CIT 120 Syllabus - Spring 2013

Introduction to Computers – CIT 120

John R. North Office: T210 Hours:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 10:00 – 11:00 AM 9:00 – 9:30 AM 10:00 – 11:00 AM 9:00 – 9:30 AM 10:00 – 11:00 AM 11:00 – 12:00 PM 12:00 – 2:00 PM 11:00 – 12:00 PM Online Office Hours: Wed 6:30 – 7:30 PM Thur 8:00 – 9:00 PM Phone: 847-543-2507 (24 hour voicemail) Email for this class: [email protected] Web site: http://home.clcillinois.edu/bdv603 BlackBoard: clc.blackboard.com Class Schedule: Course Time Lecture Days Lab Days 120-002 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM MW in T237 F in T343

Text: Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow Comprehensive, 14th Edition, Deborah Morley and Charles S. Parker, Course Technology Cengage Learning, 2013, ISBN-10: 1-133-19024-0

Microsoft Office 2010 Brief Concepts and Techniques, Gary B. Shelly, Misty E. Vermaat, Course Technology Cengage Learning, 2011, ISBN-10: 1-4390-7842-4 Supplies: Flash/Thumb Drive – useful for saving material done in class or Email to yourself Software Use in the Course: This course uses MS Office 2010 during the lab sessions and for the projects. MS Office 2010 is available on the computers in our labs as well as in T221 and the LRC. If you are doing your projects at home, it would be best if you can also use MS Office 2010. If you have an earlier version of MS Office such as MS Office 2003, 2007 and do not feel that you have a need to acquire Office 2010, you can still do almost all of the requirements for the projects in the MS Office you currently have. You can also use Open Office or Libre Office for almost all the project requirements and, for Mac users, Office 2008 and Office 2011 will work as well. Most of the project assignments, about 95+ % can be done with Office 2003, Office 2007, Office 2008, Office 2011, Libre Office, and Open Office. If you are going to use open source software, please talk to me first. Unless you really have a need for MS Office 2010 at home, I suggest you consider using the MS Office 2010 software available in T221 or in the LRC. Be aware that not all editions of MS Office 2010 have all the components that we use in this course. It is critical that you verify that your MS Office 2010 has the following components - MS Word 2010, MS Excel 2010, MS Access 2010, and MS PowerPoint 2010. The Starter Edition of MS Office 2010 that is shipped with some new computers has reduced versions of MS Word 2010 and MS Excel 2010 and you will not be able to complete all of the project requirements. If you do not have MS Office 2010 at home or all the components and you need to do the projects at

John R. North 1 1/18/13 CIT 120 Syllabus - Spring 2013 home, you can obtain MS 2010 in several ways (see Office 2010 Professional Discounts document). Course Objectives: 1. Understand the function of hardware, software, operating systems, data, procedures and personnel in a business computer system. 2. Demonstrate a familiarity with electronic data processing terminology and concepts. 3. Understand basic systems analysis and design techniques. 4. Understand basic file processing and database concepts. 5. Understand the importance and the use of microcomputers in organizations. 6. Understand and utilize several software applications for data analysis and communications. 7. Understand and apply the electronic research and communication facilities (Internet) of computing. Sources for Course Material: 1. Blackboard site for this course 2. Documents on Blackboard are linked from my school web site (http://home.clcillinois.edu/bdv603) under the CIT120Lect column. Major Topics 1. Information Systems a. Concepts and Terminology b. Components of Business Systems c. Systems Analysis and Design d. Microcomputer and Mainframe Systems 2. Applications a. Electronic research and communications/Internet b. Word Processing/Text editing c. SpreadSheets d. Graphics e. Database Package Student Responsibilities: Attendance: This is a face-to-face section, not an online section, so I expect regular attendance. If you cannot make the scheduled class sessions, please sign up for one of our online sections of CIT 120. The material for the class comes from three sources – the two assigned books for the course, items not covered in the book but discussed in class, and web based information needed to complete journal entries. So not attending class will affect your ability to answer questions on the chapter tests and final exam. Each un-excused absence reduces the attendance and participation points. If you never attend class, you would lose 112 points on the class projects. You can obtain an excused absence from me by letting me know that you will be missing before the class or if

John R. North 2 1/18/13 CIT 120 Syllabus - Spring 2013 something comes up unexpectedly at class time, within the same day. You have three excused absences during the semester that will not affect your points for the semester. Showing up late or leaving class early will result in reducing your attendance and participation points. Similarly, not being actively involved in the class – texting, web searching on non- related material, working on another class’s material, etc, will also reduce these points. I expect you to have read the material that will be discussed before attending class. There is a pretest for each chapter that must be completed before we start discussing the chapter material in class. Each chapter has a posttest that includes questions derived from material in the book and items discussed in class. It is not my intention to cover all the material covered in the chapter. Rather, it is your responsibility to read the chapter before we start discussing it. The class time is for clarification of the chapter material, discussing the material covered in the chapter, and analyzing current articles associated with material in the chapter. Participation is mandatory. During the class, I will ask students to respond to questions so please come prepared to discuss the material that we will be covering. Too many “I have no idea” answers will result in lowering your attendance and participation points. The schedule at the bottom of this document indicates the chapters to be read before attending the class. It is strongly suggested that the student work the questions at the end of the assigned chapters. The authors provide a web site for expanded material as well as online tests to check your understanding of the material - www.cengagebrain.com/ and the link to UC14 CourseMate. Grading: There are a number of assessments used in the course. Type of Assessment Points

Projects – There are nine projects using MS Office components. The 335 important part of the project is the use of the techniques being taught; the content is minimal and is primarily used as a vehicle to demonstrate the use of the requested techniques.

Syllabus Test – This test is used to ensure that you have read the syllabus. 20 It is worth 20 points. It is untimed and can be taken twice.

Chapter Tests – Each chapter has a pretest and a posttest. The pretest must 320 be taken before we start the discussion of the chapter material and is worth 5 points. The posttest is taken after we have discussed the chapter and is worth 15 points. Each question is worth ½ point. The tests are timed, can only be taken once, and must be completed once started.

Common Final – The CIT department uses a common final test for all 100 sections of CIT 120. It consists of 200 multiple choice questions and will be taken at the end of the semester in one of our computer labs. The test is broken into two 100 question tests and must be completed in two hours. Each question on the final is worth ½ point. Studying for this test is critical since it has an impact on your final grade. Below is the table describing the relationship between overall points for the course and the points achieved

John R. North 3 1/18/13 CIT 120 Syllabus - Spring 2013 on the common final exam. This is strictly enforced throughout all sections of CIT120. For example, if you receive 58% on the final, the best grade you can receive for the course is a C.

Point Total For Class Percentage on the Final Letter Grade Received

>= 90% of total points >=70% on final exam A

>=80% and < 90% of total >=60% on final exam B points

>=70% and < 80% of total >=50% on final exam C points

>=60% and < 70% of total >=40% on final exam D points

<60% <40% F

Journal Entries – You need to write two paragraphs for each chapter to 112 satisfy the Journal Entry requirement. One of the paragraphs will use common topic assigned by me. The second paragraph must use a topic from the chapter. Each chapter is worth a maximum of 7 points. There is a grading rubric for these journal entries given on Blackboard. These are due within three days of concluding the chapter material.

Attendance and Participation – Coming to class and participating in each 112 chapter’s discussion is worth 7 points.

Free Point 1

Total 1000

Projects: The Microsoft Office projects for this course are delineated in the documents found in the Projects link under Blackboard or on my web site. You need to read the project descriptions before the lab session for that project so you are prepared to ask questions about what needs to be done. I provide lab discussion documents for each project. These lab discussion documents will help you relate to the type of MS Office techniques that are required to complete your assignments. The lab time is intended for you to work on your projects. Project due dates are listed on the schedule. A late project will be accepted up to the date when the next project is due but you only get 70% of the earned points. Projects can be submitted before the date due for grading. I will reply with comments about what is wrong based upon the rubric for that project. You can use these comments to improve your work. If you submit the

John R. North 4 1/18/13 CIT 120 Syllabus - Spring 2013 corrected project before the due date, then you can still get all the possible points. If you submit it after the due date and before the next project is due, you will get 70% of the corrected points added to the current total. If you expect to get a return on a project that you are submitting early, it needs to be submitted through the Blackboard Assignment Manager to me at least 3 days before the due date. Obviously, right around the due date I get inundated with projects for grading so it is better to do the project early and submit it right away than to wait for the due date. This means if you wait for the due date to submit your project, it may take me three to five days to return my comments on your project. Projects should use the Microsoft Office 2010 Suite of tools since that is what we are currently using in the labs and it is the current version of MS Office in production. The computers in the LRC and the open lab in T221 have Microsoft Office 2010 on them and can be used for the projects. If you have an earlier version of MS Office such as MS Office 2003 or MS Office 2007, it will probably work for 90 to 95 % of the project requirements. You can also use a Microsoft Office version for Apple, MS Office 2008 or MS Office 2011. There are several versions of MS Office that do not contain all the Office components needed for this course. For example, if you have the MS Office Starter version, it cannot complete all the project requirements since it is a cut down version of the full Office Word and Excel components. You will be able to do a good portion of the Word and Excel projects but you will need to complete the rest of the requirements in the lab assigned to the course, T221 or the LRC. If you are an open source user, I will accept projects that use Open Office or Libre Office. I do not accept paper for the projects. Rather, all project documents are sent to me through Blackboard’s assignment manager. You attach the files you want sent to me for the project in the Projects assignment area. The attachment must have your initials, the project number as the filename (Projectxx where xx represents the project number), and the correct file suffix for the project being submitted. For example, if I were submitting the MS Word document for project 2, it would have jrn_Project2.docx as the filename on the attachment. All my comments and your grade will be found in the Assignment area. Grades will also be posted in Blackboard’s gradebook for the course. There are nine projects due. Below are listed the goals for each of the projects. The actual details of the project are provided in class and the project descriptions found on Blackboard under the Assignment button or on my Web site (http://home.clcillinois.edu/bdv603). I do provide a Lab Discussion document for the assignments in projects 1 through 4. I need to receive your projects by 11:59 PM on the day listed in the due date column.

Project General Description of Projects' Goals Due Date Points

1 This project is intended to familiarize yourself with the 2/5 30 Blackboard Assignment Manager which is used to submit all the projects. You should create a 5 paragraph description of yourself that includes your educational and career goals, your expectations from the course, your familiarity with computers, jobs you have had, and your interests. It also includes data on a form regarding the hardware and software information about a computer that you use.

2 This project utilizes Web searches to collect information 2/12 30

John R. North 5 1/18/13 CIT 120 Syllabus - Spring 2013

reported in a word processor document. You must choose an information systems topic and you must visit 5 different Web sites and use at least two different search engines. The critical word processing element is defining and using two new paragraph styles.

3 In this project you create a cover letter and a resume using the 2/26 35 guidelines posted in the project description. I expect you to use your imagination in entering information into your cover letter and resume for a job position 15 to 20 years in the future.

4 You need to create a multi-column announcement using clip art 3/5 40 and an image file. In addition, you will use text boxes to document your images, footnotes to document your synonyms and apply the readability index for your writing.

5 In this project you create a payment schedule using a 3/19 35 spreadsheet with mostly formulas. You only need 4 pieces of data, everything else is a formula or cell reference.

6 Create a more typical spreadsheet with a data table, embedded 4/2 40 charts, aggregate functions, an if statement and conditional formatting.

7 Create a simple database consisting of two tables using MS 4/16 35 Access. Use data field properties to control data integrity. Establish a relationship between these two tables. Populate the tables with data.

8 Create a form, queries and a report against a multi-table MS 4/30 40 Access database

9 Create a presentation using MS PowerPoint that covers how IT 5/9 50 is used in your career choice or a hobby. Use shapes, smart art, animations to enhance the presentation.

I will accept these projects early and provide feedback and a grade on any project you submit to me. By early, I mean at least three days before the due date. I do assign a point score so you can see the value of correcting the items. You may resubmit the corrected assignment and still receive full credit until the due date. It takes anywhere from hours to several days to get all the students' projects back after the due date has passed since I have a good number of CIT 120 students. Once the due date for a project has passed, you can resubmit the project with the corrections to regain some of the lost points. I will give you 70% of the corrected points. For example, if you submitted a project and received 25 out of 40 points and then you resubmitted it and you corrected 12 out of the 15 points in error, then you would receive 12 * 0.70 = 8.4 points back towards the points for the project and end up with a 33.4/40 rather than a 25/40. You can

John R. North 6 1/18/13 CIT 120 Syllabus - Spring 2013 resubmit a project for additional points up to the due date for the next project. I suggest that you take advantage of this. If you turn in a project late, you will receive only 70% of the correct items since I consider you having a 0 for the first submission by the due date. Each project needs to be submitted to me through the Assignment Manager with the document as an attachment. The project document needs to contain your name, project number, and in most instances, page numbers. In other words, use page headers and footers for Word and Excel, a form header and footer for Access, and a Title slide for PowerPoint. Projects are graded based on the quality of output, meeting assigned due dates and following instructions from the project description and those given in class. I use the rubric listed at the bottom of each project as a basis for grading your projects. Please use the rubric to check that you have met all the requirements for the project. Here are several important things to consider. First, not turning in an assigned project drops you almost half a grade, so turn in all your projects even if you can't do part of it. Students that have failed my course in the past have been the ones who do not do the projects. Second, turn in your projects early since I will provide feedback so you can correct any problems and improve your score. Students who have earned an A have tended to submit their projects early for comments and then made the corrections. Third, take advantage of resubmitting your work for correction points. This can raise your project grade a full grade level. You can get help from me in several ways. Schedule an appointment or stop by during my office hour. You can also get help by sending me an Email with the word "Help" in the subject line, a description of where you are stuck, and the work (as an attached file) that you have attempted so far. I usually look at my Email messages once a day. Some weekends I will not be available since I have family that live out of state and I like to see them once in a while. Besides getting help from me, you can get help from a tutor. This help is free but is limited. Call 847-543-2449 to schedule an appointment. You can see more information about tutoring on my school website. A third place for help is in T221, the Business Division open lab. The lab assistants in the lab can help with simple questions but they are not a tutor. They have the option to tell you to see a tutor or see me if you are asking more than simple questions. Tests: Each chapter has a pretest and a posttest as listed above. If you are not satisfied with your test scores for the chapter, you can write a 500 word paper on one of the topics in the chapter. This paper is due within five days of finishing the chapter discussion in class. The score on the paper will replace the pretest and posttest scores based on the percentage of points received over 20. This will only happen if your paper score is higher than your test score. This is not as difficult as it seems since you may have already developed some of the paper if you use the paragraph from your journal entry for the chapter. I do expect well-structured sentences and paragraphs and a document that has been run through spell check. I will not accept distillations of the material from the book. I expect some research done using the Web or other sources. Your paper needs to use a header section with the title of your paper, a footer section with your name and the chapter that the paper is written about, a body section using Normal paragraph style or No Spacing paragraph style with acceptable margins/indents, and an endnote section listing your sources. The endnotes must make specific references to the source of the material. For example, stating that you found your information via www.yahoo.com is not

John R. North 7 1/18/13 CIT 120 Syllabus - Spring 2013 acceptable. It requires a site and document that I can access. These endnotes do not need to be formal notes as required in a research project. I will not accept a cut and paste paper. I want you to analyze the material and give me your thoughts about it. If there is no conclusion paragraph, you will lose 20% of the grade. If you take a small piece of the writing verbatim from one of your sources, you better put quotes around it and give it a reference. Plagiarized papers will receive a 0. I will not even grade the paper unless you have written on a topic associated with the chapter, have a minimum of 500 words, and have two sources listed as endnotes. If you do not feel comfortable writing papers and you want to improve your writing, a good source for objective analysis of your paper is the Writing Center in the LRC. I have had a number of students who have used the Writing Center and felt that it improved their writing. There is a syllabus test which covers the content of the syllabus, the project descriptions, and structure of the course. The syllabus test is available on Blackboard and must be completed by Tuesday, 1/29, 11:59 PM. Tests will be taken on Blackboard. The pretest is available until the morning we start covering the chapter. The posttest will become available on Blackboard at 12:01 AM on the day after we complete the chapter and are available for three days until 11:59 on the third day. I suggest taking the test early and then decide whether you need to write a paper to make up for the poor test grade. The paper substitution is due within five days after we complete the chapter. The Final Exam is a Departmental Common Final for all CIT 120 classes. It will be conducted in a lab during one of the times of my finals are scheduled for my 3 CIT 120 classes using Blackboard. The Final has 200 questions covering all the chapters in the book as well as questions covering MS Office concepts learned during the lab sessions. The Common Final is used as an assessment for how well the CIT department is covering the material of the course. Make sure you understand the impact that the Final has on the grade you receive for this course by reviewing the chart found the in Common Final section under the Type of Assessment table found above. Extra Credit: I provide two extra credit projects. The first is to give a presentation to the class using your PowerPoint project. This extra credit is up to 40 points. The second is on-going where you can post a link to some news article about Information Technology from online newspapers, magazines, other articles, or websites concerning a topic from the chapter. You can post one link per chapter. The post must be completed within a week of completing the chapter. This posting is done on Blackboard (clc.blackboard.com) under the Discussion Board menu item and in the extra credit forum for the chapter. You just add a new thread to the forum with a subject line indicating your topic and your link pasted in the message area. Make sure the link works. You get up to 4 points for each article that you post (as long as it is a reasonable article about a topic associated with the chapter). It must be to a site that I do not need to register at to view the material. You can get a maximum of 4 points per chapter for these news articles. Policies: I have had several cases of cheating in my previous CIT 120 classes. This includes plagiarism and outright copying. Do not provide your work to another student. You will receive a zero for that work. Copying another student's work will result in a zero for that project or paper. A second

John R. North 8 1/18/13 CIT 120 Syllabus - Spring 2013 incident of cheating will result in failure (Grade of F) of the course and a report to the Dean of Students. Both giving your work to somebody else to copy and the copying of somebody else's work is considered cheating. Plagiarism is also considered cheating. An incomplete grade, “I”, is normally not an option and will be given only for situations involving serious personal emergency or lengthy personal illness. The student must be working currently at a “C” level or above and must also agree, in writing, to a completion date within 120 days of the end of the semester, 9/14/2013. The school has altered its policy on withdrawing from a class. If you plan to discontinue attending your class anytime during the semester, it is strongly recommended that you take responsibility for dropping the class. Grades of W will only be assigned to students who drop themselves. Instructors are required to report noticeable non-attendance of students. If you discontinue attending class and are dropped by the institution, the following grades will be assigned: WN – Withdrawal, student never attended – no impact on g.p.a. WS – Withdrawal of students who stop attending – no impact on g.p.a. WF – Withdrawal of student who stop attending after the official withdrawal deadline (68%) and instructor deems failing - impact on g.p.a. is equivalent to a grade of F. The last date to withdraw and receive a refund for the class is 2/8/2013 and the last date to withdraw and receive a 'W' for the class is 4/11/2013. If you withdraw after that date, you will receive an 'F'. If something comes up that forces you to withdraw after 4/11/2013, you can still receive a 'WS' from the instructor if you were passing at the time you withdraw and you receive the instructor's permission to withdraw. I expect each student to treat other students and me with respect. I start class on time. I do not appreciate habitual lateness. Walking in late or leaving early is disruptive and often you will miss information about what is scheduled. Lateness or leaving early will affect the attendance portion of your grade. Separate conversations will not be tolerated. Please turn off cell phones or set them to silent mode. The College of Lake County (the “College”) prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in its services, programs, activities and employment. There are several non- discrimination laws which cover the College, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Rehab Act”). Both the ADA and Rehab Act prohibit the College from discriminating against any individual with a disability and requires the College to provide reasonable accommodation/modifications/auxiliary aides to ensure that individuals with disabilities are afforded an equal opportunity to enjoy the College’s services, programs and activities. As such, individuals with disabilities may be afforded the following classroom accommodations, including but not limited to tape recorders, note-takers, interpreters, and readers allowing for the recording or capturing of classroom instruction and discussion. Students who qualify for such accommodations/auxiliary aides are required to abide by the terms and conditions of the College with regard to the appropriate use of such services and/or devices. If you are a student with a documented disability and may need academic accommodations including but not limited to: extended time for exams and/or an in-class note taker, please present documentation to the Office for Students with Disabilities in L112 at the Grayslake campus. To schedule an appointment, please call (847) 543-2055. If you have already contacted the Office

John R. North 9 1/18/13 CIT 120 Syllabus - Spring 2013 for Students with Disabilities and have completed the Instructor Notification Form, please schedule a time to meet with me and discuss your needs. The College of Lake County Counseling Office offers professional counseling for students who are in crisis or are having personal problems which as a result may affect their academic and career goals. The services of professional counselors are available at three locations on an appointment or drop-in basis: Grayslake Campus, C110, (847) 543-2060; Lakeshore Campus in Waukegan, N211, (847) 543-2186; Southlake Center in Vernon Hills, V130, (847) 543-6501. Proposed Reading and Project Schedule Week Class Reading Lab Reading and Project Work Assignmen t

1 Proj 1

2 Ch 1 Proj 1, 2

3 Ch 2 Proj 2

4 Ch 3, 4 Proj 3

5 Ch 4, 5 Proj 3, 4

6 Ch 5, 6 Proj 4

7 Ch 6, 7 Proj 5

8 Ch 7, 8 Proj 5, 6

9 Ch 9, 10 Proj 6

10 Spring Break

11 Ch 10, 11 Proj 7

12 Ch 11, 12 Proj 7

13 Ch 13, 14 Proj 8

14 Ch 14, 15 Proj 8 15 Ch 15, 16 Proj 9 16 Ch 16 Presentations 17 Final Exam You can come to one of the following to take the common final. 120-001: Mon 8 – 9:50 AM T343 120-002: Wed 8 – 9:50 AM T343 120-003: Wed 10 – 11:50 AM T343

John R. North 10 1/18/13