MISY 4310 Business Data Communications Systems II
Section 001: LIB-135C; T 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM; Spring, 2009
Instructor:
Office:
Telephone:
E-mail:
Office Hours:
Website:
Tim Klaus
FC 255
(361) 825-2379
tim.klaus@tamucc.edu
2:00 – 3:50 and 5:20 – 6:30 Tuesdays and Thursdays
Other days and times by appointment
http://www.cob.tamucc.edu/tklaus
Course Materials
1. Required Text: Data Communications and Networking, 4th Edition by Behrouz Forouzan
2. Course material on my website
Prerequisites
MISY 3320 and Junior standing or above.
Course Description:
Design, implementation, and operation of client-server network systems for organizational
Intranets and Internet presence. Exercises and assignments will use selected data
communications facilities.
Relationship to Other Coursework:
Where MISY 3320 provides an introduction to data communications and computer networks,
this course provides more advanced client/server and Internet exposure. The knowledge learned
through this course and MISY 3320 will be applied through a semester-long project.
Additionally, the skills learned in MISY 2305, or equivalent, will be required to complete the
project and assignments in this course. The purpose of the class is NOT to get certified, but to
understand the principles behind network management.
Instructional Methodology:
Student and Instructor presentations, demonstrations, discussions, guest lectures and hands-on
use of computers to complete the exercises and assignments.
Attendance Policy:
Students are held responsible for class attendance and are advised that excessive absences may
adversely affect grades. Students required to take business trips or not attending due to
extremely important events (like attending a wedding) need to consult with the instructor ahead
of time. No make-up exam is given for students who miss the class without a valid reason.
Students with valid reasons must contact the professor before test.
Page 1
Performance Evaluation and Grading:
Exam #1
Exam #2
Team Project
Individual Research Report
Assignments (mostly in-class)
TOTAL
20%
20%
30%
20%
10% (lowest assignment grade is dropped)
100%
A letter grade will be determined based on the total points earned, as follows: A: 90.0-100%; B:
80.0-89.9%; C: 70.0-79.9%; D: 60.0-69.9%; F: below 60.0%.
Exams: All exams are open-book and timed. When the time is up, everyone must turn in their
exam. Any course material is fair game for exam questions--all assigned readings whether
discussed in class or not and all material presented in lectures or student presentations whether
covered in assigned readings or not.
Assignments: Late assignments will not be accepted. In-class assignments will only be
collected in-class on the date assigned (a 0 will be received for any missed assignment).
Research Report:
Each student will engage in a research project in which a report will be developed on a specific
networking/data communications topic. See the research report guidelines for more information.
Team Project: Students will choose a team to work with for a semester-long project. Further
details are provided in the team project handout.
Academic Honesty:
University students are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards
of academic honesty. Academic misconduct for which a student is subject to penalty includes all
forms of cheating, such as illicit possession of examinations or examination materials, forgery, or
plagiarism. If I determine that any assignment was not completed solely by the student whose
name appears on the project, the student will receive a zero (0) for the project and may receive
an "F" for the class. Plagiarism is using another person’s words without quoting the person (if
you use more than three words, it should be in quotes). Reports will be examined with
plagiarism-checking software. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.
Cheating is defined as: (a) the unauthorized granting or receiving of aid during the prescribed
period of a course-graded exercise; students may not consult written materials such as notes or
books, may not look at the paper of another student, nor consult orally with any other student
taking the same test; (b) asking another person to take an examination in his or her place, or
taking an examination for or in place of another student; (c) stealing, borrowing, buying, or
disseminating tests, answer keys, or other examination material; (d) stealing or copying research
papers, creative papers, speeches, drawings, diagrams, musical scores, graphs, maps, computer
programs, etc. and presenting them as one's own.
Page 2
Ethical Perspective:
Information technology (IT) professionals are entrusted with the protection and safekeeping of
valuable and even critical corporate information resources. Although not to as great an extent as
the IT professional, IT users in a corporate environment are entrusted with the same. Computer
networks are one of the most vulnerable areas of a IT environment, and ensuring the proper use
of these IT resources is of paramount importance in network design and management.
Some of the ethics-related issues discussed in this course include security, privacy, intellectual
property issues, and general ethical behavior for IT professionals and users.
Classroom Policy:
 Surfing the Internet, including the use of email, unless pertaining directly to the subject
matter at hand, is not allowed during this class
 Students are expected to remain in the classroom for the duration of the class period
 Working on assignments from another class, during the class period, is not allowed
 When a lecture is in progress, the student is expected to pay attention to the instructor and
to take notes. The student should not engage in talking or moving about the classroom
(including retrieving documents from the printer) while a lecture is in progress
Page 3
Tentative Course Schedule
(Topics and/or dates may be changed)
Date
1/20
1/27
2/3
2/10
2/17
2/24
Topic
Introductions and Orientation
Data Communications and Networking Basics
Digital, Analog, and Bandwidth Utilization
Local Area Networks and Intranets
Wireless Networks
SONET, Frame Relay, and ATM
The Network Layer
3/3
3/10
3/17
3/24
3/31
4/7
4/14
4/21
4/28
5/5
Various Networking Topics
Exam #1
Spring Break – No Class
Team Project Work Day
Transport Protocols
Internet Applications
The World Wide Web
Security
Various Networking Topics
Various Networking Topics/Presentations
5/7
Exam #2
Page 4
Chapter Due
Overview
4, 5, 6
Overview
14, 16
17, 18
20, 21,
22
Team Project Del. #1
Research Report Topic
Team Project Del. #2
Team Project Del. #3
Assigned Readings
24
28, 29
27
30, 32
Team Project Del. #4
Team Project Del. #5
Assigned Readings
Assigned
Readings/Presentations