Surviving CyberMonday and other holiday shopping waves

The day after Thanksgiving, also known as “Black Friday”, is the first of the holidays’ shopping big waves. It is the time of the year where retailers and online stores push their products to next levels. “Cyber Monday” was originally created to make additional offers to employees returning to work. Today, with more home computers, tablets, and smartphones, consumers do not have to wait until Monday to start getting the cyber deals. Last week we were even able to dig into all newspapers’ flyers online before they were in the streets. These waves also bring “sharks” closer to us. Scams, misleading offers, and increases in credit card debt are also part of this shopping “cybersea”. Here are some tips to survive these holidays’ shopping waves.

1. Be a smart shopper. Don’t buy things that you don’t need, with money that you don’t have to impress people you don’t know. Value your money and your time. I saw people spending days camping outside stores since Tuesday to save money. This could be a saving if your productive time is less valuable. If you know how to buy the things that you really need, you do not have to expend time outside a store.  You search, search, and save until you find the exact deal that works for you. I saw people waiting days in a tent to then get a laptop what was not what they expected.

2. Plan your shopping well in advance. If you know what you really need, you can plan ahead of time and search for the right product and the right deal. Make lists of things you really need, not things that you just want. Narrow your list and you will discover that you already have something in your list that it is hidden in the clutter in your garage or your closet. Most of my neighbors park their expensive cars in the driveway because their garages are cluttered with stuff they barely use. Be generous and give away things that you do no use. Prosperity is about flowing and giving to others. Be familiar with your favorite stores and learn when they have special sales or clearance racks. Everyday could be a “black Friday” if you are a good explorer.

3. Avoid the holidays’ debt tsunami. The most difficult part of surviving holidays’ shopping waves is to control your credit cards. Many people start the new year complaining about their increased new credit card debt. Controlling new debt requires a lot of discipline. It takes several years to break these habits. However, you do not have to wait for a loss of income to control this tsunami. Extra expending is just an emotional gratification. Controlling what you expend can be done by planning ahead. If you plan well in advance, you may save money and use them avoiding credit card use. Giving is an art that should be a way of life. When you give your time, talent and money to others, prosperity will follows. However, expending money that you don’t have to buy expensive gifts is not the essence of giving. You can reduce your list of gifts and buy symbolic gifts that have more meaning and emotional value than a gift that will be returned to the store after Christmas. Remember the reason for the season. Enjoy the season by starting a new year without new credit card debt. Credit cards should be used for real emergencies.

In all cases, marketers will do the effort to keep us in the shopping waves all year. After Christmas, and New Year sales, we will bombarded by Valentine’s day, Spring, Easter, Mothers and Fathers Day, Summer, Back to School, Fall, and Halloween to start listening to Christmas songs again before Thanksgiving. Plan and control your expenses to be prepared to ride all the shopping waves. Enjoy the journey.

Reducing Information and Communication Overload in Management Online Education @ NISOD

Dr. Jose G. Lepervanche website

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Mobile posts in blogs

WordPress application installed on smartphone allows posting new posts in our blog. Mobile learning is our next challenge. This is part of our Information Integration effort in reducing information overload.

Capstone Island Survivors

Congratulations to the first graduating class of our BAS in Supervision and Management. Time to find new mountains to climb. Enjoy the journey.

Making Your Blackboard Course “Pop”

Making Your Blackboard Course “Pop”
Are you or your students tired of the same old, boring online look of black letters on a white background? If so, this workshop is for you. In this interactive, hands-on workshop, you will learn how to add images, banners, sound, and videos to the announcements, content, and discussions in your Blackboard courses. Liven up your class to help keep your students motivated. In this workshop, resources will be shared that will help you with adding and manipulating images, sound, and video. Prior experience with Blackboard is helpful but not necessary for this workshop.

See Making Your Blackboard Course “Pop” handout in the Learning Edge website.

21st International Conference on College Teaching and Learning

April 19-23, 2010 – 21st International Conference on College Teaching and Learning

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 – 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., Advanced Technology Center
Making Your Blackboard Course “Pop”
Are you or your students tired of the same old, boring online look of black letters on a white background? If so, this workshop is for you. In this interactive, hands on workshop, you will learn how to add images, banners, sound, and videos to the announcements, content, and discussions in your Blackboard courses. Liven up your class to help keep your students motivated. In this workshop, resources will be shared that will help you with adding and manipulating images, sound, and video. Prior experience with Blackboard is helpful but not necessary for this workshop.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010, 2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m., Players D (Macintosh Multimedia Room)
Eventoons: Experimental creative art using educational eventoons, cartoons and avatars
Cartoons and Second Life (SL) avatars have been used in management and information systems courses to bring educational current events to ground and virtual classroom. Eventoons are an experimental creative way to use art to shape current events in a drawing and/or virtual world to enhance their impact in our students. Drawing cartoons for a class is done on a whiteboard and/or posted on a website (www.eventoons.org), blog or SL virtual world. Creations are experimental because they are tested for usefulness to enhance the learning experience. (ID #143/Track 1)
Wednesday, April 21, 2010, 4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., Players D (Macintosh Multimedia Room)
Microblogging and social media groups to enhance classroom discussions topics
Microblogging and social media networks are two of the current web technologies that bring classroom activities outside the traditional ground and virtual platforms. Microblogging using Twitter is a creative way of posting comments and links that can be replicated in social groups, Blackboard announcements or inside a discussion board. Students are able to read and reply to tweets as part of a class or comment in a social group. Professors can select good responses and tweet them as a microblog in both Twitter and social media groups to expand discussions outside the classroom. (ID #139/Track 4)

Thursday, April 22, 2010, 3:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m., Players D (Macintosh Multimedia Room)
Capstone course development for the BAS in Supervision and Management
The Capstone in Supervision and Management is a course that focuses on the integration of knowledge, skills and abilities learned in the BAS in Supervision and Management program through a capstone project. Integrating management knowledge was accomplished by including the core competencies and program outcomes (professionalism, problem solving, literacy skills, management perspective, information technology and teamwork), business advisory board current industry needs, students’ current workplace experience, and faculty academic and practitioner experience. The result was a matrix of course components (team project simulation, individual project, OPQ, professional development, current topics, and mentoring) that combine and integrate the above-mentioned areas. (ID #158/Track 1)