M&IS 44043 Spring 2009 Thomas

M&IS 44043
Principles of System Development
Spring, 2009

Table of Contents

Course Objectives
Text
Prerequisites
Suggestions
Students with Disabilities
Academic Dishonesty (Cheating) Policy
Course Attendance
Course Grading
Withdrawal Deadline
Course Registration
Course Schedule

Course Objectives

• To understand the role of databases within organizations of all types.
• To become familiar with and able to apply a variety of concepts to the design, implementation, use and maintence of databases.
• To use and understand tools employed in the analysis and design of databases.
• To obtain a practical, working knowledge of Structured Query Language (SQL).
• To demonstrate the ability to design and, possibly, implement one or more databases.

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Text

• The required text for this course is

Title: Modern DataBase Management ^® Ninth Edition,
Authors: Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Mary B. Prescott and Heikki Topi.
Publisher: Pearson, a division of Prentice Hall.
ISBN: 978-0-13-600391-5

It should be available in both the KSU and DuBois bookstores. It may be available on-line from such outlets as Amazon.com.  It is not likely to be available in local bookstores.

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Prerequisites

M&IS 24060 and M&IS 24070 must be completed prior to enrolling in M&IS 44043.

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Suggestions for This Course

The following are some suggestions that will help you in this and other courses.

1.     I try to be understanding when there are problems and I want to help you should you encounter difficulties with this course (or others, for that matter). However, if you come to me at the end of the semester with a tale of woe about everything that conspired against you during the semester, do not expect me to be sympathetic. If something such as illness, injury, family, etc. interferes with your ability to keep up with the material, I need to know when the crisis arises not after the fact. That way we can, together, figure ways to adjust to your changed circumstances. Telling me later only exacerbates the problem.
 

2.     Submit all homeworks/projects on the due date. If something is late, you will receive no credit for it.

3.     It is expected that you will take all examinations at the time and location identified in Course Schedule below. If, for some acceptable reason (athletic trip, trip in other class, etc.), an examination cannot be taken at the scheduled time, the instructor must be notified prior to the scheduled time and the exam must be made up as quickly as possible. Failure to notify the instructor and schedule a makeup examination will result in a grade of 0 (zero) on that examination.
 

4.     Regularly check the home page for this course. All announcements of homework availability, etc. will be made using this page. Once an item has been posted there for 48 hours, I consider it to be official and will hold you responsible for it.

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Students With Disabilities

University policy 3342-3-18 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through the Student Disability Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit http://www.registrars.kent.edu/disability/default.htm for more information on registration procedures).

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Academic Dishonesty

Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, homeworks, etc.) so as to get undeserved credit. The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense. It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade for the work or course. Repeat offenses may result in dismissal from the University.

It is expected that all work you submit for a grade will be your own. If this is not the case, a failing grade will be assigned for this course and the instructor reserves the right to pursue additional sanctions as provided by University rules and regulations. If you are not familiar with these rules and regulations, you can find them on-line at Administrative policy and procedures regarding student cheating and plagiarism.

Be forewarned, I have (and will continue to) assigned failing grades, in all cases, where one or more students submitted work that was not their's.
 

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Class Attendance

Class attendance is not required. However, it is expected. And, you are responsible for all material covered in class in addition to that assigned outside of class.

A note on class decorum:

As a courtesy to other students and the instructor, please turn off cell phones and refrain from reading newspapers, talking to others and similar, disruptive activities. Feel free to bring a cup of coffee or other items to class. But, please take a few seconds at the end of class to properly dispose of your trash. Thanks for your help on this.

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Grading

Your grade in this course will be based on your performance in several areas. These are:

·         Examinations One midterm and one final examination are scheduled. See the Course Schedule below for the dates. Each of these examinations will be worth 100 points. All examinations will be in room 209 BSA. All examinations are cumulative in nature. (i.e., Each will cover all material from day 1 of the class.)

·         Quizzes As of this time, no announced or unannounced quizzes are planned. The instructor reserves the right to administer unannounced quizzes if he feels it would be beneficial.

·         Homework There will be a several homeworks. Each of you is individually responsible for completing all assigned homeworks. Where appropriate, comments on your homeworks will be emailed to you.

·         Project(s) There may be one or more team projects in this course. As the semester progresses announcements will be made as to whether projects will be assigned.

Once grades for a homework, exam or other activity are posted to the web, you have four days to let me know by e-mail, that you feel a mistake has been made in your grade. If you fail to contact me about your grade within this four day period, then the grade for the homework or quiz, even if incorrect, will be final.

At the end of the semester, your final grade will be calculated as follows.

Your total points earned in the three (or four) areas of homeworks, midterm, final and (is assigned team projects) will be determined. Each of these will be divided by the total number of points you could have earned in the area. For example, if you earned 50 out of a possible 60 points in homeworks, this would give you a homework score for the course of 0.833333 or 83.33% = (50/60) on the homeworks.

The resulting 3 (or 4 if projects are assigned) scores will be added together. This number will be divided by 3 (or 4 if projects are assigned) to provide a course percentage. Your grade, in this course, will be based on this percentage.

As an example, assume you had the following scores in the various areas.

Homeworks: You scored 50 out of 60 possible points for 83.33%.

Final Examination: You scored 75 out of 100 points for 75.00%

Projects: You scored 40 out of 50 points for 80.00%

Adding these four percentages yields 330.33%. With four graded areas, your course percentage would be 82.58% yielding a letter grade of B for the course. Had there been no project scores, the totals in the remaining three areas would have been added and then divided by three to arrive at a course percentage.

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Last Day to Withdraw

The last day to withdraw from this course is Sunday April 5, 2009. Please keep this date in mind.

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Course Registration

Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes. You are advised to review your official class schedule (using Web for Students) during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this class and section. Should you find an error in your class schedule, you must correct it ASAP. If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in a class for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade for that class.

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Course Schedule

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