CS 3 Sylabus

CS3   Class Outline  Spring 199

 

Instructor:   Clifford W. Lazar Office: Crowded   Hours: None for part-timers

E-mail: CLIFF@LAZARDEV.COM

For all students who don’t have a college mastery of standard English I recommend Strunk and White Elements of Style (a very thin book, about 75 pages, about $6.00).

Additional Materials:  Four 3.5" diskettes 1.44 MB, formatted for IBM, Don’t buy unformatted or Apple-Formatted disks.  
four 882-es Scantron forms, two #2 pencils, (sharpened), 
dark pen for written tests, red pen for grading tests.  Students who don’t bring red pens to Exams will lose 5 points from their exams. 

Printing Card with 50 pages of credits.  No white-out.

Course Overview

This is a beginning course intended for students who plan to take additional computer programming or computer science courses. Emphasis in the course is divided between a broad survey of the field of computer information systems and the acquisition of computer skills necessary for more advanced classes. Such skills would involve use of the operating system, file management techniques, use of an editor, programming logic, introduction to programming, etc.

Note:   This course is for programming, computer science, or engineering students.

Class Info

Arrange - 2 hours; 3 units; Transfer: UC, CSU

Required Text

Computers:            Tools for an Information Age, Sixth Edition, H. L. Capron. The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., 1999.

Getting Good Grades:  In order to learn the software students should perform all of the exercises in the textbooks and the Ten Pages To ... handouts on the computers in the lab or on their own computers.  This work is to be turned in; success in this class depends on its completion.

Results show that students who don’t do the homework get 23% lower test scores than students who do.

Lab Time:  CIS 3 will meet in B203.  Arrange 2 personal hours in the lab twice a week.  To gain confidence with the mouse and the Windows environment you need to repeat each instruction at least six times.  Try to do your assignments from your other classes using Word 97, Excel and Power Point, Visual Basic 6.

Extra Credit:     Students who have gotten an A or B can receive extra credit by tutoring students in need of help on make-up exams.  Every extra point the tutee gets will be added to the score of the tutor.  The tutee must name the tutor on his make-up exam in advance.  If the score is lower, both the tutor and tutee will lose the points.

Students can do work for charities or religious groups and get extra credit.  Students can teach others and get credit.

Students who turn in work done for other classes done on Word 97 or Excel 97 will receive 5 points for one Word 97 (at least 2 pages) and one Excel 97 assignment.

Each Student who gives a five minute demonstration of a Windows, Word 97 or Excel skill, not done by a previous student, will get 5 points for each area once.

Grading System used in CS3 classes by Clifford Lazar

Each test gets 100 points.  Students must grade exams.  Failure to grade other students' exams will result in 5 points being deducted.

% of total grade: Mid-term exams and extra credit and Final, to be determined by student within the range 20-80% for each group. 

Schedule:   The schedule lists subjects to be covered each week of the semester.  Reading column refers to chapters in each of the four textbooks.  Students should read the material prior to the class meeting. Students will be given written, step by step assignments called Ten Pages to Windows, Word 97, Excel 97 and Access 97.

*NOTE:            No test may be made up without ADVANCE notice and proving that homework was done within 7 days of the make-up.  Make-up grade cannot exceed 85% of test.  Cheating will result in a zero and no make-up.

If you do not take the final exam, you will not pass the course!  Drops are the responsibility of the student.  Students can chose the weighting of the final exam:  20, 40 60 or 80%

A-- >=90%       B-->=80%      C=>70%         D=>60%

Homework is due at the start of the period.  No late work will be accepted.  Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class.  Quizzes may be given at any time during the course.

Test Conditions
Desks are to be totally clear except for pens and test materials.  All course materials are to be completely out of sight.  Not sitting open on the floor or on the next chair.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES:  Students are expected to complete all reading and exercises at the specified times.  Students must drop the class if they choose not to continue or they may get a grade of F. You must bring two diskettes, 1.44 MB 2S HD 3.5”, to the lab.  Students without their diskettes will not participate in the lab.

Instructor Responsibilities:  The instructor will maintain the schedule as well as possible.  Questions will be answered  and assignments and examinations will be returned as soon as possible.