Spring 2007
SYLLABUS
I. Title: CSC122/2 Introduction to Computers
II. Time and Place: Spring, 2007,
Lecture: M 8:30‑9:20 a.m. LE106
Lab: W 8:30-9:20 a.m. LW213
Final Examination: Friday, May 11th from 8:00-10:00 a.m. in LW213.
III. Credit: Two units
IV. Instructor: Dr. McKinstry, Professor of Computer Science
V. Office Hours: Rohr Science 216, (619) 849-2269; email: jeffmckinstry@pointloma.edu
MWF: 2:45 p.m.-4:15 p.m.
TR: 9:30 a.m.-12:00 noon
VI. Text and materials:
1. Shelly, G.B., Cashman, T.J., Vermaat, M.E. Microsoft Office 2003: Introductory
Concepts and Techniques. Premium Edition. Thomson Course Technology, Boston,
2007.
VII. Position of the course in the college curriculum:
A. Lower division requirement for several majors.
C. Prerequisite is math 099 or equivalent or consent of instructor.
VIII. Objectives of the course:
A. Prepare the student for work at home and in various fields by acquainting the student
with general microcomputer use and terminology and with 5 commonly used application
programs:
Microsoft Word - a word processor
Microsoft Excel- a spreadsheet
Microsoft Access - a data base management system
Microsoft Powerpoint - a presentation software package
Microsoft Internet Explorer - access to the internet and world-wide-web
and the most commonly used computer operating system, Microsoft Windows.
B. Introduce students to computer programming
C. Consider and discuss the social/ethical issues surrounding computers.
IX. Course Organization: The Course Schedule provides an outline with dates for some of
the important activities of the course. Class time will be used for:
1. Introduction of material in the text to be assigned (lecture/group work).
2. Discussion of student questions on the test or class material, including
exercises attempted.
3. Administering tests.
4. Hands-on laboratory projects
X. Late Assignments: Late Assignments will not be accepted. An assignment is late if
not turned in at the beginning of class on the due date. If you miss class, you are still
responsible for turning in your assignment on time, unless you have a written doctor’s
excuse, or a verifiable emergency.
XI. Attendance: Attendance is not taken; however, in-class group and individual
assignments will be given on a regular basis, and these cannot be made up, so your
attendance will impact your grade (see “Student Evaluation”).
XII. Cheating: Cheating is morally wrong. In addition, if you are caught, there are serious
consequences (see the college catalog). Not to mention the fact that it will affect your
grade. For instance, if you copy the spreadsheet or database lab assignments from
someone else, then you will not know how to do the last lab assignment for each of
these programs. The last lab requires that you make up your own spreadsheet or
database, which must be different from everyone else in the class. In addition, half of
your grade is based upon exam scores, and you will not do well on the exams unless
you do all of the work yourself. Photocopied assignments will not be accepted. Do your
own work and you will learn the material well. I encourage you to work with someone
else, but each person must do his or her own work. For example, two people might
want to sit next to each other in the lab and work at the same pace so that they can
help one another. However, each person should be doing the assignment on a separate
machine. Two people may not work together on one machine; you learn best by doing
the work, not by watching others do it.
XII. Student Evaluation:
Laboratory Projects/homework 20%
Quizzes 10%
Exam 1 15%
Excel Exam 25%
Final Exam 30%
TOTAL 100%
Grades will be determined as follows:
93-100% A
90-92% A-
87-89% B+
83-86% B
80-82% B-
77-79% C+
73-76% C
70-72% C-
67-69% D+
63-66% D
60-62% D-
0-59% F
Excel Project
Create your own spreadsheet. It should be something useful and interesting to you. It may be related to your major. Here are a few examples:
· Sports statistics
· Golf score handicap
· Mortgage interest calculations, showing cumulative interest paid at the end of 30
years
· Tracking stock prices
· Creating a grade point average worksheet showing grades in each course and total
GPA
· Maybe their is an interesting mathematical formula from a textbook that you would
like to graph
Make sure that whatever you do is complex enough to be worthy of credit. It must involve several formulas. You will have to refer back to previous assignments when you don’t remember how to do something. Turn in a printout that shows the formulas. Be sure to do your own project. Each student will have a unique project.
Access Project
Find an application for a database in the field that you plan to work in . For example, if you are a P.E. major you may choose to create a database for sports statistics that would allow you to ask, “What players hit more than 30 homers and stole 30 or more bases this year?” If you are a business major, you may choose to store a list of customers with some interesting information about them, like when they last bought a car, what kind of car it was, and how they financed it. You could then query all the customers that haven’t purchased a car lately and thus might be likely candidates to receive a sales brochure for this year’s cars. One of my previous students chose to create a database of guys with all of their strengths and weaknesses! I guess she could then decide whom to go out with?!
Requirements:
Database should have at least 6 fields of data.
Enter at least 15 data records.
Turn in a printout of queries that
1. List all of the data in your database (all fields, and no conditions)
2. Lists only some of the records in the database. For example, printing only those
players who hit more than 30 homers and stole 30 or more bases would exclude
many players in the database.
Be sure to do your own project. Each student will have a unique project.