Yesterday, April 29, 2009, four groups of students presented their Web sites which they have designed and developed for their clients. Two of the clients were present to listen to the presentations, and the third one sent letters of commendation to the group members who have created a new site for the organization. I took some photographs of each group, with clients if they were there. You will see one group holding their letter of commendation. All in all, it was a successful semester in the course, these students have learned a great deal of new material and applied this new knowledge to their specific projects. To a large extent, they learned the material through their own efforts, kudos to all who put a very significant amount of time and effort to this course. You can see their sites at the following addresses:

Turkish American Cultural Society of RI

Atlantic RI (GoFaucet.com) on its own domain

International Business Development Association (IMDA) (visible soon)

St. Pierre’s Shoes (visible soon)

One of these sites has already gone live under its own domain and the others will be ported to their respective domains soon. Congratulations to all for a job well done, I am proud of your work and so should you be.

Today, I received a message from one of my former students who took Marketing on the Internet with me. I would like to share his comments, then a segment of his later reply to my response to him. They are revealing, if you take what this person says to heart. I only changed his name and the name of the company that his father owned. Everything else is in his own words. Read more

Studying requires more than time and learning stems from a mental process by which you, the learner, develop an understanding that makes sense to you and is consistent with the body of knowledge you are studying. Here are a few do’s and
don’ts.

Study by objectives

Understand what you are trying to learn before the study session begins. Quickly browse the chapter in five minutes or less to get familiar with the general nature of the material. Then, write on a piece of paper several learning objectives.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

There is no doubt that we will all make a mistake sooner or later. There is a great learning opportunity in what you might otherwise call failure, like receiving a low grade on an exam. Instead, take that as a great opportunity to find out why you received that grade and devise ways to prevent it from happening again. The greatest failure is the failure to learn from mistakes and the worst mistake is the one we repeat.

Assess learning

After you finish studying, refer back to your objectives to assess their achievement. If necessary, go back and review the part that you may have missed. You may save a great deal of time this way since you only have to study what has not clicked yet.

Teach to learn

Teaching is an excellent learning method. Try explaining what you have learned to a willing friend. You will be surprised to see how much more sense the material makes all of a sudden.

Don’t daydream, have fun

Daydreaming is a black-hole that swallows your time. In a contest, leisure wins over study. Don’t let them compete. Spare time for fun. Don’t steal from your study time and feel guilty about it. Have fun after serious studying.

Don’t procrastinate

“Later” is too close to the deadline and the end of the semester is sooner that you think. After procrastinating for a while, the backlog will be so great you will fall into another trap: “there is too much to study, I don’t know where to start.” It is easier to go over little hills than great mountains.

Manage time

One of the most important factors in good class performance is time management. The most likely reason of missed-deadlines is lack of organization. You need to have a system that will let you handle several classes with assignments, upcoming job interviews, personal commitments, and a good dose of “senioritis”. Organize your day, week and the semester to do all that and still have a little time for fun.

Be realistic

Don’t underestimate the time required to complete a project. You feel comfortable when you have the most time at the beginning of the semester and panic when you can least afford it, at the end of the semester. Remember, most projects will take more time than you think.

Set a schedule and stick to it

If you don’t stick to your schedule, time will slip through your fingers. Do things on schedule, not later or tomorrow.

Visit these pages periodically

If you have tips to share, send them to me. I will incorporate them to these pages with due credit to you unless you wish to remain anonymous. Wisdom cannot be told but experiences can be shared to build it.

Although at times it may be more difficult than working alone, working in groups is an effective learning tool. Be prepared to face the challenges of working with people (something you will do throughout your career) and avoid finger-pointing at the end of the semester. Allow me to provide assistance and guidance in the early stages of your project and organizing your group. Ask, and you will receive support

Organize early and you will be rewarded. Select a team leader who can organize meetings, keep assignments on time, and make the administrative burden much lighter on everyone. Exchange telephone numbers and e-mail addresses with each other and make sure that I have a copy of this information for the entire team.

Schedule standing meetings when everyone will show-up. Allow extra meeting time during the heavy load periods if necessary. Remember, the only people responsible for an efficient team are the team members! If there are minor difficulties in scheduling, assignments, etc., at the beginning, I will be glad to lend a hand to organize the team. I am a member of every team!

Learning involves behavior change, visible or not, as a result of acquired knowledge. In order for the behavior change to occur, the input has to be mentally processed and made one’s own.

Learning is hard and it requires deliberate effort and it is intensely personal. Other people may do many things for each other but nobody can learn for someone else for it happens in the mind of the individual.

There is brute force “learning,” memorizing. This may be useful in the short run for some kinds of learning. Learning that will endure over time is important. That requires more care and determination on the part of the learner.