Discussion Board (DB) Submission is in the Blackboard (BB) Lecture Modules (LM)
In this item’s submenu you will find the Discussion Board topics. While these are documented here, submission must take place in Blackboard (BB) for grading and FERPA compliance.
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Note all DBs will remain open 1 week for your initial post (Monday 8 a.m. – Sunday 9 p.m.). Credit cannot be given for late posts as no other students will read them.
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Discussion Board Instructions
Your initial DB posts should minimally be a complete paragraph and should be created as a new thread as this identifies you at the top level (please do this for all your initial DB forum posts). Your follow-up posts (one of which is required) can convey agreement, disagreement or emphasize discussion points (in fewer words). Please note you are responsible for reading everyone’s posts at the end of the week for all discussions and visiting any links provided. Note this is automatically captured by BB in the course statistics. Following this, you are responsible for replying or adding content to at least one other student’s post or discussion. (Note that you may subscribe to the forums to receive updates).
Now note we will have 2 types of DBs. One type will be informal and based on your experiences (e.g. Ubuntu installation, Ubuntu Software Center, your personal information and systems management, etc. ). The second type will be based on the course content and these more formal DBs have additional requirements in accord with academic, business and professional principles as detailed below. Note both types must be submitted on time to receive credit.
A proper discussion board post based on the Course Content:
1. Provides a response that uses examples from the lecture, text, or academic literature sources. Please pay special attention to the supplemental notes in the Lecture Folders and use this information where possible. (i.e. the business-organization-IT triangle).
2. Introduces a distinct perspective that adds to the known elements of the discussion.
An improper discussion board post based on Course Content:
1. States an opinion without evidence to support that opinion and fails to explain the why and what of the opinion made.
2. Repeats information already covered in the discussion without contributing to the discovery process.
Please note that uncommon acronyms may be used but must be clarified their first instance as in the following example – “The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) in accordance with the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) dictates that…” In subsequent instances we can then merely state “The W3C states that…” If you base your opinion on a source please cite the source in parenthesis (e.g. Author, text title, magazine title, Website URL, etc. and the year). Later on we will work on formal APA format and if an APA citation is required it will be clearly specified in the DB introduction (in other words it is not necessary to email for every DB asking if an APA is required).
Remember our communication and written word must be detailed and precise. I recommend you compose your posting in an editor (e.g. MS Word) and spell check your work prior to posting. Please reread your posts after posting to and try to convey complete descriptive information. To this extent I recommend you treat the DBs as a business blog as these are increasingly used in business however also note business corporate cultures vary (i.e. formal vs. informal, strict hierarchies vs. democratic, innovative vs. custodial, etc.).
Now I never miss an opportunity to introduce or extend the understanding of the Business-Organization-IT triangle and corporate culture is an important choice for your professional lives as you should seek out organizations congruent with your personal beliefs and this type of introduction may help you discover what you seek in an organization. Consider this scenario which is well founded by current research (Robbins & Judge, 2007). If you are unhappy in the workplace, it is likely you will not be committed (e.g. Organizational Commitment) and will not produce your best work or contribute to the organizational cause (e.g. Organizational Citizenship Behavior). If you are unhappy in the workplace, it is likely you will do the bare minimum and this organizational behavior will be identified by your superiors in your evaluations. These subpar evaluations will negatively affect your advancement further impeding your professional advancement. With this basis it is imperative that you cultivate what you really like to do. We will investigate this human component of IT in much further detail throughout the course however I wanted to give everyone food for thought and hopefully a different perspective when analyzing IT as it is necessarily integrated with business, organization and society.
*** and this allowed me demonstrate academic integrity and citations… ? ***
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2007). Organizational behavior. Upper Saddle River, NJ USA: Prentice Hall.
Grading
DBs with a required APA citation are worth 5 points. DBs not requiring an APA citation are worth 1 point. Note that in many of the DBs I am seeking your perspective or your practices and in these instances there is no right or wrong and the DBs serve to let the community know what you think or do. This is very important as we are learning about the integrated nature of IT, Business and Organization/Culture. To this extent much of my feedback will be in the form of personal emails as I may simply suggest better ways to express things electronically.
Several of the DBs will involve the Linux portion of the course (e.g. installation, configuration, etc.). If you have difficulty with a Linux component it is best to email me as this will show up on my radar (in my inbox) immediately. When we communicate in this fashion I ask that you document our solutions in the DB as the Linux DBs represent an evolving or dynamic tutorial developed by past and present classes in accord with User Centered Design (UCD).
APA Format and Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is two-fold. We predominantly think of it as giving credit where credit is due (e.g. avoiding plagiarism) but more importantly it advances the academic process. What this means is that you can build on previous researcher’s/author’s works. Consider the example of when you find two related research findings that enable you to theorize and create new content. If you did not cite the foundational work, your theory would be worthless. In this regard academic integrity is necessary for advancing and adding to the body of knowledge.
For APA format, I recommend you visit or contact the HVCC Learning Assistance Center here: https://www.hvcc.edu/learningcenters/lac/index.html or alternatively, a good quick APA resource may be found here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.