Assignment 1: Perl && Amazon /Amazon Infrastructure Services
Assignment 2: Google App Engine / Proposal / Project
Assignment 3: CH Robinson
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Tuesday / Thursday 8am - 9:15am
SSS 203
Open Door Policy, 413 Schneider Hall: If I'm in (and I'm free), I'll help
Email
Phone: 715-836-5968
This course is designed to provide detailed exposure to new computing models beyond the traditional, closed-source models. Students are exposed to the Linux environment, open source programming languages (Perl, Ruby, PHP, and Python), cloud computing (Amazon AWS), and distributed application programming environments (Google Application Development).
The course is built around three individual assignments and one group project developing systems with students from other universities in the US and India.
The course sets out the following objectives:
(1) Identify and explain concepts of systems development.
(2) Apply variable processes in the development of systems.
(3) Deal directly with other human actors in the development of information systems.
(4) Use information technology to ethically solve problems and make decisions.
(5) Prepare and present findings in the development of information systems.
With respect the the University, these objectives achieve:
Appreciation of the University as a learning community
Ability to inquire, think, analyze
Ability to write, read, speak, listen
Understanding of science and the scientific methods
Understanding of values
Understanding of human behavior and human institutions
With respect to the College of Business, these objectives achieve:
Oral Communication
Written Communication
Responsibility of Business in Society
Ethical Leadership
Ethical Decision Making
Team Development
Team Process and Decision Making
Team Meetings
Technology Efficiencies
Technology Effectiveness
Technology Proficiency
The learning approach is based on the belief that learning is maximized when we already have an experience that
relates to what we are learning. We anchor new learning in past experiences. Key topics are revisited several times
through reading assignments, lectures, examples and demonstrations in class, individual exercises, examinations, and the team project.
Both individual and team effort are required in the course. Individual exercises give you a chance to practice your
technical skills and reinforce important aspects of systems integration. The individual research project gives graduate students a
chance listen to leaders on a topic you are especially interested in. The team project gives you in-depth practice in web
system integration methods and assists in further anchoring your knowledge to concrete experiences.
Obviously, to make a contribution, you must attend class. But there is more.
You are expected to prepare for and participate in class so you can be an ACTIVE participant. As
you know, this is the only way you really learn anything.
I don't take attendance, however, I reserve the right to question your ability to make it to class. If I question your ability to make it to class, you
will be asked to attend every class from there on out. We meet for less than three hours a week and if you continually miss class, your
grade will be affected. Also, if you miss class and then ask me for help on the material that you missed. FORGET IT!
Even though I don't take attendance per se, I do have eyes. Finally, disruptions in class are not acceptable. I'm not laying down a strict law but talking, mumbling, and falling asleep are very
disruptive to me and others around you. I may have to ask you to leave if it becomes a regular thing.
All work is expected to be completed by the dates outlined in the syllabus. Changes to due dates are announced in class or emailed to you. Except for unforeseen personal emergencies, late work will NOT be accepted without a significant deduction (10% per day). This is a strict policy Additionally, I will not continue to help with assignments that are late. In fairness to others, missing a scheduled exam results in a failure for that exam. Students with religious obligations which conflict with exam/assignment due dates must make any necessary arrangements with the instructor by the third week of class.
Any score is subject to appeal. However, score changes are at the discretion of me and may be up or down based upon a complete review of the work in question. Also, if you want to do comparative scores, fine. However, you must convince the person you are comparing with to come in with you. 50-50 chance your score will go up or theirs will go down. It is important to recognize that grading reflects another's judgment of one's work. In this sense, all grading is subjective. Appealing scores on exams and other assignments is discouraged. Changing a few points on an exam or assignment rarely makes a difference in a final grade. Time is much better spent discussing/clarifying the information content presented in the course. Ask for work to be re-graded only in cases of gross unfairness. I do try to be fair.
It is unfortunate that this subject needs to be mentioned; but to copy another's ideas or writing and pass them off as one's own, is plagiarism.
It is unethical and just plain wrong. Dishonest students suffer the risk of failing the course and being expelled from the University. Protect
yourself and others by explicitly citing original sources (web, books, professor, other students, etc.) for all quoted
or paraphrased material. During exams, make sure you keep your eyes on your own work, they are designed to measure your individual performance.
The Internet promotes the global sharing of ideas. We depend on this aspect of the net to learn and to give back
what we create. Do not fall into the trap of borrowing others' ideas, writing, and code without attributing proper credit.
This course covers business ethics in particular and ethics in IS more specifically. Ethics remains a critical issue to the success of organizations and it is important that you, as future employees, understand ethics at the corporate governance, leadership, personal, and societal levels. We will discuss ethics throughout the semester in the forms of privacy and intellectual property.
We make use of a wide variety of learning resources for the course. As you can see, books are
a small part of this class.
Learning Perl: Schwartz and Phoenix
O'Reilly and Associates
Best guide for learning how to program Perl
The software for the course are internet apps such as:
Browser
The Apache Web Server
HTML editor
mySQL Client
CSS editor
Email
Final letter grades are assigned by me and are based upon total score distribution at the end of the semester.
No guarantees can be made in advance about the distribution of letter grades but in general, the A's run in the 90%'s, the B's in the 80%'s,
the C's in the 70%'s, the D's in the 60%'s, etc. The total number of points available in the course is weighted approximately as follows:
Assignment 1 - 45%
Assignment 2 -- Google App - 15%
Assignment 3 -- CHR - 30%
Class Participation -- 10% (Defined by me. This is an evauation of your class participation. Your willingness to work
with other people, and your general attitude in class.)
Exercises are completed on an individual basis and are designed to sharpen the technical skills required in web systems
integration. Exercises provide practice in implementing design concepts and anchoring your knowledge in concrete experiences. We can talk about
a topic such as Perl/CGI all we want, but until you've implemented a working example, you won't really grasp the fundamentals. Exercises
are heavily penalized when turned in after the due date (10% per day).
If you do badly on one of the assignments, do the math, it'll hurt your grade.
This class is based very heavily around group work. This is not intended to be a simulation of what it
is like to work in a business setting. It is intended to help you understand your own strengths and weaknesses in working in
a group setting.
This class has is a large
scale group project that is developed and presented as a single group and represents the combination of unique tasks into a
single deliverable. Details for the group work are found on their respective documents.
In a class this size, it is easy for me to watch how your attitude affects your work and others around you. You don't have to come to class every day with a smile but I expect a positive approach to what we are doing. Ways to earn high participation points: Help others around you, try and answer questions I ask in class, think of ways to extend our assignments, find answers to difficult questions. Ways to lose points: Sulk, work on other classes during class time, crack rude jokes, be a pain to others around you. You cannot miss class. Period. I've grown tired of people giving me excuses for not coming to class and various other stories for not wanting to do work. If you have a job, good for you. You signed up for this class, it's at 8am, deal with it.