CS101 - Fluency in Information Technology

Summer 2009 Syllabus

Vetria Byrd: Instructor

8:00 am - 10:05 am (Tuesdays) -- Educational Building RM 230
All Labs meet in Campbell Hall 435

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

Lab Sections:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
8:00am - 10:50am Li Chatterjee Chatterjee
11:00pm - 1:50pm Chatterjee
2:00pm - 4:50pm Li Li

Instructors:

Email Office Location
Vetria Byrd <vlbyrd@uab.edu> CH 113B

Office Hours:

TBA

Text:

Snyder, Fluency with Information Technology: Skills Concepts, & Capabilities, 3rd 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.

Labs will start meeting on the first day of classes, and will meet every week unless specified by the lab instructor or the Academic Calendar.

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 lab work should be posted to his/her web page at the end of each lab; no later than the date indicated on the course syllabus
(See Course Outline Below).

Each student's FINAL PROJECT should be posted by his or her last regularly scheduled lab period.

Course Outline:

TopicLab WorkLab SlidesLab work posted byLecture Slides (not available to students)
Basic terminology * Lab 1.1
* Local guide for 1.1
Intro June 19, 2009 * Terms of Endearment - Defining Information Technology
Human-computer interface,
networking and
Searching the web
* Lab 1.2
* Local guide for 1.2
* Lab 1.4
1.2

1.4
June 19, 2009 * What the Digerati Know - Exploring the Human-Computer Interface
* Making the Connection - The Basics of Networking

* Searching for Truth - Locating Information on the WWW
HTML and debugging * Lab 1.3
* Local guide for 1.3
1.3 June 19, 2009 * Marking Up with HTML - A Hypertext Markup Language Primer
* To Err is Human - An Introduction to Debugging
Spreadsheets * Add project title to web page
* 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 July 6, 2009 * Fill-In-the-Blank Computing - The Basics of Spreadsheets
Database concepts * Lab 3.2
    - Attached Database
    - Local Guide for 3.2
* Access Lab 1 (Optional)
    - Attached Database
* Access Lab 2 (Optional)
* Access Lab 3 (Optional)
* Begin Work on Project
3.2 July 13, 2009 * Getting to First Base - Introduction to Database Concepts
* A Table with a View - Database Queries
How computers work **** Work on projects **** * Bits and the "WHY" of Bytes - Representing Information Digitally
* Following Instructions - Principles of Computer Operation
Privacy and security **** Work on Project **** * Shhh, It's a Secret - Privacy and Digital Security
Good computing habits **** Work on Project **** * Computers in Polite Society - Socail Implications of IT
Multimedia **** Work on Project **** * Light, Sound, Magic -- Representing Multimedia Digitally
Programming with Javascript * Lab 4.1 (Optional)
    - Firefox Javascript Settings
.... Work on Project
4.1   * What's the Plan - Algorithmic Thinking
* Get with the Program - Fundamental Concepts Expressed in JavaScript
Finishing up .... Work on Project * Computers Can Do Almost {Everything, Nothing} - Limits to Computation
* A Fluency Summary - Click to Close

Previous semesters

HTML Links


Vetria Byrd
Last Modified: 12 June 2009