INTRODUCTION TO MIS (BA 3351 521)

Summer 2005
May 16 through August 1, 2005

Instructor: Prof. Hans-Joachim Adler, Ph.D.

Office: SOM 3.227
Phone: 972-883-4695
Email: jadler@utdallas.edu
Website: www.utdallas.edu/~hxa026000

Course: BA 3351 Section 521

Class Hours: Section 521 Monday 6:00 - 10:00pm Room SOM 2.115

Office Hours: By appointment

TA: Chupeng Xie

Office: SM 3.222
Phone: 972-883-6198
Email: cxx036000@utdallas.edu

Textbook:
th
Ralph Stair, George Reynolds: Principles of Information Systems, 7 Edition. Course Technology
Incorporated, 2006, ISBN 0-619-21561-5

Course Objectives:
This course is intended to engage students with the main concepts of the IS discipline via clear learning
objectives, which are reinforced with up-to-date business examples and hands-on practice. The text
coverage includes globalization and career emphasis, vignettes, business examples, special interest
boxes, and case studies

Specific topic coverage includes: An Introduction to Information Systems; Information Systems in

Organizations; Hardware: Input, Processing, and Output Devices; Software: Systems and Application
Software; Organizing Data and Information; Telecommunications and Networks; The Internet, Intranets,
and Extranets; Electronic Commerce; Transaction Processing and Enterprise Resource Planning
Systems; Information and Decision Support Systems; Specialized Information Systems: Artificial
Intelligence, Expert Systems, Virtual Reality, and Other Systems; Systems Investigation and Analysis;
Systems Design, Implementation, Maintenance, and Review; Security, Privacy, and Ethical Issues in
Information Systems and the Internet

Web Site
Supplementary information for the course is available at URL. The Web site contains class notes,
PowerPoint slides, class announcements, the course syllabus, test dates, and other information for the
course.

Grading

We will use WebCT to help with the course and grading

Quizzes 75%
Assignments 20%
Class Attendance 5%
Total 100%

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The student with the highest grade in class will be normalized to a 100%. The rest of the students will be
normalized accordingly. Your final letter grade will be computed as:

A+ > 96.7% B+ > 86.7% C+ > 76.7% D+ > 66.7% F< 60.0%
A > 93.3% B > 83.3% C > 73.3% D > 63.3%
A- > 90.0% B- ≥ 80.0% C- > 70.0% D- > 60.0%

Grades will be posted on WebCT after each exam or assignment is graded. Access to your grades will be
through WebCT.

Assignments
Assignments will involve the use of Microsoft Office XP. There will be 4 assignments relating to Word,
PowerPoint, Excel and Access. You must use Microsoft Office XP or newer; previous versions of the
Microsoft Office are not allowed. Assignments must be submitted through WebCT; submission of
electronic copies by e-mail or on floppy disk is not acceptable. Your name and the last 6 digits of
your student ID should appear on the top of each page that you submit. All assignments should be
completed on time and submitted on WebCT before the submission deadline as shown on WebCT.
Assignments submitted after the deadline will be considered late. A penalty of 25% of the value of the
assignment will be assessed if the assignment is late. No assignments will be accepted two days after the
deadline. Contact the instructor in case an emergency occurs.
All changes in assi gnments or schedules will be posted on WebCT. It is your responsibility to
keep up with the changes that are posted on WebCt.
Make sure that you give yourself enough lead time to complete assignments.

Questions on Exams
Questions on the Exams will be taken from the assigned readings of texts, class lectures and
assignments. Exams will consist of true/false and multiple-choice type questions. The Exams will be
machine graded. Please bring a Scantron sheet (8 82-E green form) for Exams. No other type of
Scantron forms will be acceptable. If the answer to a Exam question is disputed, the student should
submit a written appeal, citing the source (text page) to the instructor. The instructor will take these
appeals into account during grading. If you know in advance that you will miss an exam, contact the
instructor and make arrangements for a make-up exam.

The Internet
If you are new to the Internet and World Wide Web it is recommended that you review Internet Basics
and World Wide Web at http://www.learnthenet.com. You will need to get a UNIX account (if you
don’t already have one) to access WebCT and to create a Personal WWW page. There is no additional
charge for a UNIX account. To get your UNIX account and password proceed as follows:

1. Take your student ID (validated for the current semester) and go to either the Microcomputer Lab
desk or the User Consultant. You will have to select an account name for your UNIX account.

2. Request a UNIX account. The account will become active in 1 to 24 hours.

If you already have a UNIX account, check and make sure that it works correctly.

Internet Warning
There is material on the Internet that you may find objectionable. Most of this material has disclaimers.
Believe them and stay away so that you will not be offended. Also, if you choose to create a Home Page,
do NOT use your phone number, address, or Social Security Number for reasons of security. Anyone
who has access to the Internet would be able to view your Home Page. General UTD computing policies
can be found under Academic Computing Services at the UTD website.

Working Together
You are encouraged to work together when learning how to use computers and applications. WebCT has
a message board and you are encouraged to use the bulletin board for clarification or questions that can
be answered by the instructor or other students. Each student, however, is expected to do the
assignments without help from anyone else. Copying the computer files of some other student
amounts to scholastic dishonesty (see below) and will invite penalties.

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Scholastic Dishonesty
We expect UTD students to be academically honest. Because the value of an academic degree depends
upon the absolute integrity of the work done by a student for that degree, it is imperative for students to
maintain a high level of individual honor in his or her scholastic work. Scholastic dishonesty includes, but
is not limited to, statements, acts or omissions related to applications for enrollment or the award of a
degree, and/or the submission as one's own work of material that is not one's own. As a general rule,
scholastic dishonesty involves one of the following acts: cheating, plagiarism, collusion, and/or falsifying
academic records. Students suspected of academic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary proceedings.
Specifically, copying another student's computer files or buying assignments from a third party could
result in a grade of Fail and/or expulsion from the University.

Introduction to WebCT
WebCT is a software tool for the use of instructors, teaching assistants (TA) and students. It is accessible
from the Internet both on and off campus and has the following features:

1. Syllabus: A current copy of the course syllabus.

2. Lecture Notes: Notes provided from the textbook vendor and the instructor.
3. Practice Tests: Copies of sample tests that can be used by the student for practice; these
grades will not count as part of the student’s final grade.
4. Online Quizzes: These are electronically graded and may / may not be reported as part of the
student’s grade. In this course online quizzes will not be used.
5. Bulletin Board: Communications about topics that would be of interest to the entire class can be
placed on the bulletin board. Students are reminded that all notes posted on the bulletin board
are visible to everyone in the class and should contain appropriate material.
6. Chat Room: Groups of students can sign up for chat room sessions to work on group projects.
7. Mail: WebCT contains a mail system that can be used for communicating to any member of the
class or to the instructor. This is primarily used when the message is of a personal nature and
hence not appropriate for the bulletin board.
8. Grades: You can access your grades here. If you have questions about your grades,
communicate through WebCT mail with the instructor. Check the bulletin board to see if there is a
message to the class about the posting of grades.
9. Links: This contains a number of web links that are related to the course. The publisher of the
textbook might have additional material, such as student downloads of data or files, and their web
site links can be found here.
10. Assignments: Assignments will be posted here and can be downloaded to your PC. Each
assignment will have a deadline. This is the latest time the assignment can be submitted without
penalty. You can upload your assignment file many times and submit it many times until the given
deadline. After the deadline your assignment will be considered late. Once your assignment is
graded, comments on your assignment will appear along with your grade on WebCT.
11. Calendar: There is a calendar that can be used by both the instructor and the student to
schedule activities for the semester.
12. Student Homepages: WebCT allows students to build their own homepages. Follow the
instructions under Student Homepage.

Course Access and Navigation

To enter WebCT and access the course material, you will need a UTD NetID and password (i.e., your
UTD Unix/Email ID and password which you may already have). If you don’t have a UTD account yet, go
to https://netid.utdallas.edu/ to initiate your account as early as possible in the semester. For more
information, check out the NetID FAQs page. The URL for the course login page is:
http://webct.utdallas.edu. You can login to the course whenever you want. You should login to the course
site regularly to check course updates, discussion board messages and so on.

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The “My WebCT” page will appear on the screen after you login. The page lists all the courses for which
you are a registered student. You can click the course title to access the course Home Page. This page
displays several icons. Each icon will take you to subsidiary pages containing course material or built-in
course tools. The Navigation Bar with Course Menu on the left side, the Menu Bar and the path link on
the top, and the Action Menu on the content page can help you to navigate within the course site.

For more information about WebCT, see the WebCT’s Student Help Index. Within the course site, you
can always click HELP on the WebCT Menu Bar to get more information. You can also check out the
Orientation Center to Online Learning and WebCT provided on the WebCT web site. More information
can be found on the WebCT Home Page.

Communication
There are four built-in communication tools to facilitate learning, communication and collaboration. A
course conferencing system, the Discussion, allows communication among all course participants.
Discussion topics or groups can be set up for topic discussions and homework assignments. You can use
the course Email tool to communicate privately with the instructor and with classmates. The Chat tool can
be used for real time communication among course participants.

No whiteboards will be used in this course. Students can contact the instructor and the TA by email,
discussion board and phone. The instructor will be available during scheduled office hours for questions
and discussions. Extensive use of the discussion board is encouraged. The student should check the
discussion board frequently for changes and updates.

If you have any problem with your UTD account or in connecting to the UTD WebCT server, contact
assist@utdallas.edu or call the student help desk at 972-883-2911. If you encounter any WebCT-related
difficulties in the course, you can send an email to jadler@utdallas.edu.

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Schedule:

Week Date Description

1 May 16 Course Administrative Procedures

Ch 1: Introduction to Information Systems
Ch 2: Information Systems in Organizations

2 May 23 Ch 3: Hardware: Input, Processing and Output Devices

Ch 4: Software: Systems and Application Software
Ch 5: Organizing Data and Information

3 May 30 No class – Memorial Day

4 June 6 TA Tutorial: Excel, Access

Assignment 1 Due

5 June 13 Ch 6: Telecommunications and Networks

Quiz 1: Chapters 1 to 5

6 June 20 Ch 7: The Internet, Intranets, and Extranets

Ch 8: Electronic Commerce
Assignment 2 Due

7 June 27 Ch 9: Transaction Processing and Enterprise

Resource Planning Systems
Ch 10: Information and Decision Support Systems

th
8 July 4 No class – July 4

9 July 11 Ch 11: Specialized Business Information Systems

Quiz 2: Chapters 6 to 10
Assignment 3 Due

10 July 18 Ch 12: Systems Investigation and Analysis

11 July 25 Ch 13: Systems Design, Implementation,

Maintenance and Review
Ch 14: Security, Privacy, and Ethical Issues
Assignment 4 Due

12 Aug 1 Quiz 3: Chapters 11 to 14

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