GROUP PROJECT (20%):

Objectives: Group learning, teamwork, sharing innovative ideas with others, hands-on experience in applying syntax, learning from making mistakes, independent learning, and learning to use the manuals and support documents.

For the course project, students--working in groups of three to five--will prepare fully functioning programs in Visual Basic that address typical business needs. Grades will be assigned jointly by your peers and me. Fifty percent of each group�s project grade will be based on my assessment of the quality of the class presentation, the documentation, and the application submitted. The remaining 50 percent of the grade will be based on peer evaluations of individual group members� contributions (using a group member evaluation form, a copy of which is also attached to this syllabus). Code will be judged based on clarity and neatness. Clarity will be judged by how sensible the solutions used are. Spaghetti code will be viewed less favorably than elegant code. Also, a generous use of remarks in the code to allow it to be followed will be of utmost importance. Neatness of code involves proper use of spacing and indentations. Justification for this is that in the practitioner world, people need to maintain software. You will forget your own coding schemes in just a few months. A year later, when a bug is found on New Year�s Eve before end of year inventory is closed out and you are called away from your party to come into the office at 11:23 p.m., you will be grateful for proper coding style that gets you back in time to see the ball drop. If you are paying programmers later in your career, you will also want to insist on good documentation, to get the full value of your investment in programming. If the person doing the debugging happens to be your boss, bad habits will cost you more than a long night. You are being rewarded here for learning good habits.

Responding to the program specifications detailed below, the group should develop and copy the source code for the final program onto a single 3-�-inch diskette, 100 MB zip disk, writable CD or memory stick and, along with accompanying printed project documentation, hand it to the instructor on the due date for the project. (Detailed instructions for preparing your project are attached to this syllabus.) Be sure that it is possible for the evaluator to run the program from the A drive, if you are submitting the application on a floppy disk, the E drive, if you are submitting the application on a zip disk, or the D drive, if you are submitting the application on a writable CD. None of the files should be in a compressed or archived format that must be converted in order to be run. Please use only Visual Basic .NET to create your application and Access 2000 or Access XP for your database.

The only practical way to achieve high-quality printing and graphics is to use a laser printer or a high-quality inkjet printer. If you do not have access to such a printer elsewhere, the GSU lab has laser printers that can be accessed with a special card. Inquire at the desk in the lab for this option. In the past, some students who have waited until the last minute to print off their project documentation have experienced problems. This is not a legitimate excuse for a late project. Test out the capabilities of the lab or your home or office printer long before the day the project is due.

It is also critical that the team check to be sure that the diskette is virus-free. Software on the GSU network as well as software in Windows is available to detect and clean viruses from diskettes. The consequence of handing in a project diskette with one or more viruses that could have easily been removed will be a lowering of the project score at least a full letter grade.

FIRST EXAM (20%), SECOND EXAM (20%), AND FINAL EXAM (25%):

Objectives: To provide an incentive to keep up with readings and classwork, as well as to measure your individual competence levels prior to entrance to higher-level CIS coursework.

Parts I and II of each exam will be closed book and will consist of multiple-choice questions and an essay question, respectively. Part III will be open book/open notes. For Part III, you will be given a programming assignment. You may refer to your book and notes, but you may not use a laptop to run your program or consult with anyone, while you work on Part III.

GENERAL CLASS POLICIES:

� Prerequisites are strictly enforced. Students failing to complete a prerequisite with a grade of �C� or higher will be administratively withdrawn from the course in which they are in violation with a loss of tuition fees. There are no exceptions.

� Students are expected to attend all classes and group meetings, except when precluded by emergencies, religious holidays or bona fide extenuating circumstances.

� Students who, for non-academic reasons beyond their control, are unable to meet the full requirements of the course should notify the instructor. Incompletes may be given if a student has ONE AND ONLY ONE outstanding assignment.

� A �W� grade will be assigned if a student withdraws before mid-semester while maintaining a passing grade. Withdrawals after the mid-semester date will result in a grade of �WF�. Refer to GSU catalog or Registrar�s office for details.

� Spirited class participation is encouraged and informed discussion in class is expected. This requires completing readings and assignments before class.

� Unless specifically stated by the instructor, all exams and lab assignments are to be completed by the student alone.

� Within-group collaboration is allowed on project work. Collaboration between project groups will be considered cheating unless specifically allowed by an instructor.

� Copy work from the Internet without a proper reference will be considered plagiarism and subject to disciplinary action as delineated in the Student Handbook.

� Any non-authorized collaboration will be considered cheating and the student(s) involved will have an Academic Dishonesty charge completed by the instructor and placed on file in the Dean�s office and the CIS Department. All instructors regardless of the type of assignment will apply this Academic Dishonesty policy equally to all students. See excerpt from the Student Handbook below:

COURSE POLICIES FOR CIS 3210:

� I will take attendance at the beginning of every class, to encourage you to attend. At the end of the semester, I will consider your attendance and the quality of your class participation, if your grade is borderline. If you are forced to miss a class or to arrive late, it is your responsibility to determine what material was covered and what announcements were made during your absence and to make the necessary arrangements for making up what was missed.

� Avoid distracting practices such as late entrances, leaving the room while class is in session, excessive conversation with other students, letting your cell phone ring during class, and conducting activities unrelated to class discussions. These distract the rest of the class and may make it difficult for others to hear what is being said by those participating in formal class activities.

� Active class participation is encouraged.

� A �W� grade will be assigned if a student withdraws before March 4th while maintaining a passing grade. Withdrawals after March 4th will result in a grade of �WF." Refer to GSU catalog or Registrar's office for details.

� Students who, for non-academic reasons beyond their control, are unable to meet the full requirements of the course should notify the instructor. Refer to the GSU catalog for details on Incomplete Grades.

� Make-up exams will only be given prior to the regularly scheduled exam date for valid non-academic reasons at the discretion of the instructor. To be fair to the other students, make-up exams given after the class has taken the exam on the scheduled date to students who don't have a documented medical excuse will be more difficult.

� All homework assignments are to be handed in during class on the due date, in class, no later than the end of class. This means that if class is let out early that day, and I have left the room without getting your assignment, you have missed the deadline. As a result, I encourage you to arrive on time to turn in your assignments. Assignments turned in late will not be accepted and a grade of zero will be given without a confirmed medical excuse.

� All group projects and presentations are due on the dates and times designated. No late presentations or projects will be allowed, and a grade of zero will be given if scheduled times are missed. No exceptions will be made for the group. (Individual members within the group with confirmed medical emergencies only will be able to make arrangements with me to present alone at a later time or receive an incomplete for the course.)

� The following are some of the examples of invalid excuses:

v The computer has wiped out all my files or I lost all my data.

v The printer was out of paper or the printer is broken.

v I am working two jobs.

v The network is down.

v I was stuck in the traffic.

v I have run out of paper credit in the GSU computer lab.

� If you have any problem(s) that might impede your performance in this course, please bring it(them) to the attention of the instructor immediately.

GSU POLICY FOR ACADEMIC HONESTY:

Please make sure to read the following definitions/policies regarding academic honesty. They, as well as an introduction and a description of the procedures to be followed in cases of violations are available at http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwfhb/sec409.html. I do not expect any dishonesty from my students and provide the following as a service to you.

409.02 Definitions and Examples

The examples and definitions given below are intended to clarify the standards by which academic honesty and academically honorable conduct are to be judged. The list is merely illustrative of the kinds of infractions that may occur, and it is not intended to be exhaustive. Moreover, the definitions and examples suggest conditions under which unacceptable behavior of the indicated types normally occurs; however, there may be unusual cases that fall outside these conditions which also will be judged unacceptable by the academic community.

A. Plagiarism: Plagiarism is presenting another person's work as one's own. Plagiarism includes any paraphrasing or summarizing of the works of another person without acknowledgment, including the submitting of another student's work as one's own. Plagiarism frequently involves a failure to acknowledge in the text, notes, or footnotes the quotation of the paragraphs, sentences, or even a few phrases written or spoken by someone else. The submission of research or completed papers or projects by someone else is plagiarism, as is the unacknowledged use of research sources gathered by someone else when that use is specifically forbidden by the faculty member. Failure to indicate the extent and nature of one's reliance on other sources is also a form of plagiarism. Any work, in whole or in part, taken from the Internet or other computer-based resource without properly referencing the source (for example, the URL) is considered plagiarism. A complete reference is required in order that all parties may locate and view the original source. Finally, there may be forms of plagiarism that are unique to an individual discipline or course, examples of which should be provided in advance by the faculty member. The student is responsible for understanding the legitimate use of sources, the appropriate ways of acknowledging academic, scholarly or creative indebtedness, and the consequences of violating this responsibility.

B. Cheating on Examinations: Cheating on examinations involves giving or receiving unauthorized help before, during, or after an examination. Examples of unauthorized help include the use of notes, computer based resources, texts, or "crib sheets" during an examination (unless specifically approved by the faculty

member), or sharing information with another student during an examination (unless specifically approved by the faculty member). Other examples include intentionally allowing another student to view one's own examination and collaboration before or after an examination if such collaboration is specifically forbidden by the faculty member.

C. Unauthorized Collaboration: Submission for academic credit of a work product, or a part thereof, represented as its being one's own effort, which has been developed in substantial collaboration with another person or source, or computer-based resource, is a violation of academic honesty. It is also a violation of academic honesty knowingly to provide such assistance. Collaborative work specifically authorized by a faculty member is allowed. (If two or more students submit assignments that are identical or substantially identical, every student involved will get a zero for the assignment or part of the assignment that was duplicated.)

D. Falsification: It is a violation of academic honesty to misrepresent material or fabricate information in an academic exercise, assignment or proceeding (e.g., false or misleading citation of sources, the falsification of the results of experiments or of computer data, false or misleading information in an academic context in order to gain an unfair advantage).

E. Multiple Submissions: It is a violation of academic honesty to submit substantial portions of the same work for credit more than once without the explicit consent of the faculty member(s) to whom the material is submitted for additional credit. In cases in which there is a natural development of research or knowledge in a sequence of courses, use of prior work may be desirable, even required; however the student is responsible for indicating in writing, as a part of such use, that the current work submitted for credit is cumulative in nature.

409.03 Evidence and Burden of Proof

In determining whether or not academic dishonesty has occurred, the standard which should be used is that guilt must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence. This means that if the evidence which indicates that academic dishonesty occurred produces a stronger impression and is more convincing as to its truth when weighed against opposing evidence, then academic dishonesty has been proved. In other words, the evidence does not have to be enough to free the mind from a reasonable doubt but must be sufficient to incline a reasonable and impartial mind to one side of the issue rather than to the other. Evidence as used in this statement can be any observation, admission, statement, or document which would either directly or circumstantially indicate that academic dishonesty has occurred.

NOTE:

THE SCHEDULES AND PROCEDURES IN THIS COURSE ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE IN THE EVENT OF EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES. YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED OF ANY DEVIATIONS.

T Class - CIS 3210�Spring 2005 Schedule

Topic	Readings	Date/Day
Introduction and discussion of syllabus .NET Architecture Overview VB .NET Language (Overview) Release Assignment #1 (it will be posted in WebCT) Getting Started with VB .NET Creating a First VB .NET Solution Introduction to Numeric Data Types and Variables Continue working on Chapter 3 Decision Making Continue working on Chapter 4 Validating Input with Strings and Functions Assignment #1 Due 2/8	Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5	1/11 T 1/18 T 1/25 T 2/1 T 2/8 T
Continue working on Chapter 5 Exam 1 � Covering Chapters 1-5 and lectures Repetition and Multiple Forms Continue working on Chapter 6 Assignment #2 Due 3/1 Last day to withdraw and possibly receive a "W" � 10/15 Spring Break � March 7 � 10 � No Class Continue working on Chapter 6 Processing Text Files with Arrays and Lists Continue working on Chapter 7 Microsoft Access Project Proposal Due 3/22	Chapter 6 Chapter 7 ACCESS BOOK	2/15 T 2/22 T 3/1 T 3/15 T 3/22 T
Exam 2 - Covering Chapters 5-7 and lectures Introduction to Database Processing Continue working on Chapter 8 Working with Multiple Database Tables Normalization, SQL queries Assignment #3 Due 4/5 Presentations (groups 1-2) Presentations (groups 3-4) Dialog Controls Common to Windows and Structured Error Handling Creating a Multiple-Document Application Assignment #4 Due 4/19 Presentations (groups 5-6) Presentations (groups 7-8) Creating Reusable Components with Classes Introduction to ASP.NET Deploying a VB .NET Application ASP.NET and Web Forms Discuss final exam Optional Assignment 5 due by midnight, Friday, April 29th	Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14	3/29 T 4/5 T 4/12 T 4/19 T 4/26 T 4/29 F
Project Due on Monday, May 2nd at 10:00 p.m., in my office Final Exam (cumulative, but with an emphasis on material covered after Exam 2) � Tuesday May 3rd, 5:00 p.m., in our regular classroom. (Bring a #2 pencil for the closed-book part and any books, notes, and other printed material that you�d like to refer to for the open-book part.) Grades due May 13th by 6 p.m.		5/2 M 5/3 T

W Class - CIS 3210�Spring 2005 Schedule

Topic	Readings	Date/Day
Introduction and discussion of syllabus .NET Architecture Overview VB .NET Language (Overview) Release Assignment #1 (it will be posted in WebCT) Getting Started with VB .NET Creating a First VB .NET Solution Introduction to Numeric Data Types and Variables Continue working on Chapter 3 Decision Making Continue working on Chapter 4 Validating Input with Strings and Functions Assignment #1 Due 2/9	Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5	1/12 W 1/19 W 1/26 W 2/2 W 2/9 W
Continue working on Chapter 5 Exam 1 � Covering Chapters 1-5 and lectures Repetition and Multiple Forms Continue working on Chapter 6 Assignment #2 Due 3/2 Last day to withdraw and possibly receive a "W" � 10/15 Spring Break � March 7 � 10 � No Class Continue working on Chapter 6 Processing Text Files with Arrays and Lists Continue working on Chapter 7 Microsoft Access Project Proposal Due 3/23	Chapter 6 Chapter 7 ACCESS BOOK	2/16 W 2/23 W 3/2 W 3/16 W 3/23 W
Exam 2 - Covering Chapters 5-7 and lectures Introduction to Database Processing Continue working on Chapter 8 Assignment #3 Due 4/6 Working with Multiple Database Tables Normalization, SQL queries Presentations (groups 1-2) Presentations (groups 3-4) Dialog Controls Common to Windows and Structured Error Handling Creating a Multiple-Document Application Assignment #4 Due 4/20 Presentations (groups 5-6) Presentations (groups 7-8) Creating Reusable Components with Classes Introduction to ASP.NET Deploying a VB .NET Application ASP.NET and Web Forms Discuss final exam Optional Assignment 5 due by midnight, Friday, April 29th	Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14	3/30 T 4/6 T 4/13 T 4/20 T 4/27 T 4/29 F
Project Due on Monday, May 2nd at 10:00 p.m., in my office Final Exam (cumulative, but with an emphasis on material covered after Exam 2) � Wednesday May 4th, 7:15 p.m., in our regular classroom. (Bring a #2 pencil for the closed-book part and any books, notes, and other printed material that you�d like to refer to for the open-book part.) Grades due May 13th by 6 p.m.		5/2 M 5/4 W

Group Project Program Specifications

Identify a specific end user who has a business problem that could be solved with a Visual Basic application. The user could be your employer, supervisor, parent, spouse, sibling, neighbor, roommate�anyone who is willing to spend a little time talking with you about the problem and his or her business environment. Your application can be developed for an individual, a non-profit organization, or a business. It cannot be developed for a hypothetical individual or organization. The size of the user organization is immaterial. In fact, large organizations are more likely to already have the systems they need. (Please do not walk into a business with which no one in your group has a personal connection. Instead, identify individuals and organizations with whom someone in your group has a personal connection.)

Each group will turn in a one-page project proposal which describes the problem to be solved, the feasibility of creating a prototype solution in Visual Basic, and the approach you intend to take. This proposal is due on October 20th. I will give you written feedback but will not grade the proposal. (Be careful not to over-promise what you can deliver to your user in a semester. Your Visual Basic application will probably be a prototype, which the user may have to continue to develop, or which may have to be developed in another language that runs more efficiently.)

When your project has been approved, you will continue to document the user�s needs. As you talk more with the user, your understanding of those needs may change. This is normal. You will ask your user to describe the requirements of the application, and you will document these. Once you have designed forms that you think satisfy your user�s needs and implemented them, you�ll ask your user for feedback. Don�t be surprised if your user doesn�t kiss you after you demonstrate your first version. Users find it easier to tell you what they don�t like, or how they would like something changed, once they have a working prototype to respond to. Keep a thorough record of the evolution of the user�s and your own understanding of the user�s requirements.

At the end of the semester, your group will give a presentation to the class about your project. You should use PowerPoint slides to reinforce the points you make about your user and the user's problem, the design of the program, its implementation, and what you learned from the experience. Since many groups will be giving their presentations well before the due date of the project, we will not expect that every feature of your application works flawlessly at the time you present. Demonstrate what works and tell us how you plan to continue development. Several groups had their application files corrupted in the public labs. To avoid nasty surprises, get in the habit of maintaining backup diskettes as well as paper copies of your slides (it is possible that the projector bulb will burn out before or during your presentation). We would prefer to see an older version of your application rather than nothing at all.

The final project report should represent a significantly updated and expanded version of your initial project plan. It should include a discussion of (1) who the user is, (2) what sort of business he/she is in, (3) the problem you are addressing, (4) the feasibility of an application written in Visual Basic .NET, (5) the user�s requirements for the application, (6) the design of the application, (7) your implementation of the design, and (8) a sample interaction that demonstrates all the features of your application. Be sure to discuss changes in your and/or the user�s understanding of requirements; design decisions you faced, alternatives you considered, and why you made various decisions; problems you encountered; what you learned from the project; and how development could continue.

Project documentation should be in both paper and Word format on a 3-1/2 diskette, 100MB zip disk, writable CD, or memory stick and handed in along with the application and your PowerPoint slideshow file on the due date. Diskettes, zip disks, or writable CDs with source code and relevant tables, etc. should be clearly labeled with the following information: (1) the name of the application, (2) the name of the start-up file, (3) the password, and (4) the names of team members.

The paper documentation should be organized into three sections:

Business Need / Executive Overview

Design Documentation (your plan for solving the user's problem)

Program Documentation (description of the implementation of your design--discuss changes made in the design during implementation and why these changes were required)

Program features documentation should include: (a) screen captures that document the successful completion and execution of the program forms accompanied by (b) the source code related to that particular program form. Screen captures should be labeled as exhibits or figures and numbered consecutively. (Create screen captures by left clicking in the window that you want to capture and then holding down the Alt key while you click on PrintScreen. This will copy the window you selected into the Clipboard. In Word, click on Edit and Paste (or some other Paste command) to drop the screen capture into your document. Obtain printouts of source code for forms by opening the form file in a word processor. Be careful not to make any changes in the source code while you have it displayed in the word processor.)

Your project grade will include an evaluation of your class presentation. Please submit a copy of your PowerPoint slideshow file and a printout of your slides when you submit your project.

GENERAL CLASS POLICIES:

Group Project Program Specifications

REPORT OF GROUP MEMBERS� CONTRIBUTIONS TO PROJECT