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UMUC European Division-Term 1/2002-2003 INSS 530 INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN ORGANIZATIONS COURSE OUTLINE
Class Times: 0900 - 1600, Saturdays and Sundays; 24,25 August, 7,8; 21,22 September, 5,6 October Location: Education Center, Sigonella (NAS 2), Italy Lecturer: Edmund Deaton, Ph.D. Phone: To be provided. e-mail: edeaton@faculty.ed.umuc.edu; Office Hours: Before and after each class session and by appointment. Appointments are encouraged. Pre-requisite: All undergraduate prerequisite courses or permission of the lecturer. Course Credit: 3 semester hours. Web Board: We will be using the Web board (to be explained in the first class meeting) to post messages, assignments, responses, ask questions and a myriad of other activities.
TEXTBOOKS: O'Brien, James A., Management Information Systems: Managing Information Technology in the E-Business Enterprise (5th edition), New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. (MIS) Bruner, Robert F. et al, The Portable MBA (3rd edition), New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (MBA)COURSE PURPOSE: This course establishes a foundation for understanding and analyzing information in organizations. The contents of this course are covered on the Comprehensive Examination. COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course introduces basic management information systems concepts and examines the fundamental types of information systems. Personal, work groups, and enterprise information systems are discussed. The challenge and use of information to gain competitive advantage are also examined. Other topics to be discussed include: the economics of information, use of value added concepts to evaluate information system effectiveness, and the application of systems theory to information systems architecture. Through supplemental readings, students will also be introduced to pertinent business concepts that will be useful in making IS/IT decisions.
GRADING CRITERIA:
GRADING SCALE:
ASSIGNMENTS
Company Analysis Project: Each student will be expected to describe an organization or company and elaborate on how it manages its information system. Details of this research assignment and required format will be passed out at the beginning of class. Chapter Problems and Write-ups: Three problems from the text will be required as homework and turned in for grading. Details on these problems and how they should be presented for grading will be distributed for each assigned problem prior to its due date. These assignments will involve the use of a spreadsheet, a data base program, and other high-level programming software. Group Case Analysis & Presentation: In small groups, each student will participate in the analysis, write-up, and presentation to the class of an extended case that presents a systems problem for a real company. These cases will be selected from Appendix A in the MIS book. Midterm/Final--The midterm and final will consist of short answer essay questions related to the goals listed at the beginning of each chapter and the objectives listed below. The midterm and final will each also have a comprehensive-type question to be analyzed and answered on the test. COURSE POLICIES/EXPECTATIONS The following policies apply to this class. These policies are generally reflected in the graduate catalog. ATTENDANCE POLICY: Regular class attendance is expected. If you should miss a meeting, it is your responsibility to obtain information concerning the material covered and upcoming assignments. If there is a quiz or other assignment due on that class period, previous arrangements should be made with the instructor whenever possible. Please note that those students receiving tuition assistance from the Federal Government must not miss three consecutive class meetings without prior approval, or the education Services Officer (ESO) must be notified by the instructor. ACADEMIC HONESTY: Students are expected to do their own work. Cheating on tests, plagiarism on written assignments, or any other form of academic dishonesty will result in a "0" for the assignment. See the European Division Catalog for the UMUC policy on academic dishonesty and plagiarism. ASSIGNMENT/TEST SCHEDULES: Students are expected to hand in all assignments and complete all tests on the days they are due. Any assignments may be marked down half a letter grade for each half week the assignment is late. Quizzes and major tests cannot be made-up unless the student had an excused absence. CLASS PREPARATION: Students are expected to come to class prepared. This means they should have read the materials assigned for class for that session and have prepared any pertinent assignments.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The objectives for this course are listed as "Learning Objectives" at the beginning of every chapter. The questions on the midterm and final will be directly related to these objectives and to those that follow, even though the topic may not be covered in class. At the end of the class the students should be able to:
In addition to the academic objectives, students are expected to improve their skills in the following areas: 1. Critical Thinking: Students should improve their ability to analyze computer user situations through: 1) the major project that involves analyzing a company/organization, 2) group case assignments, and 3) assigned practical problems from the text. The midterm and final also have in-depth case analyses that encourage students to think critically about real-world situations. 2. Writing Skills: Students should improve their writing skills through formal reporting on various assignment problems, and the major project, and on the mid-term and final. 3. Oral Presentation Skills: Students should improve their presentation skills through their oral reports on their major project, case presentations, class discussions, and group presentations. 4. Team-Building Skills: Students should improve their group work skills through group resolution of mini-cases and group development of a response to a major case. 5. Computer Skills: Students are expected to improve their computer skills by using word processing, spreadsheets, data bases, and the Internet for the completion of the assignments in this class. The Web board will be used. The use of e-mail is also encouraged.
LECTURER INFORMATION
Teaching Philosophy-Students, especially at the graduate level, must take a very active roll in their educational process. This means that the students are responsible for reading, discussing the material with fellow students and understanding the textual material. Graduate classes are not lecture classes. Presentations by students and teams of students will be an every class meeting occurrence. INSTRUCTOR: Edmund I. Deaton Dr. Deaton received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Texas. He has been teaching and doing research in Computer Science since 1980. After many years at San Diego State University he retired in 1992. He was a visiting professor at Hope College, Holland, Michigan during 1993-1995. He spent two years at Oklahoma State University from 1980 to 1982 as a visiting professor and visited there again in 1992. He worked as a management consultant with a Southern California consulting firm for several years in the 1980's. He specialized in database design for governmental entities. He has been with the University of Maryland, European Division since 1995. He teaches in the graduate MIS program and also teaches undergraduate computer science courses. His academic specialty is data base design. His primary hobbies are hiking and Alpine climbing. Although based in Heidelberg, he calls Rota, Spain home and hopes to be assigned there for some time each year. E-mail: edeaton@faculty.ed.umuc.edu; Address and phone to be provided.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
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