RU Department of Information Technology

Syllabus - ITEC 110 Spring 2010 Section 01

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

Instructor: Don Braffitt
Office: 015 Davis Hall
E-mail: dbraffitt@radford.edu
Phone: 540.831.5072 Fax: 540.831.6706
Office hours: Mon/Fri 10-11am, Tue 9-11am, Wed 2-2:45pm, and by appointment
Instructor home page: http://www.radford.edu/dbraffitt/
Syllabus: http://www.radford.edu/dbraffitt/itec110/2010/spring/
WebCT: http://webct6.radford.edu/webct/logon/266573933001

ITEC 110 provides an introduction to information technology, to the principles that underlie information technology problem solving, and to the fields that make up information technology.

Course Section

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

IS Textbook cover CS Textbook cover

Goals and Objectives  toptop

See the official course syllabus.

Homework and Quizzes  toptop

Homework completion will be recorded in WebCT. Quizzes will be delivered via WebCT. Students are expected to submit their own work for all homework and quizzes by the due date.

Homework and quizzes are due Fridays at 4pm. All quizzes are open-book and open-notes. Partial credit (up to 80%) may be earned for one of every four quizzes.

There will be a total of 8 homework assignments due Fridays at 4pm as detailed in the schedule below. The 8 homework assignment grades each counts 2% of the final grade. There will be a total of 12 quizzes, one a week on non-exam weeks. Each quiz grade counts 2% of the final grade. Thus the homework and quizzes given throughout the course will be worth 40% of the final grade. Homework and quizzes will also help prepare students for exams. Extra credit (up to 3% of your total course grade over the course of the semester) will be available as part of each homework assignment and weekly class participation work.

Exams  toptop

Exams will be delivered via WebCT in 221 Walker. Students are expected to submit their own work for all exams. There will be two 50 minute in-class exams during the semester in addition to a 50 minute in-class final exam during final exam week. 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, homework, quizzes, 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, homework, and quizzes, and to participate in class and via WebCT by asking questions and participating in discussions.

Excused absences are granted in cases of emergency, illness, religious holiday, or RU-sponsored travel or other activities (i.e. job interviews) that may cause a student to miss a class provided that the student notifies the instructor via email prior to the absence. Students must notify the instructor 48 hours prior to missing an exam to make alternate arrangements for a makeup exam. All required class work must be submitted via WebCT by the due date whether or not a student has an excused absence for a particular class.

Assessment  toptop

The assessment will be weighted as follows:

All three exams will include some material drawn from the information technology, computer science, information systems, and computer history material discussed in class, some of which will be beyond the specific textbook material.

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

The assessment will be according to the following scale:

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 approximately 1/3 of the course work.

Attendance and Participation  toptop

Class attendance is expected and strongly recommended. Absences (excused or otherwise) do not relieve students from the responsibility for subject matter missed or homework, quizzes, or online discussions to be completed. If the university cancels class for any reason such as inclement weather, the assigned work for the week is still due as specified in the syllabus and WebCT.

The 15% participation portion of the student grade is based on effort and is weighted 1% each week based primarily on

Class attendance for class sessions and other weekly class participation work will be recorded via a WebCT assessments which each student completes each week. Attendance for any class session is defined as student presence for at least 45 minutes of a 50 minute class.

Online class discussion postings must be completed via WebCT discussions each Friday by 4pm for the current chapter on non-exam weeks.

All class participation work each week must be recorded in the current WebCT class participation assessment each Friday by 4pm. More than 50% of class participation each week is class attendance.

Everybody who makes it to week 9 gets 1% for week 8 (Spring Break week).

Class Courtesy Policy  toptop

Please set cell phones, pagers, and notebook computers to silent during class. Students are encouraged to bring computers to all ITEC 110 classes. Computers should primarily be used for work relevant to ITEC 110 during ITEC 110 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

Class starts Wed 20-Jan.
Fri 19-Mar (end of 8th week of classes) is the last date to withdraw from an individual class with a grade of W.

Computer
Science		 Chapters Information
Systems		 Homework
 Quizzes Exams
(221 Walker)
Week 1
20-Jan		 Syllabus
Introduction		 Chapter 1 Quiz 1
CS Chapter 1
Week 2
25-Jan		 Architecture
Data representation		 Chapter 3
Chapter 4		 Quiz 2
CS Chapters 3/4
Week 3
01-Feb		 Software
Operating systems		 Chapter 2
Chapter 5		 Homework 1 Quiz 3
CS Chapters 2/5
Week 4
08-Feb		 Networks Chapter 6 Homework 2 Quiz 4
CS Chapter 6
Week 5
15-Feb		 Information Technology History
Review		 Partial credit Exam 1
(Wed 17-Feb)
Week 6
22-Feb		 The Internet Chapter 7 Homework 3 Quiz 5
CS Chapter 7
Week 7
01-Mar		 Programming Chapter 11 Homework 4 Quiz 6
CS Chapter 11
Week 8
08-Mar		 Spring Break
week
Week 9
15-Mar		 Database fundamentals Chapter 8 Quiz 7
CS Chapter 8
Week 10
22-Mar		 Software engineering Chapter 12 Homework 5 Quiz 8
CS Chapter 12
Week 11
29-Mar		 Information Technology History
Review		 Partial credit Exam 2
(Wed 31-Mar)
Week 12
05-Apr		 Chapter 1 Introduction to
Information Systems		 Homework 6 Quiz 9
IS Chapter 1
Week 13
12-Apr		 Chapter 5
Chapter 6		 E-Commerce
Design Support Systems		 Homework 7 Quiz 10
IS Chapters 5/6
Week 14
19-Aor		 Chapter 7 Knowledge
Management Systems		 Homework 8 Quiz 11
IS Chapter 7
Week 15
26-Apr		 Chapter 9 Personal and societal
impact of computers		 Quiz 12
IS Chapter 9
Partial credit
Week 16
03-May		 Final Exam
week		 Exam 3 /
Final Exam
(Tue 04-May)

Revised: 19-Jan-2010   Don Braffitt Home   ITEC Home   CSAT Home   RU Home   toptop