SANS MGT 305 Class

ISE 5000 

.5 Credit Hours

Time limit:  45 days (10/7/2014 - 11/21/2014) (I got extra because my books and access to longer)

Final Grade: C

To sign up for a class, SANS students go to a special link that list the classes based on the program you select. You pay for the class and then you receive an email stating that everything is paid for.

So for ISE 5000 (MGT305) there are two options:

• In person
• Online (self study)

I took self study. With self study you get:

• Book
• Audio files

They recommend that you buy these two books:

• The Classic Guide to Better Writing: Step-by-Step Techniques and Exercises to Write Simply, Clearly and Correctly (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062730487/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
• Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395393914/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

The class has three assignments:

• Read over a Gold Paper Excerpt.
• Write an annotated Bibliography
• Perform a 5 minute video on the Bibliography

I am going to break down each assignment and what I like and didn't.

Read over a Gold Paper Excerpt.

The Gold Paper Excerpt was from about 5 years ago but it was still semi relevant.

I didn't like this assignment. You read someone else's paper and make "adjustments". There is no telling how many adjustments you need to make. So you could over/under edit the paper. For me I wanted to rewrite the whole thing but knew that was not the assignment. You did get another chance to redo the assignment if you did not get a passing grade of 70% or better.

Pro: Redo assignment with "some" guidance.

Con: Editing another's paper is not easy.

Suggestion: Maybe have the student write a short essay on a topic.

Write an annotated Bibliography

Based on the assignment you got for the Gold paper you will research 5 new topics related to your Gold Paper excerpt. This was a very easy and interesting assignment. The only stipulation is it has to be academically credited sources. The problem is SANS does not have a membership to any so you have to use some very good google-fu to hopefully find sources.

The suggested source from the STI Catalog is:

a. Harvard Business School Working Knowledge provides access to a wealth of research on management, finance, operations, negotiation and related management topics.

b. INSEAD Knowledge offers access to articles, case studies, working papers, and other material on innovation, finance, entrepreneurship, marketing, people leadership and more.

c. Knowledge Wharton has articles and case studies on managing technology, finance, ethics, and more.

d. Harvard Business Online Case Study Library is a rich collection of case studies covering many aspects of management.

Magazine Databases

a. MagPortal.com provides a search engine for locating individual magazine articles on the web.

b. Periodicals in Maryland Libraries provide a listing of periodicals owned by Maryland libraries — useful when unable to find the full text articles online.

c. FindArticles.com offers access to articles published in the last two years from over 300 publications

Pro: Easy, understandable assignment with very clear guidance.

Con: Finding sources is hard.

Suggestion: Maybe provide students access to resources to be able to complete the assignment easily.

Perform a 5 minute video on the Bibliography

Make a 5 minute video about your Bibliography. According to the class you should only take 30 - 60 seconds per slide. I broke my slides down by the topic on the excerpt and then the new research I found I put into two categories. Again you have a very limited amount of time to talk about the whole thing. You have to create a Vimeo account and upload the video there. You then send everything to David Hoelzer. He is a great guy and he actually took the time to call me on the phone. We talked about the presentation and he gave me some suggestions. I did a follow up presentation and he said I passed. Again he passed on some wisdom on presenting and that was that. My only complaint was it was on the bibliography and that is a hard topic to present on because it is not a complete thought. David also pointed that out to me.

Pro: Very easy assignment that could be completed in a weekend. David was very personable and it was nice to talk to someone for a couple minutes that is a teacher of the program.

Con: It is an awkward topic to present on. 

Suggestion: Maybe let the student pick one idea out of the Bibliography. Let the student present on that topic.

I am still waiting on the final grade for the class as a whole. Besides the first assignment. I liked the class as a whole. I have taken this course before just not as a student.

I signed up for my next class ISE 5200 (SEC 504).

Also SANS now can support VA benefits. If you are a veteran and you want to use your benefits get with the VA department by emailing: Matthew Scott <mscott@sans.edu>  and  "vabenefits@sans.edu" <vabenefits@sans.edu>.