Many students have been asking me where they can refresh the MS Excel skills that they first learned in high school.

Here are some of the free web-based tutorials for MS Excel that I share with my students:

Microsoft’s Excel Tutorials
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102189871033.aspx

About.com’s Excel Tutorials
http://math.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&zTi=1&sdn=math&cdn=education&tm=7&f=11&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.saskschools.ca/~ehs/HeiseIntra/excel.html

Happy Halloween

FL Gulf Coast Excel Tutorials
http://www.fgcu.edu/support/office2007/Excel/index.asp

Teach Excel Tutorials
http://www.teachexcel.com/tutorials/tutorials.php

Even YouTube has Excel Tutorials
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbxpiCTRvH0

Specialty:

Excel Tutorials for Financial Applications
http://www.tvmcalcs.com/excel/excel_tutorial_index

Excel for Accountants
http://www.functionx.com/excel/Lesson01.htm

For those that are new to AU, Homecoming is around the corner.  Here is the schedule and info :

http://www.aurora.edu/alumni/family-weekend/homecoming.html

I will be at the Saturday morning volleyball game — I hope to see you there, too.

The semester is now half over for those in 8 week courses and one quarter over for those in 16 week courses.  You should be well established in your courses by now, but if you still are unclear about something, come and see me during office hours or send me an email and we can schedule a special meeting.

Here is a link to the AU academic calendar — plan accordingly:

http://www.aurora.edu/academics/resources/academic-calendar.html

I just posted my Fall 2009 AU Office Hours and Course Schedule on this blog.  It is, of course, subject to daily change due to weather, faculty meetings, and other calls to duty.

Subject to change, faculty meetings, and other calls to duty

BTW, this graphic was created using the Facebook application called Course 2.0.  Students and Faculty can use it and easily post their schedule to their profile.  I love software that can be used to accomplish more than one task and that FB app definitely is one of my favorite tools.  I even print out the schedule above to put on my office door at AU.

I have recently been receiving a lot of email about the book I published last Spring about web-based exams.  To make it easier to get more info, I have included a dedicated page in this blog to that book.  Just click on the “Web-Based Exams Book Info” tab at the top of this blog.

 It includes a link to Amazon.com where anyone can buy it.

Thanks to all of my friends and colleagues that have spread the word about the book.

The 2009-2010 academic year is now less than 30 days away. Are you ready?

For my courses, it is a good idea to read the first two chapters of the assigned textbooks.  It will give you a good idea of what to expect in each course and prepare you for the first few class sessions.

 I know many students wait until the last minute to buy them to make sure that the professor actually “uses” the textbook.  In my courses, I assure you that we will read and use the textbooks as an integral part of the course, so consider buying your textbooks now.   A fairly new option for textbooks is to “rent them” digitally for real savings.  Check http://www.coursesmart.com for details.

It is also a good idea to make sure that your PC is working  and ready. Be sure that your internet connection is available and that you can access your AU email and Moodle accounts.  Send a note to ITShelp@aurora.edu , if you need help.

Be sure to update your version of Windows or other operating system with the latest updates from the software publisher.  These can help your PC run more efficiently and securely.

It is also a good idea to make sure your anti-virus and anti-spyware is up-to-date and working.  Make sure that your software updates itself with the latest virus definitions. If it doesn’t,the anti-virus software won’t be as effective.  If you need free anti-virus software consider AVG, Avira, or Avast.  For effective free anti-spyware software, I suggest Spybot Search and Destroy.  There are free and completely legal versions of all of these which are easy to install and are free for home or personal use.  Use your favorite search engine to find the best download site for you.

See you on campus at the end of August!

I was fortunate enough to spend some time earlier this month with my daughter’s junior high class.  Check out the story at:

http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/lemont/newsnow/x1176009951/Old-Quarry-students-go-fly-a-kite

The May Term at AU is now over and summer has really begun.

Did you know that not all professors actually take the summer off?  Here are some of things I am doing this summer:

1) Picking textbooks for the next academic year.  With the new Kindle DX now out, I am hoping that most of my textbooks will work with that so I have a real reason to get one.

2) I will be continuing my research about mind mapping.  First I have to compile and analyze the results from the survey I gave to my students this past academic year.

3) I will be teacing in the Summer II term. Bus 3220 MIS, if you are interested. Visit www.aurora.edu for details or to sign up.

4) Handling internships and a guided course for a student.

5) Updating all of my syllabi and course plans for next year.

6) Putting together my Cumulative Performance review package for our tenure committee.  I have most of it done, but have to punch it up a bit before I submit it.

7) Write up a presentation and paper for the MBAA SAIS conference next year.

Read those books and articles I put off reading during the regular school year.

“Prep’ is the key word to being a good professor IMHO.

To my students, colleagues, and others at AU — Have a safe and happy summer.

The May term at AU is in full swing now and the summer terms are coming up fast.   Check   http://www.aurora.edu/classes/09su/ to see if there is anything that interests you.

For now, I’m completing my Mind Map research, working with my May term MBA students, helping some remaining grads find some job opportunities, and generally trying to enjoy the warmer weather.

I’ve already torn up one kite this Spring flying in winds that were too strong. I am running a mini-kite fest (about 60 students and their kites) at Lemont JHS at the end of May.  I will post some photos after the event, but a picture of some of these future pilots is shown below — that’s when they talked me into the the kite fest.

As you all know, the AU Spring Semester is winding down.  Final exams are scheduled for next week, so I’m sure you are all studying hard.  Don’t forget to consider using MindMaps to review your material.

This past week marked the passing of a retired DSB professor, Dr. Steve Van de Ven.  He was a great mentor to me, a member of my dissertation committee, and a valued member of the Dunham School of Business faculty. He will be missed.

For those that are joining me in the upcoming May Term MBA 6080 course, make sure that you get your textbook soon and start reading the chapters ahead of the first class. I will be sending out the syllabus and giving you all Moodle access on the weekend before the course.

For the rest of you, enjoy your summer and “stay thirsty for knowledge.”

DD

By now, most of you have heard about Twitter.  Many of you already have accounts and some of you are even “following” me.  That’s great.

It is not surprising that there are a growing number of services to go along with the Twitter service.  One that is particularly useful and entertaining is Twitpic.  It allows you share photos through your Twitter account.  Here is an example of something I recently posted:

http://twitpic.com/33vur – More photofunia

about 9 hours ago from TwitPic

It’s free and easy to use.  You can even email photos to your TwitPic account and everything is taken care of for you.  Try it!