The textbook is Essentials of Management Information Systems, Fifth Edition, by Laudon and Laudon. The ISBN is 0-13-008734-3. I am also recommending that you get an HTML text of some kind to use as a reference.

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.

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 1.5 megabytes in size. When you email, please use a subject line with the words MIS 353 in the title so I can identify the message in my inbox easier.

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.

We will be creating individual websites on our Linux server, Grackle, as well as using it for hands-on exercises in networking. Your research paper will be published on your website at the end of the semester as well as turned in electronically and on paper.

There is always something new and exciting in the technology field. Twice during the course you will make a presentation to the class, called a Tech Tip, 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 sheet to me describing to me your site, item or news as you present your Tech Tip and News. Each item should take about three minutes to present.

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. There will be one make-up quiz near the end of the class if you missed a quiz, or bombed one.

You will research an issue in technology during the course, and present the results of your research as a paper published on your website during the final exam time. Your paper will be turned in on paper, turned in electronically, as well as published on your class website.

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 of the assignments and exams are given below:

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 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.