Hello!

As some of you may, or may not, know, Blackboard is not going to be Blackboard for very much longer, and I wanted to create something for AIS that could be used going forward for other classes, or for you, once you are done with AIS.  So, here is the first official AIS Blog.

You can consider this THE source of information for ACCT 3510-3513.  I will use Blackboard for posting pdf's of course notes, assignments, etc. (for the time being...I may change this) and grades (all that pesky privacy stuff). 

But for all the other good stuff, I will use this blog...as a result, this blog is required reading, and although there is not a "participation" portion of the course, I do want to hear from you.  This will be the venue where you can ask me questions, and I can either provide (or better yet, find on the web) solutions to help you learn the concepts in this class more thoroughly. 

If you haven't already done so...consider setting up a Google Reader account and (of course, add this blog).  If you have a smart phone, you can look at Google Reader while you are waiting on the transit, at Chick Fil A over lunch, or while you are sitting in Intermediate II (just kidding, sort of).  Cool thing about Google Reader is that you can add all kinds of feeds that you are interested in...sports, entertainment, news, and OH yeah, business. 

Okay, for some important stuff. 

Required on DAY ONE:

• Arens & Ward: Systems Understanding Aid (7e): ISBN: 978-0-912503-27-1

Don't need until February:

• Exploring Microsoft Office 2007 Custom Edition [ISBN: 0-536-51171-3]---make sure my name is on the cover!
• THIS EXACT THUMB DRIVE.  You can pick any color, but you will be handing them over to me....more on this later. [Edited to add: Distance students you do not need to buy a thumb drive.]
• Excel 2007 and Access 2007 (available in COB labs for on-campus students, and virtual lab for distance students), but also available here for a GREAT price.  (2010 versions work fine as well.)