Bang College of Business, KIMEP University COURSE SYLLABUS Spring 2015 GEN/OPM 2301 Business Computer Applications, 3 credits Prerequisite: Basic knowledge of computer Course Meeting Time and Place: Lec.: #121/VB Tue 08:30-09:45, 11:30-12:45, #2/NEW Tue 10:00-11:30 Tut.: #301/NEW Tue, Thu 13:00-14:15, #325/VB Tue 14:30-15:45, Wed 13:00-14:15, Thu 14:30-15:45, #302/NEW Wed 13:00-15:45, #317/VB Thu 10:00-11:15. 1. Instructor Information/Availability Instructor’s Name Office Phone E-mail Office hours: Oleg Vlasov, MBA 418/adm. 2064 olegvl@kimep.kz Nadezhda Fidirko, MSCS 425/adm. 2268 comcour@kimep.kz TU 13:00-15:30, WE 11:00-13:00, TH 11:30-13:00 TU, TH 16:00-17:00, WE 14:30 – 17:00 2. Course Overview This course is a broad overview of the main topics in business computer applications. Students gain an understanding of computer architecture, networks, telecommunications; they learn how to apply information and knowledge systems, operations and decision support systems, spreadsheets, databases to a wide range of tasks and decision making process. The course emphasizes how organizations benefit from and use computer based technology. The purpose of the course is to foster business thinking through available technical means. 3. Learning Objectives This course will provide students with basic concepts and techniques of using computer technology to facilitate business activities of an enterprise. The practical aspects will be emphasized through group projects to relate the recent theoretical developments with real business situations. Overall objectives of the course are to: KNOWLEDGE: Students will have an understanding of Various functions of computer applications for business. The relationship between IS and other departments. The importance of IT and IS problems and other forces affecting businesses. The role of information technology in the context of organizations. Contribution of IS to the firm’s competitive advantage. SKILLS: Students will learn to Promote company’s image via building a web site Use spreadsheets for computing profits and costs, building pro-forma statements, analyzing financial position and other business activities of companies. Develop simple decision support systems with help of spreadsheets. Use DBMS for efficiently managing big volumes of data Use efficient office automation and VBA programming techniques APPLICATION ABILITIES: Students will be able to Develop efficient and effective procedures and policies. Implement ethical decisions and incorporate strategies to achieve goals and objectives. Link various forces acting on and challenges facing the organization. Develop the ability to analyze specific business problems with help of IT and to propose solutions. VALUES AND ATTITUDES: Students practice KIMEP core values Academic honesty Respect for peers and instructors 1 4. Ability Outcomes By the end of this course students will be able to: Understand modern concepts and trends in computer hardware and software. Promote company’s image by creating and publishing attractive web sites with help of web-editing software (Microsoft FrontPage), using scripts, java applets, flash animations, hit counters, web form elements, and basic HTML editing. Analyze and solve real-world business situations that require intensive calculations or analysis with help of Microsoft Excel. Facilitate complex financial calculations with help of Excel financial functions. Understand basic concepts of programming and algorithms. Automate routine work by recording macros, creating programs and custom functions in VBA, and using other advanced capabilities of Microsoft Office package. Understand basic concepts of database management systems (on example of Microsoft Access), and their business applications. 5. Instructional Approaches/ Teaching Methodology The course will be facilitated through a combination of lectures, tutorial sessions, in-class exercises, discussions, problem solving assignments, readings, and self-work. The emphasis is on learning through class participation and working on assignments. Outside the class time individual study is required from recommended textbooks, lecture slides, online course materials, and other sources like Internet. Students will therefore take responsibility for their own learning and the classroom will be a place for giving the guidelines and showing the directions through lectures, presentations, discussion and tutorial work. Students are required to read corresponding textbook chapters and other instructional materials before the lecture in which the material will be covered. 6. Course Conducting Policies It is expected that students will prepare for classes: read textbook chapters, lecture slides, and supplementary materials, practice in-class and end-of-chapter problems, and accomplish comprehensive mid-term and final exams. During this course you will be also given several group homework assignments. For this you will be required to form groups of no more than 4 students. Groups with bigger number of students are not allowed. List of group members (including Student ID, Last and First Names and network ID of each student, e.g. 20141517 Nakipova Gaziza bsc14-327 MUST be submitted via e-mail to olegvl@kimep.kz before the announced deadline; students failing to meet this requirement will be divided into groups forcedly; once groups are formed and group numbers are announced NO changes in the groups will be allowed until the end of semester under any excuses). All assignments will be submitted online. It is suggested that group members will meet with their study group regularly to prepare these projects. Each group member must check that assignment is submitted on time, even if you confer the submission to one member. It will be impossible to submit the assignment later than the appointed due date. Several online quizzes will be also offered during the semester to check your current knowledge. Ground Rules: Come to class prepared to discuss and to accomplish assignments relevant to the current topic. For this you have to read the chapters and supplementary material in advance. All appeals are accepted within a week after grades for test or assignment have been published. There is no provision for make-up exams. You may leave the room while class is in session only in the case of an emergency. Leaving any other time is disruptive and may influence your grade. The same applies to being late more than 5 minutes. Students must turn mobile phones off or choose silent mode during the class time. To avoid free rider problems in group assignments a team may file a petition to reconsider grades of team members according to their contribution. This may be done in one week since the assignment or presentation has been delivered. By default all the participations are assumed equal. 2 Cheating is a serious administrative offence and will at least result in non-negotiable grade of ZERO. If two assignments have obvious elements of copying then both will receive grade of zero without investigation of the reasons and faults of the parties involved. Attendance will be monitored throughout the course. Three consecutive late attendances (attending 10 minutes after class start) will be converted to a one class absence. Giving proxy signatures for one another will be considered as serious offence and for both involved students attendance will be crossed out for that class. Students will be penalized per each missed class if they have already missed 20% of classes (including lectures and tutorials) or 6 classes. Thus, if student have missed 8 classes during semester (either lectures or tutorials), his/her final grade will be automatically decreased by 2%. Total penalty for poor attendance may not exceed 10%. 7. Outcome Assessment and Grading Matrix Final grade for the course consists of the items below: Assessment Criteria Continuous Assessment (MTA1 (0%) + MTA2 (60%)) i. Online Tests - announced (5 * 4%) ii. Group Assignment I iii. Midterm Exam iv. Group Assignment II v. Group Assignment III Final Assessment i. Final Exam (comprehensive) Grand Total: Percentage 60% 20% 7% 15% 9% 9% 40% 40% 100% Quizzes (20%) There will be 5 quizzes within the semester, taking 10-25 minutes to write at the beginning/end of tutorial. The date and time of the quizzes will be announced, and topics for preparation will be published on the course web site. Quizzes usually consist from combination of 10-15 MC, OE or problem (PR) questions each. Quiz 1 will consist of questions on Microsoft Excel, types of worksheet references, and basic Excel functions (such as =SUM, =AVERAGE, =SUMPRODUCT, =VLOOKUP, =IF, =OR, =AND, =SUMIF, =COUNTIF, etc.). Quiz 2 will cover Excel financial functions (such as =PV, =FV, =PMT, =IPMT, =PPMT, =RATE, and =NPER). Quiz 3 will cover basic concepts of programming and VBA. Quiz 4 will include MC questions on Internet and HTML language, and may include a practical task on HTML. Quiz 5 will cover Hardware and Software topics. You will not have quiz in the first CLASS of study. There are no provisions for make-up exams. Quizzes are not recoverable, if any student missed the test s/he will not have chance to retake it. If you have missed the class – you have missed the quiz. No medical certificates and other excuses are accepted. You are not allowed to take quizzes with students from other tutorial sections. Group Assignments (25%) There are 3 group assignments within a semester. All assignments in the course are submitted electronically via KIMEP intranet. Correct and timely electronic submission is a part of your grade. Computer classes can be crowded on the day of deadline, so be sure that you have submitted your assignments in advance. If you have missed the assignment deadline for any reasons, you may have a chance to recover it within the week after deadline with 15% grade reduction for each day of delay. 3 Midterm Exam (15%) Midterm exam will cover all the topics you will study within the first half of semester (Spreadsheets, Excel Basic and Financial Functions). Don’t expect to have any multiple-choice questions. You will be offered 10-12 essay questions and practical problems to solve. It will be closed book, paper-based exam. You have to bring blue pens, and Student IDs on this exam. Using mobile phones instead of calculators is prohibited. Final Exam (40%) Final exam is comprehensive, closed book, and covers all topics you will study within the semester. Format of this exam, rules and requirements are similar to the format of midterm. Make sure you will bring blue pens, and Student ID cards with you. Any attempt of communication with neighbors during exam will be immediately penalized without warning! Grading Policy: Online Tests, Midterm Exam, Group Assignments, and Final Exam will be percentage graded and then finally converted to letter-grade i.e. A+, A, A-, B+, ... according to the table below. 90 to 100 85 to 89 80 to 84 77 to 79 73 to 76 70 to 72 67 to 69 63 to 66 60 to 62 57 to 59 53 to 56 50 to 52 below 50 Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Fail Incomplete A+ A AB+ B BC+ C CD+ D DF I Withdraw W * Grading, attendance and examination policies and procedures are in accordance with overall KIMEP rules. 8. Instructional Resources All instruction materials for this course will be published on the course web page. Students are also welcome to use built-in help system for each of the applications they are working with. Suggested books and readings: Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, Comprehensive, Deborah Morley and Charles S. Parker, 13th edition, Course Technology, 2011 [1]. Chapters 1-6 on computer hardware and software, chapters 8, 10 on Internet and web technologies for business, chapter 14 on databases and database management systems. Teach Yourself HTML and CSS in 24 Hours, 7th edition, Sams, 2005 [2]. Financial Modeling by Simon Benninga, MIT Press, 2000 [3] (available in KIMEP library). Chapters starting from 31 on Visual Basic for Applications. Materials on Microsoft Excel and DBMS Microsoft Access available in KIMEP library. Lecture slides (available through class web site). Supplementary electronic documents will be published on the course web site. 4 9. Course Calendar/ Tentative Session Plan* Class WEEK 1: WEEK 2: WEEK 3: WEEK 4: Lecture topic Tutorial topic Readings/activities Module I. Microsoft Excel. Course introduction Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel functions (1) Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel (contd.) functions (2) Microsoft Excel Financial Functions functions (3) Financial Functions Financial Functions (contd.) Study time Slides 6 hrs Slides 6 hrs Quiz 1 20 hrs Slides Quiz 2 6 hrs Introduction to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Textbook [3]: Chapters starting from 31 + slides 6 hrs VBA (2). Flowcharts. Macros Mid-term Exam 6 hrs Programming Practices Slides 6 hrs Module II. Introduction to Programming. Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). WEEK 5: WEEK 6: WEEK 7: WEEK 8: WEEK 9: Introduction to Programming Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Office automation methods. Macros. Algorithms Solving business problems with VBA Solving business problems with VBA) Solving business problems with VBA) Programming Practices (contd.) Programming Practices (contd.) 3 hrs Slides Quiz 3 3 hrs Module III. Computer Hardware and Software. Internet. HTML. Web Design. Introduction to DBMS. Microsoft Access. Internet and WWW Exploring HTML Internet and WWW (contd.) HTML (contd.) WEEK 12: Multimedia and the Web HTML WEEK 13: Computer hardware WEEK 10: WEEK 11: WEEK 14: WEEK 15: WEEK 16: Computer hardware (contd.) Computer software Introduction to DBMS. Relational databases. Microsoft Access Microsoft Access (contd.) Web design with Microsoft SharePoint Designer Advanced topics in web design (1) Textbook [1]: Chapter 8 + slides 6 hrs Textbook [2] or slides 6 hrs Textbook [1]: Chapter 10 + slides 6 hrs Quiz 4 6 hrs Textbook [1]: Chapters 1-6 + slides 6 hrs Advanced topics in web design (2) Introduction to Microsoft Access Textbook [1]: Chapter 14 Quiz 5 20 hrs Microsoft Access (contd.) Final Exam (comprehensive) 3 hrs * Content of the course is subject to minor changes. 5 10. Course Objectives and their Assessment Learning Outcomes How they will be taught How to assess Understand modern concepts Chapters 1-6 on computer Quiz, and trends in computer hardware hardware and software Exam. and software. Promote company’s image by creating and publishing attractive web sites with help of web-editing software (Microsoft FrontPage/SharePoint Designer), using scripts, java applets, flash animations, hit counters, web form elements, and basic HTML editing. Analyze and solve real-world business situations that require intensive calculations or analysis with help of Microsoft Excel. Facilitate complex financial calculations with help of Excel financial functions. Understand basic concepts of programming and algorithms. Midterm/Final Chapters 10 & 8 on Internet Group Assignment, and WWW, Multimedia and Quiz, Midterm and Final the Web; practical tutorial Exams sessions on web technologies Lecture sessions on business applications of spreadsheets, cases, practical tutorial sessions Lecture sessions on Microsoft Excel financial functions, practical tutorial sessions Lectures on basics of programming, practical tutorial sessions Automate routine work by Lectures on basics of recording macros, creating programming, practical programs and custom functions tutorial sessions in VBA, and using other advanced capabilities of Microsoft Office package. Understand basic concepts of Chapter 14 on databases and database management systems database management (on example of Microsoft systems, lecture, practical Access), and their business tutorial sessions applications. 6 Group Assignment/Case Analysis, Quiz, Midterm and Final Exams Quiz, Midterm and Final Exams Group Assignment, Quiz, Final Exam Group Assignment, Quiz, Final Exam. Quiz, Final Exam.