Course Syllabus

    Spring, 2006

Instructor: Dr. Julian. M. Scher
Office: Room 4102 GITC (Office Hours will be on Wednesday afternoon, 4:00 - 6:00, and Monday, 4:00-5:00; other times for meeting with Dr. Scher may be arranged by contacting him through email well in advance of a desired meeting time)
Phone: (973) 596-3395; ( if urgent, you can also leave a msg. for Dr. Scher at the CCS Secretary (973) 596-3368 )
E-Mail: CIS431@GMAIL.COM (Please do NOT send CIS431 email to Dr. Scher's NJIT account!)

Textbook:

• D. Kroenke, DATABASE PROCESSING: FUNDAMENTALS, DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION, (Tenth Edition), Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2006. (Earlier editions of this text will NOT satisfy the course requirements - only purchase and use the current edition, which has a copyright date of 2006).
  ISBN: 0-13-167267-3

• Other readings for the Honors Sections may be assigned at the discretion of the instructor.

Prerequisite: CIS114 (or equivalent)

Class Meetings: CIS431H is being taught in Hybrid Learning Mode, which is a combination of regular face-to-face class meetings, combined with computer-based learning (Flash movies and Powerpoint slides) and on-line activities. CIS431H will meet on Wednesday nights, at 6:00PM, for about an hour and a half, and there will be another hour and a half of computer-based learning and on-line activities, as well as Team Investigative Database Projects.

Lecture Notes: Slides covering the lectures will be made available to students.

Course Grade Components:

• Midterm Exam (closed book) 33%

• Final Exam (open book) 34%

• Database Design Projects (Conceptual Assignments, Database Design Application projects, Honors Team Investigations) 33%

Policy on Collaboration/Cheating: Every assignment/project is to be viewed as an exam. The NJIT Honor Code will be upheld. Students found cheating//plagiarizing in any aspect of the coursewill be immediately referred to the Dean of Students and the NJIT Committee on Professional Conduct and subject to possible Disciplinary Probation, a permanent marking on the record, possible dismissal and a grade of 'F' in the course. All submitted assignments and Database Projects are carefully checked for similarities, and plagiarism and guilty students will be identified.

Policy on Lateness of Submission: Every assignment/project will have a due date, and all submissions must be made by this due date in person (email attachments, etc. will not be accepted, unless otherwise stated). NO EXCEPTIONS. Assignments/projects submitted after the due date will not be accepted.

Team Projects: Some projects may be assigned to student "teams" of two students. Team members are expected to have a team spirit and contribute to the success of the team. "Freeloading" on a team will not be tolerated, either by your partner on the team, or by Dr. Scher. As a general rule, the identical grade will be awarded to both members of the team (but, in unusual circumstances, exceptions can and will be made.) Each team project submission must include a "Team Project Management" statement, specifying the overall management of the database project, and identifying "who did what?"

Course Description: CIS431H is an honors version of our regular course in Database Design, CIS431, and not only will we cover the topics normally covered in CIS431 (see topical coverage below), but will expand on this, and there will be several supplemental Honors Investigative Projects which will delve deeper into the Database Design course material.

Below are the TOPICs covered in the course,  and the related TEXTBOOK readings. Remember one of the keys to success in CIS431H is your own self-discipline - your goal should be to maintain currency each week, and NEVER fall behind! (Note:  this is a tentative schedule, and we reserve the privilege to modify and edit these topics for the benefit of the course.)