American Psychological Association (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Blanchard, Benjamin S. & Wolter J. Fabrycky. (2006). Systems engineering and analysis (4th ed). Prentice Hall.  ISBN 0-13-186977-9.

Various documents distributed via handout, e-mail, and URL references

Buede, Dennis M. (2000). The engineering design of systems, models and methods. Wiley-Interscience. ISBN 0-471-28225-1.

Buede addresses a common failing of engineering education; from the preface,
"Many engineers do not understand systems engineering. Even those that do may not have a good perspective on a complete and unified process for engineering a system. The desire to suppress the number of decisions being made during design is quite strong in most engineers. While engineers have learned modeling throughout their academic life, and most have developed models during the practice of engineering, very few engineers working on a system are knowledgeable of the modeling techniques required in system engineering."
Buede stops just short of noting that the thought processes required for competent systems engineering are somewhat different than those required for successful engineering of component parts of a system. His is a very useful book to establish understanding of the fundamentals of systems engineering.

Chapanis, Alphonse. (1996). Human factors in systems engineering. Wiley-Interscience. ISBN 0-471-13782-0.

In the beginning of the air war over Europe in WWII, about one in ten B-17s of the USAAF 8TH Air Force would crash on returning from a bombing mission. The crew had been subjected to numbing cold, terror, and fatigue for hours. Landing and rollout were fine, but when turning onto the taxiway, one in ten bombers would retract its landing gear, grinding into the tarmac at about 40 miles per hour. Not enough speed to hurt anybody, but enough to do serious damage to the aircraft. The Army Air Corps rear echelon mumbled darkly about "cowardice" and "pilot error." Young experimental psychologist Alphonse Chapanis was called in to investigate. His findings: not cowardice, not pilot error. The accidents were caused by a design error. The toggle switch that retracted the flaps (cleaned up the wing from its landing configuration) was located adjacent to the toggle switch that retracted the landing gear. One time in ten a chilled, exhausted pilot would hit the wrong switch. The solution: add a spring-loaded cover to the landing gear switch so that it would be all but impossible to activate it by mistake. This book, a recent opus of Dr. Alphonse Chapanis, distills his lifetime of practical and academic experience into a clearly written set of guidelines that emphasizes the methods used to generate human factors inputs for engineering work products, and the points in the development process where these inputs are needed.

Oliver, David W., Timothy B. Kelliher, and James G, Keegan, Jr. (1997). Engineering complex systems with models and objects. McGraw-Hill.  ISBN 0-07-048188-1.

David Oliver and his team have bridged the gap between conventional system design and object-oriented design of complex hardware and software systems by applying object-modeling technology (OMT) to the world beyond software engineering. Merging the best practices of systems engineering with computer-based modeling techniques, this guide provides a complete and cohesive methodology for analyzing, specifying, designing, and building large or small complex systems.

Sage, Andrew P., and William B. Rouse. (Eds.). (1999). Handbook of systems engineering and management. Wiley-Interscience.  ISBN 0-471-15405-9.

The contributors to this monumental volume reads like a who's who in systems engineering. This is a handbook, and as such it covers a great deal of territory. It describes systems engineering in terms of its relatively large number of dimensions, and especially from the process and systems management perspectives. It is primarily focused on systems engineering and system management for systems of all types, especially systems that are information-technology and knowledge intensive. This book deserves a place on every practicing systems engineer's bookshelf.

Wymore, A. Wayne. (1993). Model-based systems engineering. Boca Raton, FL:CRC Press, ISBN 0-8493-8012-X.

Professor Wymore's 1993 tour de force of the theory underlying systems engineering remains the landmark work in the field. The book provides the solid system-theoretic foundations necessary to the study and practice of systems engineering, and demonstrates mathematical system theory as the basis for the development of models and designs for large scale, complex systems consisting of personnel, machines, and software. It is a necessary reference for systems engineers at the cutting edge of technology.

Publications of the various professional societies (such as ACM -- the Association for Computing Machinery, the IEEE Computing Society, and the various management professional societies) are strongly recommended.  In addition, there are many trade journals (such as eWEEK) that MIS professionals should become familiar with, many of these being published both weekly and on-line.

1. The phases of the systems engineering life cycle.
2. External and internal factors impacting system development.
3. Tools and methodologies supporting system development.
4. Current and emerging issues and trends in systems engineering and development.

1. Implement all of the facets of the full life cycle of a large hardware and software project, demonstrating mastery of currently accepted techniques in defining the scope of the project along with its full life cycle management.
2. Demonstrate knowledge of the systems development life cycle and the technical and economic factors influencing design.
3. Establish a systems engineering development environment infrastructure.
4. Define and appropriately apply technical performance measures.
5. Evaluate alternative realizations of system functions.

Final grades will be calculated as follows:

Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
A 92% and above
B 80 – 91%
C 70 – 79%
F Below 70%

GRADING  GUIDELINES:

According to Graduate School grading policy, the following symbols and scale are used:

 A = excellent
 B = good
 C = passing
 F = failure 

The grade of "B" represents the benchmark for the Graduate School.  It indicates that the student has demonstrated competency in the subject matter of the course, i.e., has fulfilled all course requirements on time, has a clear grasp of the full range of course materials and concepts, and is able to present and apply these materials and concepts in clear, reasoned, well-organized and grammatically correct responses, whether written or oral.

Only students who fully meet this standard and, in addition, who demonstrate exceptional comprehension and application of the course subject matter, merit an "A."

Students who do not meet the benchmark standard of competency fall within the "C" range or lower.  They, in effect, have not met graduate level standards.  Where this failure is substantial, they earn an "F."

1. Examinations: The mid-term and final examinations will be open books, notes, and research
materials. You will be expected to work on your own, without consulting other people (except to
ask questions of the professor). These examinations will consist of several smaller (short answer)
questions, and at least one large essay question.
 

2. Ongoing Case Study: Throughout the course, each student is to study a system, following the
outlines and processes presented in the textbook and supplementary material. Documents
produced throughout the systems engineering life cycle are to be posted, and reviewed by other
members of the class. Primary goals here are to experience the systems engineering life cycle
and to enhance communication skills. Early in the course, each student is to submit a proposal describing the system he/she wishes to study throughout the course.

3. Weekly Exercises and Research Assignments: These activities will be focused on the specific
material to be covered within the week. These are submitted in the Assignments Folder (not
visible to other student in the WebTycho classroom), and are graded for accuracy and content,
with individual feedback from the professor.

4. Conference Participation and Focus Questions Discussions: These activities are also assigned
weekly, and will be focused on the material to be covered within the week and on topics of
current interest. These provide your opportunity for public discussion (these activities will take
place via postings in the Conference section of the WebTycho classroom, visible to all students
in the class). These postings are evaluated on the bases of timeliness, content, and relevance.

STATEMENT ON WRITING REQUIREMENTS:

Effective managers and leaders are also effective communicators.  Written communication is an important element of the total communication process.  The Graduate School recognizes and expects exemplary writing to be the norm for course work.  To this end, all analyses and papers must demonstrate graduate level writing ability and comply with the format requirements of The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (latest ed.).  All writing assignments will be graded on the basis of content, logic, analysis, mechanics, organization, and research.  Careful attention should be given to source citations, proper listing of references, the use of footnotes, and the presentation of tables and graphs.  Work submitted online should follow standard procedures for formatting and citation.

Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment.

POLICY ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

Academic integrity is central to the learning and teaching process.  Students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that will contribute to the maintenance of academic integrity by making all reasonable efforts to prevent the occurrence of academic dishonesty.  Academic dishonesty includes (but is not limited to) obtaining or giving aid on an examination, having unauthorized prior knowledge of an examination, doing work for another student, and plagiarism of all types.

PLAGIARISM:

Plagiarism is the intentional or unintentional presentation of another person's idea or product as one's own.  Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to the following: copying verbatim all or part of another's written work; using phrases, charts, figures, illustrations, or mathematical or scientific solutions without citing the source; paraphrasing ideas, conclusions, or research without citing the source; and using all or part of a literary plot, poem, film, musical score, or other artistic product without attributing the work to its creator.  Students can avoid unintentional plagiarism by carefully accepted scholarly practices.  Notes taken for papers and research projects should accurately record sources of material to be cited, quoted, paraphrased, or summarized, and papers should acknowledge these sources in footnotes. The penalties for plagiarism include a zero or a grade of "F" on the work in question, a grade of "F" in the course, suspension with a file letter, suspension with a transcript notation, or expulsion.

COURSE EVALUATIONS:

Feedback on each graduate course and instructor is important to the University, your professor, and to all UMUC students.  UMUC has the responsibility to assess the effectiveness of classroom instruction, and each student has the responsibility to provide accurate and timely feedback through completion of the course evaluation form.  This is a shared obligation for us all.  It is therefore important that you complete the evaluation form for each course you attend.  This should be viewed as an additional course and program requirement.

The University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from internet resources. I may be using this service in this class by either requiring students to submit their papers electronically to Turnitin.com or by submitting questionable text on behalf of a student. If you or I submit part or all of your paper, it will be stored by Turnitin.com in their database throughout the term of the University's contract with Turnitin.com. If you object to this temporary storage of your paper, you must let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class. Please Note: If you object to the storage of your paper on Turnitin.com, I may utilize other services to check your work for plagiarism

The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: "Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi."

Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:

Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Code of Civility

Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center.