Introduction & Assessment
IACT 918 Autumn 2005
Gene Awyzio & Glenn Bewsell
SITACS University of Wollongong
Overview
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The structure of IACT 918
The assessment schedule
Overview of tutorial tasks
Some ground rules
Essay/Report writing hints
WebCT
• Please note that the WebCT URL is:
– http://www.uow.edu.au/student/lol/
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Contacting Gene
• Preferred Method:
– via webCT forum
– Most questions are best posted to the WebCT discussion board,
so that everyone can benefit from the answer!
• Specific IACT 918 enquiries are to be directed to me
(gene)
• Room: 3.107
• Phone: 4221 4090
• Email: gene@uow.edu.au
• Avoiding the junk filter
– Use your UoW account
– Made subject relevant
• Eg IACT918 essay assignment question
– Provide a heading
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Contacting Glenn
• Preferred Method:
– via webCT forum
– Most questions are best posted to the WebCT discussion board,
so that everyone can benefit from the answer!
•
•
•
•
Room: 3.109
Phone: 4221 5683
Email: gbewsell@uow.edu.au
Avoiding the junk filter
– Use your UoW account
– Made subject relevant
• Eg IACT418 essay assignment question
– Provide a heading
5
Objectives of IACT418/918
• Explore the uses of telecommunications by
businesses
• Understand the current status and future
directions of telecommunications regulatory
environment
• Discuss the strategic management issues and
the options created by emerging technologies
• Develop documentation to support
organisational requirements for a
telecommunications network
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Topics
1. Documenting the network
– Requirements capture and specification
– Functional specification
– Design specification
– Documenting the network configuration
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Topics
2. Managing the network
– Influences on the network
– Management architectures and standards
– Performance management
– Fault management
– Disaster management
– Managing changes in a network
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Topics
3. Corporate and regulatory requirements
– Management teams
– Operations and support
– Standards and protocols
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THE SCHEDULE (subject to change)
Week
Topic
Tutorial Activity
Reading
Assessment
Essay Questions
allocated and
handed out in
Lecture
1
Introduction and Assessment
Essay Question
Network Management
Overview
No Tutorial
Subject Outline
Chapters 1 & 2
2
Policy and Procedures
Fault Management
No Tutorial
Chapter 3
3
Configuration Management
Change Management
Seminar
discussion &
allocation
Chapter 4
Milestone 1
Chapter 5
Seminars 1 & 2
Tavani & Various
Seminar Questions
allocated and
handed out in
Tutorials
Security Management
4
5
Ethics, Accountability and
Regulations/Influences on
the Network
Midsession Break (one Week)
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Essay Due In
Tutorials
THE SCHEDULE (subject to change)
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6
Performance Management
Design & Implementation
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Capacity Planning
Group Project Launch
Milestone 2
Chapter 6
McCabe
Seminars 3 &4
Group allocation
Various
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Accountancy Management
Human Resources
Management
Milestone 3
Chapter 7
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Customer Care,
Risk assessment and disaster
management
Seminars 5 & 6
Zeithaml (a) Chapter 3
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SNMP I, II & III
Seminars 7 & 8
Chapter 8
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CMIS/CMIP
MIB-II
Seminars 9 & 10
Chapters 9 & 10
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RMON
Seminars 11 &
12
Chapter 11
13
Productivity Tools
Subject Review
Quiz
Chapter 12
Major Project
handed out in
Lectures
Major Project Due
in Tutorials
Attendance
• Satisfactory attendance is a requirement
of Uni enrolment
• Failure to comply can result in a fail grade
being recorded
• Satisfactory attendance is 80% of the
allocated contact hours
– * Tutors will take an attendance roll in each
class *
• Tutorials start in week three (3) and
continue until week thirteen (13)
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Expected Workload
• Course Rule 3.21
– Each credit point in a subject has an imp[lied
workload of 28 hours over the duration of the
subject.
• The expected workload in this subject for
an average student therefore is
– 168 hours over the session
– or approximately 12 hours per week over 14
weeks
• This includes lectures/tutorials/labs etc.
– If you don’t put in the time, don’t expect a high
result.
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Expected Workload
• This is a Final Year/Masters level subject
– YOU are expected & required to conduct
independent learning
– If there is something you do not know enough
about, go to the ‘net or the library and FIND
OUT for yourself!
• Any information posted to the subject
website site is deemed to have been
notified to all students
– Stay in touch with recent developments.
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Subject Materials
• Textbook
– Leinwand, A. and K.
Fang
– Network Management:
A Practical
Perspective. second
ed. 1995:
– Prentice Hall
International
– Available in the
unicentre bookshop
for $54.90
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Subject Materials
•
References
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Dawson, R., Living Networks: Leading Your Company, Customers, and Partners in the
Hyper-Connected Economy. first ed. 2003: Financial Times; Prentice Hall. (Available online
through Safari Tech Books Online http://proquest.safaribooksonline.com/0130353337)
Available in the unicentre bookshop for $49.95
McCabe, J.D., Network Analysis, Architecture and Design. second ed. 2003, Amsterdam:
Morgan Kaufmann. Available in the unicentre bookshop for $143.89
Zeithaml, V,. Parasuraman A,. Berry L, Delivering quality service : balancing customer
perceptions and expectations, Collier Macmillan, 1990, Available in the library (call No:
658.812/10 or via electronic reserve)
Zeithaml, V., Bitner M., Services marketing : integrating customer focus across the firm,
McGraw-Hill, 2002, Available in the library (call No: 658.8/454 or via electronic reserve)
McClaren, S., Easy Writer: A students Guide to Writing Essays & Reports. first ed., Sydney:
Pascal Press. Available in the library (call No: 808.042/158)
Terplan, K. Communications Networks Management (2nd ed.), Prentice Hall, 1992, Available
in the library (call No: 004.6068/3)
Rowe, S., Telecommunications for Managers (3rd ed or later.), Prentice Hall, 1995, Available
in the library (call No: 651.7/10)
Subramanian, M. Network management : principles and practice, Addison Wesley, 2000,
Available in the library (call No: 004.6/164)
Tavani, H, Ethics and technology : ethical issues in an age of information and communication
technology, Wiley, 2004, Available in the library (call No: 174.9004/3)
Assessment Tasks
Assessment Item
Weighting Due Date
Formal Exam
40%
Exam Period
1500 Word Essay
10%
Hard copy during week five tutorial
class
Seminar
10%
Oral presentation and hard copy of
summary sheet during tutorial classes
weeks 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12
Milestone
activities
and quizzes
20%
Hard copy during tutorials in weeks 4,
6, 8 & 13
Group component of
major
project
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20%
Hard copy during week 13 tutorial
class
Notes on Assessment
• Submission of Assessment Items
– All assessment work is to be submitted during your
allocated tutorial
– If you cannot submit an assessment item during your
tutorial then it must be submitted to the subject
coordinator as soon as possible
• Late submission of assessment item MUST be accompanied
by a special consideration item via SOLs
– All submissions must be accompanied by an
Assignment Cover Sheet.
• hard copy from the student enquiry centre in building three
• online at
http://www.itacs.uow.edu.au/info/current/coversheet.pdf
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Notes on Assessment
• Return of Assessment Items
– All assignments except the major project will
be returned to students in tutorials
– The major project will be available from the
subject coordinator after being marked
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Notes on Assessment
• Penalties for late submission of Assessment
Items
– Penalties may apply to all late work, except if
• Special consideration is deemed necessary
• An extension has been granted by your subject coordinator
• Your tutor cannot grant you an extension.
– Requests for extensions should be emailed to the
lecturer or coordinator, prior to the due date
– 10% of available marks will be deducted from work
for each day it is overdue
– Work more than one week late may be awarded a
mark of zero.
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Notes on Assessment
• Special consideration
– Special consideration applications must be
submitted via SOLs
– Medical certificates or supporting
documentation should be shown to the
subject coordinator as well as University
Administration
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Notes on Assessment
• Electronic submission of Assessment
Items
– Electronic submissions, faxes and unreceipted mail submissions will NOT be
accepted except via the WebCT submission
process.
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Notes on Assessment
• Participation
– Students are required to participate in
tutorials
– This means not only attending and listening to
the tutorial presentations, but contributing
insights to the discussion.
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Notes on Assessment
• Scaling
– Final results in this subject may be scaled.
– The scaling method that will be used in this subject is as follows
• If E is the student exam mark out of 40, and A is the student
assignment mark out of 60, the student final mark F will be
determined as follows:
• Student receives A for assignments and E for exam.
– E >= 16: Final mark is E + A
– 14 <= E <16: Final mark is MIN (E+A, 49)
– 14 > E: Final mark is MIN (E+A, 44)
• Notes:
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Student with E >=16 can get any grade from F to HD
Student with 14 <= E < 16 can get either grade F (1-44) or PC (45-49)
Student with E < 14 can only get F(1-44)
918 students CANNOT receive a grade of PC
Essays
IACT 918 Autumn 2005
Gene Awyzio
SITACS University of Wollongong
What an Essay is NOT
• A memory dump
– Of everything you know
– Presented in jumbled order
– Bit of a conclusion somewhere near the end
• A random rambling discussion of points vaguely
related to the question
• A series of repetitions of the same answer
expressed in different ways
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What an Essay IS
• “A sustained argument, developing from,
or weighing the evidence about an idea or
question and creating a full and satisfying
conclusion”
– Stephen McClaren, Easy Writer: A Students
Guide to writing Essays and Reports
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What an Essay IS
• “A sustained argument, developing from,
or weighing the evidence about an idea or
question and creating a full and satisfying
conclusion”
– Stephen McClaren, easy writer: A students
guide to writing essays and reports
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What an Essay IS
• An argument is a proposition
– The main line of thought, backbone of the
essay
– When supported by detailed discussion and
logic in support this is called an argument
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What an Essay IS
• Any discussion in an essay must be DIRECTLY related
to the argument
• Discussion is sustained by reference to
–
–
–
–
–
Facts
Examples
Interpretations
Analysis
Critical thinking
• Which serve to support your argument
• You should periodically sum up showing how the point
you are currently discussing relates to your argument
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What an Essay IS
• Within each paragraph of an argumentative type
essay, facts (pertinent data) are not sufficient on
their own
– Facts used to support your thesis must be specifically
linked back to the thesis
– The reader should not have to perform 'mental
gymnastics' to make the link between your thesis and
the point being discussed
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What an Essay IS
• The information presented must be relevant to
the point you are making and it must be
convincing
– To be relevant the writer has to be ruthless in
rejecting any ideas and facts which do not directly
help to build the credibility of the thesis
– To be convincing, the writer needs to report on
research undertaken by reputable experts and which
supports the validity of the thesis
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What an Essay IS
• In an academic essay, the format for sustaining
an argument is
– State your thesis in the introduction and provide the
main reasons for the support of the thesis
– In the body of the essay you take each reason in turn,
explain the significance of the reason and then show
how it supports your thesis
– The conclusion is the place for you to provide the
reader with the big picture and remind the reader of
the significance of your thesis
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What an Essay IS
• Full Conclusions should go beyond a
summary of the main points in the essay
• They should look at the implications and
significance of the main points in light of
your main argument
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Abstracts, Summaries or
Executive Summaries
• Abstracts
– Typically, an informative abstract answers
these questions in about 100-250 words:
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•
•
•
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Why did you do this study or project?
What did you do, and how?
What did you find?
What do your findings mean?
Abstracts, Summaries or
Executive
Summaries
• Executive summaries
– Provide an overview or preview to an audience who
may or may not have time to read the whole report
carefully
– Explain why you wrote the report
– Emphasize your conclusions or recommendation
– Include only the essential or most significant
information to support those conclusions
– Accuracy is essential because decisions will be made
based on your summary by people who have not read
the original
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Introduction
• Your introduction serves three (3) main functions
– To prepare the way ahead for your essay
– To demonstrate that you have understood the
question, and what that understanding is
– To indicate your argument in response
• The introduction covers the following issues:
– What was the problem and its context,
– Why was it a problem,
– How was the problem solved (briefly)
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Introduction
• There are two stages in an introduction that are
essential:
– Thesis statement
– Summary of main points to be discussed
• In addition sometimes the following stages are
also required:
– Orientation to the topic
– Stating the scope of the discussion
– Defining your term
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Body of an Essay
• In a sustained essay the body MUST continue
along the lines established in the introduction
• Other hints to writing a good body
– Use topic sentences
– Treat each point in turn (not each source)
• Convention: discuss points in the same order you introduced
them
– Use transition words and phrases between points or
topics
– Refer to your argument
– Give specific proof
– Qualify your statements
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Conclusions and
Recommendations
• Your report or essay will typically describe
some findings which have been derived
from
– Observation
– Experiment
– Calculation
– Literature review
• From these findings, you should draw
some conclusions
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Conclusions and Recommendations
• The insights that you can extract from your
basic findings are a key part of your report
or essay
• You may also be expected to make some
recommendations based on your
conclusions
• If you have limited the scope in the
introduction now you need to show how
your argument relates back to the ‘big
picture’ and what the implications are
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