MERRICKSCHOOL OF BUSINESS

UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE

INSS 300.WB – MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Spring 2011

Professor: Dr. Anil Aggarwal

(If this is your FIRST course in WebTycho, please complete the webTycho orientation available in webTycho)

(Keep you e-mail current in webTycho; this is “the” mode of communication between you and me)

Email address :

Required Materials:

(You can buy value package from bookstore or get each book individually

McGraw-Hill VALUE Package - Value Package - Management Information for the Information Agewith SIMNET, Office 07 (ISBN 0558498477).

or (individually)

Haag, Stephenand Cummings, Meeve, Management Information for the Information Age, Eighth edition (2010), McGraw-Hill Pub., ISBN:9780073376783.

SimNet for Office 2007 Office Suite Registration Card, 1st Edition, ISBN: 9780077218645

Other Reference Books:

Baltzan, Philips and Haag, Business Driven technology, 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill Pub., ISBN:13 9780073323060

Hart-Davis, Gary, How to DO everything with Microsoft Office Excel 2007, McGraw Hill, Pub., ISBN-13 9780072263695

Anderson, Virginia, How to DO everything with Microsoft Office Access 2007, McGraw Hill Pub., ISBN-13 9780072263466

Course Description and Learning Objectives

This course provides a fundamental knowledge of information systems and technology (IS&T) issues from the perspective of business professionals. This includes information technology concepts and vocabulary, as well as insights into IS&T applications in business organizations. Topics include searching and extracting information to solve business problems; the role of organizational context in IS&T effectiveness; the economic, social, legal and ethical impacts of IS&T; the system life cycle approach; and key technologies such as the Internet, networking and database management systems.

Students will examine the strategic, tactical and operational applications of current information technology and resulting products such as groupware and e-Commerce implementations. The emphasis is on business and to prepare students to use information sources and Information Systems to meet their information needs.

Upon completion of the course you will be able to:

  • Understand the differences between data, information and knowledge, and the role of information in businesses.
  • Define MIS and IT and describe their relationship, including the strategic and competitive nature of information in business
  • Define an information problem and identify the type of information needed to solve it
  • Locate, acquire and evaluate information from different sources
  • Select from various information seeking strategies
  • Demonstrate proficiency with information search techniques using a variety of search tools (databases, search engines, etc).
  • Explain why people are the most important organizational resource, define their information and technology literacy challenges, and discuss their ethical responsibilities
  • Define common information system types, such as supply chain management systems and business intelligence systems
  • Understand key technological tools such as databases, spreadsheets, and search engines
  • Describe social and personal implications of technology, including privacy, security and ethical issues associated with information use

OTHER RESOURCES

  1. Computerworld
  2. Computing Surveys
  3. InformationWeek
  4. InfoWorld
  5. Network World
  6. PC Week
  7. Personal Computing

GRADING INFORMATION

Grading will follow university policy of A, A-,B+,B,B-,C+,C,C-,D+, D, D-,F (Refer to student handbook)

Criterion%Course Grade

  • Six quizzes[1]24% (4 out of 6 will count)
  • Final exam (cumulative, short-answer, multiple choice etc30%
  • DSS assignment (Microsoft Excel)15%
  • Database assignment (Microsoft Access)15%
  • Internet assignment (Internet Search)10%
  • Conference participation (see below for explanation)4%
  • Bio (pre/post) completion (available on the course web site)2%

EXTRA CREDIT: (Must inform professor if you intend to do extra credit by November15th) 2%

Develop a video on a topic approved by the instructor and
post it on youtube.com

COURSE LOGISTICS:

  • New lecture modules will be posted every Tuesday (available through Course Content in webtycho).
  • New CONFERENCEDiscussion questions will be posted every Tuesday (available through Conference in WebTycho)
  • Discussion Questions will be available for a week (Tuesday to Tuesday), unless otherwise specified
  • All assignments are due at 10pm on the date specified. Assignments turned in late will have the following deductions:
  • one day late10% deducted from total points possible
  • two days late20% deducted from total points possible
  • one week late 50% deducted from total points possible
  • Solution will be posted a week after the due date. No assignments will be accepted after a week.
  • Final Exam will cover materials from class discussions, assigned readings, and any supplemental material provided by professor. It will consist of short answers, multiple choice and short case studies.
  • You will have THREE days to complete the final exam. You must select a three hour block of time to finish the exam on any of the exam day.
  • You will have THREE days to completethe quiz. (Friday through Monday).
  • Quizzes will consist of multiple choice questions.
  • There will be 6 quizzes. You will be allowed to drop 2 of your quiz grades. Each quiz will count for 6% of your final grade.
  • Academic dishonesty of any type will result in a grade of "F" for the course.
  • You can monitor your progress in grade book.
  • We will follow the sequence in course syllabi, unless I make a change.
  • All announcements, changes or anything else will be communicated via e-mail.
  • I will intervene in discussions as necessary

Forum (Conference) Participation

The course will involve extensive CONFERENCE discussion, major form of communication in online learning. Part of your grade (4%) is dependent on your cumulative participation( in terms of QUALITY) in FORUM discussion at the end of the semester. Your first posting should be posted by noon on Wednesday of each week (excluding first week).

You will be expected to have carefully studied the reading assignment IN ADVANCE, including
an understanding of examples, illustrations, and review exercises. Forum discussion questions will include understanding of concepts from the book and additional concepts that I feel are necessary in understanding the concept. Forum participation in online courses is of utmost importance, since there is NO face-to-face interaction.

It is NOT necessary that you always have the right answers. It DOES include the following elements:

  • Evidence of having studied the chapter/assignment every week
  • Reponses to the discussion questions posted by theinstructor
  • Reponses to questions/answers posted by peers (very important)
  • Response to response posted to your postings (very important)

Quality of postings will be measured as:

  • Clear and concise
  • Response to other’s postings
  • DO NOT repeat what others have already said, those postings will not count and will be deleted.
  • Postings like, I agree, I do not agree will not count and will be deleted.

E-Mail & Q/A

If you have difficulty understanding a topic or a concept, please do not hesitate to seek help. The best
thing to do is to ask questions in the CONFERENCE. Think of CONFERENCE as a classroom Blackboard.

If you have specific questions about your assignment or any concept (problems that you will ask an instructorduring office hours) email me.

Tentative Class Schedule

Week / Topics / Assignments (post/Due) Dates
01/25 / Introduction to the course
Chapter 1:(except pages 16-29)The Information Age (an overview)
Extended Learning Module A (Computer hardware and Software)
02/01 / Continued:
Chapter 1: The Information Age (an overview), (except pages 16-29)
Extended Learning Module A (Computer hardware and Software)
Chapter 2: Major Business Initiatives
Extended Learning Module B (The WWW and the Internet)
Internet overview:

02/08 / Continue:
Extended Learning Module B (The WWW and the Internet)
Chapter 4: Decision Support and AI
Extended Learning Module D (Decision Analysis with spreadsheet Software) / Quiz 1 (Ch 1 & 2; Module A )
02/15 / Continue:
Chapter 4: Decision Support and AI
Extended Learning Module D(Decision Analysis with spreadsheet Software)
SIMNET EXCEL exercise / DSS Assignment posted
02/22 / Chapter 5: Electronic Commerce

1.Extending Learning Module E (Network basics)

/ Quiz 2 (Ch 4; Module B & D)
03/01 / Chapter 6: System development
03/08 / Chapter 3: Data Bases and data warehouses
Extended Module C(Designing Databases and Entity-Relationship Diagramming)
Extended Module J(Implementing a Database with Microsoft ACCESS)
MS Access Tutorial.
/ Quiz 3 (Ch 5; Module E)
03/15 / Spring break…Time to catch up
03/22 / Continue:
Chapter 3: Data Bases and data warehouses
Extended Module C(Designing Databases and Entity-Relationship Diagramming)
Extended Module J(Implementing a Database with Microsoft ACCESS)
SIMNETACCESS exercise / DSS Assignment Due (10/19)
Database Assignment posted
03/29 / Chapter 7: Enterprise Architecture
Chapter 1 : Pages 16-29
Learning Module G(Object Oriented Technologies) / Quiz 4 (Ch 6)
04/05 / Chapter 8: Protecting People and Information
04/12 / Chapter 9: Emerging Technologies / Quiz 5 (Ch 7, Ch1 Pages 16-29 and Learning Module G)
04/19 /

Continue Chapter 9

Computer Security and Crime:

Learning Module H(Computer Crime and Forensics)

/ Database Assignment Due (11/16)
Internet Assignment posted
04/26 / Continue Module H (Computer Crime and Forensics)
Information Sources and Quality
Web Searching including search Engines
Alternate information sources and how to evaluate them / Quiz 6 (Ch 8 & Module H)
Lectures posted in webTycho
05/03 / Information Sources and Quality
Web Searching including search Engines
Alternate information sources and how to evaluate them / Internet Assignment Due
(12/07)
(Video url due only If doing extra credit)
05/11
05/14 / Final Exam (comprehensive)—posted
Final Exam Due

NOTE:

  • All changes will be announced in the class

ACADEMIC HONOR CODEPLAGIARISM

As per university policy all students MUST complete the following tutorial on plagiarism at:

Please refer to student handbook

[1]2 of the lowest grade or missed quizzes will be dropped.