Monday Feb 14, 2011

Bruce Howard is seen here with ethics students last April 8, 2010. From left that is Harrison Belt, Bruce, Jamie Rapp, and John Dunn. By the way Harrison is with KPMG in LA, Jamie is finishing her grad degree, and John is with Ridout Barrett here in San Antonio.

Bruce is the Pesonnel Manager and Ombudsman for Fisher Herbst and Kemble CPAs here in  San Antonio.  Bruce is a popular speaker at Central Texas universities and I am sincerely grateful for his coming to our campus. He will be presenting on ten ways to get your career in gear. He will speak to our intermediate class at 5:30 this Wed, we will be joined by Ms. Chapman's audit class. See us in Room 201 at St Joe's.

Tuesday Feb 8 2011

Students This is the latest notice I have received, apparently this trumps the earlier notice I posted about using vital source

I am simply reprinting what I have been sent, I am not the author of anything that follows

Dennis Elam

E-book Faculty and Help Desk,

 

It turns out that the download licenses are currently not being renewed correctly. What this means is that students will be still be able to access their e-books through Blackboard, but until this is resolved, they will not be able to download their e-books to the VitalSource desktop software or to their mobile devices. We have urgent tickets in with VitalSource regarding this and hope it is resolved ASAP. I don’t believe the process/instructions for downloading the e-books will change, so my previous announcement should be good once the issue is resolved. I’ll let you know otherwise. Again, this only affects the downloaded e-books, not access through Blackboard.

 

Please encourage your students to access their e-books through Blackboard for the time being.

 

We will let you know when this all resolved.

 

Thank you for your patience.

 

E-book Students:

 

If you are receiving a message that your e-books have expired or they are missing from your VitalSource desktop software or your mobile devices, all you need to do is access each of your e-books in Blackboard again, at least once, and once you do that, you can then go into the VitalSource software, click the Account menu, then “Update Book List”. This should re-download your books and you they will be good for the remainder of the semester. If you need more details, we have included further instructions below.

 

1.       Please make sure you are able to access all your e-books through Blackboard first before attempting to download them to the VitalSource desktop software or to a supported mobile device, such as an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.

 

2.       When you first attempt to access an e-book in Blackboard, you will be asked to either “Create New Account“ or “Reference Existing Account.” If you have already done this for the semester, please skip to step 6.

 

3.       If this is your first semester using e-books here at TAMU-SA, you will click “Create New Account.” This sets you up with a new VitalSource account that can be used throughout your time here at TAMU-SA. Take note of what e-mail address you used for the username as well as the password, as you will be asked to use this account again in future semesters, and when you download e-books to a personal computer or mobile devices.

 

4.       If you have used e-books here in the past, you will click “Reference Existing Account.” Enter the VitalSource username and password that you used to redeem e-books in the previous semester. If you don’t remember your password, click the “Forgot my password” link and follow the steps from there to reset your password.

 

5.       Once you have successfully created a new account or referenced an existing one, you will no longer be asked to enter a VitalSource username and password from within Blackboard.

 

6.       IMPORTANT: If you are in multiple e-book courses, you will need to go into each course in Blackboard and click on the e-book link at least one time before you are able to download it to VitalSource. You will need to know the VitalSource login information you either just set up or the existing account you referenced when you go to download the e-books in the VitalSource desktop software or to a supported mobile device.

 

7.       After you have accessed each of your e-books at least once in Blackboard, you are ready to download the books. If you have not done so yet, download the software athttp://www.vitalsource.com . Whenever you open or log in to the VitalSource desktop software, click the “Account” menu and then “Update Book List” to start the download(s).

 

8.       If not all of your e-books are appearing or downloading, first make sure you are using the correct VitalSource login and password. If they are still not appearing for you, you will need to call the VitalSource support line to see if you need to merge accounts or other assistance. The number is below.

 

9.       Remember, you are only able to download the VitalSource desktop software and e-books to your own personal computers and supported devices – NOT to university lab or library computers.

 

10.   If you are a DSS student and need a special version of your e-book(s) to use in screen readers, please contact the DSS office and they will be happy to provide you alternate forms of your e-books.

 

If you are experiencing issues with e-books, you may e-mailebook@tamusa.tamus.edu<mailto:ebook@tamusa.tamus.edu> . Additionally, VitalSource has a toll-free help line at 1-800-610-5382, and a support website at http://support.vitalsource.com .

 

We hope this information helps, and we wish you a wonderful Spring semester!

 

Thank you,

TAMU-SA E-book Administration

 

Friday February 4 2011

I write a weekly column for a West Texas newspaper. Here is this week's edition.

On the Road to the Permian Basin

Universities like to display an international flair. It is typical to see lists of how many different countries are represented among the students. And so, universities offer ‘travel courses.’ A class will be held in a ‘foreign country.’  Travel arrangements are made and visits and lectures occur highlighting the art or perhaps commerce if it is a business trip, to   that country. Texas A & M San Antonio has sponsored trips to Romania and will go to Ireland this year. And so, I proposed a trip to what is surely a foreign land to residents of San Antonio, yep- a trip to West Texas. It doesn’t get more foreign that that here in Central Texas.

The belief in the Flat Earth concept, at least as it relates to West Texas, is alive and well in the I-35 corridor. Venture past Abilene or certainly further west than San Angelo and no telling what might happen to you. Driving off the edge of the earth might, indeed, be welcome alternative to what could befall one in the Permian Basin.  For example, I told the comptroller at the Houston firm employing me of my plans to move to West Texas in 1972. Back then one could smoke in the office. He nearly dropped his cigarette in his lap and exclaimed, ‘Dennis, they have bars in Odessa worse than anything in Shanghai!.’  Shall we say the Visitor and Convention Bureaus have their work cut out for them.

But that was decades ago, right?  Okay so the biggest thing since then was Friday Night Lights but we are all global citizens now, right. And so I put the suggestion on my student blog, you can look at

http://www.professorelam.typepad.com.  I point out that the price of oil is up as is the economy. Most folks have never seen a drilling rig much less stepped foot on one; I imagine we could arrange that for our group of students.  The real economy is the service economy; and I doubt most would know a pulling unit from a pump jack. So some oilfield 101 is in order as well.

There are things to see and do. The Petroleum Museum also offers up the fine Chaparral racecar exhibit. The Yellow Rose Ranch is still raising ostriches, and frankly I am curious as to what becomes of them. Is anyone planning on ostrich quesadillas for their Super Bow Party?  Actually make mine some Buddy’s Steak Fingers instead….

No trip would be complete without lunch at Dos Amigos; maybe we could take in a bull ride on the weekend.   And certainly the Commerative Air Force merits a visit.

I expect the Economic Development Groups of various towns would be glad to welcome us, surely this would be the first ever arrival of university students. Hmmm, perhaps it would be fitting to have the group hosted at the Meteor Crater, this being a sort of ‘out of this world event.’  I did make the point that West Texas is open for business, ready to embrace a good idea and help the venture get started.

There are a couple of other advantages to my trip. One does not need a passport and West Texans do speak English, well after a fashion.

‘We got our jackknife rig up about noon and kicked on the mud pumps to make sure the circulation was running okay and then spudded the hole. We can run triples easy enough with this mast height so it shouldn’t take that long to get to the pay zone in the Ellenberger.  This is just an in field offset, none of that horizontal stuff. But we will have to set a packer about 500 feet.  I never have seen a cement job in the day time so better plan on having the insulated overalls handy when Halliburton shows up to cement the casing. ‘

I mean, that’s English, plain and simple, right?  Or is it just distant enough to qualify as a foreign language. So far I only have one volunteer, and he went to high school in Abilene.

The rest are probably worried that we just might not get back at all. Did Bing Crosby and Bob Hope have this trouble in their Road Pictures?

 

Dennis Elam, a graduate of Andrews High,  teaches at Texas A & M San Antonio .

 

 

Friday Feb 4 2011

I believe the overall problem for many of our students is simply that the education system has not equipped them with the learning and study skills they really need. How did that happen?

The legislature pushes public high schools to improve the graduation rate as well as pass some sort of standard test. I suspect the result is that if one does not drop out and one memorizes the spoon fed answers to the exam, one is passed on. This hardly provides for a solid knowledge base. For example, in my senior high school class we wrote a book report every six weeks, bingo, one had to at least read a book review or a few chapters in the book. Now standardized tests do not require book reviews. I routinely encounter college students that have never written a book review, this of course means they have read few if any books. 

Good writing is a by product of having read well written books. The lack of reading means fewer students are exposed to good writing. 

The push to pass standard exams means that far too often students are handed a 'test review' which of course is a thinly disguised answer sheet to the exam. This is I am sure why I get so many requests for 

'exam reviews.' I am still mystified as to why students want to know the number of questions on the exam. 

But, my point here is that, as many community college students discover, upper level college is different. One is expected to read the book and work alone. It is then not surprising that students do not read the book, they did not have to in high school or community college. Well, all that is now changed. 

Many times I have stopped and visited with students who have their books laid out in the student area and appear to be studying. I offer to help, what is their question. Invariably, the student does not have a question. As the saying goes, they do not understand what they do not understand. But without a question I am blank on where to begin. 

Another road block is the reluctance to put misunderstanding on display, this never bothered me, I was the guy asking lots of questions. 

I have allotted a couple of weeks in intermediate II to cover adjusting entries, time value of money, and depreciation. We are well into that time period. My assignment is to cover Intermediate II however. We do not have time to review all of the principles course and Intermediate II. 

So this means that all must re double their efforts. There is no magic bullet. Do not believe that you can attend a review session no matter how clever the reviewer is, and attain instant understanding. 

We interviewed three outstanding accounting students for the SA CPA annual award. All three commented that it took discipline to achieve success. By that they meant read the book, forgo social activities, read the book, work the problems, ask questions. 

All of which is to say, our review is scheduled for Sat morn Feb 5 in room 3 of the annex at 1450 Gillette Blvd. My cell number is 972 835 7555 if you have trouble finding us. Please arrive with questions.

I am sincerely interested in your success. At least two students have commented that a weekend review is a first in their college experience. I am glad to do it, but you must arrive with the ability and motivation to tell me what you do not understand.