Syllabus

 

CPT 105/1: Introduction to Computing

Franklin College Switzerland

Dr. Erich Prisner

Fall 2003

TTh 8:30 – 9:45, Electronic Classroom

Final Exam: Monday, Dec 8 2003, 8:30-10:30

Office Hours: T 10:00-12:00, W 13:00-15:00 pm, Th 10:00-12:00, and by appointment

Office: Kiosk

Telephone: 293

e-mail: eprisner@fc.edu

class website: http://www24.brinkster.com/prisnerich/CPT105/CPT1051.html

 

 

Materials:

Computers: Tools for an Information Age by H.L. Capron and J. Johnson, 7th or 8th edition, Prentice Hall. We will also use internet sources. 

 

Course Content:

Nowadays every professional has to be(come) computer literate, and that's what this introduction to computing should make you. The class has a theoretical and a practical component. In the theoretical part you will learn what computers are, how they work, and a little about computer history. Features relevant to computers, like ethics, security, privacy, and more will also be discussed. In the practical part you will work with several well-known computer applications, as word processing, spreadsheet programs, browsers and email programs, graphics programs, database management programs, as well as programs for creating presentations and web pages. The topics may vary slightly, depending on your background and preferences.

 

Learning Objectives:

You should become computer literate, that is, know why and how computers work, understand many of the computer terminology, and get experience with basic computer applications.

 

Student Responsibilities:

Attend class, ask questions, participate, work on the projects. Ask questions as soon as you have difficulties understanding something. Contact me as soon as problems occur. If you miss a class, you are expected to find out

(by contacting me, for instance) which material was covered and which announcements were made during class.

 

Projects:

There will be four to six computer projects assigned, where you are asked to create some useful file (obeying certain requirements) using standard office applications like Word, Excel, Access, Frontpage, Powerpoint, CorelDraw. In each case you have at least one week to finish the project. You are allowed (and encouraged) to discuss these projects and to help each other, but everything submitted must be your own work, see also the section about Cheating and Plagiarism). If you cannot finish a project in time (for any reason), contact me prior to that deadline. Otherwise, one letter grade is subtracted for any day your project is late.

 

Quizzes, Midterm, Final:

There will be a midterm exam, a final exam, and probably two quizzes. If you know that you must miss a test, then let me know in advance so that we can schedule another time. Otherwise, no make-up tests are given, unless there is documented evidence of a medical (or other serious) problem.

 

Writing Project:

You have to do one writing project during the semester. A list of writing topics can be found at the class homepage. Before starting on a project, you have to talk to me---not all topics are appropriate for everyone. Once you have your assignment, you have two weeks to give me a draft. After that, you have two more weeks to finish the paper and hand it to me.

 

Attendance:

Regular attendance is required. Experience shows that students who do not attend on a regular basis, or who do not their homework, do poorly. If you are late or leave early you are regarded as non-attendant. You may lose points counting towards your total grade according to the followings scheme:

 

Grading Scheme:

At the end of the semester, you will receive a score from 0 to 100 $\%$, based on the following:

 

Final grades will be determined as follows:

 

Class Schedule:

Here follows the tentative weekly plan:

 

 

 

Tuesday

Thursday

1

Aug 28

 

Getting started, email, Files and Folders

2

Sept 2, 4

Word, Application Programs

Input/Output devices

3

Sept 9, 11

Graphics Formats, Corel Draw

Corel Draw

4

Sept 16, 18

Quiz 1, Storage, Compression

Excel

5

Sept 23, 25

CPU

Excel

6

Sept 30, Oct 2

Operating Systems

Will be decided

7

Oct 7, 9

Midterm

Networking

8

Academic Travel

 

 

9

Academic Travel

 

 

10

Oct 28, 30

Internet again

Privacy, Security

11

Nov 4, 6

HTML

Frontpage

12

 Nov 11, 13

Quiz 2, Programming Languages

Javascript, Style Sheets

13

Nov 18, 20

Internet for Business

Databases, Access

14

Nov 25, 27

Access

Access

15

Dec 2, 4

Will be decided

Review

 

 

Final Exam

 

 

Final Exam:

Monday, Dec 8 2003, 8:30-10:30

 

Cheating and Plagiarism will not be tolerated. See Franklin College’s Statement on Cheating and Plagiarism on page 167 of the Academic Catalog 2002-2003.