COURSE
DESCRIPTION |
This course introduces the fundamentals
of information systems analysis and design by covering a variety of current methods,
tools, and techniques. The course will cover system development activities in
the context of when they typically occur. Most of the course will be devoted
to learning and practicing the techniques and processes used by the systems analyst
at each phase within the systems development cycle. This course allows the student
to role-play as a systems analyst and project leader, with emphasis on the decision
making process during a systems development project. |
CLASS
TIMES |
Online
participation from January 10 th through March 6 th of
2008. Please be aware
that you must be available to participate in weekly online discussions. This
discussion must be conducted on at least three different days each
week; any time of day is acceptable. Each course week begins on
Thursday at 9am and runs through to the following Wednesday at
11:59pm (CST). |
INSTRUCTOR |
James
W Miller
millerjw@world.oberlin.edu
(Thanks to Margaret Kozak for the structure
of the course) |
TEXT |
Systems
Analysis & Design Methods, Seventh Edition ,
Jeffrey L. Whitten and Lonnie D. Bentley, McGraw Hill / Irwin –
ISBN: 13: 978-0-07-305233-5 10: 0-07-305233-7 We
will also utilize Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, Access). Students
are responsible for their individual access to this software. |
OBJECTIVES |
Upon
completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Describe what systems analysts and software architects do.
- Describe various types of systems development projects such as developing
systems from scratch, evaluating software packages, integrating web based
and legacy systems etc.
- Define systems development terms such as SDLC, CASE, RAD, ERD, DFD, RFP,
UML, and a few that are not TLAs (three letter acronyms).
- Describe the benefit and use of Rapid Application Development tools.
- Differentiate among systems development methodologies.
- Articulate the reasons to use a systems development methodology.
- Describe the sequence of system development steps and which deliverables
are produced in each step.
- Demonstrate the ability to read and produce traditional data and process
models (ERDs and DFDs)
- Demonstrate the ability to use UML
- Describe various techniques used in systems development and when to use
each technique (questionnaires, prototyping, etc).
- Describe the process of Project Management
|
COURSE
FORMAT |
This
online course is organized into eight weeks and all course materials
will be available each week on the Dominican University Blackboard
site (blackboard.dom.edu). Each week begins on Thursday at 9am and
runs until the following Wednesday at 11:59pm (CST). Each week there
is a posted online lecture, a required assignment, an online quiz,
and an online discussion. In the final week, there is an online final
exam and a short paper due. The paper should be completed over the
span of several weeks, however. All assignments are submitted electronically
via Blackboard (instructions will be provided) and are due by no
later than midnight on the appropriate Wednesday. Each week, students
will be required to complete an online quiz that will be available
from Thursday until Wednesday at 11:59pm of the appropriate week.
In addition, students will be required to participate each week in
an online discussion on a minimum of three different days in the
week for full credit points. The details for each course component
requirement are provided below. Please be aware that due
to the nature of the course, absolutely NO LATE assignments, NO
LATE discussion and NO
LATE quiz work can be accepted. Sorry, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Note from JWM: For those of you that have heard of me from
other students, you know I have been flexible about due dates in
the "normal" version fo this course. Unfortunately, the
compressed 8 week on line format does not allow for this flexibiilty
so please complete your work on-time. Blackboard
will ruthlessly enforce the cut-off times. |
| |
Final
course average will be based on the following:
| Course
Components |
Total Maximum Points
410
distributed as described:
|
Homework
Assignments (Weeks 1 through 7)
On Thursday of each week (except the
final week) an assignment will be posted on the course Blackboard
site. Assignments are to be submitted electronically
using the course Blackboard Assignments section by no later
midnight (CST) on the scheduled Wednesday due date. Exact
instructions on how to accomplish this will be given. Due
to the nature of the course, no late assignments will be
accepted.. Each
assignment is worth a maximum of fourteen (14) points. (Note:
The grade for late work is zero. However, if you think you
don't have time to do the homework, you can at least get
some credit by submitting whatever you have just before the
deadline. A blank submission is worth at least 1 point) |
98
(7 weeks x 14 points) |
Online
discussion participation (Weeks 1 through 7)
In the Online
Discussion area of the course, students are required to interact
with classmates to explore questions and comments related
to the content of this course. Discussions will always open
on Thursday at 9:00
am (CST) and close on Wednesday at 11:59pm (CST). A
successful student in online education is one who takes an
active role in the learning process. You are therefore
required to participate in the discussion areas to enhance
your learning experience throughout each week.
Online discussions
are graded each week (except the final week) based on:
1.
Frequency—Number
and regularity of your discussion comments, and
2.
Content —Content
of your contributions
2.
Timing — Timing t
of your contributions
Frequency—Number
and regularity of your contributions. Students are expected
to log into the course Blackboard web site and post (respond)
in each of the week’s threaded
discussion topics on a minimum of three separate
days per week. Note
that there may be two or three discussion topics in a particular
week. You
are required to post at least three times in EACH threaded
topic that week (so if there are two discussion topics,
that would total to a minimum of six posts for the
week).
Content— points
awarded to the content
of your contributions. Points are awarded based on strong
evidence of reading, reflection, and careful composition. Maximum
points are only awarded to posts which elaborate on previous
comments with additional information contribution, or
posts which present explanations of concepts or which
provide clarifying examples, or posts which provide a
URL and an explanation in your own words for a relevant
area researched on the Internet.
Timing— points
are deducted if your initial posting in any thread is
made after Sunday night. The purpose of this is to give everyone
in the class an opportunity to read and comment on
your postings before the week ends on Wednesday night.
Note: It
is impossible to make up discussion points once the week
ends. Each weekly
discussion is worth a maximum of eighteen
(18) points. Again,
students are required to participate in the online discussions
on at least three different
days of the week in each of the graded threads identified
for the week. |
126
(7 weeks x 18 points)
|
Online
Quizzes (Weeks 1 through 7)
On Wednesday of each week (except the
final week) an online quiz will be posted on the course Blackboard
site. Students should not take the quiz until the weeks
materials have been reviewed. The quizzes will be directly
related to the posted weekly online lecture and textbook
reading assignment for the week. Quizzes will be taken on
the course Blackboard site as indicated each week. Each
weekly quiz will be worth a maximum of eighteen (18) points. Note: Since late work receives a grade of zero, you should submit
"whatever you have" before the deadline. |
126
(7 weeks x 18 points) |
Short
Paper (Weeks 6 through 8 -- due Week 8)
A short paper will be required where
the student relates the course material to the IT environment
at the business where the student is presently employed or
was previously employed. In the unlikely event that the student
has not previously worked with Information Technology, an
alternative topic will be negotiated. Details
will be provided in around the sixth week of the course. |
12
|
Final
Exam
There will be an online final exam
required in Week 8. Details and a study guide will be provided
later.
|
48 |
At
the end of the course the final letter
grade will be computed as follows:
|
Letter
Grade |
Total
Earned Points |
Corresponding
Percentage |
A: |
381 |
93-100% |
A-: |
369 |
90-92.9% |
B+: |
360 |
88-89.9% |
B: |
328 |
80-87.9% |
C+: |
319 |
78-79.9% |
C: |
287 |
70-77.9% |
C-: |
278 |
68-69.9% |
F: |
0 |
0-67.9% |
|
OUTLINE
OF CONTENT |
Each
week of the course on the course Blackboard web sites identifies
the content areas covered that week. Students are responsible for
the material covered in the weekly online lectures and the material
assigned in the textbook readings. |
ONLINE
COURSE TUTORIAL |
|