Instructions for Spring 2018 CIS 3367 Midterm Project YouTube Videos
Grading Criteria for your videos
Creativity: Introduce something new or unexpected that can be accomplished with Excel.
3 points
Demonstrate Excel proficiency: Do a good job of explaining how Excel is used to make an interesting and sophisticated dashboard as well as other ways that you highlight ideas you want to emphasize (use of conditional formatting, animation and data validation).
5 points
Technological competence: Upload your video to YouTube as public or unlisted not as private. I should be able to hear your presentation and the image should be large enough so that I can read anything important on the screen. Your video should be between 7 and 10 minutes long, points will be deducted if it is longer than 10 minutes.
2 points
Teaching style: Your presentation should be easy to understand, well organized and entertaining. It is not easy to fit all of your compelling ideas into 10 minutes so write and follow a script.
3 points
Demonstrate academic skill: Include a 500 word description of your project with reference(s) for the website or organization your data is from. If you do not want to reveal your data source briefly explain how you have anonymized the data. Include the Excel file that your project is based upon.
2 points
Meet the deadline: Submit your video link on or before the due date. Paste the link for your video in the comments area when you submit the Excel file and your script as a Word file to BlackBoard.
2 points
Reflect upon what you accomplished: Provide an explanation of what you learned by completing this project. Tell us what the purpose of your spreadsheet is. Describe a particular feature you learned that you found helpful in the completing this project.
1 point
The video must be of the Excel screen with the cursor moving around as you explain what you are doing. This is a “how to” video. You do not need a webcam, I don’t want to see your charming countenance. I recommend that you create the video using Screencast-O-Matic: http://screencast-o-matic.com/home. You can also use your Smartphone or other mobile device to create the video, for example just point the camera on your Smartphone towards your computer, make the video and upload it to your computer.
Upload your video to YouTube. You need to have a Gmail account. Once you are logged on, follow the prompts. After your video is uploaded, a link that you can post on BlackBoard will be created.
WikiHow (n.d.), How to Upload a Video to YouTube. Retrieved from: http://www.wikihow.com/Upload-a-Video-to-YouTube.
It is important to make the privacy setting for your videos public or unlisted. If you set a video to private, I will not be able to access it.
Studio 300 Blog, March 11, 2014, Private vs. Unlisted on YouTube, Retrieved from: https://fplstudio300.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/private-vs-unlisted-on-youtube/
The following excerpt from the textbook Business Intelligence: A Managerial Perspective on Analytics may be helpful to you.
Think of your analysis as a Story – Use a Story Structure
When crafting a data-rich story, the first objective is to find the story. Who are the characters? What is the drama or challenge? What hurdles have to be overcome? And at the end of your story, what do you want your audience to do as a result?
Once you know the core story, craft your other story elements: define your characters, understand the challenge, identify the hurdles, and crystallize the outcome or decision question. Make sure you are clear with what you want people to do as a result. This will shape how your audience will recall your story. With the story elements in place, write out the storyboard, which represents the structure and form of your story. Although it’s tempting to skip this step, it is better first to understand the story you are telling and then to focus on the presentation structure and form. Once the storyboard is in place, the other elements will fall into place. The storyboard will help you to think about the best analogies or metaphors, to clearly set up challenge or opportunity, and to finally see the flow and transitions needed. The story board also helps you focus on key visuals (graphs, charts, and graphics) that you need your executives to recall.
In summary, don’t be afraid to use data to tell great stories. Being factual, detail oriented, and data driven is critical in today’s metric-centric world, but it does not have to mean being boring and lengthy. In fact, by finding the real stories in your data and following the best practices, you can get people to focus on your message – and thus on what’s important. Here are those best practices:
1. Think of our analysis as a story – use a story structure.
2. Be authentic – your story will flow.
3. Be visual – think of yourself as a film editor.
4. Make it easy for your audience and you.
5. Invite and direct discussion.
Sharda, R., Dursun D., and Efraim T. Business Intelligence: A Managerial Perspective on Analytics. Prentice Hall Press, 2013, page 117
It is not necessary for you to create a storyboard, you must make a compelling presentation however.
There are plenty of ways that we can get the PowerPivot sample data. Here is a website I found easily …perhaps you can find others: http://powerpivot-info.com/post/50-list-suggested-datasets-to-test-powerpivot.
Perhaps you should “make your own data.” For example you can keep a log of everything you do online, including the time you spend on assignments for our class. This article, “Five ways to avoid the personal online ghetto” by Mars Dorian is about the over consumption of online time wasting activities. Retrieved from: http://www.businessesgrow.com/2013/09/11/five-ways-to-avoid-the-personal-online-ghetto/
Here are instructions for accessing data from one of the Baruch Library Databases:
To log on to Reference USA, go to http://guides.newman.baruch.cuny.edu/databases and scroll down the list of databases to Reference USA — you’ll need your Baruch user ID and password (yes, the same one as you use for email or logging on to machines at school) to get in. Please note that accessing Reference USA uses different passwords depending if you are inside or outside the college.
1) Choose the section: U.S. Consumers/Lifestyles Database
2) Click on Custom Search (tab)
3) On left had side of page, pick Geography (click on arrow)
4) Select the types you need
5) Lifestyles (tab) (click on arrow)
6) Select the types you need
Continue in this way selecting the information you need.
7) Click VIEW RESULTS (tab) upper right corner