MIM students who believe that their background has adequately prepared them in terms of the the knowledge and experience that would be gained in this course may request to instead take an additional advanced technology course that better matches their needs. Such requests are made using the College's process for waiver of a requirement, which is described in the Master's Student Handbook.
Instructor | |
Name | Doug Oard |
oard@umd.edu | |
Office | HBK 2118F |
Phone | (301)405-7590 |
Day | Time (P.M.) | Activity | Room |
---|---|---|---|
Thursday | 5:15-5:45 | Office Hours | BLD3 3203 |
Thursday | 6:00-8:45 | Class | BLD3 3203 |
A syllabus that summarizes what we will cover each week can be found on the class Web site. There are no scheduled lab sessions.
There is no one textbook; we will have reading assignments from many sources. Reading assignments that are required to be completed before class each week can be found on the readings page. All of the readings are available online at no charge to University of Maryland students, and most of the books that the readings come from are available in print from online booksellers.
Please routinely bring a computer to class. You will need a Web browser, an SSH terminal program, and an SFTP program. We'll talk about what those are, of course. You can use any kind of a computer that you like, but I am a PC and unix (but not Mac) user, so if you bring a Mac (or an android tablet, or anything else that's not a PC) you may need to do a bit of legwork on your own to get the right software installed. But any kind of computer should work fine.
Students are encouraged to use the course mailing list to share information that would be of general interest or for any other purpose that seems reasonable. Mail sent to that address will reach the instructor and all students. If you have not received a message from the mailing list by January 16, please contact the instructor to make sure that your correct address is included.
Some lectures may be recorded and made available online if our classroom can support that. Please don't count on the availability of the video until we have seen a few working, though!
Component | Portion of Grade |
---|---|
Homework | 25% (5% each for the best 5 of the 6) |
Project | 40% (20% technology, 10% design, 5% content, 5% presentation) |
Final Exam | 35% |
The resulting score will then be mapped to letter grades in the usual way (90-100=A, 80-89.9=B, ...). Plus and minus grades (e.g., A+, A-, ...) will be reported for high and low ranges of each letter grade (usually, 98-100 for A+, 90-91.9 for A-, ...). There will be no curve; you can compute your course grade directly from your score. A grade of B or better is required in core courses (note that a grade of B- would not meet this requirement).
The homework assignments are designed to provide an opportunity for students to explore specific topics in a structured way. Students may work together on the homework assignments, but all of the material that is turned in for grading must be produced individually. For example, students may form study groups and work out homework solutions together on a chalkboard or by each working separately on different terminals and then sharing what they have learned, but it would not be permissible for one student to prepare an answer set and then for other students to copy those answers and submit it as their own work. Turning in copied files is specifically prohibited; each student must individually type or hand-write any materials that are submitted for grading, including computer programs.
A term project will be completed by each student before the end of the semester. Each project will involve implementation of an information system using technologies covered during the first part of the course. Students will be assigned to two-person teams; the assignment process will be based on preferences submitted as project assignment P1. Additional details are provided on the project assignment Web pages that are linked from the schedule.
The University of Maryland is one of a small number of universities with a student-administered Honor Code and an Honor Pledge. The Code prohibits students from cheating on exams, plagiarizing papers, submitting the same paper for credit in two courses without authorization, buying papers, submitting fraudulent documents, and forging signatures. Students must write the following signed statement on their examination:
I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this examination (or assignment).
Compliance with the code is administered by the Student Honor Council, which strives to promote a community of trust. Allegations of academic dishonesty should be reported directly to the Honor Council (301-314-8450) by any member of the campus community. Cases are decided by joint faculty-student boards. For additional information, consult the Office of Student Conduct Web site.