Page 1 I494 Syllabus 2010 Designing and Developing an Information System - I494/I495 Fall 2010 Course Syllabus Course Description: Senior undergraduate students work on capstone projects in supervised teams. Teams select an appropriate project (preferably based on cognate specialty area), and then learn to develop a plan that leads to success. Teamwork, communication, and organizational skills are emphasized in a real-world styled environment. Instructor: Dennis Groth Email: [email protected] Info East 216 Phone: 812-855-5886 Home: 812-331-2296 (Emergency only) Cell: 812-325-8882 (Emergency only) Office Hours: Mon 2:00-3:00 and by appointment. Lecturer: Matt Hottell Email: [email protected] Informatics 302 Phone: 856-1096 Cell: 812-325-8218 (Emergency only) Office Hours: By appointment only in Fall semester Associate Instructors: TBA The associate instructors will be located in Informatics 003. Meeting Times: M 4:00-5:15 Swain West 119 (Lecture) W 4:00-5:15 HPER 013 (Practice) W 4:00-5:15 Education 1220 (Practice) W 4:00-5:15 Geology 143 (Practice) Practice Sections: The practice sections are scheduled in a way to accommodate opportunities to get the projects started as soon as possible. The practices allow breakouts of smaller numbers of students to allow team formation, design activities, problem solving, and discussion of class topics.Page 2 I494 Syllabus 2010 Technology Training: There is no expectation that you already know everything that you will need to know in order to complete your project. On the contrary, you should expect to learn on demand, based on the specific needs of your project. You need to be prepared to do this next year, and for the remainder of your careers. Your project proposal should address technology training requirements, and develop a plan to address any deficiencies your team may have Status Reporting: You must submit a weekly written status report that identifies your activities relative to the course. The reports are per project team with detailed sections for each team member. You will be provided with a template, or software to facilitate the reporting. You must submit a report every week in order to receive full credit. Team Formation: Each year we want to get the projects started earlier than the previous year. This year is no exception. We blend project selection and team formation. Some teams start by selecting a project or type of project, other teams form first and then search for the appropriate problem to solve. We like the students to participate in this process (if they want) by working with us on forming teams. If you have an idea for a project or a team talk to us right away. Deliverables: The single most important thing that every student should focus on is meeting due dates for deliverables – according to a predefined plan. We will provide guidelines for when the deadlines will occur. Your group will suggest the deadlines and we will review and approve them. Once a deadline is set you should not change a deadline without talking to us. You will report your progress towards the deliverables on your master project plan. If you are at risk of missing a deadline you must explicitly report this in your status reports, along with an explanation of why the situation has occurred and what you are doing to remedy the problem. Presentations: There will be at least 1 (and hopefully more) electronic poster presentations during the year to allow everyone within the class to gauge their progress relative to the other teams. The final poster presentation is at the capstone fair on April 29th from 3:00PM-6:00PM.Page 3 I494 Syllabus 2010 Access Cards: You will be provided an electronic access card for the Informatics building. The card will give you 24-hour access to the building and the capstone lab (Room 003) in the basement. Other rooms may also be used, based on specific group needs. When you get your card (unless you do not want one) you will be subject to the following expectations: 1) You will use the facilities for appropriate, course related activities 2) You will leave the facility as you found it 3) You will notify the facility manager and the instructors if a problem occurs 4) You will not allow an unauthorized individual use your card 5) You will return the card at the end of the course 6) Your use of the card is electronically monitored 7) You will notify us immediately if you lose your card 8) Lost and un-returned cards will result in a $25 fee to your bursar account The AIs will either be in this room or near it for office hours. The room may be used for overflow scheduling of interviews. Grading: Most of your final grade is derived from your project, the bulk of which is completed in the second semester. The following table provides a breakdown of the relative value of each phase of the project, as well as the values for each individual assignment or exam. Project Requirements 20% Training plan 5% Design 15% Implementation 20% Process/reporting 15% Midterm Exam 10% Final Exam 10% Participation 5% You should note that “what” you deliver at the end of the year is less valuable than “how” you work towards delivery. You must provide evidence of sustained effort on your project. The grade for the first semester is automatically an “R”, which means that you will receive one grade for the entire class at the end of the second semester. Except for rare cases, the first semester and second semester grade will be identical.Page 4 I494 Syllabus 2010 Your group will receive an unofficial/unreported grade estimate for the project at the end of the first semester. You should interpret the grade as a trajectory for the final project grade, and it implies that if your level of effort and the results of the project stay consistent, you should expect to receive the interim grade as a final project grade. Note that a group project grade does not imply that all members on a group will receive that grade. In particular, low performing individuals should not be surprised to receive a grade much lower than the project grade. Communications: We will utilize OnCourse for all course communications. Home Page: www.informatics.indiana.edu/dgroth/courses/i450 Textbooks: Readings will be assigned from online sources, and may include Books 24x7, which is linked from the course