 |
University of Maryland University College
Distance Education
|
|
| WebTycho Server *** Instructor's
Home Page *** Send
Mail to Instructor
|
| PREREQUISITE(S) | TEXTS | COURSE DESCRIPTION |
| GOALS & OBJECTIVES | COURSE PLACEMENT | ASSIGNMENTS |
| COURSE PROJECT | GRADING | EXAMS |
| ACADEMIC INTEGRITY | SESSION SCHEDULE | PROTOCOLS |
Course Dates: 03 Nov 2003 - 07 Mar 2004
IFSM 300 or equivalent (or special permission of instructor). Telnet/FTP capability and regular access to the World Wide Web using a Java-enabled, graphical Web browser are required for the DE version of this course. I suggest having at least either Internet Explorer 6.x or Netscape 7.x (or Mozilla) or Opera 7. Students will need access to a Win98/ME/2000/XP computer for installing, evaluating and utilizing software for this course. Additional (free) software may be required to be downloaded during the course of the semester.
Students will be required to access the WebTycho course environment 2 - 3 times per week.
Our main textbook for this course will be the McGraw Hill publication listed below. It It will be supplemented with Internet, World Wide WEB And UMUC Database readings to provide current information and sample stories to support the depth of understanding needed for IFSM students. This course will be heavily augmented with additional outside readings. We will cover approximately two chapters per week (view the Table of Contents below).
 |
Bedell, Paul. Wireless Crash Course, McGraw Hill: 2001-- (ISBN: 0071372105) |
View
Summary Table of Contents
An analysis of technical and managerial perspectives on basic concepts and applications in wireless telecommunication systems. The implications of the regulatory environment and communications standards on transmission of voice and data are examined. Other topics include an overview of second generation (2G), third generation (3G), and global system of mobile (GSM) wireless communications, code-division multiple access (CDMA), Bluetooth, 802.11x, two-way mobile phones, paging, and trends in wireless communication.
A major project, involving
demonstration, administration or research using scholarly sources in an area
of Wireless Communications, will culminate in the sharing of the student's project
on a web page on a UMUC resource. The purpose of the project is to demonstrate
the student's overall knowledge in a specific area of focus, to be determined
by the instructor. 
Courses in Information Systems Management (designated IFSM) may be applied as appropriate (according to individual program requirements) toward
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
· Demonstrate a key understanding of how network protocols will be incorporated into the next generation of wireless cell phones including the TCP/IP model.
· Understand Wireless Networking and the 802.11x standards.
Academic preparation for this class, requires that you dedicate a minimum of 180 - 200 hours for this course of study. Distance learning courses are designed for the University student whose duties, location, time, and/or other circumstances prohibit attendance at a regularly scheduled class times. You should note that more of the burden for learning falls on the student in a distance learning course. The instructor will act as a mentor and guide, but the responsibility for reviewing, organizing, and learning course materials falls predominately on the student. For those students who are self-motivated and disciplined, and enjoy learning on their own, successful completion of these courses shouldn't pose a problem. Please consider this carefully when budgeting your time. This distance education course is not considered independent study, but involves weekly collaboration with fellow students.
We will be working in groups, and I strongly recommend that you establish close relations with your group members once you have been assigned to a group. Although group grades will not be assigned, group participation will be taken into consideration (5% of of your 30% participation grade). Members of each group will have an opportunity to provide confidential feedback about individual group members' contributions, support and assistance. A group also has the authority to expel a member (by majority vote) under justifying circumstances and after consultation with the instructor (this would have a negative impact on the affected student's participation grade).
There will also be a need
to download software from the Internet. If you have a slow connection to the
Internet, you will want to consider alternatives.
In addition to a course project, there will be several smaller projects required for this course. Each student will be required to do these smaller projects, although you are encouraged to collaborate with your group members. Smaller projects include, but are not limited to News Reports, Software/Hardware Evaluations, Internet Collaboration, Encryption, Web site maintenance and Solaris/Linux familiarity (FTP, Telnet, E-mail). See the WebTycho Syllabus for detailed due dates for each of these projects.
Case Studies may be assigned
to groups to augment textbook coverage of a particular topic. Students will
be graded both on their analysis of the case studies, as well as the constructive
critique of other students' analyses. Case study analyses will be posted
to our WebTycho environment in the appropriate week for the chapter being covered.
The cases should be a collaborative effort by all members of the group. Although
no group grade will be assigned, groups can disassociate (expel) a member for
failure to actively participate.
Topics, format, and depth of the project will be coordinated on a one-on-one basis. A formal assignment will be posted electronically by week three in the Assignment area of WebTycho. Although the specifics may vary, students should demonstrate an awareness of and commitment to the process of "Critical Thought." Critical thinking means, among other things, to analyze a topic from different perspectives, to seek out causes or potential consequences of issues and events, and to apply what you have learned to new, possibly unrelated areas. I expect you to not only integrate "critical thinking" into your academic endeavors within our distance learning community, but also to take this concept with you.
A one-page description of
the student's intended project must be submitted no later than
week 5, to be approved by the instructor
NLT week 7. The project is due for evaluation
by week 13.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in a review by the appropriate authorities. Make sure you understand and respect copyrighted material.
Grades will be based on
the following factors:
|
|
 |
|
| Participation/Conferencing | 30% | |
| Assignments/Projects | 30% | |
| Mid-Semester examination | 20% | |
| Final examination | 20% | |
Grading Scale
PENALTIES FOR LATENESS: Written assignments
not in by due date: 5% /day
Participation--WebTycho Protocols
By registering for a WebTycho course, you are making a commitment to participate in your course conferences as well as other online activities. To contact your instructor, use the WebTycho conferencing software or e-mail links provided, which allow you to communicate with the instructor and your classmates in a virtual classroom 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please plan to participate regularly. You will note in the grading policy above that your online conference participation counts 30% of your final grade.
You are required to participate in on-line conferencing, answer assigned questions/case studies and do 3 term projects, and take two examinations. The mid-semester examination will be a proctored examination covering material up to week #7. The final examination will be comprehensive and consist of multiple-choice and essay questions where the most weight will be on the essay/problem solving questions.
Bi-weekly online conferencing questions provide interaction with other members of the class. The material in both the self-assessment and online conferencing questions often finds its way into the final examination.
Writing and Research: Effective writing is critical to the intellectual life of university students and graduates within the workplace. Effective managers are usually effective communicators. Your work in this course must demonstrate your ability to master and effectively communicate course content. Effective writing
· Meets the needs of the reader
· Adequately covers the subject
· Uses expected conventions of format and organizations
· Demonstrates use of credible reasoning and evidence
· Satisfies standards of style and grammatical correctness
· Requires 100% compliance with UMUC's zero-tolerance policy regarding plagiarism.
There will be two examinations. Your mid-semester examination will be a proctored exam. Make sure that you have follow the proper procedures for taking this examination. The final exam will be taken online, and is likely to include a mix of multiple choice questions, problems (depending on the subject matter), fill-in-the blanks, and essay questions. There may also be a brief case problem to be analyzed.
Arrangements should be made early to schedule availability for examinations. Your online examination will be made available during a window of 48 hours; you will have 3 hours to complete the online timed exam. You will need access to a computer with PGP installed for taking the final examination. It is your responsibility to inform the instructor, prior to the examination posting, if you are unable to partake during the scheduled time period.
Make-Up Exams
Students are expected to take examinations within the date range indicated in
this syllabus or prescribed by the instructor. Students are also expected to
notify the faculty member in advance if one is not able to visit our virtual
class for more than 4 consecutive days.
I
believe that communication between instructor and student is paramount in teaching
any course, but in Distance Education, the collaboration among students is most
critical, thus participation accounts for a major portion of the composite grade.
You should think of me as a resource as well as a representative of the University
of Maryland University College. My telephone numbers, electronic mail address
and FAX numbers are listed on my homepage
and within WebTycho. There are not many acceptable reasons for you not to be able
to contact me (or arrange for me to be contacted) in case of some emergency.
If you know you're going to be on a business trip or away from an appropriate communicating device and assignments are to be submitted during that week, as shown in the outline, please coordinate submissions with one of your group members to avoid late submission penalties. Late assignments diminish your assigned grade by 5% for each late day. Assignments are always due on a Wednesday. It is better to turn in assignments early to give oneself a buffer for the unexpected, unpredictable event which might otherwise lead to delays. If for some technical reason, our WebTycho class environment is not available/accessible, please notify me by e-mail, but make sure you have tried accessing one of the alternate servers. It is highly unlikely, but not impossible, that all WebTycho servers will concurrently be unavailable.
Because you are all adults, I consider each of you a course resource as well as a student. Your participation improves the course tremendously. Much educational research has shown that the larger a part you play in your own education, the more you learn and the faster you learn it. All questions which would normally be asked in a classroom, will be asked via the appropriate WebTycho conference by submitting a message for all fellow students to see (and respond to).
Distance education courses offered by the University of Maryland University College Maryland in Europe are conducted through computer conferencing. The distance education program is not considered independent study, and it does not attempt to emulate correspondence courses. Distance education program students can expect to interact frequently with their fellow students and their teacher. Qualitative participation is weighted more than quantitative participation in this course.
It
is each student's responsibility to maintain accurate records and transcriptions
of correspondence throughout the course. Please make sure you have copies of
everything which you are required to submit for grading. In the event
of electronic interruptions, an alternative delivery mode will be exercised
to inform the affected parties of a problem and suggested resolutions.
You are expected to adhere to the general rules of online etiquette. To prepare to use the online conference you should read the Core Rules of Netiquette. If you are new to Distance Education keep those notes handy; you may need to refer to them during the semester. You will also want to be familiar with emoticons.
Each "to be graded" assignment will be submitted to the WebTycho environment via your "assignment folder." Do not submit assignments or homework to my e-mail address.
This is a very broad course in which the textbook is our main reference book. The majority of information security and E-commerce knowledge will be learned through readings, scenarios/exercises and questions. I expect you to have read the assigned chapters from our main text and be prepared to discuss selected questions. You will be responsible for all chapters as assigned. In addition, you are responsible for all supplemental reading assignments posted to the WebTycho class area by the instructor. You should check our virtual classroom at least three times a week.
One Convention that I would like us to adhere to throughout this course, is that you are not allowed to use the color RED within your documents to be graded [ Red is exclusively reserved for instructor comments ]. Normally these comments will come in the form of comments, corrections or merely to focus the reader on an area of text. You can use braces { a students' critical thought }. If there is anyone that is color blind to RED (for example, by not properly seeing the DO NOT emphasis highlighted in red twice on this syllabus), please inform the instructor.
Because we have different e-mail systems, as you are experiencing, I would like to ask you all to use your real name at the end of your messages when sending an "0309IFSM398W" message to me. Initially, this will serve two purposes, one it will help me to identify the author and secondly it will serve as an end-of-message marker to help identify that a message has been received in its entirety. After project #2 is completed, a digital signature will supersede the plaintext real name method. ALL private e-mail messages sent to me should include the prefix "0309IFSM398W:" in the subject line for a timely and proper response.
All submissions into WebTycho will be in HTML or plain text ( or marked up by the WebTycho text editor). Please DO NOT submit wordprocessing documents (e.g., MS-Word, WordPro) unless specifically requested by me. Do not attach HTML or DOC files in the conferencing area of WebTycho. It is preferred not to use attachments, unless absolutely necessary (e.g., multimedia files).
The need for additional
policies and requirements may arise during the course. If the need arises,
a new policy and/or requirement may be formulated such that this policy or requirement
will be as valid as any written in this syllabus. Please familiarize yourself
with the current University of Maryland University College European Division
Catalog, as this publication will serve as our guideline for academic policies
and standards not otherwise mentioned within this document. A current
catalog may be obtained either from your local Field Representative or viewed
at the Distance Education web
site (Acrobat Reader required).
All UMUC students are responsible for adhering to the UMUC policy regarding academic integrity. Obtaining or giving aid on an examination is considered academic dishonesty and will result in appropriate academic action.
Integrity in teaching and learning is a fundamental principle of a university. UMUC believes that all members of the university community share the responsibility for academic integrity, as expressed in the University System of Maryland policy "Faculty, Student, and Institutional Rights and Responsibilities for Academic Integrity." Details are available from the Office of the Dean, School of Undergraduate Studies.
Plagiarism is the presentation of another person's idea or product as one's own. Plagiarism includes (but is not limited to) copying verbatim all or part of another person's work; using phrases, charts, figures, illustrations, computer programs, or mathematical or scientific solutions without citing the source; paraphrasing ideas, conclusions, or research without citing the source; and using all or part of a literary plot, poem, film, musical score, or other artistic product without attributing the work to its creator.
Students can avoid unintentional plagiarism by carefully following accepted scholarly practices. Notes taken for papers and research projects should accurately record sources of material to be cited, quoted, paraphrased, or summarized, and papers should acknowledge those sources in footnotes.
UMUC's policy on Academic
Dishonesty and Plagiarism can be found in the current copy of the Undergraduate
Catalog or is available from the Office of the Dean, School of Undergraduate
Studies.
If you have any condition, such as a physical or learning disability, which will make it difficult for you to carry out the work as I have outlined it, or which will require academic accommodations, please make your "need for assistance" known as soon as possible. Students with disabilities are advised to contact the office of Disabled Student Services (http://www.umuc.edu/studserv/dss.html). Under privacy laws, students are not required to tell their professors about their disability. A student with a disability need only notify the DSS office. That office will, in turn, notify the instructor about whatever accommodations that student requires.
 |