CS101 - Fluency in Information Technology

Fall 2008 Syllabus

Kenneth Sloan: Instructor

2:00 pm - 3:15 am (Tuesdays) -- Room TBA

Table of Contents
Catalog Description
Prerequisites
Lab Sections
Instructors
Office Hours
Course Text
Overview
Course Outline
Previous Semesters
HTML/JavaScript Resources
TA Resources

Catalog Description

Skills, concepts, and capabilities associated with Information Technology. Fundamentals of hardware, software, human-computer interfaces, networking, multi-media, databases, eCommerce, privacy and digital security. Project oriented hands-on approach.

Prerequites:

NONE, 3hrs

Lab Sections:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
8:00am - 9:50am TBA Mills TBA Mills TBA
10:00am - 11:50am TBA TBA TBA TBA
1:00pm - 2:50pm TBA
3:30pm - 5:20pm TBA Mills TBA Mills

Instructors:

Email Office Location
Kenneth Sloan <sloan@uab.edu> CH 133

Office Hours:

TBA

Text:

Snyder, Fluency with Information Technology: Skills Concepts, & Capabilities, 2nd edition, Addison Wesley, ISBN 0-321-35782-5

Overview

This course gives students the experience, knowledge, and capabilities needed to apply information technology effectively throughout their lives. In addition to computer literacy (immediately useful skills), Fluency involves problem solving, reasoning and complexity management to prepare students to use computers today and to be effective technolgoy users tomorrow.

This is an intense, hands-on, project/paper driven course. It is aimed at students who have no intention of becoming CIS majors, as well as potential CIS majors who lack a sound IT foundation.

Classes will be a mixture of lecture, demonstration, and structured lab work, leading to a major term project.

Lecture and labs are both mandatory.

Grades are based on on the final project (45%), the lab assignments (45%), and class/lecture participation (10%). There are no exams.

Each student's work is due by his or her last regularly scheduled lab period.

Course Outline:

TopicLab WorkLab SlidesLecture Slides (not available to students)
Basic terminology * Lab 1.1
* Local guide for 1.1
Intro * Terms of Endearment - Defining Information Technology
Human-computer interface
and networking
* Lab 1.2
* Local guide for 1.2
1.2 * What the Digerati Know - Exploring the Human-Computer Interface
* Making the Connection - The Basics of Networking
HTML and debugging * Lab 1.3
* Local guide for 1.3
1.3 * Marking Up with HTML - A Hypertext Markup Language Primer
* To Err is Human - An Introduction to Debugging
Searching the web * Lab 1.4 1.4 * Searching for Truth - Locating Information on the WWW
Spreadsheets * Lab 3.1
* Excel Lab 1
    - Lab 1 starter data
    - Local Guide for Graphs
* Excel Lab 2 (Optional)
    - Lab 2 starter data
* Excel Lab 3 (Optional)
    - Lab 3 starter data
3.1 * Fill-In-the-Blank Computing - The Basics of Spreadsheets
How computers work .... Excel Labs * Bits and the "WHY" of Bytes - Representing Information Digitally
* Following Instructions - Principles of Computer Operation
Database concepts * Lab 3.2
    - movies.mdb
    - Local Guide for 3.2
* Lab 3.3 (Optional)
* Lab 3.4 (Optional)
* Begin Work on Project
3.2 * Getting to First Base - Introduction to Database Concepts
* A Table with a View - Database Queries
Privacy and security .... Lab 3.2 (Work on Project) * Shhh, It's a Secret - Privacy and Digital Security
Programming with Javascript * Lab 4.1
    - Firefox Javascript Settings
.... Work on Project
4.1 * What's the Plan - Algorithmic Thinking
* Get with the Program - Fundamental Concepts Expressed in JavaScript
Multimedia .... Lab 4.1 (Work on Project) * Light, Sound, Magic -- Representing Multimedia Digitally
Good computing habits .... Work on Project * Computers in Polite Society - Socail Implications of IT
Finishing up .... Work on Project * Computers Can Do Almost {Everything, Nothing} - Limits to Computation
* A Fluency Summary - Click to Close

Previous semesters

HTML Links


David O'Gwynn
Last Modified: 20 August 2007