technology news. If not, here are a
few links to get you started, we will be discussing current events in
technology quite a bit!
http://www.engadget.com/
http://www.techmeme.com/
http://www.boingboing.net/
http://arstechnica.com/index.ars
http://gizmodo.com/
http://slashdot.org/
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/
http://www.wired.com/
http://tech.alltop.com/