CogitoVeritas.com

By the time a student enters college, he or she must have attained a degree of literacy that demonstrates preparation for the rigors of post secondary academic study. One of the markers of this preparation is the list of books that have been read. I have noticed that few undergraduate students are fully prepared for the reading, writing, and critical thinking requirements of their first few years of college work. To help rectify this problem, I offer my list of the books that all Americans should read before entering college. If you are already in college and have not read all of these books, waste no time in getting up to speed.

I have had a number of conversations recently with students that got me to thinking about my profession. Some of these conversations were face-to-face dialogues, others I must admit, were voyeuristic intrusions into students’ conversations before and after class.

All students should fully attend class. By attend, I do not mean solely being physically present but fully in cognitive attendance.

Writing is rewriting. Good writers draft once and proofread forever.

I have spent five hours this week addressing a single issue of academic dishonesty. The student who presented plagiarized material in an academic essay may have misunderstood the expectation of academic honesty that is placed on scholars.

Americans use multiple resources when searching for specific answers. The traditional sources, libraries and librarians, are still common alternatives, even with the ubiquitous availability of internet access.

Kojo Nnamdi, a radio host at WAMU interviewed Ryan Watkins and Michael Corry, authors of E-learning Compantion. More than three million students take online courses, annually. Watkins and Corry offer salient advice for both students and faculty who participate in a computer-mediated classroom.

A number of students have commented on the amount of reading that is required in our graduate business program. I agree, there is quite a bit of reading, sometimes well over 1,000 pages of densely-packed text in a single course.

I suggest that you read Peter Kump’s book, Breakthrough Rapid Reading. I have been recommending this book to students for many years, and I receive more hugs of thank you at commencements for having made this recommendation than I receive for my teaching abilities. ;-(

I received a request to explain passive voice. I am glad to help; thanks for asking for my thoughts.

Personal exposure and experience with using any technology is a definite asset; however, it is not by any means a prerequisite in the business environment. There are many technologies that we use on a daily basis without understanding how to create the technology. Good examples are our automobiles, televisions, and digital video recorders.

Free voice and data services will be available through an international consortium’s program that deploys a proton-based global network. The telecommunications network’s potential was confirmed last week following research using the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research, and the world’s largest particle physics laboratory.

I agree with the process, write as we speak. I frequently recommend to writers that they aurally record their thoughts and then write their comments down, as they play back the recording. I have a microtape transcription machine (it was the only gift that I wanted for my 35th birthday), and I used it for many years, documenting my spoken lecture. Now, I use a digital voice recorder; however, the outcome is the same: I speak first, and then I write. I found that this process of speaking, then writing has helped my podcasting. I am now speaking, writing, speaking.

In general, I judge that you, students, are able to demonstrate a clear command of the course content. Your class discussions are well focused, and your individual formal papers are prepared in a manner that coveys your comprehension the details of each week’s material.

However, in reading many assignments, I have noticed a pattern in your writing.

At the recent Chaos Communications Congress, Steven J. Murdoch, a researcher in the security group at the University of Cambridge, discussed how clock skew can be used to facilitate a digital attack against anonymity networks. Clock skew, the tendency for a computer’s clock to become less precise when heated, can reduce the efficacy of anonymizers, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Tor network.

Have you recently been receiving messages from a number of new friends? If so, you are either a good person or a one of the millions of spam victims. Experts estimate that 90% of e-mail traffic is spam, and those spammers claiming to be your friend may not really have your best interests at heart.

I challenge us to consider the common phrase, knowledge is power.

Knowledge is power, when it is wielded to advantage. I came to consider this caveat a few months ago, when my wife challenged me with the question, “What are you going to do with all of the books that you read?” What was left unsaid in her question was, what would I do with the knowledge that I gained from reading the books?

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

I hope that I do not sound like a wet blanket with my next comment; it is not my intention to do so. One of the skills that we must learn, as graduate students, is the ability to quickly locate appropriate reference material that leads us to making an informed, logical decision. One of the distractions of having a broad and deep reference set available to us is that we can easily be lead down a primrose path, interesting though it may be, it is still not leading us to an informed, logical conclusion.

In business management classes, academic writing should model business writing. Students should be encouraged to write in a clear, succinct manner; a manner that is most likely to encourage recipients to read the words.

Creating a geographically-flexible workspace* has always been my dream. It took me ten years from the time that I first added this goal to my business plan to finally implement it. Since April 1, 2000, I have been working from a home office, a suite of 1,400 square feet that includes a private conference and reading room, office space, and a work room with a long bench upon which I can repair computers and assemble books. I even have my own kitchen and lavatory. If my refrigerator were a little larger, I could comfortably live here!

Listen to the podcast at Internet Archive.

An ISP (Internet Service Provider) is the first link, for users, to the public Internet. AOL.com, PeoplePC.com, Comcast.net, Verizon.net are all examples of ISPs.