91.111 -- Computing in the Everyday World

Spring 2007 Syllabus

Current HomeWork: http://www.cs.uml.edu/~giam/91.111/91_111_Homework.html

Lab Slides for the Office Labs: http://www.cs.uml.edu/~giam/91.111/PPT/

a) We will view the series of PBS Videos: The Machine that Changed the World. This a short history of computing - primarily since the Second World War. The videos will be shown once a week, Starting on Tuesday, Sept. 6^th, in our classroom. The videos last about 58 minutes, with some filler at the beginning and at the end. The Media Center (on the South Campus) has copies of the videos, so if any of you wish to see them again - or missed the regular showing - you may borrow them FOR VIEWING IN THE South Campus LIBRARY. We will finish with a full-class-period lecture "on the future".
b) The labs will cover an introduction to Windows XP, as well as setting up a cs e-mail account that you will use to submit any lab based exams, followed by structured presentations of the various application packages. We will start with Word, move to Excel and then on to Access, finishing with at least an introduction to PowerPoint. We will include some material on integration of the various packages. I will spend part of one class period every week discussing the upcoming lab, walking you through parts of it, etc. You are expected to bring the lab manual to each lab meeting.
c) After the videos, other lectures will cover general material about computation, the way it is used, the way it influences the world around us and the way in which it influences the way we interpret the world around us. The topics will be, roughly:

i) Numbers, numerals and how we evolved notation, understanding and mechanical aids through history. We will look at Egyptian, Babylonian, Roman and Indian-Arabic systems of numeration. We will finish with binary arithmetic and with gate level logic.
ii)} Language as computation. The development of writing, both as systems of symbols and as systems for the dissemination of knowledge. The evolution of literacy. The development of the idea of grammar. Grammar as a description of computational processes. Formal Grammars and Word Processing. Text searches. Computer languages.
iii) Computation as a way of describing processes in the world around us. Growth and decay, some simple astronomy, modeling of simple phenomena, some simple probability. This part will follow our finishing the Spreadsheet and Charting Modules of the text, and is meant as an introduction to Spreadsheet Applications not seen in the lab modules.
iv) Computation as the management of large amounts of data. This will cover some elementary ideas about data-bases. Some historical perspective (census methods in antiquity, library catalogs, etc.) will be introduced, along with more recent developments.

a) A Final Exam (30%). This will consist of two parts. The classroom part will cover the videos and lectures on other topics. The lab part will consist of putting together an integrated document - on command - that will require you to use all the applications. The lab part will have Open Lab Book and open notes. Each will be 1.5 hours long, with the class split between lab and final classroom (in Olsen).
b) Lab Homework (25% total). As assigned. Late submissions will lose 2ⁿ points, where n is the number of days late. Absence of the Lab Homework will be sufficient reason for failure in the course, regardless of anything else. Plagiarism, cheating or collaboration in the Lab Homework will result in a grade of 0 for the first occurrence, and a course failure on the second.
c) Class Quizzes (20% total - 2 quizzes). These will take up at least one half of a class period. They are Closed Book. Cheating will follow the University guidelines for "cheating on exams".

i)} the first will be at the end of the videos, covering the material of the videos and the summaries from the handouts.
ii) once more, as other material is covered (April 10, covering material from the Numbers and Spreadsheets chapters).

It MUST use all of the application programs integrated into a single document. I expect a table of contents, headers, footers, footnotes, tables, pictures and charts, and a bibliography.
It MUST be at least 5 pages long, in 12 pt Times (or Times Roman), 6 inch horizontal text, 8.5 inch vertical, no more than 1.5 spacing and little boldface. I will count and measure to make sure.
Your submission can be via e-mail or cd-rom. It must include all the files for your term paper. You are free to submit an actual paper document. There MUST be at least one Word file, one Excel file, one Access file and a PowerPoint one. Viewing (or printing) the Word file must give access to the whole term paper. The other files (Excel, Access and PowerPoint) have to be included to show that you know how to integrate material created in the various application programs.
The paper is due, with no postponement, on the LAST CLASS MEETING before finals week.
There is no specific requirement on the topic - it could also be an elaboration of a paper that you used for another course.
NOTE: this will require that you make use of quantitative information. I strongly suggest you begin thinking about it VERY EARLY in the semester, and ask for my help if you have any doubts.

You will be graded on how well you used and integrated the tools in your presentation. For example, having all the text at the beginning with some figures, charts and tables added on at the end will not result in a good grade. Intermixing of text, charts, tables, pictures, etc., in a coherent and visually pleasing manner is what I expect. The topic is free: it could be related to our course, or it could be for a term paper for another course altogether. We will try to save the last lab session for any help you may need on the paper.