BAD 64082 Fall 2010 Crissey

Name of Course: 

Database Management Systems

Term:

Fall 2010

Room:

Main Campus

Meeting Time:

6:15 pm- 8:45 pm Monday

Course Web Site:

http://vista8.kent.edu

Prerequisites:

Graduate standing and permission of instructor.

Official Course Description:

In-depth investigation of intelligent database management systems in support of business decision-making. An understanding of relational databases is assumed. Object-oriented and semantic databases will be explored.

Name of Instructor:

Mr. Willis S. Crissey

Office Address:

MIS 4^th Floor - TBA

Telephone:

(330) 289-6853

Office Hours:

Monday 4:15-6:00pm (and by appointment)

E-mail:

wcrissey@kent.edu

Required Text: 

David M. Kroenke; David J. Auer, Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design and Implementation, 11th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2010 (ISBN 9780132302678)

Suggested Text:

Any Oracle 11g manual may be useful. Suggest that you wait until you see what’s needed before purchase.

Course Objectives: 

Upon completion of this course, students will: 

1. Understand the role of databases in business and other environments.

2. Be acquainted with the various concepts associated with designing, implementing, and using databases.

3. Understand the use of relevant analysis and design tools (e.g. entity relationship diagrams).

4. Obtain a working understanding of structured query language (SQL), normalization, transaction management and concurrency control.

5. Understand object-orientation and object-oriented databases.

6. Be acquainted with current areas of database research.

7. Be acquainted with current issues concerning data and database management (e.g. XML).

In order to succeed in this course, it is essential that you do the assignments (reading, written, and database assignments) independently and in a timely fashion and come to class consistently and well prepared for the topic(s) to be covered.  In leading the class discussion I will assume that every student has prepared for the class ahead of time; therefore, if you are not prepared, you will not be able to follow the discussion and will quickly become "lost". 

Homework:

Homework will be assigned on a regular basis.  It is important to do practice problems to gain necessary skills as we go through many of these topics.  Generally, the only reason homework such as this is graded is to motivate students to do it.  It is my belief that graduate students should be self-motivated and realize the importance of these exercises.  In line with that belief I will assign practice problems, I will distribute/publish solutions, and I will take questions on the problems in class, however, I will not collect and grade these problems.

Article Reviews:

Each student shall review a total of six articles during the semester.  Three of these are to be practitioner-oriented (trade journals) and three are to be from scholarly sources.  Specifics and format will be announced before the first article is due.  A brief discussion of some articles will be informally presented in class (due to the class size this term we will only present selected articles).

Project:

See separate document for project specifications.  Only the final project will be graded, however, items will be turned in on an ongoing basis.  Feedback will be provided for these items but they will not be graded until submitted with the final project.  Late submission of required components will negatively impact the project grade at the rate of 1 percentage point per item per day. The group project is worth 150 pts and is due December 7th before class time. 

Reading:

The chapter or portion of a chapter that is to be discussed in class should be read by the student before class. You should also be prepared to answer the questions at the end of each chapter (you need not write out the answers unless specifically asked to do so. No grade will be assigned for this portion, however, see the section on quizzes concerning failure to perform in this area. 

Quizzes:

No unannounced or announced quizzes are planned, however, if problems are encountered concerning attendance or keeping up with the material, unannounced quizzes may be given at the discretion of the instructor. Quizzes will be included in the homework grade (1 quiz = 1 homework). 

Exams:

Two examinations will be given at regular intervals (midterm & final) during the semester. Dates for exams are on the syllabus and, unless unforeseen conflicts occur, are firm. Since some flexibility in time allowed each topic is necessary, the topics covered on each exam may vary slightly from those on the syllabus. The content relevant to each exam will be announced before the exam is given. 

Students may feel free to inquire into any aspect of examinations or their scores during office hours. However, to encourage quick resolution of problems or concerns that may arise, issues must be raised with the instructor within one week following return of the exam grade. If the instructor is not contacted prior to that time the examination will be considered closed and grades finalized. 

Attendance:

Students are responsible for all in class announcements and material whether absence is excused or unexcused. Missed assignments/quizzes will not be made up. In certain cases (emergencies) the score will be dropped. All other cases receive a score of 0.  Missed in-class exercises will receive a score of zero and cannot be made up. More than two absences results in a lower letter grade (10%).