Courses - Assignments, Resources, Etc. For Tom's Courses

E-mail us: tom@footeworks.us • Or phone: 1-954-424-9126

Colorado Technical University (CTU)
Course: CTU-IAS MGMT820 Quantitative Methods
Professor: Tom H. Foote
Last Edited: 03/29/2012 Draft

Welcome!

To my new doctoral students:

Welcome to our new "Course" page (my attempt to centralize and streamline as much of our web-based interaction as we can).

And, my thanks to every one of you for your helping this "Newbie to CTU" at every turn--and, for your contribution to what I felt was an excellent residency. I much enjoyed it--and, each of you.

Sincerely,

Tom Foote

1. News, Announcements, Etc.

Course Schedule

Streamlining Our Interaction:
Early Ideas for Your Reaction
(I welcome your comments about any part of this streamlining--and, about anything else that you think might help make the course go better. Thank you.)

Keep the Status Quo: That is, keep all of the current system the same, for those who like it, and for backup (at least for now)
Proposed "New" System, starting with this "Course" page (at http://footeworks.us/courses.htm): Should contain, all at a glance on a single page, the following:
1. News, announcements, etc.
2. Assignments Announced
3. My feedback on assignments
4. Your Posts (Anything within reason that any of you want me to post.)
5. Course Resources
6. Other?
Assignments Announced: I will post here and on MyCampus
Assignments Submitted: You should submit via email to me (and, if you want feedback from colleagues, also post to the Forum)
My Feedback: I will either email to you privately, or, publicly post links to it here (see such links below)--and, perhaps on the Forum.
Communication with me:
1. Non emergencies: tom@footeworks.us
2. Emergencies: 954-424-9126
Communication with colleagues: Continue via email, telephone, or Forum
Other?

2. Assignments Announced

(Also see Course Schedule)

ASSIGNMENT 1 - Early Project Pieces & DataDesk Work - DUE: Monday 1/28/2008

ASSIGNMENT 2 - Course Page, Projects, Data Desk
DUE: Monday 2/11/2008

ASSIGNMENT 3 - Take Home Exam, DUE: Monday 3/10/2008

Email: Our Remaining Conference Calls 2, 3, and 4, Scheduled for Fridays, March 7, 14, and 21, 7:00 PM - 8:55 PM Eastern Std Time.

Email: Home Stretch: Remaining Assignments, Conference Calls, Etc.

3. My Feedback
(Clicking on any of these should begin the process of downloading onto your system)

Projects

Assignment 2, 8 Concepts, Etc.

4. Your Posts
(You email them to me, I review and post them.)

5. Course Resources
(Please feel free to share these with anyone you like.)

Welcome Aboard Email: http://footeworks.us/Dear_valued_member.htm
Course Description:
http://footeworks.us/ctu_quant_meth_syl.pdf
Guidelines For Projects: http://footeworks.us/Guidelines_for_Projects.pdf
Tom's Potpourri of Research Handouts (Currently 25 pages within a two megabyte PDF file.)
Cleaner 8 Concepts Diagram (Felt pen high lighting on the one on page 15 of the above "Potpourri," made it hard to read.)
Data file of my 52-Card Modified Blackjack Deck (that we discussed with the 8 Concepts Diagram) in these formats:
- Data Desk - Blackjack 52 Cards.dsk
- ASCII text - Blackjack 52 Cards.txt
- Microsoft Excel - Blackjack 52 Cards.xls

6. Resources on FooteWorks.US
Please feel free to explore anything on this site--and to suggest improvements. Here are specific areas that might be helpful:

Resources page index, categories, link lists:
http://footeworks.us/resources.htm
Resources page, Computing categories
Resources page, Government categories
Resources page, Reference categories
Resources page, Research categories
Philosophies page, reflective quotations, links to similar pages
http://footeworks.us/philosophies.htm

Some quotations from the Philosophies page, on quantitative measures:

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.
--Albert Einstein
(Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children; the quality of their education; or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate, or the intelligence or integrity of our public officials. It measures neither wit nor our courage. Neither our vision, our wisdom, or our learning. Neither our compassion nor devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.
--Robert F. Kennedy, in a speech to students at
Kansas University, March 18, 1968.

7. Other Resources, Handouts, Links, Etc.
Listed here will be readings and other resources that relate to things that have come up during the course, in conversation, postings, etc. Again, please feel free to share these with anyone you like.

A. Space Shuttle Disasters

Link to Tufte's Article on Columbia Shuttle Disaster, the one we discussed in residency via the single page excerpt on page 9 of our Potpourri: Visual & Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Decision Making ("Paperback") by Edward R. Tufte (Author) List Price: $7.00 This is a reprint of Chapter 2 of Tufte's Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative, discussing both Space shuttle and cholera epidemic examples.)
Other Tufte Books
Challenger disaster on Wikipedia
Columbia disaster on Wikipedia

B. Whistle Blowers

TIME Magazine: The Bombshell Memo Coleen Rowley's Memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller
TIME 2002 Persons of the Year: Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley and ...
Coleen Rowley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Time magazine Persons of the Year - Wikipedia, the free ...
NOW. Politics & Economy. Coleen Rowley: Biography | PBS
Notable Whistleblowers . NOW | PBS

C. GAO Head, David Walker
(for Asila, Wes, others?)

A Call For Stewardship: Enhancing the Federal Government's Ability to Address Key Fiscal and Other 21st Century Challenges GAO-08-93SP December 17, 2007 Full Report (PDF, 31 pages): http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0893sp.pdf
GAO’s Walker to DOD: “Declare a war on waste” http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/41562-1.html
Walker takes GAO from accounting to accountability http://www.governmentleader.com/issues/news/292-1.html
Head of GAO warns America is headed for financial ruin.htm
Government Accountability Office on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Accountability_Office
Happy employees reflect the culture at GAO http://www.governmentleader.com/issues/1_10/features/242-1.html