DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
SAINT JOSEPH COLLEGE
COURSE INFORMATION
Computer Science 100 – Introduction to Computers, Spring 2005
Section: 03
Credit: 3
Textbook: GO with Microsoft Office 2003 by Shelley Gaskin, John Preston, Sally Preston, Robert Ferrett, Linda Foster-Turpen and Alicia Vargas, published by Prentice Hall
INSTRUCTOR
Hong Zhou: Ph.D.
Office: McDonough Hall 317
Regualar Office Hours: MWF 10:00 – 11:00am
Virtual Office Hour: Tuesday 2:00 – 3:00pm
Phone: 231-5826
Email:
Notice: You are welcome to visit me in my office at any time besides the office hours to discuss the course-related materials. I am more than happy to help you and make progresses with you together. The old course notes are posted online at Blackboard or my homepage (http://www.sjc.edu/hzhou), however these notes are just for references. I will post the latest lecture notes at blackboard.
LETTER TO STUDENTS
As this is an online course in which it is more difficult for me to monitor your performance, you are taking more responsibility for your education. I do hope that every one of you sincerely takes this responsibility while I am endeavoring to achieve the best lecturing for an online course.
COVERED MATERIALS
The goal of this course is to expose you to the fundamentals of working with a personal computer. After this course, you are expected to be familiar with basic functionalities of a personal computer and the basic Microsoft software. The following outline provides a brief description of topics:
1. Computer Terminology
2. Hardware and software
3. Windows operating system
4. Internet explorer and WWW
5. Word processing
6. Excel
7. Databases (Access)
8. Power point
9. Social issues
Provided that time allows, you may experience some basic Window administration techniques such as networking configuration, disk cleanup, and task scheduling, etc. In addition, other operating systems may be introduced, such as Linux. Please be aware of the possibility that some topics listed above may not be covered due to time limitation.
GRADING
A = 100 – 93 A- = 92 – 90
B+ = 89 – 87 B = 86 – 83 B- = 82 – 80
C+ = 79 – 77 C = 76 – 73 C- = 72 – 70
D+ = 69 – 67 D = 66 – 63 D- = 62 – 60
F = less than 60
The grading is based on your behaviors of the projects and tests. Except the final exam, each project and test weights the same in the final grading. The followings are the grading policy:
· Among all the tests including the final exam, the one with the lowest score will be dropped for the calculation of the final grade, however it will be included for mid-term grade evaluation. Please be aware that the final exam can be dropped if and only if you take the final and successfully make over 60. If you do not take the final or make lower than 60 in the final, you cannot drop it.
· No makeup tests will be given. Once a test is missed, zero is given to that test on your behalf unless you have a very strong reason for it. Please endeavor to attend every test and submit every project on time.
· Late projects can be accepted with the penalty of 5 points for one day late. For example, if the project is worthy of 100 points, and you submitted the project 5 days after the deadline, the penalty is 25 points. However, no negative score is given once the sum of penalty and the grading loss exceeds the total points of the project.
· Only materials covered in class will be given in the tests.
· Under any circumstances, you should not plagiarize other people’s work. You can ask for assistance from me or your classmates for your projects, but you should never plagiarize their work. Identified plagiarism in a project will result in zero score for that given project, and that project cannot be dropped.
· Cheating in tests is forbidden. Identified cheating in tests will result in F in this course.
· No extra assignments will be given for making up. However, you are encouraged to resubmit your work to gain 50% points from what you lost. For example, if you lost 40 points in your project one, you can redo it and get additional 20 points if your redo is correct.
· The weights of the tests and projects:
Projects 50%
Tests & Final Exam 50%
USE OF BLACKBOARD
The communication between the instructor and students are primarily via the Blackboard package and emails. Everyone is supposed to become more and more familiar with the Blackboard system. There are free workshops provided by IT of SJC about the uses of Blackboard. In case that you are not comfortable with Blackboard, please attend those workshops or email me about your confusions.
OFFICE HOURS
The regular office hours of the instructor is MWF 10:00am – 11:00am. During this office hours, you could email me or visit me in my office for assistance or discussions. The dedicated virtual office hour for this online course is Tuesday 2:00 – 3:00pm, during which the instructor will login into the Virtual classroom for real-time communication with you.
HINTS FOR SUCCCESS IN THIS CLASS
· Persistence is the key to success in all classes. Persistent practice is the insurance of good grades in this class. More importantly, it cultures deep learning of the course materials. You are strongly encouraged to exercise as much as you can. Also, please be aware that in general each course credit requires two hours of outside preparation, thereby an additional six hours of outside-classroom study is necessary for deep understanding of this class.
· The materials in this class are primarily with the uses of Microsoft software. You have a very good chance to apply what you learn in this course to your daily study and work, and you are strongly encouraged to do so. Please keep in mind what you learn is for uses.
· Ask questions whenever you have questions. Please stop me in class at any time if you have a question or have any confusion. I would love to assist you.
· Group study has been proven to be an active way to understand study materials. You are encouraged to study and exchange experiences with your classmates.
· Be well prepared for tests. Before a test, rest well; during a test, relax and be confident. Answer as many questions are you can and guess the answer in case you do not know the answer at all. Please do not leave questions not answered.
· Start on a project as early as you can. Please do not wait until the last minute. One advantage of starting early is that you can discuss the project with me for my assistance.
DISCLAIMER
The instructor maintains the right to adjust the course content and grading policies as needed. The syllabus provides a tentative framework.
DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS
If a student has a disability that qualifies under the American with Disabilities Act and requires accommodations, he/she should contact the ADA Coordinator at 860-231-5428 or by e-mail at .
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IMPORTANT SCHEDULE
· Last day for students to withdraw from classes – Wed. March 9, 2005 without academic penalty.
· Starting from Mar. 10, 2005 to Apr. 13, any student who withdraws from classes needs that faculty member to assign on the withdrawal form and grade of “WP” or “WF”.