Faculty Contact Information:
| To be provided on the first day of class. | |
Consultation:
| ne hour before or after class or by appointment. | |
Required Texts and Readings:
| Englander, I. (2003). Architecture of Computer Hardware & Systems Software, (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. | |
Supplementary Readings:
The standard for papers in the graduate program is the APA style. All participants in this course and all graduate MSIT, INSS, MGMT, PUAD, and ECON courses should have a copy of the style guide:
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington DC: Author.
All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students' research and writing skills. | |
Recommended Journals:
| 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 IT professionals should become familiar with, many of these being published both weekly and on-line. | |
Course Description:
| This course examines the major hardware and system software components and underlying technologies that are the basis of the modern digital computer. Major developments in the evolution of computers are reviewed first; theoretical and engineering topics include Boolean logic, the von Neumann architecture, and semiconductor device technology. The similarities and differences between mainframes, minicomputers, and microprocessors are then investigated. Supercomputer, parallel processor, and distributed system architectures are examined. Various types of storage media and input/output devices are discussed. An overview of system software elements, including operating systems and middleware, is also presented. The course concludes by introducing the student to advanced topics such as optical computers and biomolecular computers. | |
Course Goals:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student should understand and be able to apply knowledge concerning:
- Hardware and systems software components that "realize" modern computers.
- Basic theoretical and engineering concepts on which modern computing is based.
- Impact of design choices on performance.
- Current and emerging issues and trends in the design and production of computers.
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Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:
- Describe the concept of the Turing Machine, and its relationship to modern computers.
- Analyze the concept, strengths, and weaknesses of the von Neumann architecture.
- Explain the technologies and economics of semiconductor chip production.
- Define the basic concepts of Boolean algebra and its implementation in hardware logic gates.
- Identify the components of computer hardware architectures, and how they interact.
- Describe the interaction between computer operating systems and the underlying hardware.
- Discuss the possible future of high performance computing, in terms of emerging technologies such as quantum and biomolecular computing.
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Grading Information:
A: 90 -100%
B: 80 - 89%
C: 70 - 79%
F: Below 70%
Grades will be assigned as follows:
10%: Class Participation and Articles
25%: Midterm Exam
25%: Final Exam
40%: Project
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Course Requirements:
Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society.
In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:
- Participate and interact in class.
- Submit and present one or more articles on an IT technolgy.
- Complete the project described below.
- Complete the midterm and final exam.
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Description of Course Requirements:
Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to come to class prepared to engage in all discussions in a professional and informed manner. Usually this requires two to three hours for every hour of a face-to-face class and approximately ten hours of preparation per week for a DE class.
Complete graduate level projects or programming assignments, write graduate level papers or case studies: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. 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.
Orally/visually present prepared material: You are required to present your results in a professional manner. In a face-to-face course, this typically means an oral presentation accompanied by appropriate visual material.
Complete one or more written examination(s): The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical thinking skills necessary for successfully passing the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students.
Articles: Research a technology and present a synopsis if the article to the class, highlighting at least five major points.
Project:
You are to research an emerging IT technology, write a term paper, and present that technology to the class. Requirements are:
1. The technology must be emerging and not already in wide-spread production.
2. The paper must be a minimum of 10 pages and a maximum of 14 pages long.
3. You must show at least five credible references of which only three can be web-based.
4. The presentation should be done using PowerPoint or similar tools and cannot exceed 12 minutes.
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Course Schedule:
This schedule presents 16 units or modules, with each unit corresponding to a regular three-hour weekday meeting, a half-day on weekends, or a full week of DE.
All chapter references are to the course text.
o Weekend 1: Introductions, syllabus review, chapter 1 - 3.
o Weekend 2: Chapters 4 - 8. Project proposals are due on Saturday. The midterm exam will be conducted Sunday afternoon.
o Weekend 3: Chapters 9 - 15
o Weekend 4: Chapters 16 - 18. Project presentations will start on Saturday afternoon. The final exam will be on Sunday afternoon.
The instructor reserves the right to alter the schedule based on need.
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Academic Policies:
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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.
Students with disabilities should contact the appropriate support office at UMUC-Europe.
Jan Keller, Director of Student Services
UMUC-Europe, Heidelberg
Phone: +49-6221-378299
Email: edstudent_svc@ed.umuc.edu
Mailing Address: Unit 29216, APO AE 09102 OR Im Bosseldorn 30, D-69126 Heidelberg, Germany
Please refer 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
Code of Civility
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center. | |
Faculty Bio:
| Fred Deeter joined the UMUC faculty in April, 2000 and currently serves as Adjunct Associate Professor of Information Technology. He has more than ten years of college/university-level teaching experience, including: Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont; University of Maryland in Kunsan, Korea; Manatee Community College in Bradenton, Florida; and Western International University in Phoenix, Arizona. Mr. Deeter’s IT experience includes 22 years in commercial and DOD information systems as a Director of Information Technology, Operations Manager, Project Manager, Consultant, and Systems Analyst. He holds an MS in Computer Information Systems from Boston University and is presently Director & CIO of Information Technology at Honeywell Aerospace EMEA and AsiaPac. | |