Laurie Patterson 2025 CIS Building Department of Computer Science University of North Carolina Wilmington 910.962.3906 (voice) 910.962.7457 (fax) pattersonL @ uncw.edu

Office Hours: Monday/Wednesday 1200-0200 Tuesday/Thursday 0100-0200 and by appointment Blackboard 9 select UNC Wilmington use email username (without @uncw.edu) and SeaNet user PIN (six digits)

Fluency with Information Technology: Skills, Concepts, and Capabilities,
4/edition
Lawrence Snyder
ISBN: 0-13-609182-2

Fluency in Information Technology (3) Information representation, the Internet and HTML, algorithmic thinking and programming, language translation, modeling and abstraction, algorithmic complexity and non-computability, machine architecture and parallel computation, networks and communication database principles, multimedia, social impacts of computing.

By the end of this course, students should have a good understanding of:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental issues that the course addresses.
2. Demonstrate mastery of various skills that the course addresses.
3. Accomplish projects that may be assigned to synthesize these two items.
4. Understand any article about IT in a non-technical article (e.g., NY Times).
5. Be confident about using IT in your life and in your career.

Grades will be determined as follows:

• homework (quizzes) assigned at the end of each chapter (10%)
  • Quizzes are open book
  • You have one opportunity to take the test! no multiple takes! Put the dates on your Outlook Calendar to help remind you to complete the quiz!
  • Remember to SUBMIT each answer as you take it so that if you have to come back into continue the quiz, your previous answers are there
  • SUBMIT the quiz for grading when completed
  • If the professor has to SUBMIT the quiz and you have NOT saved any answers, your quiz grade will reflect unanswered questions.
  • Quizzes will be graded AFTER the due date, and when graded the professor will send you an e-mail and a √ will appear next to the quiz in the schedule below.
• labs and projects (40%)
  • Labs:
    • Labs have unlimited submissions as long as you meet the stated deadline. This means you can do some work, save it up as a submission, take it down and do some more, and resubmit for grading as needed...AS LONG AS YOU MEET THE STATED DEADLINE!
    • Labs will be graded AFTER the stated deadline (so the professor doesn't assume you have submitted and grades it when you are still working on it!)
    • When the labs are graded, the professor will send you an e-mail and a √ will appear next to the lab in the schedule below.
    • NOTE there are "lab days" on the schedule. If you use the schedule below to keep yourself moving, then use those "lab days" to specifically work on the labs and projects!
    • There may be some labs where you get "stuck". This is a course on information technology fluency. When you get stuck, do the following:
      • search on line for a solution
      • work as far as you can get in the lab, and then when you submit the lab explain PRECISELY and completely WHERE you got stuck, WHY you got stuck, and WHAT you tried to solve the problem. Without those three "W's", your grade will reflect an incomplete submission.
  • Projects:
    • Projects also have unlimited submissions as long as you meet the stated deadlines.
    • Projects will be graded AFTER the stated deadline (so the professor doesn't assume you have submitted and grades it when you are still working on it!)
    • When the projects are graded, the professor will send you an e-mail and a √ will appear next to the project in the schedule below.
    • NOTE there are "lab days" on the schedule. If you use the schedule below to keep yourself moving, then use those "lab days" to specifically work on the labs and projects!
• Two tests, and a Final Exam (50%).
  • The final exam is NOT comprehensive.
  • Exams are password protected and results will NOT be released until AFTER the schedule time.
  • Because the professor cannot control whether you take the exam open-book or not, the exams are OPEN book...HOWEVER, there is a VERY tight timeline control on the exams. They are open for 60 minutes only! and open-book exams take longer than closed-book.
  • You MUST complete the exams in one setting, so please schedule yourself for 60 minutes of un-interrupted time.
  • After 1 hour, the exam will save and submit your exam.
  • All this means is that you CANNOT go into the exam, print it out, come back in later and try to do the work. You are only allowed to login ONCE.
  • Please notify the professor when you are ready to take the exam and she will send you YOUR password.

A plus/minus system will be used to assign final grades using the following scale:

	B+ 87-89	C+ 77-79	D+ 67-69
A 93-100	B 83-86	C 73-76	D 63-66	F <60
A- 90-92	B- 80-82	C- 70-72	D- 60-62

Incomplete grades are given rarely and only in very specific situations.

• First, the student must be passing.
• Next, the student must be able to complete the work of the course entirely on his or her own.
• Finally, the student must be prevented from completing the course by verified, unforeseen circumstances beyond the control of the student.

These conditions must be documented and verified by both instructors before an incomplete grade may be given.

Class presentation formats will include instructor lectures and demonstrations, and also a number of hands-on activities. Some of these activities will be laboratory exercises to be completed in class (and only in class), some within 24 hours, and a few will be projects to be completed within a week or less.  

Tests:
There will be two midterm tests during the semester and a final exam which together will comprise 50% of your grade. The dates of the tests can be found below but are subject to change. Please make every effort to attend class on the test dates. Make-up tests can only be given in extreme situations beyond the student's control and with verifiable documentation. The final exam date is determined by the University calendar and cannot be changed.

If you have a disability and need reasonable accommodation in this course, you should inform the instructor of this fact in writing within the first week of class or as soon as possible. If you have not already done so, you must register the Office of Disability Services in DePaolo (formerly Westside) Hall (ext. 2-3746) and obtain a copy of your Accommodation Letter. You should then arrange a meeting to make mutually agreeable arrangements based on the recommendations of the Accommodation Letter.

THE UNIVERSITY LEARNING CENTER
Westside Hall, first floor, office #1056
910.962.7857

The University Learning Center’s (ULC) mission is to help students become successful, independent learners. Tutoring at the ULC is NOT remediation: the ULC offers a different type of learning opportunity for those students who want to increase the quality of their education. ULC services are free to all UNCW students and include the following:

• Learning Services (Basic Studies)


• The Math Lab


• Study Skills


• Supplemental Instruction


• The Writing Center

ULC operating hours
ULC Identity Statement and Vision

Seek help when you need it and as soon as you need it. Feel free to contact the instructor via e-mail or in office hours. I can probably help you most quickly via e-mail, but you are welcome to stop by during office hours or set up an appointment for another time. Working with other students is permitted as long as you remain within the boundaries of the UNCW Academic Honor Code which applies to all work for this course. Please refer to the Student Handbook for details: http://www.uncw.edu/policies/04-100-academichonorcode.htm. The University’s policy on the responsible use of electronic resources also applies to all work for this course. See http://www.uncw.edu/sp/admproc/its100provisions.htm.

Students are responsible for submitting their own work. Students who cooperate on oral or written examinations or work without authorization share the responsibility for violation of academic principles, and the students are subject to disciplinary action even when one of them is not enrolled in the course where the violation occurred.

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