THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO
LONDON CANADA
COMPUTER SCIENCE 031A
Fall 2005
COURSE OUTLINE
This course is an introduction to
computer-based problem solving for personal and business computing environments. The course also provides an introduction to
computer-based problem solving for personal computing environments. The
applications software packages introduced in the course are Microsoft Word
2003, Microsoft Excel 2003, Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 and Microsoft Access
2003.
The materials used in this course for the
introduction to the applications software packages have been approved by
Microsoft for use in the preparation for the Microsoft
Office Specialist Certification exams.
Topics that will be covered (time
permitting) are:
PREREQUISITES
No prerequisites are required for this course.
COURSE WEBSITE
The course website is located within WebCT. The URL for WebCT at UWO is https://vista.uwo.ca. To login to WebCT, navigate to this page and then select the “The University of Western Ontario” link.
COURSE STRUCTURE
The course has the following components:
1. Scheduled Lectures
2. Midterm Exam
3. Final Exam
4. Assignments
5. Participation
Evaluation will be based upon:
·
a 2-hour midterm exam
(worth 30%)
·
a 3-hour final exam
(worth 35%)
·
4 assignments (worth 7%
each, for a total of 28%)
·
a participation mark (worth
7%).
NOTE: To be eligible to pass the course a
student must obtain a weighted average of at least 45% on the midterm and final
exams.
Students may do their work on their own
computer if it has the appropriate software or on the computers in the first-year
Computer Science labs in Middlesex College rooms 8, 10, 231 and 235. Students
may also work in the General Student Computing Labs at UWO.
The General Student Computing Labs are
currently located in:
·
Natural Science Centre
room 110
·
North Campus Building
room 105
·
Somerville House room
1310
·
South Valley Building
rooms 13, 14 and 16
·
University College room
2
Consulting for CS031a will take place in
Middlesex College Room 8. The Teaching
Assistant consulting schedule will be posted on the course website when it has
been established. Problems should be
directed to the course Teaching Assistants (TAs) during their consulting
hours. Problems that cannot be solved
by the course TAs should be reported to the course coordinator by sending an
email message to cs031f05@csd.uwo.ca.
Occasionally it is necessary to send email
messages to the entire class, or to students individually. Email will be sent to your UWO email
address. You must make sure that you read your UWO email on a frequent and
regular basis, or have it forwarded to an alternative email address if you
prefer to read it there.
However, you should note that email at UWO
and other email providers such as hotmail.com or yahoo.com may have quotas or
limits on the amount of space they can use.
If you let your email accumulate there, your mailbox may fill up and you
may lose important email from your instructor.
Losing email that you have forwarded to an alternative email address is
not an excuse for not knowing about the information that was sent.
SCHEDULED LECTURES
The scheduled lectures for the course use
presentation software and appropriate applications software to present the
course content. The required textbook
also supplies portions of the course content.
Each lecture will have scheduled readings and practice exercises.
Students are expected to come to class prepared, thus they should have done the
readings BEFORE class and tried out the practice exercises BEFORE class.
MIDTERM EXAM
The midterm examination will be written on Friday,
October 28, 2005, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
The rooms for the midterm exam will be posted on the Announcements page
of the course website when this information is available. Students with valid reasons for missing the midterm
must see their lecturer by Monday, October 24, 2005 to receive permission to
write the deferred midterm. There are only a few, very compelling reasons that
the lecturer will consider for a deferred midterm exam. With very few exceptions, the only reason
that will even be considered for writing a deferred midterm is an exam
conflict. Reasons, such as work conflicts, travel arrangements or job
interviews, etc. will not be considered.
FINAL EXAM
The date, time and location of final exam
will be announced by the Registrar’s Office.
Students requesting a deferred final exam must supply their Dean's
Office with written documentation. Your lecturer CANNOT grant a request
for a deferred final exam. Only a
student's Dean can approve a request for a deferred final exam. With very few exceptions, the only reason
that will even be considered for writing a deferred final exam is an exam
conflict. Reasons, such as work conflicts, travel arrangements or job
interviews, etc. will not be considered.
ASSIGNMENTS
Students are expected to watch
demonstrations during lectures and to do the assigned exercises in the Grauer
textbook after class in order to prepare for the assignments. Once the student
feels prepared, he/she should completed the given assignment and submit all the
parts of the assignment via WebCT site. The instructor will post instructions
for using WebCT to submit assignments on the course website in the
announcements section.
The assignment schedule is given below.
|
Assignment |
Due
Date (by noon) |
|
1 |
October 5, 2005 |
|
2 |
October 26, 2005 |
|
3 |
November 23, 2005 |
|
4 |
December 7, 2005 |
NOTE:
Each assignment instructions will be posted at least 3 weeks in advance
of the due date. The assignment
instructions will be posted on the CS031a website.
Late Policy for Assignments:
·
Assignments may be up
to 3 days late. The assignment mark will be reduced by 25% of the total for
each day after the due date that it is submitted. Thus if a student would have
received 90% on an assignment, if it is submitted one day late the student
would receive 65%, if it was submitted two days late the student would receive
40%, if it was submitted 3 days late the student would receive 15% and on the
fourth day the student would receive 0.
·
The lecturer will only
accept notices from a student's Dean's Office if a student has a valid reason
for handing in an assignment late. THE STUDENT MUST NOT GO TO THE LECTURER with
his/her documentation, he/she must see the Dean’s Office and the Dean’s Office
will notify the lecturer. Upon notification from the Dean’s Office, the
lecturer will move the weight of the assignment onto one of the two exams.
PARTICIPATION
A student may obtain his/her participation
mark, worth 7% of the final course mark, in a variety of ways:
1. answering questions using a clicker during lectures.
·
in order to obtain 4%
of the course mark for participation, the student
o
must answer at least
75% of the clicker questions
o
must answer clicker
questions in at least 8 different weeks of the 13 weeks for the course.
·
the mark for this type
of participation for a student who does not achieve this level of participation
will be less than 4% and will depend on the student’s level of participation.
2. posting/reading information at the CS031a WebCT
bulletin board
·
in order to obtain 4%
of the course mark for participation, the student must
o
post constructive
content to the bulletin board in at least 8 different weeks of the 13 weeks in
the course.
o
read content on the
bulletin board in at least 8 different weeks of the 13 weeks in the course.
·
the mark for this type
of participation for a student who does not achieve this level of participation
will be less than 4% and will depend on the student’s level of participation.
·
content posted by
students must not contain vulgarity or politically incorrect content. Students who post inappropriate content will
be dealt with according to University policy.
3. handing in individual/group worksheets during
lectures
·
in order to obtain 4%
of the course mark for participation, the student must hand in at least 60% of
the in-class worksheets. Worksheets
will be marked by the teaching assistants for accuracy and correctness. If the
teaching assistant determines that the student did an adequate job of
completing 80% of the work on the worksheets, the student will receive 4% of
their participation mark.
·
the mark for this type
of participation for a student who does not achieve this level of participation
will be less than 4% and will depend on the student’s level of participation.
4. performing a skit during class
·
a student, as part of a
group, may perform 1 skit during lecture time at the front of the class in
order to obtain the course's entire 7% participation mark.
·
the number of skits to
be presented in class is limited. If
the number of groups wishing to perform a skit exceeds the number of skits to
be performed then groups will be randomly chosen to perform skits and not all
groups will be allowed to perform a skit.
·
the lecturer will give
a topic to the group and a list of concepts that must be conveyed to the rest
of the class.
·
the group may present
the material in any manner they believe will convey the knowledge to the class
and hopefully entertain the class
·
the skit will
o
be 10 to 20 minutes
long
o
not contain vulgarity or politically incorrect content
o
convey the required knowledge
·
the students in a group
must notify the lecturer BEFORE October 3/05 if they wish to select this option
for obtaining their class participation mark.
·
the date for the
presentation of the skit will be determined jointly by the lecturer and the
group.
·
each student in the
group will automatically receive 5% of the participation mark just for
performing the skit. If 80% of class
can correctly answer at least 80% of lecturer selected questions on the skit's
topic, then each student in the group will receive an additional 1%. The final
1% will be given to each student in the group at the lecturer’s discretion.
Students may earn participation marks
through work in any or all of these areas.
The maximum participation mark is 7%.
Students who earn more than 7% through their participation will receive
7% as their course participation mark.
INDEPENDENT EFFORT
All work submitted for evaluation must be the result of independent effort. Students must be aware that work completed for the midterm examination, the final examination, the assignments and participation must all be the result of independent effort. Students are directed to Scholastic Discipline (http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/western/web/2005(new)/SCHOLASTIC_DISCIPLINE_FOR_UNDERGRADUATE_STUDENTS_305146.html) for a description of scholastic offenses and discipline. Academic offences are kept on file. Students are directed to Penalties (http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/western/web/2005(new)/PENALTIES_305147.html) for a list of penalties if unacceptable conduct occurs repeatedly.
Computer-marked multiple-choice questions
are used on tests and/or exams in this course.
Software is used to check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns
that may indicate cheating.
LECTURER
|
Section |
Lecturer |
Office |
Phone |
Email |
|
001 |
Jim McNair |
MC 25 |
661-2111 ext. 86920 |
|
|
002 |
Laura Reid |
MC 362 |
661-2111 ext. 86905 |
Consulting will be provided by the lecturers
and the teaching assistants. The hours will be announced and posted on
the course website.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
1. Exploring Microsoft Office 2003 Volume 1, First
Edition, Robert Grauer and Maryann Barber, Prentice Hall, 2004
2. Computer Confluence, Seventh Edition, by George Beekman and Michael J. Quinn, Prentice Hall, 2005
OPTIONAL MATERIAL
1. A personal response unit (commonly known as a “clicker”). The clicker (used by students to answer questions during class), is available at the UWO bookstore. If you decide to purchase a clicker, you will also need to purchase an enrolment code and go online to activate your clicker. We will supply you with more details about activating your clicker during the first two weeks of lecture.
USE OF PERSONAL RESPONSE UNITS
A personal response unit (commonly known as
a “clicker”) is a small radio-frequency transmitter that resembles a TV remote.
Students purchase their clicker in the bookstore and register it against their
student number for use in all classes using this technology. In class, instructors can ask a variety of
structured questions to which students may respond by pressing the appropriate
button on their respective clickers. Individual responses are collected and
displayed as a graph at the front of the room.
If the instructor chooses, these responses may also be saved for future
analysis.
In this course, clickers will be used
primarily to provide you with credit and feedback on your preparation for,
and/or participation during, lectures.
The information below provides further details.
Only one specific type of clicker will work
in this course: the cpsRF unit produced by eInstruction. It is available in the Western Bookstore
along with an enrolment code. (Although
used clickers may be obtained from peers, your enrolment code must be purchased
in the Western Bookstore.)
It is your responsibility to ensure that
your clicker is registered and functional. For each course using this
technology, go to the course WebCT site (vista.uwo.ca) to register your
clicker. You will need your UWO email login
and password along with the clicker enrolment code and serial number (from
inside the battery compartment). See
the clicker instruction manual or the course WebCT site for details of how to
confirm that your unit is working properly.
Questions or comments regarding clicker use should be posted to the
course WebCT Discussion Board.
In this course, your clicker use will be
recorded and will become part of your academic record. As such, your clicker
record will be afforded the same degree of security, confidentiality and
transparency that is customary for test marks etc. You can earn course credit
through clicker participation as follows.
Clicker participation questions will be asked during class as
instructors decide. At the end of the
year, we will determine the total number of clicker questions asked. The
proportion of questions that you answered will determine the fraction of the
available participation grade (4%) that you earned. Clicker participation requires only that you try; you don’t have
to get the questions right to get this part of your course grade. You can monitor the success of your clicker
record through the appropriate link on the course WebCT site.
Although clickers may be used in the
classroom for polling opinions and/or collecting some types of personal data
(e.g. How many people have ever seen a manatee?) such responses will not become
part of your academic record and will not “count” toward clicker participation
grade. Such non-academic data will
either be recorded anonymously or not at all.
(A simple anonymization exercise will invite you to swap clickers with a
neighbour for the moment.)
Since clicker records are used to compute a
portion of course grades, the use of a clicker other than your own is an
academic offense. In lecture,
possession of more that one clicker, or that of another student, will be
interpreted as intent to commit an academic offense.
RULES OF ETHICAL CONDUCT:
For the purposes of fulfilling the requirements of this course, you have been provided with access to certain resources. Use of these resources indicates that you have read, understood and agree to comply with the following rules and guidelines.
The computing resources of the Department of Computer Science have been acquired for specific academic purposes - namely the teaching of, and research into the field of Computer Science. As a user authorized by the Department, you may use departmental resources, especially computing, only for the purposes for which they were allocated.
Specifically, the following are considered to be scholastic offences:
1. To give, sell or otherwise provide computing resources to an individual or individuals who do not have explicit permission to use these resources from the authority which allocated them. This includes permitting anyone to use your account.
2. Unauthorized inspection, alteration, deletion, publication, copying or tampering with files.
3. To engage in any action which denies or unreasonably restricts the use of computer facilities to their authorized users. This includes using the facilities for work not directly related to Computer Science course assignments.
4. To physically misuse or maltreat any computing facilities.
5. To remove any piece of computing equipment or parts thereof from its designated room, without the written authorization of both the chairman of the Resource Planning Committed and the Director of Computer Services.
6. To divulge the access code to any room with a combination lock or card access or otherwise permit any individual to enter such room or rooms.
In addition to the penalties outlined in the Composite Calendar, any student found to have violated these rules might be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. In addition to penalties prescribed by the Courts, conviction may result in the student being permanently refused entry to The University of Western Ontario or any other Canadian university.
These regulations are meant primarily as guidelines to academically acceptable behavior, but also to make it clear that the copying of software and the misuse of software and hardware are criminal offences.