Monday August 7, 2017

If you have not actually attended UT Austin or hung around the campus, it is difficult to grasp the difference betwen that campus and well, every other campus.

Texas has a new coach and apparently an expanded athletic budget. Check out the photobelow.

Here is a brief description.

 

Once you recover from that read about Stampede 2, themost powerful University computer and the 12th most powerful in the world.

Dell and Intel contributed to its construction.

Tuesday August 1, 2017

The Student Rating of Instruction (SRI) emails were sent to students today to their Jaguar email accounts. An announcement was also posted to Blackboard. Students can also access their SRIs via a link in Blackboard after they login. The SRIs are open now and will close on 8/4/2017 at 5:00pm.

Students have two options to access their Course Evaluations (please feel free to copy and paste the information between the bars into a communication to your students):

________

1.   Blackboard. https://tamusa.blackboard.com/webapps/login/ Once you login you will see the "My Institution" page. Look for the "Tools" module. The course evaluation link is at the bottom of the Tools module. Click on the link "Course Evaluations" and you will be taken to your course evaluation links for each class you are enrolled in.

2.   Student Jaguar Email accounts. Student Jaguar Email link. Once you login to your Jaguar account, you will see emails sent by A&M-San Antonio Admin. You should have received one email for each class you are enrolled in. Links to the course evaluations are contained in these emails.

 

Monday July 31, 2017

Dear Faculty – Students who have not yet responded to the SRI online survey were sent a reminder email to the Jaguar email accounts (see below). Please encourage students in your class to check their Jaguar email accounts or look for the Course Evaluations link in Blackboard and complete the surveys. You can check your response rates by clicking on this link: Login (Note: This link should not be shared with others; it is unique to you.) .
—–
(previous email)

Dear Faculty,

The Student Rating of Instruction (SRI) emails were sent to students today to their Jaguar email accounts. An announcement was also posted to Blackboard. Students can also access their SRIs via a link in Blackboard after they login. The SRIs are open now and will close on 8/3/2017 at 5:00pm.

Students have two options to access their Course Evaluations (please feel free to copy and paste the information between the bars into a communication to your students):

________

1.   Blackboard. https://tamusa.blackboard.com/webapps/login/ Once you login you will see the "My Institution" page. Look for the "Tools" module. The course evaluation link is at the bottom of the Tools module. Click on the link "Course Evaluations" and you will be taken to your course evaluation links for each class you are enrolled in.

2.   Student Jaguar Email accounts. Student Jaguar Email link. Once you login to your Jaguar account, you will see emails sent by A&M-San Antonio Admin. You should have received one email for each class you are enrolled in. Links to the course evaluations are contained in these emails.

________

We are conducting a communication campaign to encourage your students to complete their SRIs. However, research indicates that the simplest and most effective way to improve your SRI response rate is to communicate with your students about why their feedback is important to you as an instructor, and to remind them about the SRIs at least twice.

Below is the announcement that was sent out to students. If you have any questions, please email Jane Mims at jane.mims@tamusa.edu
——

Texas A&M University-San Antonio

Student Rating of Instruction Survey

Dear A&M-San Antonio Student,

Texas A&M University-San Antonio values the opinions and feedback of our students. With this in mind, we would like to encourage you to provide constructive feedback on the quality of instruction in your classes through the "Student Rating of Instruction" survey system, which is now open for evaluations. 

Click on the link below to respond to the brief survey. You will receive a separate email for each class you are enrolled in. You can also access your course evaluations via Blackboard after you login (look for the Course Evaluations link in the left-hand Tools menu on the My Institution landing page).

Please note:

–       Surveys must be completed by 8/3/2017 at 5:00pm.

-   You will only be allowed to complete one survey for each class.

–       Evaluations are confidential, and faculty and administrators are unable to link student information with completed evaluations.

–       If you have any difficulty completing your SRIs on or after 7/27/2017 at 6:00am but before 8/3/2017 at 5:00pm, please contact the Institutional Research office at IR@tamusa.edu.

Monday July 17, 2017

I commented that students could subscribe to the WSJ for a mere buck a week. Here is a sample of what I leaned just this morning reading the Monday, the slowest day of the week for newspapers.

Roger Federer won is 8th  Wimbeldon tennis title this weekend.

EnerVest a fund buying oil and gas wells in 2013 during triple digit oil prices has lost apparently all the value of its investments. Obviously EnerVest was not reading my Market Perspective  log which warned of the danger of high prices then. There was no shortage of oil we argued, why the high price. And of course it ell to one third of that value.

We are studying cost accounting in ACCT 3314. The most expensive independent, outside the big six studios, will e rfeleased July21. Valerian csot $180 M but does not feature a well known franchise like Spider Man nor is it a repeat of an existing franchise like Fast and Furious.  Billed as a cross between Avatar and Star Wars, it is a French made sci fi set in the 28th Century. Here is an example of job  order costing our topic today in 3314. Would you rather be on one $180 million film or six lower budgets at say at $30 M each?  Early reviews are mixed.

We don't do a lousy job educating our students at TAMUSA on the arts, we do no job at all. But one can learn a good deal about American artist Andrews Wyeth. Wyeth like Rockwell drew rural American, and the reviewer remarks, if Rockwell can gain legitimacy again so can Wyeth.  Winter 1946 at right. Seems a shame we do really nothing to utilize the McNay, Witte, or SA Art Museum for our students. Not to mention zero interface with the theater programs at other schools in town.  Has anyone ever seen Death of a Salesman or Streetcar Named Desire?

 I know of no other journalist who covers Central and South America as Mary O'Grady does each Monday in the WSJ. Today she explains the Cuban control over Venezuela even as it reels from not enough food to eat and weekly protests. Cuba wants to control the country for a lane to transport cocaine from Colombia as well as to spread it totalitarian regime throughout South America. Will outside nations speak up about the human rights tragedy?

Right under that column, Andy Kessler challenges the lone held education mantra that learning a foreign language is important, necessary, and teaches foreign culture. It does none of that. He notes the Oklahom of all placeds is substituting learning computer code for foreign language. 51%of the Internet is in English. If we are serious about STEM, let's do the same here.

La Raza Loses the Race, check it out

On the op ed page Fred Barnes notes that Republicans are not team players. I am guessing John McCain is giving Mitch McConnell 'cover' by staying in Arizona after an operation so that the needed 50 votes can be obtained. By the way is this 1797 or 2017?  Why can't McCain vote electronically from Arizona?  Requiring all Senate and House members to live in their own districts and have Town Hall every week rather than on vacationmight put them back in touch with America.

The Democrats as always are united, the Republicans as Fred writes seem to think this is an individual sport like tennis or golf, not football or basketball. Failing to replace Ovbamacare will leave us with Obamacare as rate escalate and insurers abandon the market. What is Rand Paul thinking?

I am always on the hunt for a good ethical story. And here is one The conscience of a Valet. The writer worked as a car valet at 1789 Restaurant, an upscale Washing DC eatery. He describes various tip stories. But the best he says happened like this. Sean realized he was holding a $100 bill, far  too large judging by the car of the owner. So he chased the car for  three blocks, hailed down the drives, and offered the tip back. The driver took it and returned, three bucks. Now the ethical question, was that ethically fair. Should he not have received at least 20 bucks?  What do you think we can discuss in class and I will reveal the answer to what the valet thought.

Finally Elon Musk warns about the job encroaching danger of Artificial Intelligence.  AI.  I am seeing  a lot of this. My take is that it won't be AI that causes the provblems of decreased job opportunities but the general lack of interest and dumbing down of education. Arum and Roksa have a book out several years ago on this topic check out

Academically Adrift.