1 (T TH 12:30 – 1:50 PM) Computers in Business – Coe College
Computers in Business – Fall Semester 2012
Course Web Site:
Instructor e-mail: / Time / Days: 12:30-1:50 PM / Tuesday, Thursday
Instructor Office: SH 204 E / Room:SH 208
Course Description / Topics covered in the course include commonly encountered software used for word processing, spreadsheets, charts, presentations, brochures, and web site creation. Students will develop a fictitious small business at the beginning of the semester, and use software to create practical documents (including a web site) for it throughout the term. Students will be quizzed and tested upon the skills learned in class and practiced in the text books. This course is appropriate for students that have limited experience with Microsoft Office.
Course Goals
Class Time
Required Textbooks
Required Storage / The primary aim of the course is to teach students useful computer-based skills through the completion of assignments, quizzes, tests, and a final presentation. Students will be asked to be inventive and insightful when experimenting with document design and layout in order to create documents with a professional appearance.
Following the completion of this course the student should be able to:
- Use Microsoft Expression Web to create a small business Web site.
- Use Microsoft Word to create a variety of documents useful in business.
- Specific advanced features include: Mail Merge, Advanced Tables with Calculations, Multi-Column Newsletters, Graphics, Complex Forms, Templates, and Resumes
- Use Microsoft Excel to create workbooks associated with business and finance.
- Specific advanced functions and features include: PMT, FV, DB, IF, Nested IF, Concatenation, Tables, Table Manipulation and Sorting, One and Two Variable Data Tables (What-If-Analysis), Pivot Tables, Pivot Charts, Conditional Formatting, and Icon Sets
- Use Microsoft Publisher to create business cards, advertisements, and brochures.
- Use Microsoft PowerPoint to create a small business presentation.
Microsoft Office Word 2010 Comprehensive, ISBN: 978-0-13-510440-8
Microsoft Office Excel 2010 Comprehensive, ISBN: 978-0-13-509859-2
The textbooks are used to complete assignments and to prepare for quizzes and tests. The textbooks serve as the core for the Word and Excel portions of the class. However, the textbooks are not covered in their entirety and skillsare covered that are not in the textbooks.
USB Flash Drive for Expression Web. Bring it to class every day during the web portion of the course. It will also be very useful for other portions of the course, too. (Have it by Tuesday, Sept. 4.)
Grading
(Subject to Change)
Final Meeting
Quizzes and Tests
Assignments and Project Grading
Final Presentations
Makeup & Late Assignment Policies
Attendance Policy
Participation
Meeting with & Contacting the Instructor
Americans with Disabilities Act
Grading Scale
Learning Environment Expectations / Assign. #1 / Assign. #2 / Assign. #3 / Project / Quiz#1 / Test #1 / Test #2 / Total Points
Possible
Expression Web / 15 / - / - / 35 / 15 / - / - / 65
Word / 15 / 15 / 15 / - / 20 / 50 / - / 115
Excel / 15 / 15 / 15 / - / - / 50 / 60 / 155
Publisher / 15 / - / - / - / 10 / - / - / 25
PowerPoint / 15 / - / - / - / - / - / - / 15
Final Presentation / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / 15
Grade Record / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / 10
Participation / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / 25
Attendance / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / 75
Total Possible / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / 500
Small Business Presentations:Wednesday, December 12, 2:00 PM – 3:50 PM
Quizzes and tests are a significant part of this course. We move rapidly throughout the semester, and it is very important to keep up. During quizzes and testsyou will be asked to replicate files that I distribute based upon course content, and/or you will create files based upon word problems, and/or you will answer T/F and multiple choice questions. I typically announce the format of the quiz or test at least one class meeting ahead of time and post important information on the course web site. During quizzes and tests I permit each student to use his/her own note card with handwritten notes on one side (approximately size 5” X 7”). Quizzes and tests are usually very demanding, and are the primary means for me to evaluate student performance in Word and Excel. In addition, I try to design the quizzes and tests to be a part of your learning experience – as a result of the preparation and completion of these challenging activities your software skills should improve. The best way to be successful is to spend a lot of time preparing and practicing the software in accordance with the guidelines that are provided before the quiz or test.
Letter grades are used to grade many assignments and the Web project (instead of detailed point-by-point markups). “A” grades are given for work that demonstrates noteworthy attention to detail (including specific assignment/project parameters) and outstanding execution. The “A+” grade is reserved for the best example(s) of assignment/project work in the class and may be rarely awarded. Feel free to ask me before/after class to show you an example of “A+” work after the specific assignments (or the projects) have been graded (the other student would need to agree to let me use his/her work as an example).
Present your small business PowerPoint Presentation or your small business Web site to the class (additional details are provided near the end of the semester). (If you would like to present another thing, like an Excel Workbook or Publisher document, please see me – this is possible.) Presentations are brief (approximately 3-5 minutes long).
Tests and quizzes may not be retaken. Missed tests and quizzes may be made up due to an absence within one week if the student notifies the instructor prior to or immediately following the test or quiz and if a legitimate, acceptable, documented excuse is presented (students may be asked to provide a doctor’s note, evidence of an athletic event, etc. – acceptable excuses are at the discretion of the instructor). Makeup tests and quizzes are usually different than those given in class, but of approximately the same level of difficulty. Assignments and the web site project may be submitted for full credit within one week of the due date if the student notifies me prior to (or immediately following) the due date and if a legitimate, acceptable, documented excuse is presented (see above). Otherwise, late assignments and the Web site project are accepted for 80% late credit (graded score X 80%) and may be submitted at any time before the final meeting (Wednesday, December 12, 2:00 PM). The course ends at the conclusion of the final meeting.
An attendance sheet will be passed around near the conclusion of each class – it is each student’s responsibility to sign in. We meet 29 times this semester (including the final meeting day), and students receive 2.5 points for attending each day and 5 points for the final meeting day– this adds up to 75 points (15% of the total grade). Students are responsible for arriving on time. Habitual tardiness is not acceptable. If there is difficulty getting to SH 208 on time due to schedule problems, it is expected that the student solve the problem independently by immediately changing his/her class or work schedule. Students who have unexcused absences totaling more than 15% of the Computers in Business course (more than 4 days for this semester) should not expect to pass regardless of performance in assignments, tests, and projects. Also, absences can have an impact upon the participation grade. If a student misses class or is late due to a doctor’s appointment, illness, athletic event, etc., the student should notify the instructor by email and provide documentation (athletic schedule, doctor’s note, etc.). Students should use good judgment when weather conditions are poor.
Participation grading details are available on the course Web site after the 2nd class meeting.
I am usually in my office (SH 204 E) immediately before and after class. Feel free to visit with me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. We can also arrange a time to meet. Please send e-mails to communicate with me outside of class (). I will try to return e-mails within 48 hours of receiving them. Email is always the best way to contact me outside of class. (I do not regularly check emails on Saturdays and Sundays, nor do I expect you to.) It takes me time to learn and remember your names – please be patient in this regard.
Coe College will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. If you have a disability which may have some impact on your work in this course, please contact Ms. Lois Kabela-Coates, Assistant Dean of Student Retention Services and Director of Academic Achievement, 319-399-8547.
Each student is expected to: be prepared, arrive on time, pay attention, take notes, contribute to discussions, be respectful of other students and the instructor, meet deadlines, and strive for his/her best performance. Cell phones and other portable electronic devicesmay not be used during class, except for during breaks. Do not send or read text messages during class – instructors always take note of this, even if they don’t say anything (and it isn’t good for your participation grade). If it is an emergency, students should leave the classroom and use the phone in the hallway, or go in the hallway during break to make the call, etc. Video recording (for example, with a cell phone), audio recording, or photography of lectures is only permitted with prior permission of the instructor and/or completed accommodation form. Adult guests are only permitted with prior permission of the instructor. Children and pets are not permitted in the classroom. Food and drinks are not permitted near computers. All students are expected to know and comply with the General Student Conduct Policy and Academic Integrity Policy as printed in the Coe College Catalog.
Tutors
Academic Integrity / Tutors are available to help – don’t be shy if you think this may be useful to you. Please ask me about it if you are interested, or visit Academic Achievement, lower level of Voorhees Hall (319-399-8547).
It is expected that work submitted for credit is completed by the student that submitted it. Evidence to the contrary may result in severe grade reduction, or grade ‘F’ for the specific assignment or in some cases grade ‘F’ for the course. Do not copy another student’s work, cheat, or submit a classmate’s work as your own (in part or in whole) – these actions can result in grade ‘F’ for the specific assignment/quiz/test or in some cases grade ‘F’ for the course. See the Coe College Catalog for further information and what to expect if involved in such an incident. “At Coe College, we expect academic integrity of all members of our community. Academic integrity assumes honesty about the nature of one’s work in all situations. Such honesty is at the heart of the educational enterprise and is a pre-condition for intellectual growth. Academic dishonesty interferes with the mission of the College and will be treated with the utmost seriousness as a violation of community standards.”
The section entitled “Academic Integrity Policy” in the Coe College Catalog outlines the rules regarding cheating, copying, and other forms of academic dishonesty.
From the Coe College Catalog:
Acts of academic dishonesty will be subject to one or more of the following sanctions:
1)failure of the assignment, i.e. exam, paper, lab report, etc.
2)failure of the class
3)suspension or expulsion
According to Webster, to plagiarize is “to steal or pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s own…to use created productions without crediting the source…to commit literacy theft…to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.”Students are responsible for authenticating any assignment submitted to an instructor. If asked, the student must be able to produce proof that the assignment submitted is actually his/her own work. Therefore, it is recommended that students engage in a verifiable working process on assignments. The inability of the student to authenticate work, should an instructor request it, is sufficient grounds for failing the assignment. In addition to requiring a student to authenticate his/her work, instructors may employ various other means of ascertaining authenticity – such as engaging in Internet searches, creating quizzes based on student work, requiring the student to explain his/her work and/or process orally, etc.
Have a good semester! Please ask if you have any questions.