CS1100 Computer Science and Its Applications

Summer 2 2011 Syllabus

Course Objectives

This is a course in concepts in computer science and their application in a series of useful software products.

The course focuses on data: how data may be organized, how useful information may be extracted from data, and how summary information may be calculated.

You will learn how to do simple but very effective computations using tools such as spreadsheets and databases.

One course cannot cover all aspects of these software tools but you will learn important highlights.

The goals of the course include teaching:

• problem conceptualization and problem solving
• basic notions about structure and design in spreadsheets and relational databases
• elementary statistics
• charts and graphs

The particular software applications we will be exploring are:

• Excel -- a spreadsheet
• Access -- a relational database

Course Format

There are two class sessions per week, both held in a computer lab. Class sessions will consist of lecture/discussion of the material, lab exercises and time to work on lab assignments. Homeworks and completed labs will be submitted for grading through the assignments section of BlackBoard for this class. There will be two exams, and two quizzes, and 10 assigned lab homeworks. The quizzes and exams will be based upon the material presented in class and upon the labs.

Collaboration

While you may discuss your assignments with others in the class, we require that all of your work submitted for grading be your own, not copied in whole or in part from anyone. Students are expected to read and understand the Northeastern University Academic Honesty Policy found at:

www.neu.edu/osccr/academichonesty.html

www.ccs.neu.edu/course/cs1100/AIPClarifications.pdf

Grading

Tests will count for 40% of your overall grade, quizzes will count for 20%. The assigned labs will count for 40%.

There will be a Database test and a quiz, and a Spreadsheet test and a quiz. If you receive a higher grade on a test than you received for the quiz for the same topic, then your quiz grade will be raised to match the test grade. The quiz grade will never be lowered.

The final exam will consist of an Database part and a Spreadsheet part. You may take both parts, one part or neither part. If you take the Database part, it will replace your Database test grade. If you take the Spreadsheet part, it will replace your Spreadsheet test grade. In both cases, the test grade will be replaced regardless of whether you did better or worse on the final. Taking a final may lower your corresponding test grade(s), so you should only take the final if your are not satisfied with your test grade(s) and believe you will do better on the final.

Working on Assignments outside of class

You may need to spend more time working on the labs than the time available in class. We will be holding help sessions in the lab in WVH 102 on the first floor, and you can use this or any of the other open labs on campus to complete the assignments. Please remember that you are responsible for ensuring that no other student has access to your files. You are also responsible for ensuring that you do not edit or submit anyone else's files either intentionally or accidentally.

Software

If you work on your own computer, make sure you are using the right software, MS Office, 2010. In particular, Microsoft Works does not work for this purpose. MS Office 2007 will also work fine as there are few differences between the two versions. None of the new features in 2010 will be utilized in this class.

Blackboard

As previously mentioned, we use BlackBoard to collect lab assignments, to broadcast important messages, and to keep you informed of what of your work we have and what is missing.

Full Lab Attendance required for Credit for Assignments

1. Full Lab Attendance is required for all students who have one or more outstanding uncompleted assignments at the start of the lab period.
2. "Full Lab Attendance" means not being absent during a lab for more than 10 minutes during a lab period. (The instructor may take attendance multiple times during any lab period.)
3. If a student fails to have full lab attendance while having one or more outstanding uncompleted assignments, then the student will receive no credit for those assignments.
4. Students will be granted exceptions to the above policy for valid medical reasons, family emergencies, or for other reasons approved by the university.
5. In addition, students will be granted one exception per semester to the above policy for any reason whatsoever (such as oversleeping, forgetting about the policy, and the like). Students must request such an exception by email.

Late Work

20 percentage points will be deducted from assignments which are submitted late. Exceptions to this rule will only be granted for a valid medical excuse accompanied by a doctor's note.

Final Exam

There is a scheduled final exam for this course during finals week. Students who miss exams during the semester are required to make them up during the regularly scheduled exam during finals week. For all other students, the final exam is optional. Grades earned on parts of the final exam will replace grades on the corresponding exams given during the semester. This gives students another opportunity to demonstrate competency with the material. Note that this is different from the Quiz-Test policy in that the final will replace your test score whether you do better or worse.

Textbooks

1. Excel 2007 Bible,John Walkenback, Wiley paperback. ($23.99)
2. Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Access 2007, Roger Jennings, ($31.49)
3. Mathematical Modeling with Microsoft Excel, Erich Neuwirth and Dean Arganbright, , Thomson/Brooks-Cole 2004
4. Access 2007 Bible, Michael R. Groh et al, Wiley.
5. Using SPSS for Windows and Macintosh, Green and Salkind,Prentice Hall paperback.
6. Excel 2007, The Missing Manual, Matthew MacDonald, Pogue Press / O'Reilly.
7. Access 2007, The Missing Manual, Matthew MacDonald, Pogue Press / O'Reilly.
8. Excel 2007, Inside Out, Mark Dodge and Craig Stinson, Microsoft Press.
9. Access 2007, Inside Out, John L. Viescas and Jeff Conrad, Microsoft Press.

These books are exhaustive guides to the various features of their respective software. Not everyone will have an interest in this much information. That is why these books are not required. However, if you decide to become an expert in one of these programs, this is the sort of thing you should work through. All of these books do a good job at covering most of the important material. Copies of the first two books will be made available in the lab in room 102 West Village H.

Course Web Site