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University of Maryland University College
Distance Education
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| PREREQUISITE(S) | TEXTS | COURSE DESCRIPTION |
| GOALS & OBJECTIVES | COURSE PLACEMENT | ASSIGNMENTS |
| COURSE PROJECT | GRADING | EXAMS |
| ACADEMIC INTEGRITY | SESSION SCHEDULE | PROTOCOLS |
Course Dates: 01 September - 09 November 2008
(10 Weeks of Instruction)
Students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: BMGT 301, CAPP 101, CAPP 300, CMST 300, IFSM 201, or TMGT 201. I suggest having at least either Internet Explorer 7.x or Netscape 7.2x (or Mozilla). Additional (free) software may be required to be downloaded during the course of the semester.
Read this entire syllabus, paying particular attention to the project descriptions and required elements. Should you have any questions, please contact your instructor.
Our main textbook for this course will be the Course Technology publication listed below by Morley & Parker. In addition, our practical exercises will be extracted from the Illustrated Series "Microsoft Office 2003" (the MS Windows XP Edition). Please note that there are some very similar bundles of texts and you need to have the exact ISBN numbers described below, expecially for the Hunt & Halvorson book.
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Morley, D., & Parker, C. S. (2009). Understanding Computers: Today and tomorrow (12th ed.). Boston : Thomson Course Technology. (International Edition ISBN 9781603340120)
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Hunt, M., & Halvorson, M. (2007). Microsoft Office 2003: Illustrated brief, microsoft windows XP edition . Boston : Thomson Course Technology. ISBN-13: 978-1-4188-6040-0
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To view the Chapters or Units covered each week see the Course Schedule (select the appropriate link to view the Understanding Computers Table of Contents or MS-Office 2003 Table of Contents).
(Course activities require access to a standard office productivity package, i.e., word processing, spreadsheet, database, and presentation software.) An overview of computer information systems in which hardware, software, procedures, systems, and human resources are explored in relation to their integration and application in business and other segments of society. Students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: BMGT 301, CAPP 101, CAPP 300, CMST 300, IFSM 201, or TMGT 201.
Introduction to Computer-Based Systems is an introductory survey course aimed at presenting state-of-the-art information on technology and technological issues.
The goal of this course is for the student to feel computer literate when the course is finished. Literacy means understanding the history of information technology and basic computer terminology. A computer-literate person also understands how computers are used and is able to converse about major issues and trends in computing. Lastly, computer literacy also means having a basic proficiency in an operating system and basic software applications (e.g. word processing, spreadsheets, presentation graphics, and databases).
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:
* Discuss the evolution of computers, including societal events leading to increased demands and technological developments* Create a specification for purchasing a personal computer
* Identify the basic parts and functions of computer systems
* Differentiate between the roles and functions of application and systems software, both nationally and internationally
* Make effective use of the Internet
* Create simple word processing documents, spreadsheets, databases, and Web pages* Describe how several basic national and international data communication systems function
* Analyze issues faced by information system professionals, including security, ethical, and privacy problems
Academic preparation for this class, requires that you dedicate a minimum of 150 - 180 hours total 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 bi-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. Group grades will not be assigned. 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 might also be a need to download software from the Internet (e.g., compatibility pack). If you have a slow connection to the Internet, you will want to consider alternatives (e.g., UMUC computer lab).
There will be 4 small projects required for this course. Each student will be required to do these projects individually, although you are encouraged to collaborate with your group members. The projects are described in detail in the WebTycho Projects Description section of the Syllabus area and the due dates for each of these projects is included in the course schedule.
Although this is not an English class, it is UMUC policy to expect students taking University-level courses to present well-constructed, grammatically sound prose. I plan to place the greatest emphasis on technical content; however, I have the option to award bonus points for especially clear, well-written material. Points will be deducted for grammatically incorrect and substandard prose. The Conference area in WebTycho should be considered a formal discussion area where grammar is graded, while the Study Group area in WebTycho is an informal collaboration place where your grammar is not scrutinized.
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:
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| Projects (10% each for Projects 1 to 4) | 40% | |
| Final Exam (Computer-based, Proctored) | 25% |
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| MidTerm Test (Online, WebTycho-based) | 15% | |
| Participation (Discussion Questions, Homework) | 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 ( at least 2 times per week). Your participation grade will be based on your contributions to discussion items posed by the instructor, answers to questions asked by other students, and your "presence" in the virtual classroom. It is recommended that you check the course site at least twice each week for announcements, questions, etc. .
LATE ASSIGNMENTS:
Late submissions will be downgraded at 5% per day. Examinations must be taken when prescribed.
Any work that you do for this class is to be your own. Any violation means that the work will not be accepted and further action will be taken.
You are required to participate in on-line conferencing, answer End-of-Chapter (EOC) assignments, complete 4 MS-Office software projects, and take two examinations. The mid-semester examination will be an online, WebTycho-based examination covering material up to week #6. The final examination will be comprehensive, taken under proctored conditions and consist of multiple-choice, T/F, matching, fill-in-the-blank 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 retrieved online from WebTycho. The final exam will be taken under proctored conditions, and is likely to include a mix of multiple choice questions, True/False, matching, fill-in-the blanks, and essay questions. Make sure that you follow the proper procedures for taking this examination (see http://www.ed.umuc.edu/de/deprocexam_procedures.html).
Arrangements should be made early to schedule availability for examinations. It is your responsibility to inform the instructor, prior to the examination availability, 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 check the status of the 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 Morley & Parker textbook is our main reference book and the Hunt & Halvorson workbok our supplemental textbook. I expect you to have read the assigned chapters from our main textbook, be able to answer all the End-of-Chapter assignments, complete the exercises in the workbook and be prepared to discuss selected questions. You will be responsible for all chapters and units as assigned. You should check our virtual classroom at least twice a week and respond multiple times in each bi-weekly conference period.
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 (or nickname) name at the end of your messages when sending an "0804IFSM201" 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.
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) into the public discussion area of WebTycho (Do not attach DOC files in the conferencing area of WebTycho when only normal text is required. It is preferred not to use attachments, unless absolutely necessary (e.g., multimedia files) in the discussion area. It is, of course possible to attach homework files in the Student Answers conference area. Your 4 course projects will be submitted into your assignment folder where DOC, XLS, MDB, PPT, ZIP, etc files are also allowed.
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.
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