RU Department of Information Technology

Syllabus - ITEC 100 Fall 2008 Sections 05/06/13/14

intro | texts | goals | assignments | quizzes | exams | responsibilities | assessment | attendance | courtesy | honor code | disabilities | changes | schedule

Instructor: Don Braffitt
Office: 122 Davis Hall
E-mail: dbraffitt@radford.edu
Phone: 540.831.5072 Fax: 540.831.6706
Office hours: Mon/Wed/Fri 9-9:50am, Tue 9-10:50am, and by appointment
Email hours: Usually 10-11pm including weekends
Instructor home page: http://www.radford.edu/dbraffitt/
Syllabus: http://www.radford.edu/dbraffitt/itec100/2008/fall/
WebCT: http://webct6.radford.edu/webct/logon/134382406001
CaseGrader: http://cgoffice2007.course.com/

ITEC 100 introduces students to the fundamental concepts in information technology that provide the technical foundation for state-of-the-art computer applications. A perspective on the range of information technology is presented through lectures, discussions, and lab assignments. Historical developments and social implications in information technology form an integral part of the course. Widely used computer applications, including word processors, presentation software, spreadsheets, databases, computer communications, and networking are used to supplement the IT concepts introduced in the course. Students who have received credit for INSY 181, CPSC 106, or CPSC 106P may not receive credit for ITEC 100. ITEC 100 qualifies as a General Education Requirement (3 credit hours) in the Mathematical Sciences.

Course Sections

Texts, Online and Optional Materials, Technology Center, ITEC tutors, LARC  toptop

Goals and Objectives  toptop

Having successfully completed the course, the student will be able to:

Assignments and Quizzes  toptop

Assignments and quizzes will be delivered primarily via CaseGrader and WebCT. Students are expected to submit their own work for all assignments and quizzes by the due date.

Assignments are due Fridays at 4pm. Partial credit (up to 80%) will be granted for any assignment submitted late up until 4pm of weeks for Exam 1 and Exam 2 and up until 4pm of the last week of class. The partial credit submissions are limited to assignments corresponding to the current exam material. All quizzes are open-book and open-notes and must be completed in lab unless announced otherwise. Partial credit (up to 80%) may be earned for one of every four quizzes.

There will be a total of 10 assignments, one a week on non-exam weeks (no assignments due the first and last weeks of class), based on the Office 2007 material. Except for Access, assignments must be submitted via CaseGrader. The 10 assignment grades each count 2% of the final grade. There will be a total of 12 quizzes, one a week on non-exam weeks, based on the computer concepts material. The 10 highest quiz grades each count 2% of the final grade. 8 of the 12 quizzes must be completed in lab. The quizzes for Chapters 1, 4, 10, and 12 may be completed outside of lab. Thus the assignments and quizzes given throughout the course will be worth 40% of the final grade. Assignments and quizzes will also help prepare students for exams.

Exams  toptop

Exams will be delivered primarily via CaseGrader and WebCT. Students are expected to submit their own work for all exams. There will be two 100 minute in-lab exams given during the semester in addition to a 100 minute in-lab final exam. Each exam will be worth 15% of the final grade.

Exams are closed-book and closed-notes except for one 8.5x11 inch piece of paper on which each student may include typed, handwritten, or photocopied notes (front and back).

Student Responsibilities  toptop

Students are responsible for the information that is included in the assigned readings, lectures, discussions, assignments, quizzes, lab projects, and any additional information discussed in class or posted in WebCT. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the instructor's office hours and the online supplementary materials provided by the textbook publisher and the textbook authors. The best preparation for exams is to complete readings, assignments, quizzes, and lab projects and to participate in class and via WebCT by asking questions and participating in discussions.

In the case of an emergency, illness, religious holiday, or RU-sponsored travel that may cause a student to miss an exam (each counting 15% of the course grade), the student must notify the instructor prior to the exam. Students who fail to notify the instructor prior to an exam will not be allowed to make up that exam. Other than exams, the remainder of the work for the course that must be completed in class is structured so that students are expected to attend class approximately 75% of the time to receive full class participation credit.

Assessment  toptop

The assessment will be weighted as follows: Exam 3 includes 10 comprehensive multiple choice questions.

The final average based on this weighting will be rounded to the next higher integer.

The assessment will be according to the following scale:

Overall, approximately 60% of the course assessment is based on computer concepts. The remaining 40% of the course assessment is based on Office 2007 computer skills.

During the semester, grades will be provided to students via WebCT. The class work is structured so that the Midterm grade will be based on 1/3 of the course work and students will have a grade based on 2/3 of the course work prior to the Tue 18-Nov deadline to withdraw from the course with a grade of "W".

Attendance, Participation, and Extra Credit  toptop

Class attendance (both lecture and lab) is expected and strongly recommended. Absences do not excuse students from the responsibility for subject matter missed or assignments, quizzes, lab projects, or online discussions to be completed.

The 15% participation portion of the student grade is based on effort and is broken into three parts each weighted 5%. The 5% participation for each division of the semester is earned by

"Completion" for each of these three components for each of the three divisions of the semester is defined as completing the required work except for possibly one week. Students earn the full 5% participation portion of the grade for each of the three divisions of the semester by missing at most one weekly lecture, failing to complete at most one weekly discussion, or failing to complete at most one lab project. Extra credit of 1% each of the three divisions of the semester is earned by doing all the work in the three areas detailed above.

Class attendance for weekly class lecture sessions will be recorded via attendance cards which each student completes at the end of each weekly class lecture session. At the end of each of the weekly class lecture sessions, each student puts the date on his or her attendance card, initials the card, and writes at least two brief sentences describing something learned or interesting that class session and something overall in the course that is still confusing or that the student would like to see started, stopped, continued, increased, or decreased. If a student is in a class lecture session less than an hour for whatever reason, the student is considered to be absent for that class lecture session.

Online class discussion postings must be completed via WebCT each Friday by 4pm for the concepts chapter for that week.

Lab projects may be either tutorials, review problems, or case problems from the Office 2007 text or CaseGrader projects. All students will do a tutorial from the Office 2007 text during week 1 lab. All students will complete a CaseGrader project during week 2 lab. Starting with week 3 lab, each student may choose for that week whether to complete the tutorial or problems from the text or the corresponding CaseGrader lab project. Each student may choose to submit one extra credit lab project (Case Problem from the Office text) for 1 point extra credit by 4pm 03-Oct, 07-Nov, and 12-Dec. Note that each non-exam week you have both a lab project to complete and a homework assignment to complete.

Class Courtesy Policy  toptop

Please set cell phones, pagers, and notebook computers to silent during class (lecture and lab). Computers should primarily be used for work relevant to ITEC 100 during ITEC 100 classes. Please refrain from any activities while in class that would be disruptive to the class.

Honor Code  toptop

By accepting admission to Radford University, each student makes a commitment to understand, support, and abide by the University Honor Code without compromise or exception. Violations of this academic integrity will not be tolerated. Refer to your Student Handbook for details. Each of these classes will be conducted in strict observance of the Honor Code.

Students With Disabilities  toptop

A student seeking classroom accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act is required to register with the Disability Resource Office (DRO). The DRO is located on the first floor of Tyler Hall, phone number 540.831.6350. To receive academic accommodations for this class, a student should obtain the proper DRO forms and meet with the instructor at the beginning of the semester.

Changes to Course Syllabus or Class Schedule  toptop

All changes to either the course syllabus or the class schedule will be posted in WebCT and announced in class. Students are responsible for any announced changes even if absent or tardy when the announcements are made. Sometimes changes will be posted in WebCT prior to a class announcement (e.g., schedule adjustments if the university closes due to inclement weather).

Schedule  toptop

Reminder that Tue 18-Nov is the last date to drop with a grade of "W".

Concepts Text              Skills Lab Projects
(in lab)		 Assignments
(due Fri 4pm)		 Quizzes      
(in lab)		 Exams       
(in lab)
Week 1
01-Sep		 Syllabus
Introduction		 Chapter 1 WebCT; H drive
Word		 Tutorial 1 Chapter 1
Week 2
08-Sep		 Hardware Chapter 2 CaseGrader
Word		 Tutorial 2 Word 1 Chapter 2
Week 3
15-Sep		 Software Chapter 3 Word Tutorial 3 Word 2 Chapter 3
Week 4
22-Sep		 Internet and World Wide Web Chapter 4 PowerPoint Tutorials 1 and 2 PowerPoint 1 Chapter 4
Week 5
29-Sep		 Information Technology History Class 1
Partial credit		 Partial credit Exam 1
Week 6
06-Oct		 Telecommunications and
Networks		 Chapter 5 Excel Tutorials 1 and 2 Excel 1 Chapter 5
Week 7
13-Oct		 Digital Media Chapter 6 Excel Tutorial 3 Excel 2 Chapter 6
Week 8
20-Oct		 DSS, MIS, AI, and
Special Purpose Systems		 Chapter 9 Excel Tutorial 4 Excel 3 Chapter 9
Week 9
27-Oct		 Systems Development Chapter 10 Excel and Word
Integration		 Tutorial 1 Excel 4 Chapter 10
Week 10
03-Nov		 Information Technology History Class 2
Partial credit		 Partial credit Exam 2
Week 11
10-Nov		 Database Systems Chapter 7 Access Tutorials 1 and 2 Access 1 Chapter 7
Week 12
17-Nov		 E-Commerce Chapter 8 Access Tutorial 3 Access 2 Chapter 8
Week 13
24-Nov		 Fall Break week
Week 14
01-Dec		 Computer Crime and
Information Security		 Chapter 11 Access Tutorial 4 Access 3 Chapter 11
Week 15
08-Dec		 Digital Society, Ethics,
and Globalization		 Chapter 12 Access, Excel, and
Word Integration		 Tutorial 2 Class 3
Partial credit		 Chapter 12
Partial credit
Week 16
15-Dec		 Final Exam week Exam 3 /
Final Exam

Revised: 29-Aug-2008   Don Braffitt Home   ITEC 100 Home   ITEC Home   CSAT Home   RU Home   toptop