BAD 220 ADVANCED COMPUTER BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
Spring 2013

Course Details:

The main objective of this course is to increase the student’s ability to use personal computer software as a tool for applied coursework and in business.  The course covers advanced topics using spreadsheets, statistical packages, and business application software.  It emphasizes a hands-on approach and encourages the student to experiment.  Blackboard Units will be a mix of lecture (videos), reading, discussion, and hands-on computer work.  Assignments will make use of “mini-cases” to apply software tools to business problems. 

Pre-requisites:   Math 120, CIS 120 or equivalent

Class Times:                Online - 14 weeks plus final exam.

Textbook:     There are no required books for this course. During the course, it is possible that I will recommend that you subscribe to safaribooksonline.com for 1-2 months.   

Software: You will need to use Excel 2010, Microsoft Access 2010, Microsoft Project 2010, Adobe Dreamweaver, and Quickbooks during this course. It is unlikely that you have all of this software on your personal machine so you will need to use the resources at Dominican University. If you look at the assignments ahead of time and plan your solutions, you should be able to visit Dominican just once per week to use the required software. You can download Dreamweaver on a 30 day free trial. If you are planning to do this, wait until you absolutely need it for homework or else the 30 days will run out too soon.           

Blackboard: All files required for the class will be placed in Blackboard. A Dominican University E-mail address is required to use Blackboard.  Please see the Computer Lab aid to set one up if you do not already have one. I have enrolled everyone that was registered as of November 20, 2012. If you registered since that date, please send me an email and I will enroll you in Blackboard for this course. (jimller@dom.edu)

Attendance: You are required to log into this course on Blackboard several times each week in order to watch videos, participate in online discussions, and do your assignments and exams.

Assignments and Exams: Complete them on or before the due date.

Online Discussions: In some weeks in this course, you will be required to participate in online discussions. During those weeks, you are requried to post at least three times on three separate days to every question in the discussion. (Example: In a Discussion with three questions, you must post at least nine times). One of your postings in each question should be your answer to the question. The other postings should be comments and questions to your fellow students.

Logistics: In the first week of the course (January 10-January 16), make sure you complete Assignment 1 and introduce yourself in Discussion number 1. You only need to post once in Discussion 1 although you are welcome to comment and respond to other students and to me. In online courses, you must deliver work each and every week. You will find what you need to do in the Blackboard Menu Item "Content by Unit (Dates)". There is also a summary in the course schedule. Exams in this course have a time limit. See this link for details on taking Exams.

Grading:                      

The final letter grade assigned will be based on the scale:

Course Topics:

1. Advanced Excel
•  Overview of Excel formatting, including Headers and Footers
• Creating references
• Naming cells, spreadsheets
• Functions –general functions, and financial functions such as PMT, PV and FV
• Data tables – one input and two input, and “what if” analysis
• Scenarios
• Goal seek
• Solver
• Macros
• Protection
• Pivot Tables
• Charts

2. Microsoft Project
• Introduction to Microsoft Project & overview of formatting
• Flowcharts and Algorithms
• Organizational Charts
• Project schedules
• Timelines
  
• Gantt Charts
  
• Pert Charts
  
•  Report generation 
  
3. Quick Books or other accounting software
• Creating a company
• Lists
• Bank accounts
• Registers
• Sales and invoices
• Memorization
• Receiving payments
• Making deposits
• Analyzing financial data
4. Building Business Web Site
• Selecting a web host
• Definining a site in Adobe Dreamweaver
• Preparing and uploading web pages
• Creating links between web pages
• Accessing a product database
• Connecting to a payment sytesm
5. Discuss new terminologies and latest Computer Application software packages

OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST: 

Assignments will not be accepted via email.  Assignments must be submitted to Blackboard.


All assignments are to be completed by one person individually.  Group work on assignments results in zero points being awarded to all members of the group.  However, you can ask for my help via email.. Also, you can ask each other questions as long as you each do your own work and completely understand all the work you have done. The line between "help" and "doing" the other person's work" is when you take control of the mouse.

There are a number of textbooks that you can refer for the class.  These books are all available at Safribooksonline. I will make reference to them as the class progresses and you have the option of subsribing to safaibooksonline on a monthly basis during the course. My goal is to build the course so that you will not need to use more than the 30 day free trial.

Note: Plagiarism will not be tolerated and may result in an automatic failure (F) for the semester. 

Please take the time to read the web page below that provides details of Dominican’s Academic Integrity policy.   http://domweb.dom.edu/library/Crown/plagiarism.htm
Also, please see the following website, which discusses how plagiarism is being combated in our Internet enabled age http://www.plagiarism.org/.

**This syllabus and especially the detailed class schedule are subject to change**