MIS 253 - Principles of Information Systems
Creighton University, College of Business Administration
Section D: Tuesday-Thursday, 4:45 – 6:00pm
Spring 2003

 Terry Begley MBA, MCSE
COBA Technology Coordinator
tbegley@creighton.edu
280-2619 (office)            280-2172 (fax)
http://eden.creighton.edu/mis253d

Course Resources

The textbook is Essentials of Management Information Systems  by Laudon and Laudon, fifth edition (ISBN 0-13-008734-3).  I would like you to get an HTML reference text to use for your web assignments.  Our course website is located at  http://eden.creighton.edu/mis253d.  Check the link to news and views for updated class information before every class.  We also have a class listserv, called mis353d@creighton.edu that you need to subscribe to.  Finally, all sections of MIS 253 share a common Usenet newsgroup, cu.mis353.

You will also need a Creighton University email account, an account on Grackle, and access to the World Wide Web, either at a computer lab, home, or office.  I will provide some of the supplements. Others will require a library or World Wide Web (WWW) search by the student.  

Contact Information

I am a Creighton staff member, and my office is located in BA 112A.  I am at work generally from 8:00am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday.  See above for phone and email information.  If you send email with attachments, please note that Creighton does not allow emails over two megabytes in size.  When you email, please use a subject line with the words MIS 253 in the title so I can identify the message in my inbox easier.  In the case of Creighton email meltdown, you can reach me at terry@terrybegley.com.

Summary

The Principles of Information Systems presents an introduction to the fundamental concepts and issues relevant to the successful development, management, and use of organizational Information Systems (IS).  The course includes an overview of current and emerging Information Technologies (IT), and covers the support commonly offered by IS for operations, transactions processing, tactical management, and strategic decision-making.  The course emphasizes the areas that reflect the future directions of the field, such as artificial intelligence, telecommunications and networking, the Internet, Intranets, CASE (Computer-Assisted Software Engineering) tools, and end-user computing.

HTML and Unix Assignments

We will be creating individual websites on our Linux server, Grackle, as well as using it for hands-on exercises in networking.  More information on these will be forthcoming.

Tech Tips and News

There is always something new and often exciting in the technology field.  Twice during the course (once before Spring break, and once after) you will make a presentation to the class on an interesting website, a new product, a new service, or something new and exciting in the technology field.  You can use any of the presentation media in the classroom.  You must turn in a one-page typed sheet to me when you present.  This brief report should describe to me your site, item or news as you present your Tech Tip.  Each Tech Tip should take about three minutes to present.

Quizzes

There will be a total of ten quizzes.  A quiz cannot be made up under any circumstances.  Quizzes may be short answer, true/false, matching or multiple choice.  They may be given out on paper, assigned via email or on a web page.  If you are not in class the day a take-home quiz is given, you may not turn in the quiz.  At the end of the semester, each student will receive one “bonus” quiz grade.  If you miss a quiz for whatever reason, this will make it up.  If you complete all the quizzes, this will be an extra set of points.

 Extra Credit

Occasionally there are opportunities for extra credit work, such as attending important seminars by the Computer Center or other work.  If an opportunity arises during the semester, I will announce it on our class web page and via email.

Grading and Grading Scale

The student is required to take notice of where he or she stands in regards to their performance and attendance in this class. If special needs arise, or their is a problem with the students attendance, or grade, the student is responsible for contacting the professor to discuss those concerns, in as timely a manner is as reasonable. Students may contact me by any of the methods listed earlier at any time. Email and telephone voicemail are available 24 hours a day. Failure on the part of the student to proceed under these guidelines, or to violate any rules set out in this syllabus, or in the Student Handbook, including those dealing with academic honesty, may result in a lowering of the students grade, or a grade of F or AF, at the discretion of the professor.

 The following are the grades and their descriptions available to the students. A student’s grade totally depends on what he or she has achieved during the course: the grades will be earned, not given.

     "A" indicates not only outstanding achievement but also an unusual degree of intellectual initiative.

     "B" indicates attainment of above the average, satisfactory for 500-level courses.

     "C" indicates satisfactory but minimum quality work in courses above the 500-level.

     "D" indicates failure—no credit.

 The point values are:

Make-Up and Late Policy

All assignments that are handed in late will be docked 10% per day that they are late, unless arrangements have been made at least 24 hours before the due date.  The term LATE refers to all assignments turned in after the class time on the assignment's due date.  Please note that I am not responsible for your printer running out of ink, your computer crashing or the labs being closed.  Adjustments may be made if there is a major email or network outage as was experienced last semester – check out http://itnotices.creighton.edu or our class web page (if we still have network access!).

Attendance Policy

Please note that all students are expected to attend every class session on time.  Students are responsible for the material covered each class time, and missed notes, handouts and URL's should be obtained from another student who was in class that day.  In the case of severe weather closings and cancellations, call the Creighton Weather Hotline at 280-5800 to find out if the University has closed due to severe weather.

Course Outline and Assignments