Provide a brief list of research references you might use (you are not committing to using these) for the written assignment due at the end of week 6. Please also describe the content of the citation (in one or two sentences) in order to demonstrate the relevance and usefulness of each reference.
Corporate Handbook of Going Public. Snell and Wilmer. Retrieved from https://www.sec.gov/info/smallbus/gbfor25_2006/goingpublic.pdf
Comprehensive info and nitty gritty of IPO focusing on three principal ways in which a private company can go public: IPO, Reverse Merger and Rule 144A Equity Placement, their implications among others
NYSE IPO Guide. New York Stock Exchange. Retrieved from https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/listing/nyse_ipo_guide.pdf
Extensive and detailed information about nuts and bolts of IPO offering that emphasizes on potential issues, choosing advisors, meeting regulatory requirements, process timeline, SEC registration, Communication Strategy, managing risks among others
Koba, M (2012). Initial Public Offering: CNBC Explains. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/id/47099278
Simple and easy to understand info about what IPO is , why companies go public, the steps involved, how investors get into it.
Roadmap for an IPO. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/hu/hu/szolgaltatasok/konyvvizsgalat/szamviteli-tanacsadas/kiadvanyok/roadmap_for_an_ipo.pdf
This focuses on preparing to go public, accounting and financial reporting issues, team building among others.
Pisani, B (2014) How IPO Gets Done Step by Step. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2014/09/17/alibaba-how-an-ipo-gets-done-step-by-step.html
Explains in detail how the biggest IPO in the history took place step by step, starting from several months ahead of the IPO day to several months after the event.
Boyte, Clair (2018). Ways Corporations Raise Capital. Investopedia. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032515/what-are-different-ways-corporations-can-raise-capital.asp
Talks about different ways corporations raise capital, giving comprehensive information about Debt capital such as bank loans, personal loans, credit card debt, credit line and bonds in addition to the equity capital such as sale of share, Pubic Offering. Also explains pros and cons of each one of them.
Hendricks, D (2014). Raising Capitals. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/drewhendricks/2014/07/16/the-5-best-ways-to-raise-capital/#2153beb15f42
This one talks about new alternative ways of raising capitals such as Angel Investors, Crowdfunding among others.
How corporations raise Capitals. American History. Retrieved from http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/outlines/economy-1991/from-small-business-to-the-corporation/how-corporations-raise-capital.php
Johnston, K (2018) Implications of Issuing Stocks and Bonds. Small Business Chronicles. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-issuing-stock-longterm-debt-60519.html
Please provide a brief update to the instructor on how you feel you're doing so far this term.
Is there anything you're struggling with right now?
Do you have any concerns going forward?
This term started pretty well, given my background in mathematics and computer science the calculations were fairly easy for me, however, after reviewing some of the discussion forum and written assignments, most of the instruction here were misleading.
The instructor is doing a great job, going out of his way to help out the students, however, it appears that it is not possible for one instructor to keep up with the load created by the demand of several students.
For example, a question was asked about discussion forum & written assignment for Unit 3 at the early hours of morning on Sunday regarding the vagueness of the wording of the content in relation to the reading materials provided that were very disorganized – the book for Finance for managers says – "the content is not final" and some of the pages have unprofessional look, however, the question was fully misunderstood and a simple answer " Perform Research" was given, even though it was clear that the question was asked after comprehensive research.
When the further question was asked about the clarification of the discussion forum content the same evening on Sunday night, there was no response until Wednesday, 10:30 pm, well after the end of time for submission for discussion forum response, which ends at around 9 pm or sometimes 10 pm in West Coast, California.
The question pertained to both discussion forum and written assignment, the student had thought about withdrawing from the course because there was no timely correspondence. However, he was thoughtful about the situation and submitted the discussion forum response at late hours and when attempt was made to submit written assignment, the moodle software had some technical glitch and stopped accepting assignment before the said deadline.
When this was brought up, there was no response, as if nothing happened. If this is what online education is going to be, then its future is hopeless. As a pioneer in low cost online education, UoPeople must do everything possible to sustain this new field, least this dies. However, UoPeople seems to be ignoring the concerns of students.
This was not the first time it happened, it had happened during the Term 2 as well and it was ignored and it happened again in Term 3, but during that the instructor was understanding and was able to extend the submission period.
Hence, it seems that some instructors are not aware of their power they have been given to assist students with simple technical challenges caused by glitch in software, which is common. Just ignoring student's concerns does not solve the problem, and the outcome is that, a hard working first class student would be getting much lower grade even though, he could have easily received a perfect GPA.
I agree that some instructor's may not be technically savvy in assisting students, if that is the case, the issue should be delegated to the concerned department or staff.
A good solution for this problem is to have TAs (Teaching Assistants) help out fellow students. Due to large volume of students, instructors are too busy to be able to respond to each student's concerns and questions. The teaching assistants will definitely make the burdens of the instructor lighter.
Teaching assistants are nothing new, even Ivy League schools such as Princeton and Harvard have them. They do most of the routine work in assisting the students gain the required knowledge and the instructors only do what is absolutely needed, of course they could do more if they are passionate about.
I am bringing this up because it is a critical issue. As we are aware, out of total 27 students who initially joined the term 4, only 16 are left, that means more than 40% of the students have left the course silently. If things continue, more will leave, as they leave, they will lose faith on online education and will blame institution like UoPeople for crushing their dreams.
Those who have not left, some of them seem to be using paid service such as course hero or Chegg, which some people believe is unethical and like cheating because they have answers for all the assignments in UoPeople's syllabus. These guides may be helpful to some people, but in the end it does not stimulate learning, and it is just like cheating. Students only learn what is in the course hero or Chegg.
Initially, I thought, maybe there is a conflict of interest with the instructors with these websites like course hero and Chegg; because they could easily put the instructors on their payroll and make the instructors do things that will force students to enroll in these paid websites.
For example, I was reviewing the Unit 4 assignments, the term "average weighted factor " was nowhere to be found in the reading assignment that included chapter 8, 9 and 10 for reading even though most of the useful details were not in any of those chapters for the written assignment. Few things were there in chapter 11, however, it was not adequate.
The calculations were simple, however, due to disorganized and incomplete content and the textbook, students end up wasting a lot of their valuable time. University should recommend the high-quality resources and textbooks, not the incomplete ones.
Hope these words are helpful to improve the quality of education in UoPeople. The only reason I write this is because I care for online education and the work UoPeople is doing and I want it to thrive. Using TAs (Teaching Assistants) could be a next big thing for UoPeople. They don't have to be expensive because UoPeople could choose students who have already completed the term and use them as TAs for new group of students and waive their assessment fee or even provide minimum wage required by law. This will help the instructors, students and the University all alike. If done right, UoPeople could disrupt the education system, however, looking at how it is doing now, it could easily go into bankruptcy as students realize what they are getting into and start leaving the system…
In the meantime, let's continue to motivate each other and look forward to the bright future with the optimism, hoping someday something great will happen and that will disrupt the education system here in USA and around the world