Reference at Newman Library

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1. Login to WordPress
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3. After clicking your username, you’ll be on your “Profile” page. Scroll down to the “Name” section, enter your first name and last name in the appropriate boxes. Then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Update Profle” button.
4. Whent the page reloads, scroll down to the names section again and where it says “Display name publicly as” select the option that gives you your first and last name.
5. Then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “Update Profle” button to save that setting

Please call me at x1620 if you have any problems with this.

Yesterday Chris blogged about his problem with the projector in Room 135.

Although I had no trouble getting the projector in room 135 to come on, during my presentation it quit working. I assumed that the bulb had burnt out. However, when I was closing up the computer, about an hour later, the projector came back on (I hadn’t touched anything.) I submitted a help desk request to have it looked at.

Rita

There are students asking for access to the MYOB accounting software. It is available on the PCs at the BCTC.

Students can practice for the Simnet Assessment Test (Microsoft Excel Skills) using the Simnet Xpert software on the BCTC computers (PCs). According to the Help Desk, this version should be sufficient for those with some Excel knowledge/experience. For those new to Excel, the Simnet CD ROM available at the bookstore should be purchased. The cd rom has more tests/exercises.

For a listing of software at computer labs, go here:
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/bctc/software/Softwareforstudents.htm

Ester Ramos noted this morning that Saad Abulhab got the self-checkout machine working again.

I am tinkering with the settings of the email notifications of new blog posts. Please ignore this post.

I had a problem with the projector in room 135 this morning. It would not power on when I used the remote, or when I tried the power button on the bottom of the projector. I stood on the table to see if a cable was loose and saw that the power switch on the back of the projector was turned off. It worked after turning this on. I’m not sure why this would have been switched off–luckily I was in the classroom with plenty of extra time.

On a related note, the PC in that classroom seems to take an inordinate amount of time to boot up–10 minutes or more after you log in. I hope this can be fixed.

Among the new research reports from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is:

“How Do College Students Form Expectations?” by Basit Zafar
Because students rely on their subjective expectations when choosing a college major, understanding this process of expectations formation is crucial for education policy recommendations. This paper focuses on how college students form expectations about various major-specific outcomes. The author collects a unique panel data set of Northwestern University undergraduates that contains their subjective expectations about major-specific outcomes. Although students tend to be overconfident about their future academic performance, Zafar finds that they revise their expectations about various major-specific outcomes in systematic ways. For example, students who receive extremely positive information about their ability revise upward their prediction for short-term grade-point average (GPA). Similarly, those who receive very negative information revise downward their beliefs about GPA. Furthermore, students seem to update their probabilistic beliefs in a manner consistent with Bayesian analysis: Prior beliefs about outcomes to be realized in college tend to be fairly precise, while new information influences prior beliefs about outcomes in the workplace. Moreover, students who are more uncertain about major-specific outcomes in the initial survey make greater absolute revisions in their beliefs in the follow-up survey. Finally, the author presents evidence that learning plays a role in the decision to switch majors. Negative revisions to beliefs about graduating in four years, enjoying coursework, and earning an expected salary are associated with dropping a major.
Read the full report:
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr378.html

Rita

I have placed a book, The New Centralization, in the hold area at the reference desk for Prof. Tom Halper. He will be in to pick it up sometime this week. It needs to be checked out. He sent an email about the book earlier today.

Rita