Syllabus

GSB 622 Management Information Systems

Online August 29– October 23, 2011

Fall 2011

Instructor:      James Miller

Email:             jmiller@dom.edu

Cell phone:    847-530-0550

Class Location: Online only

 

Texts (required):  

 

Laudon & Laudon, Management Information Systems:  Managing the Digital Firm.  12 th Ed.  Prentice Hall . ISBN 9780132142854

 

Our textbook Salesman, Ken Shipbaugh has sent me an email saying that you could save 50% by using the e-book version (See http://www.coursesmart.com).

 

OR

 

Laudon & Laudon, Management Information Systems:  Managing the Digital Firm.  11 th Ed.  Prentice Hall ISBN-10: 0-13-607846-X ISBN-13: 978-0-13-607846-3

 

For a brief analysis on the differences between the 10th, 11th, and 12th editions and how this might impact your performance in the course, see http://www.millerjw.com/dom/gsb622online/summer2011/LaudonTextbookComparison.html

 

Course Description: This course explores and assesses the current and future role of information technology in business, from both a management and a user perspective. Topics include: the strategic role of IT, distributed computing, hardware and operating systems, software development tools and processes, relational databases, security concerns, ethical issues, privacy issues, enterprise applications, intelligent systems, role and influence of IT on business processes, and the influence of web technologies on e-business and m-business. Hands-on experiences include web, database, spreadsheet, graphical user interface (GUI) tools, and computer security techniques.  Case studies are also used to facilitate discussions focused on the course topics.  

 

Prerequisites:  GSB 611, 612, 613. 

 

Class times – READ CAREFULLY

Online participation is required from August 29 through October 23 of 2011.  Please be aware that you must be available to participate in weekly online discussions.  You must contribute to each Discussion Thread on at least three different days each week; any time of day is acceptable. Each course week begins on Monday at 12:01 am and runs through to the following Sunday at 11:59 pm (Chicago time).

Objectives: 

Course Format

This online course is organized into eight weeks and all course materials will be available each week on the Dominican University Blackboard site (blackboard.dom.edu). Each week begins on Monday at 12:01 am and runs until the following Sunday at 11:59 pm (Chicago time). Each week there is a posted online lecture, a required assignment, an online quiz, and one or more online discussions. In the final week, there is an online final exam and a short paper due. The paper should be completed over the span of several weeks, however. All assignments are submitted electronically via Blackboard (instructions will be provided) and are due by no later than 11:59 pm on the appropriate Sunday. Each week, students will be required to complete an online quiz that will be available from Monday through Sunday of the appropriate week. In addition, students will be required to participate each week in each online discussion on a minimum of three different days during the week for full credit points. The details for each course component requirement are provided below. Please be aware that due to the nature of the course, absolutely NO LATE discussions. Sorry, NO EXCEPTIONS. Assignments and quizzes can be accepted late ONLY IF you make advance arrangements with the instructor.

 

Evaluation:

 

Final course average will be based on the following:

 

Course Components

 

Total Maximum Points

400

distributed as described:

 

 

Homework Assignments (Weeks 1 through 7)

 

On Monday of each week (except the final week) an assignment will be posted on the course Blackboard site.  Assignments are to be submitted electronically using the course Blackboard Assignments section by no later midnight (CST) on the scheduled Sunday due date. Exact instructions on how to accomplish this will be given. Due to the nature of the course, no late assignments will be accepted. Partial credit is awarded for assignments. Each assignment is worth a maximum of fourteen (14) points.

 

 

 



98

(7 weeks x 14 points)

 

Online discussion participation (Weeks 1 through 7 with one week off)

 

In the Online Discussion area of the course, students are required to interact with classmates to explore questions and comments related to the content of this course. Discussions will always open on Monday at 12:01 am (CST) and close on Sunday at 11:59 pm (CST). A successful student in online education is one who takes an active role in the learning process. You are therefore required to participate in the discussion areas to enhance your learning experience throughout each week.

 

Online discussions are graded each week (except the final week) based on:

1. Frequency—Number and regularity of your discussion comments, and

2. Content —Content of your contributions

 

FrequencyNumber and regularity of your contributions. Students are expected to log into the course Blackboard web site and post (respond) in each of the week’s threaded discussion topics on a minimum of three separate days per week.  Note that there may be two or three discussion topics in a particular week.  You are required to post at least three times in EACH threaded topic that week (so if there are two discussion topics, that would total to a minimum of six posts for the week).

 

Content— points awarded to the content of your contributions. Points are awarded based on strong evidence of reading, reflection, and careful composition.  Maximum points are only awarded to posts which elaborate on previous comments with additional information contribution, or posts which present explanations of concepts or which provide clarifying examples, or posts which provide a URL and an explanation in your own words for a relevant area researched on the Internet.

 

Note: It is impossible to make up discussion points once the week ends. Partial credit is awarded for assignments. Each weekly discussion is worth a maximum of eighteen (18) points. Again, students are required to participate in the online discussions on at least three different days of the week in each of the graded threads identified for the week.

 

 

 

 

 



108

(6 weeks x 18 points)

 

 

Online Quizzes (Weeks 1 through 7)

 

On Monday of each week (except the final week) an online quiz will be posted on the course Blackboard site.  Students should not take the quiz until the weeks materials have been reviewed. The quizzes will be directly related to the posted weekly online lecture and textbook reading assignment for the week. Quizzes will be taken on the course Blackboard site as indicated each week. Each weekly quiz will be worth a maximum of eighteen (18) points.

 

 

 

126

(7 weeks x 18 points)

 

 

 

Short Paper (Weeks 6 through 8 -- due Week 8)

 

A short paper will be required where the student relates the course material to the IS/IT environment at the business where the student is presently employed or was previously employed. Details will be provided in around the sixth week of the course.

 

 

 

 

 

20

 

 

 

Final Exam

 

There will be an online final exam required in Week 8. Details and a study guide will be provided later.

 

 

 

 

48

 

Summary of Evaluation Information

Description

Number

Points

Total

%

Homework

7

14

98

24.5%

Discussion

6

18

108

27.0%

Quizzes

7

18

126

31.5%

Short Paper

1

20

20

5.0%

Final

1

48

48

12.0%

400

100.0%

 

At the end of the course the final  letter grade will be computed as follows:

 

Letter Grade

 

Corresponding Percentage

A:

 

93-100%

A-:

 

90-92.9%

B+:

 

88-89.9%

B:

 

80-87.9%

C+:

 

78-79.9%

C:

 

70-77.9%

C-:

 

68-69.9%

F:

 

0-67.9%

 

Academic Integrity

You are responsible for strictly following the Brennan School of Business Academic Integrity Policy. Please link to this policy and read it. It applies to all work in this course.

 

Logistics:

You will need a Dominican email address. Please see the Computer Lab aides if you do not already have the required accounts. Use of Blackboard is required. You can enroll yourself in GSB 622 using a password you will receive via email once you have a Dominican email address.