on course: spring 2008

by Jill Clerkin

Like shop and home ec in the 1960s, acourse created in 2003 by math and

computer instructor Jacques Hugon ’79aims to teach important life skills—butwith a distinctly 21st-century twist. InComputers 310: Business Applications andWeb Page Design, students use the com-puter lab in the Oliver Wendell HolmesLibrary to learn the basics of two popularMicrosoft programs, as well as how to cre-ate and launch a Web site.

“It’s not just about the exercises they doin class,” says Hugon. “More important is agrasp of how Excel can be used to makegood business decisions, how PowerPointcan influence business decisions, and how ef-fective Web-based communications are cre-ated.” His teaching and classroom anecdotesare backed by 20 years of experience as asoftware engineer and project manager; healso wrote the class’s user-friendly textbook.

It’s a frigid day early in winter term;Computers 310 begins promptly at 8 a.m.As Hugon reviews a homework questionabout how to use Excel functions to calcu-late a taxpayer’s federal income tax, hiscomputer desktop is projected on a pull-down screen. Students follow along ontheir own PCs.

Then it’s on to the day’s official topic,“the time value of money.” Hugon beginswith a question: “Do you want a dollarfrom me right now—or a year from now?Why?” A conversation about inflation, in-terest, and the unknown future ensues.

Hugon explains how the value of adollar tends to decrease over time. “Basedon an annual inflation rate of 3 percent, adollar will be ‘worth’ just 97 cents in a year,”he says. “Interest is the extra payment wemake for the time value of money we bor-row when we buy a car or house—and whatthe bank pays us to hold our money.”

Working with just five basic Excel financial functions, students explore theanswers to some practical questions:

v What would my monthly paymentbe on a $520,000 mortgage? How muchinterest would I have paid after 30 years?

� v If my parents had wanted to save$200,000 for my college educationand they could get a 5 percent annualinterest rate, how much would theyhave needed to save per month sincethe year I was born?

� v If I invest $1,000 at 7 percent peryear, how much will I have in 10years? What if the interest is com-pounded monthly instead of annually?Hugon pauses frequently to allow stu-

dents to figure out their next step.The discussion turns to cars and what

kind students would like to drive someday.A Ferrari, someone says enthusiastically. Amore practical Hugon does a quick Internetsearch for a Subaru Forester and current autoloan interest rates. “You want to buy this$21,195 car but you have no money,” hesays. “You can get a 48-month loan at 6.98percent, and you have $400 per month tospend. Can you afford it?” Excel reveals thesad truth in .5 seconds flat: no.

In one of his Excel labs, Hugon givesstudents a jumble of corporate accountingnumbers, from which they must draw con-clusions. Are sales going up? Is availablecash dwindling? Would you want to buythis company? Interpretation of the num-bers creates much discussion.

Another lab assignment requires stu-dents to use Excel to analyze the finan-cial results of the 2002 Boston Red Soxand then discuss the pros and cons ofJohn Henry’s purchase of the franchise.“Students create a very simplified dis-counted cash flow model to determinethe team’s value at the time and predictits future profitability,” explains Hugon.

“I’d always used Excel to construct sci-ence class graphs, but never knew it coulddo so much more than that,” says WalkerWashburn ’08. “Once you figure out what’sgoing on underneath the surface, it be-

comes an incredibly powerful tool.” A few weeks later, the class delves into

PowerPoint. “We’ve all sat through boringPowerPoint shows,”saysHugon.“Along withteaching the keystrokes, I also teach 10 stepsto an effective presentation, including theorganization of text and graphics, and theuse of animation.” Each student creates afive-minute (not a second longer) presenta-tion on a simple topic of interest.

In the final three weeks of the course,Hugon gives students an overview of PCand Web hardware and software architec-ture, and then teaches HTML, the lan-guage of the Web. “I show them ‘what’sunder the hood,’” says Hugon. “They beginto understand how HTML and the Inter-net work. My reward is when a student re-turns the following fall and tells me shecreated a Web site for her father’s smallbusiness. It’s happened!”

Exploring the Power and Potential of TechnologyON COURSE