MIS 24056 Summer 2010 Shanker (web)

M&IS 24056: Fundamentals of Business Statistics

Summer 2010

Important Web Links

Lecture Slides (in pdf format)
Vista (WebCT)

Course Description

This course is an introduction to concepts in statistical methods and their applications to real-world problems. This course will examine both the theoretical and practical side of the different methods. Students will be given ample opportunities to apply the techniques to different problems. The goal of the course is for students to understand fundamental statistical concepts and methods, and their applications.

Course Requirements

Last day to withdraw:  5 July 2010

Prerequisites: Math 11011 (Algebra).  Students attending, but who do not have the proper prerequisite, risk being deregistered from the class.

Enrollment: It is the student’s responsibility to ensure proper enrollment in classes. You are advised to review your official class schedule to ensure proper enrollment. Should you determine an error in your class schedule, you have until 17 June 2010 to correct it with your advising office. If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester.

Students With Disabilities: University policy 3342-3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a 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 Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas  for more information on registration procedures).

Class Time

There are no regular class times for this course. Lectures for this class are all available online all the time at your Vista course web site. The lectures make extensive use of audio and animation (see System Requirements). Once you log into WebCT/Vista, click on Lectures, and then Chapter 1 to start your course.

Quizzes and Examinations

There will be 9 quizzes, and 5 examinations. All quizzes and examinations will be taken online, and are best taken using a standards-compliant web browser like Mozilla Firefox. Examinations and quizzes will consist of multiple choice, true or false, fill-in-the blanks, matching type, and calculation questions. All online testing material can be found at the course web site on Vista WebCT, and can be taken from anywhere (home, work, school, BSA computer labs, in the airport, from a hammock sipping Mango juice, etc.) the student has access to the Web. All tests are open-book, open notes, but before taking any test, the student will be asked to indicate his/her agreement to an Academic Honesty Statement. This statement will certify that the student agrees to abide by university rules on cheating, and any failure to do so will result in a failing grade. Thus, for example, while you are allowed to use books and notes for the tests, it is cheating if you ask other students to help you while taking the tests. This statement is available online at your course website. Do this first before doing anything else. A grade of F will be assigned if this is not completed. You will be able to take the quizzes and examinations only if you have take the Academic Honesty Statement, agreed to the university rules on cheating, and receive one point for this. Please ensure that your gradebook reflects this score.

Quizzes: There are 9 quizzes for this class. Each quiz is worth 10 points. The amount of time allotted for each quiz may vary, but will typically be around 25 minutes. You will have two attempts to take each quiz. The average result of the two attempts will be your score for that quiz. If you are happy with your first attempt, there is no need to take the second attempt.  Results for the quizzes will be known immediately. Only the best 8 quizzes will be considered for your grade. Thus, the maximum points from quizzes are 80.

Examinations: There will be 5 examinations. Each examination is worth 50 points. Each exam (including the final) will take approximately 75 minutes. All examinations are cumulative. You will have only one attempt to take each examination. Results for the examination will be known immediately. Only the best four exams will be considered for your grade. Thus, the maximum points from exams are 200.

All examinations and quizzes will be available at your website from 14 June 2010 until 17 July 2010. While examinations and quizzes may be taken in any order, I suggest that you take them in the order given in the Exam and Quiz schedule. Please make sure you complete all requirements by 17 July 2010.

Dates and Timings: Test (quizzes, and examinations) are available for the duration of the course, and can be taken at any time during which they are available. As a warning, please do not wait until the last minute to take your tests. As you must realize in dealing with technology, several things can and will go wrong. The only condition under which I will extend the due dates is if the Vista server goes down on the last available day. Any problems with your computer will not change the due date. As such, it is your responsibility to ensure that you complete the tasks in a timely fashion. You will get zero (0) points for all missed tests. Please ensure that your tests have been graded correctly, and notify the instructor immediately of any concerns.

Academic dishonesty: Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, cases, online quizzes) 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 result in dismissal from the University. Students must indicate their acceptance to this policy before they are allowed to take any quiz or exam. As soon as you log into your Vista course website, please take the Academic Honesty Statement quiz first. You will not have access to any other quiz or exam until you do so.

Grades

The grading scale for this class is as follows:

●    None of the tests can be made up. You will receive a score of zero (0) for any missed tests. 

●    Please print and keep a copy of your tests after each exam or quiz. That will be the proof I will require if there are any disputes about test scores. 

●    You will have one week after receiving the score for each test to request any corrections.

System Requirements

As this class makes extensive use of audio and animation, make sure that you have access to the following:

●    Easy access to the Internet.

●    A system with a sound card

●    Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer

●    Macromedia Flash plugin for your browser

●    Adobe Acrobat

●    Java plugin

●    Javascript enabled in your browser

●    Color monitor

Course Structure

The homepage of this course is on your Vista website. All navigation is best done starting at the Homepage. Here are some of the links you will find:

●    Calendar: This is an electronic calendar that gives the schedule of exams, quizzes, etc., that I might have put up. You can also enter information for your benefit here. At any point, you can compile the information to get a printout.

●    Syllabus: Will link to this document

●    Communication: This contains links to:

○     Mail and Chat: To send mail to me use  mshanker@kent.edu. You can also chat with me on Google Talk.

○     Whiteboard: A tool that we can use to illustrate/depict concepts graphically.

○     Discussion: An electronic bulletin board. If you have questions, this would be the best place to put them. That way, your fellow students can benefit from the replies. Check this regularly.

●    Study Tools

○     Lectures: Provides a lesson plan for each Chapter, including chapter notes, multimedia lectures, and quizzes and examinations. Start your course HERE.

○     Assessments: This contains links to online examinations, quizzes, and surveys.

○     Downloads: Links to the Standard Normal and t tables, which you will need if you don't buy the book.

●    Grades: You can click here to check your progress

●    Glossary: This is a searchable glossary of the main terms used in this class.

Multimedia Lectures

The multimedia lectures are available as part of the lesson plan. Click on Lectures (in the home page in WebCT/Vista). The Lectures are organized into Chapters, with each Chapter further broken down by topics. Each topic lasts about 50 minutes.  While everybody's learning style is different, here is my recommended approach:

1.      Download a copy of the lecture overheads either in powerpoint format or pdf format.

2.      Then, start with the first multimedia lecture Chapter 1. 

3.      Start at the beginning for each Chapter, for Chapter 1, that will be Introduction. 

4.      After you are done with the Chapter, test your knowledge with the Practice Quiz for that Chapter/Quiz. A schedule of quizzes and examinations is given below. If you are not comfortable with the subject matter, try additional problems from the Chapter Exercises. You can also do problems from chapter exercises in your book.

Textbooks and Course Notes

Optional: Business Statistics: A Decision-Making Approach, 6th Edition by Groebner, Shannon, Fry and Smith. This book is optional. I am using an older version of the book, and it should be available inexpensively online at places like amazon.com or half.com.

How to Access and Use Your Course Web Site 

1.                 To ensure that the content appears correctly on your browser, please use a standards-compliant browser like Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/) rather than Internet Explorer.

2.                 While I will be using several websites to provide a more engaging learning environment, the central website to access your course is through Vista, the course management software for Kent State University. To log into Vista, do the following:

■    Go to http://flashline.kent.edu.

■    Enter your Kent username and password

■    Click on My Courses tab. You should see all your courses. Click on the link for http://vista.kent.edu to take you to the course website

Course Schedule

The following tables contain the class schedule. 

Quizzes and Examinations

Please Do The Following Immediately

1.      Set up your computer to ensure that you can access the multimedia lectures. 

2.      Log into Vista, and answer the quiz on Academic Honesty. You will not be able to take any other quizzes and examinations until you do this. Ensure that you receive 1 point for this.