Foundations: Information Technology Spring 2004

AGRI 196 Syllabus, Spring 2004
Foundations: Information Technology

AGRI 196 (3 Credits)	Dr. Jonathan Leonard
Spring Semester 2004	208H Morrill Hall, UVM
Section A (91006) Monday, 1:25 - 2:15 p.m., 108 Lafayette	jleonard@zoo.uvm.edu
Section B (91022) Wedsday, 10:10-11:00 a.m., 108 Lafayette	x62979 (w) 434-3787 (h)
Section C (91090) Wednesday 1:30-4:30 010 Morrill Hall
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 196 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. Understand, detect and eliminate Computer Viruses.

4. Demonstrate proficiency with electronic communication: e-mail, signature files, listservs, and WebCT courseware.

5. Demonstrate proficiency in presentation graphics applications by giving a presentation in front of a class.

6. Demonstrate proficiency in word processing applications.

7. Demonstrate proficiency in spreadsheet and graphics applications.

8. Understand and demonstrate how to present and interpret data in graphic form.

9. Find useful data on the Internet, be critical of those data, and interpret those data.

10. Create World Wide Web Pages.

11. Understand the history and legacy of computing.
12. Appreciate the utility, benefit and limitations of computers and information technology.
13. Improve writing skills.

Course Requirements

1. Keep an electronic journal through the WebCT Diecussion Board and Email functions--reflecting on your readings, class presentations and discussions and your personal and academic progress at UVM and CALS. Click here for journal guidlines . Minimum expectations are one quality and thoughtful discussion/journal entries per week about the reading assignment. Private entries may be addressed to your lab instructors through the use of WebCT 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. IS M 0-7619-0599-5 (Paperback)

Office Hours Dr. Leonard's regular office hours are Tuesday morning, 8:30 - 10:30. It's best to make an appointment to see Dr. Leonard, although if you drop by, 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 classes and be in your seat on time. Unexcused absences are grounds for a reduction in one letter grade for each absence. Absences are excused only in cases of sickness (Physician's note), death in your immediate family, or other extreme circumstances. In such circumstances, notify Dr. Leonard, and your lab TA within 24 hours of missing class.

Grading Policy

Lab Assignments

60%

3 Exams (2 in lecture, 1 final)

30%

Journal
5%

Attendance, punctuality, 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 regrading within TWO WEEKS of the due date (not accepted later).

Exams: Exams will cover material from lecutre, 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 2004 LECTURE Readings and Assignments

Week beginnings:
Material Covered

Reading Due

Jan 20
Welcome!, IT Knowledge Quiz, Information Technology in Perspective: Time Line 1, Lab review

None

Jan 26
IT as communication, Timeline 2, Types of Computers, Lab review
Google article from Newsweek , How Search Engines work from Sci Am. Use your zoo login and password to read online with Adobe Acrobat.

Feb 2
Anatomy of PC, Operating systems, OS History Video , Lab review
How Internet e-mail works . Text Sections 1-2 (pages 0-16)

Feb 9
Operating Systems, Difference between Memory & Storage, Units of Memory and Storage , OS History Video, Lab Review
Digital cameras from How Things Work , How digital cameras work from Sci Am . Text Section 3 (pages 17-23)

Feb 16
Anti-Virus strategies, Data Types , Credibility of Web Sites analysis . First Exam Review. Lab review
Laser Printers , Scanners , Optical character readers . Text Sections 4-5 (pages 24-35)

Feb 23 First Exam! You must be on time for class or lose points!
None

March 1
Lectures canceled (Town Meeting), Lab's will meet.
CD Players , Sound coded as bits . Text Section 6 (pages 36-45)

March 8
Exam Return. Percentage of Internet users world-wide . Programming & License Agreements. Graph Exercise 1. Software Licenses. Lab review
Digital thermometers and scales , Analog to digital converters , Digital to analog converters
Text Section 7-8 (pages 46-53)

March 15
Spring Break, No lectures, No labs this week.

None

March 22
QBASIC Demo, First-Year Survey, Class Evaluation. ASCII, Why 8-bit bytes? Text files versus binary files. Exam review and preparation.
Voyager II article, Sci. Am. Nov. 1986 Use your zoo login name and password to view online

March 29
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 5
Packet Anatomy Error Checking: Check Sum, Parity, Voyager II. Modems, How they work.Lab review
Optical fibers , Competing technologies for broad band home access . Text Sections 9-10 (pages 54-63)

April 12
TCP/IP stack, Modems (how they work), IT Networking: Physical Media.
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 19

Text Sections 14-15 (pages 88-91)

April 26
Class Evaluations
Study all readings above for Final Exam!

May 3
Lectures meet, History of IT video. No labs this week.

Monday Section
Final Exam:

Tuesday Section
Final Exam:

Wednesday
Section
Final Exam:

WEEK BEGINNING	ASSIGNMENT
January 19	Note: Labs Begin January 26, the second week of classes
January 26	[DUE: At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor] Using the Operating System learn elementary WindowsXP commands including how to FORMAT diskettes, Create Folders and COPY files from the Hard disk to the diskette, and BACKUP your diskette. Learn to use the text editor notepad/wordpad. Learn to transfer files to and from your zoo account with FTP. Understand the file structure on the PC and on zoo. Create a PCBackup folder on zoo. Due next Week: 1. Printout of your diskette directory and your zoo PCBackup directory, 2. Printout of the text file you created explaining your previous computer experience and what you want to get out of AGRI 196, 3. Printout of SSH FTP window showing your PCBackup directory on zoo and your backed up files. (20 Points)
February 2	[DUE: PRINT OUT OF YOUR WORKING DISKETTE DIRECTORY, ZOO PCBACKUP DIRECTORY, & TEXT FILE, (20 points) , At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor] Learn about zoo accounts and Webmail and how to connect to ZOO via telnet software and send email with pine. If you use another email client, forward your zoo account to your mail client. Learn to copy a text file from your instructor’s zoo account; edit it, and insert it in an e-mail message. Due next week: Send an e-mail message to your lab instructor including 1. The file copied from your lab instructor’s account where you have filled in the blank spaces, 2. Your signature file, 3. Attached .jpg image from ftp showing PCBackup directory on zoo, and 4. join the AGRI 196 listserv. (30 Points)
February 9	[ DUE: E-MAIL TO YOUR LAB INSTRUCTOR, (30 points) , At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor ] Learn Antivirus software. Work on formatting challenges in Word. Create your resume in the format given here. Upload your resume and e-mail it to your lab instructor as an attachment in Word format. Due next Week: Hard copy of your resume e-mailed as an attachment (30 points).
February 16	Monday Lab students go to another lab just for this week because of Presidents Day. [DUE: e-resume and paper resume (30 points), At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor ] Learn to create an Excel spreadsheet with approximately 300 cells (30 rows X 10 Columns, or 10 rows X 30 Columns). Due next Week: Spreadsheet display formula, and an appropriate graph of some of the data from the spreadsheet printout.
February 23	[DUE:, Spreadsheet display, formulas, and graph printout, 30 points ), At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor ] Learn to import the spreadsheet table and chart into Word. Learn how to create a title page using MS-PowerPoint. Due next Week: PowerPoint title page, a Printout from the word processor that contains: spreadsheet Table, Graph, and a discussion about the graph. Also you need to include had in a photocopy of the original data. (30 Points)
March 1	[ DUE: PowerPoint title page, Spreadsheet table, graph, discussion, and original data (30 points), At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor Learn to set up your own home page. Due next Week:A print out of the web page and the HTML Source code. Be sure to include the URL so your lab instructor can visit your page. (30 Points)
March 8	[DUE: Web Page printout (with URL), source code. (30 points), At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor Create a new web page. Learn to set up hyperlinks to other URLs and include pictures, tables, and email links in your new web page. Include a cross- link to your resume. Due next week: Print your new Web page (include URL), and source code. (30 points)
March 22	[DUE: New Web Page printout and source code (30 points) , At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor ] Prepare an 6-8 minute PowerPoint slide presentation of your first year at UVM. Include where you came from before UVM (home town, family, interests), why you came to UVM, how your first year at UVM has been, and future plans. (50 points)
March 29	[DUE: PowerPoint presentation, (30 points) , At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor ] Introduction to the FINAL LAB PROJECT : View the web page of instructions given to you by your lab instructor. Read the instructions carefully. You may wish to print them. FINAL LAB PROJECT DUE: 23 April Friday, (4 pm)
April 5	[DUE: PowerPoint presentation, (30 points), At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor ] Work on Final Lab Projects.
April 12	[DUE: PowerPoint Presentation 30 points), At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor ] Work on Final Lab Project
April 19	[DUE: PowerPoint Presentation 30 points). At least one journal entry in WebCT discussion board for your lab, or e-mail to your lab instructor ] Work on Final Lab Project
April 26	LAST LAB! Work on Final Lab Project

Week Starting ------------->	2 Feb.	9 Feb	16 Feb .	23 Feb.	1 March	8 March	22 March	29 March	5 April	12 April
Lab 1/dir	Due	-10%	-20%/redo
Lab 2/email		Due	-10%	-20%/redo
Lab 3/Resume			Due	-10%	-20%/redo
Lab 4/Spreadsheet				Due	-10%	-20%/redo
Lab 5/PPoint/Word/Excel					Due	-10%	-20%/redo
Lab 6/Web 1						Due	-10%	-20%/redo
Lab 7/Web 2							Due	-10%	-20%/redo
Lab 8/Power Point Presentation								Due	Due	Due

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

Week beginnings:	Material Covered	Reading Due
Jan 20	Welcome!, IT Knowledge Quiz, Information Technology in Perspective: Time Line 1, Lab review	None
Jan 26	IT as communication, Timeline 2, Types of Computers, Lab review	Google article from Newsweek , How Search Engines work from Sci Am. Use your zoo login and password to read online with Adobe Acrobat.
Feb 2	Anatomy of PC, Operating systems, OS History Video , Lab review	How Internet e-mail works . Text Sections 1-2 (pages 0-16)
Feb 9	Operating Systems, Difference between Memory & Storage, Units of Memory and Storage , OS History Video, Lab Review	Digital cameras from How Things Work , How digital cameras work from Sci Am . Text Section 3 (pages 17-23)
Feb 16	Anti-Virus strategies, Data Types , Credibility of Web Sites analysis . First Exam Review. Lab review	Laser Printers , Scanners , Optical character readers . Text Sections 4-5 (pages 24-35)
Feb 23	First Exam! You must be on time for class or lose points!	None
March 1	Lectures canceled (Town Meeting), Lab's will meet.	CD Players , Sound coded as bits . Text Section 6 (pages 36-45)
March 8	Exam Return. Percentage of Internet users world-wide . Programming & License Agreements. Graph Exercise 1. Software Licenses. Lab review	Digital thermometers and scales , Analog to digital converters , Digital to analog converters Text Section 7-8 (pages 46-53)
March 15	Spring Break, No lectures, No labs this week.	None
March 22	QBASIC Demo, First-Year Survey, Class Evaluation. ASCII, Why 8-bit bytes? Text files versus binary files. Exam review and preparation.	Voyager II article, Sci. Am. Nov. 1986 Use your zoo login name and password to view online
March 29	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 5	Packet Anatomy Error Checking: Check Sum, Parity, Voyager II. Modems, How they work.Lab review	Optical fibers , Competing technologies for broad band home access . Text Sections 9-10 (pages 54-63)
April 12	TCP/IP stack, Modems (how they work), IT Networking: Physical Media.	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 19		Text Sections 14-15 (pages 88-91)
April 26	Class Evaluations	Study all readings above for Final Exam!
May 3	Lectures meet, History of IT video. No labs this week.
Monday Section	Final Exam:
Tuesday Section	Final Exam:
Wednesday Section	Final Exam: