CS/MI021 Sections 1 and 2- COMPUTERS IN
MANAGEMENT
Excel Module Only
(September 2 – October 16, 2008)
Fall 2008
This syllabus is available online at Blackboard and www.cs.bc.edu/~cbrown
Instructor
Teaching Assistant
Class Meetings
Course Content
Textbook and Software
Required Background
Handouts and Lecture Notes
Required Work
Grades
Getting Help
Academic Honesty
Instructor
Craig Brown
573 Campanella
Phone: 617-552-9127
E-mail: brownqy@bc.edu
Office Hours: Tu,Th noon to 1:30 PM and other hours available by special
arrangement.
TA’s
David Aaron (aarondb@bc.edu) , Katherine Burke (burkeii@bc.edu) , Matthew
Prybella (prybella@bc.edu) - Office Hours TBD . Note - other CS021 TA’s office
hours will also be posted on Blackboard when available. See HOMEWORK section
of this syllabus for homework grading responsibilities.
Class Meetings
Section 1 classes meet from 9:00 AM until 10:15AM and Section 2 classes meet from
10:30AM until 11:45AM on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s in Fulton 415. A detailed
breakdown of the entire class schedule can be viewed on Blackboard.
Required Background
There are no prerequisites for this course but students are expected to have
developed a familiarity with user level interfacing with Windows applications.
Course Content
Computers In Management is taught as a two (2) module course. The second
module will discuss the use of Microsoft’s spreadsheet – Excel – to solve various
business related problems. Module one will introduce students to the strategic value
and the organizational effects of modern information systems and communications
technology. Each module will be allocated one-half of the semester and each module
will be taught by a separate instructor.
THIS SYLLABUS RELATES ONLY TO THE EXCEL PORTION OF THE
CLASS. YOU SHOULD REFER TO EITHER PROFESSOR RANSBOTHAM’s
BLACKBOARD SITE (SECTION 1 9:30 CLASS) OR PROFESSOR KANE’s
(SECTION 2 10:30 CLASS) WEBSITE www.profkane.com FOR INFORMATION
RELATED TO THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS PORTION OF THE COURSE.
Spreadsheets with Microsoft Excel:
Students will learn to create basic spreadsheets. They will learn to:
Write formulas using functions that including SUM, COUNT, AVERAGE, MIN,
MAX, SUMIF, COUNTIF, MOD, INT, and ROUND, with single arguments,
multiple arguments, and cell ranges as arguments.
Nest such functions in each other and in formulas.
Use financial functions, including at least PV, FV, PMT, RATE, NPER, NPV and
IRR. (Students will also develop an understanding of the fundamental idea that
underlies the various uses of such functions, namely the time value of money.) They
will learn to use such functions with both yearly and non-yearly time periods and to
use them to solve problems in which more than one such functions is needed. And
they will learn to use signs to indicate the direction of cashflows so that they can deal
with both loans and investments.
Use both simple and compound IF’s to make decisions together with the AND, OR
and NOT functions
Use the VLOOKUP function for table lookup.
Use Excel to produce charts and graphs.
Required Textbooks and Software
Gips, J., Mastering Excel 2007: A problem-Solving Approach, Third Edition (green
cover), Pearson Custom Publishing, 2007. ISBN: 0536880131. Available through the
BC bookstore as well as Amazon.com and BN.com.
Please refer to website www.profkane.com or Professor Ransbotham’s Blackboard
site for information regarding the textbook(s) required for the Information Systems
module.
NOTE, YOU SHOULD PURCHASE ALL REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS AT THE
BEGINNING OF THE SEMESTER. THE BOOKSTORE WILL RETURN
BOOKS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN PURCHASES BY THE START OF THE
SECOND MONTH OF THE SEMESTER.
Software:
The classes will be using Microsoft Excel 2007 on a Windows XP system platform.
However, prior versions of Excel (2000 or 2003) or Excel 2007 running on Vista will
also provide the necessary functionality to successfully complete the Excel portion of
this course.
Many class handouts and homework assignments are posted in PDF format. You
will need to have the Adobe Acrobat READER installed on your system in order to
read these PDF files. You can obtain a FREE copy of the Adobe Acrobat READER
by going to www.adobe.com and looking in the DOWNLOADS Tab or clicking on
the “Get Adobe Reader” icon. Again, you only need the READER which is free.
Hardware:
If you have your own computer, you are welcome to use it, but you will have to
obtain the software listed above. If you don't have your own computer, or would
prefer not to obtain the software, you may work at the SLSC in O'Neill. If you do
work at O'Neill, be sure to bring floppy disks so you can keep electronic copies of
your work when you are done. It's good policy to back up your work on floppy disks
even if you have your own machine.
The class will be taught on the Microsoft Windows (XP) platform. If you use a
Macintosh or another version of Windows (such as Vista), most things will be the
same but there will be slight variations. It shouldn't be a problem for you, but you
should be prepared for small differences here and there.
Required Work
Homework
Problem sets will be assigned on a weekly basis. Problem sets will contain largely
computer exercises, but may have a pencil and paper portion on occasion.
Homework’s will generally be posted on this sections Blackboard site on Tuesday’s
and will be due by the following Tuesday by 5PM. Late homework will not receive
any credit without an official excuse from the Dean. Blackboard will also prevent
multiple submissions of the same homework assignment so MAKE SURE WHAT
YOU SUBMIT IS CORRECT BEFORE YOUR SUBMISSION!
There will be approximately 6 homework assignments through the course of the
Excel module portion of the semester (one each week). Instructions for electronic or
hardcopy submission of assignments will be posted on the Blackboard site accessible
through Agora. Unless otherwise instructed “ALL” homework must be submitted
via Blackboard utilizing using computer based generation tools such as Microsoft
Word, Excel, etc.
Your TA’s are responsible for grading ALL of your homework submissions and
therefore any questions you may have about why your homework received the grade
it did should initially be directed to the TA responsible for grading YOUR
assignment. The TA’s will divide homework grading as follows:
David Aaron will grade homework assignments for students whose last names begin
with the letters A through J; Katherine Burke will grade homework assignments for
students whose last names begin with the letters K through Q; and Matthew
Prybella will grade homework assignments for students whose last names begin with
the letters R through Z.
Of course, if you discuss a homework issue with your TA and are not satisfied with
how the discussion was resolved, please feel free to talk with me about your
concerns.
Expectations:
It is imperative that you keep up with the pace of work established in our regular
class meetings. If you make this commitment, and seek help as required, you should
have no difficulty mastering the concepts of this class. However, if you fall behind in
homework or class attendance, recovering missed information can be very difficult.
Common courtesy is expected. Arriving late to class is a disruption - please show
your classmates the courtesy of minimizing such disruptions by being on time.
Experience has demonstrated that cell phones and laptop computers are a
disruption in the classroom. Therefore I request that all cell phones and laptops be
turned off during class. It is your responsibility to seek out the professor if you have
additional questions or need further clarification on class topics and assignments.
Time will be made for all questions, however students who wait until the last minute
may not be given priority. It is also my policy NOT to provide the capability for
EXTRA CREDIT assignments to make up for deficiencies on homework
assignments and/or performance on the final exam.
Exams
The only exam for the Excel module will be a comprehensive final exam covering
ALL of the Excel concepts covered in the Excel module. This exam will be
administered during class on Thursday, October 16, 2008. It is NOT possible to take
the exam BEFORE or AFTER this assigned time so make sure you plan to be
available on during your normally scheduled class on October 16th. For students
utilizing support services through the Connors Learning Center, arrangements can
be made for you to take the exam in the Connors Learning Center BUT the exam
must be taken on October 16th. Please see me ASAP if you plan to use the Connors
Learning Center for the exam. The exam is closed book but you will usually be
allowed to bring two pages (double side) of key notes for your use in the exam. All
exams are closed book and computers are NOT allowed in exams. However, you can
use a calculator in the exam.
I also reserve the right to schedule a “quiz” sometime during the semester if I feel
this is needed.
Handouts and Lecture Notes
Refer to Blackboard for access to handouts and notes.
Grades
Your course grade for the Excel module will be computed as follows:
Homework:
Final Exam:
50%
50%
Course grades for the Excel portion of the class may be subject to normalization
however you will have an opportunity to score BONUS POINTS on the final exam
that should go a long way to compensating for any homework/final exam grading
skews. This means the highest “theoretical score” you could achieve on the final
exam could exceed 100. Although I will factor in whatever score you achieve on the
final into the numeric grade you will receive for my portion of the course, the
highest score that I will average with Professor Kane’s grades for the overall class
grade will be 100. So if you get a 100 on all of your homework submissions and
score, for example, a 120 on the final exam the score I will average with Professor
Kane’s grades is 100, not 110 ((100+120)/2). More information on grading criteria
may be found via Blackboard under the “LETTER GRADE CRITERIA” section.
PLEASE BE AWARE, THE EXCEL GRADE WILL COMPRISE 50% OF YOUR
OVERALL COURSE GRADE. THE GRADE YOU RECEIVE IN FOR THE
INFORMATION SYSTEMS MODULE WILL COMPRISE THE OTHER 50% OF
YOUR GRADE. YOUR GRADES FOR EACH MODULE WILL BE COMBINED
AND YOU WILL RECEIVE ONE OVERALL GRADE FOR THE COURSE FOR
THE SEMESTER.
Getting Help:
If you need assistance, there are several places you can get help on campus. My
office location and hours are at the beginning of this syllabus, and I can be available
at other times as well. The teaching assistants will be announcing their office hours
shortly after the semester begins. Any of the TA's can help members of any of my
CS021 sections.
If you feel you need tutoring, please contact the Academic Development Center in
the O'Neill Library. They tend to be saturated near the end of the semester, so
contact them early if you'd like help.
Academic Honesty
I expect you to abide by the standards of academic honesty set in the student guide.
Cheating and plagiarism are not worthy of Boston College students. You may
discuss your homework with your peers, but your submitted solutions must involve
only your individual effort.
In addition, I expect that you are familiar with the computer ethics policy authored
by the Office of the Dean for Student Development, which is also part of the student
guide. If you don't have a student guide, both standards (academic honesty and
computer ethics) are available on-line through:
http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/academic/resources/policy/#integrity . Policies and
Procedures (items related to Community Standards, Academic Honesty, Computer
Ethics Policies and Integrity and Protection of Technological and Information
Resources). Please familiarize yourself with them.