AGRI 002 Syllabus, Spring 2005
 Foundations: Information Technology

AGRI  002  (3 Credits)	Dr. Jonathan Leonard
Spring Semester 2005	208H Morrill Hall, UVM
Section A (10457) Tuesday, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m., 101 Stafford Hall	jleonard@zoo.uvm.edu
Section B (10467) Thursday, 2:00-3:15 p.m., 207 Lafayette	x62979 (w) 434-3787 (h)
Labs

General Course Goals:  To prepare students with a solid foundation of information technology skills and knowledge to enable them to use current and future software and hardware.

Specific Course Objectives:   Upon passing AGRI 002 students will:

1.  Become familiar with information technology hardware including types of computers and telecommunication hardware.
2. Understand the role of Operating Systems and demonstrate knowledge of UNIX, and Windows XP.
3. Demonstrate file and folder management on PC and Unix (AIX) Server.
4. Understand, detect and eliminate Computer Viruses & Spyware.
5. Demonstrate proficiency with electronic communication: e-mail, signature files, listservs, and WebCT courseware.
6. Demonstrate proficiency in presentation graphics applications by giving a presentation in front of a class.
7. Demonstrate proficiency in word processing applications.
8. Demonstrate proficiency in spreadsheet and graphics applications.
9. Understand and demonstrate how to present and interpret data in graphic form.
10. Find useful data on the Internet, be critical of those data, and interpret those data.
11. Demonstrate knowledge of data classification (Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, etc.).
12. Understand and interpret XY scatterplots, box plots, histograms, population pyramids, and choropleth maps.
13. Create World Wide Web Pages using HTML code.
14. Understand the history and legacy of computing.
15. Appreciate the utility, benefit and limitations of computers and information technology.
16. Improve writing skills.

Course Requirements

1.  Keep an electronic journal through the WebCT Discussion Board and Email functions--reflecting on your readings, class assignments and discussions, and your personal and academic progress at UVM in CALS.   Click here for journal guidelines Minimum expectations are one quality and thoughtful discussion/journal entries per week.  Private entries may be addressed to your lab instructors through email.

2.  Complete all the information technology lab assignments (see below).

3.  Complete the reading assignments in the textbook and online.
4.  Attend all classes and labs and actively participate both.
 
Required Texts and Readings

Textbook: Graphing Statistics & Data by Anders Wallgren, Britt Wallgren, Rolf Persson, Ulf Jorner, Jan-Aage Haaland.  1996.  Sage Publications, Inc.  ISBN 0-7619-0599-5 (Paperback)

Office Hours  Dr. Leonard's regular office hours are Tuesday mornings, 8:15 - 10:15.  It's best to make an appointment, although if you drop in I will make time for you if I possibly can.  Get your TA's phone number and e-mail address at your first lab meeting.  Our numbers are listed on the first page of this syllabus (See LABS ).  Send either of us an e-mail message or give us a call.  If you can't reach us in the office and you need to speak with one of us after hours, don't hesitate to call us at home (but not after 9:00 pm).  

Attendance  You are expected to come to all lecture and lab classes and be in your seat on time.   Unexcused absences of either lecture or lab will lead to a 1% reduction in your final grade for each absence.  Absences are excused only in cases of sickness (Physician's note), death in your immediate family, or other extreme documented circumstances.  In such circumstances, notify Dr. Leonard, and your lab TA within 24 hours of missing class.  

Lab Assignments	60%
3 Exams (2 in lecture, 1 final)	30%
Journal	5%
Participation, and attitude	5%

Download grading template here.

Lab Late Penalty and Resubmission:  Lab assignments are due at the beginning of lab.  If they are late, -10% the first week, -20% the second week, No Credit thereafter.  Lab assignments may be redone and resubmitted for re-grading within TWO WEEKS of the due date (not accepted later).

Exams: Exams will cover material from lecture, lab, and readings.  Questions will require students not only to be familiar with the material, but also to apply concepts, information, and skills they have learned to new problem situations.  Students must be on time for the exams, or they will lose points.  Any requests to take the exam at other than the scheduled time must be discussed with Dr. Leonard at least one week prior to the exam.  Only in cases of extreme emergency such as death in the family, extreme illness, or near fatal accident, are exams excused and re-taken.  In these cases students must contact their instructors within 24 hours of the exam.

Spring 2005 LECTURE Readings and Assignments  

Week beginnings:	Material Covered	Reading Due
Jan 17	Welcome!,  IT Knowledge Quiz, Lab Preview Power Point Presentation,  OS History Video.	None
Jan 24	Information Technology in Perspective:  Time Line 1, Anatomy of PC, Operating systems, OS History Video, Lab Preview FTP folder & file management.	Google article from Newsweek , How Search Engines work from Sci Am.  Use your zoo login and password to read online with Adobe Acrobat.
Jan 31	Types of computers. Anatomy of PC.  Units of Memory and Storage, Difference between memory & storage.	How Internet e-mail works.  Text Sections 1-2 (pages 0-16)
Feb 7	Lab Preview Pine on zoo attach .jpg.  Types of Data, Graphing Exercise 1,  IT as communication,  Timeline 2, OS History Video.	Digital cameras from How Things Work ,   How digital cameras work from Sci Am .  Text Section 3 (pages 17-23)
Feb 14	Graph Exercise 2, Anti-Virus strategies, First Exam Review. Lab Preview Resume construction.	Review
Feb 21	First Exam!  You must be on time for class or lose points!
Feb 28	Note Tuesday lecture will meet even though it is Town Meeting Day!  Exam Return, Lab Preview spreadsheets.  Binary number system, Class Histogram.	CD Players,   Sound coded as bits. Laser Printers, Scanners, Optical character readers.  Text Sections 4-6 (pages 24-45)
March 7	Binary used in Images.  Graphing Exercise 3.   History of the Internet Video.	Digital thermometers and scales, Analog to digital converters, Digital to analog converters  Text Section 7-8 (pages 46-53)
March 14	ASCII code, Protocol and packets.  Lab Preview web pages. History of the Internet Video.	Voyager II article, Sci. Am. Nov. 1986 Use your zoo login name and password to view online
March 21	Spring Break, No lectures, No labs this week.	None
March 28	Second Exam!   You must be on time for class or lose points	How Hackers Break In  Sci. Am. October 1998. Use your zoo login name and password to view online
April 4	Exam Return.  Packet error checking algorithms.  Lab Preview Final Lab Project.  History of the Internet Video	Optical fibers , Competing technologies for broad band home access .  Text Sections 9-10 (pages 54-63)
April 11	Physical Media. TCP/IP stack, Modems (how they work), History of the Internet Video.	Keyboards , How roller mice work ,   How roller and optical mice work , How touch pads work , How active-matrix screens work .  Text Sections 11-13 (pages 74-87)
April 18	Class Evaluations & Surveys, Buying a computer system: Monitors. Exporting Harm video.	RFID Tags, RFID in Passports?,and VerichipsText Sections 14-15 (pages 88-91)
April 25	Last Lecture: Mice & Keyboards, Current pricing and components. History of Internet video finish.	Study all readings above for Final Exam!
Tuesday Section	Final Exam: 8AM Monday May 9, Stafford 101	Prepare yourself!
Thursday  Section	Final Exam: 4PM Monday May 9, Lafayette 207	Prepare yourself!