Management Information Systems in the School of Business Administration at UM - St. Louis

TEXTS:

Required

Oz, E., Management Information Systems, Cambridge, MA: Course Technology, 1998.

Materials available on the World Wide Web

Recommended

Cohen, Y., JavaScript Cookbook, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1997.

UMSL Dialup Software (available at the campus bookstore) for off-campus access.

GENERAL INFORMATION on the WEB:

PREREQUISITES: Economics 301, Quantitative Methods and Modeling for Economics, Business and Social Sciences

ASSIGNMENTS

Due Dates: Due dates are listed for each project. In each case, the assignment is due at the end of the class period on the due date. NO late assignments will be accepted.

Length: All assignments must be typed or word-processed and must be double-spaced; use page numbers. Margins must be at least one inch (1") on all sides. Staple assignments in the upper left corner; do not provide folders with work. Where page estimates are provided, they are gauged assuming 11 pt font; students using a larger font should assume that their texts will be about one third longer. Do not use font smaller than 10 pt font. I will quit reading at the end of the page restriction. Hence, if your main point occurs after the maximum for that assignment, it will be lost.

Format: In each case, I will grade on the basis of not only the content of the material, but also the presentation of the material. I expect the writing to be of the caliber of college graduates. Good grammar and accurate spelling are expected.

1.Web Page Evaluation: Explore three commercial Web pages in a particular industry or segment. Complete the Home Page Evaluation sheet for each and provide a critical appraisal of what you find at each site. This critique should include answers to at least the following questions.

What is the purpose of the company in developing the site?

Does the site convey a positive or useful message for the company?

Who is the intended audience?

What information content is provided?

What functions are provided?

Can the user purchase goods?

Is the site well designed from the point-of-view of clarity, ease of use, speed of access?

Is the site aesthetically pleasing?

Summarize what you have learned by examining the different sites. Consider the following questions.

Are the sites useful?

Are different strategies being employed?

Would you recommend any company's approach over the others?

How do you think these sites will evolve?

Can you develop a general framework that will help other companies in this industry design their Web sites?

2.Web Page Development: For this assignment, you will create a personal home page, and put it up on the World Wide Web (WWW). The page should include some basic information about you, and some links to sites related to you and your interests. Your home page should have a title (what the browser displays at the top of the window). I suggest you call it Home Page of <your name>, but you can use any title. You must include at least two images or graphics on your home page. You may either copy the image to your html directory, or you may create a direct link to the image's original site.

The body of the personal home page should have your name and e-mail address. Make use of the available headings to give a professional appearance to your page. The e-mail address should include a "hot link," so that any person with proper settings in their browser should be able to send you a message directly from your home page.

Following your name and e-mail address, you should have a section describing yourself. You might entitle it "About Me." In this section you should include links to the WWW page for this class, the MIS Area, the School of Business Administration and the University of Missouri - St. Louis. State your education background, and include a link to other colleges and universities you have attended. If you are employed, state where you work, and include a link to the company home page if it exists. You may then include any additional information you would like to share with us (remembering that the page can be accessed by anyone in the world). If there are sites related to this information, include a link to them.

The next section should include information about your interests, hobbies, etc.; you might entitle it "My Interests and Favorite Links." Search the Web and find pages which relate to your interests. You must include at least four more links of your choice.

Another section should include information about your professional interests. This might be technological pages you believe to be interesting. Or, it might include information of interest to your current employer, job or industry. You must include at least four more links in this area.

Your personal home page file should be named "index.htm" or "index.html." If you created the page in Windows, you will need to transfer it to the html directory on your Admiral account. This directory is the public directory. You can do this transfer using the FTP program demonstrated in class. However, remember that every time you make changes to your page in Windows, you must transfer the page again to your Admiral account.

You can use my sample page as a reference to how to do your home page. Of course, you are free to add more and make your page more "cool." After you create your home page, ensure that all of the links are working properly. Once your page has passed the final quality check, send me an email message providing me with the location of your page. On or before the due date, print a copy of your home page and turn it in. Due Date: February 17

3.Fortnightly Assignments: Find examples of IS/IT being discussed in the popular press, trade press, and/or Internet "press". Articles must reflect the aspect of IS/IT being discussed in class, as noted by the topic next to each date. Students must turn in the article (or a copy thereof), a complete reference and a three sentence (or less) discussion of the significance of it. Due dates are listed below.

In your fortnightly assignment, I would like formal citations of your article. If your article is from a journal or other periodical, use standard bibliographic format. If it is a Web page, use a format similar to this: Rule Machines, Inc., Level 5 Object Users' Guide, http://www.rulemachines.com/l5object/UsersGuide/, nd, Accessed January 5, 1999.

4.Industry Use of IS/IT: This course is designed to help students understand how information systems and technology are used and how they impact (positively or negatively) the competitive position of organizations. Through an overview of the technologies, activities, and applications of IS, this course will help you in acquiring an appreciation for the possibilities created by IT based solutions in today's organizations.

To facilitate this effort, students will select a particular industry or segment of industry and research how IS/IT is being used in that arena. Then, students will complete a short critique of its use. Include issues such as:

the role of IS/IT in a firm's competitive environment

the underlying technologies of use in that industry

the development of IS In organizations

the emerging IS issues

5.Programming: One of the important ways of learning to about information and the use an information system is to learn programming. This class will, therefore, require students to learn about programming and to complete programming assignments. In order to be relevant to the widest group of students, we will learn programming concepts JavaScript. That is, we will discuss programming fundamentals, such as input, output, variable processing, formatting, etc. in terms of JavaScript. There will be lectures on this material.

Students will complete short programming assignments as well as a small project using JavaScript. The due dates for the individual assignments will be announced in class. The Due Date for the project is May 5. (Note: this is not a class day, but you will have until 7 pm to turn in assignment to my office.)

GRADING POLICY: The following proportions will be used for grading:

Approximate letter grades will be assigned when exams and term projects are returned. Students should remember, however, that the term average is a weighted average of the numerical grades, not an average of the approximate letter grades.

EXAMS: There will be a midterm and a final exam.

Midterm: Wednesday, March 3

Final: Monday, May 10, 5:30 - 7:30

DROP POLICY: For the purposes of this policy, the "effective drop date" is the date which I am informed of the drop or the actual date of the drop, which ever is later. Students can and may inform me by leaving me a note in my mailbox, leaving me a message (on voice mail or electronically) or by speaking to me in person or over the telephone.

A student may drop this class until February 22 with a passing grade. Between February 22 and April 9, a student will receive either a passing grade (excused) or a failing grade (F) depending upon his or her performance (current grade) in the course. A student may withdraw after April 9only with and solely with the approval of the dean of his or her division. If you want to withdraw after this date, go directly to your dean; do not ask for my signature -- my signature is not needed and I will not provide it.

Under no circumstance may a student drop this class after May 3, 1999.

ACADEMIC HONESTY: According to the University Standard of Conduct, Section 6.0101,

The Board of Curators recognizes that academic honesty is essential for the intellectual life of the University. Faculty members have a special obligation to expect high standards of academic honesty in all student work. Students have a special obligation to adhere to such standards.

For the purposes of this class, cheating will include: plagiarism (using the writings of another without proper citation), copying of another (either current or past student's work), working with another on individually assigned work or exams, unauthorized marking on a graded paper or exam, or in any other way presenting as one's own work that which is not entirely one's own work. In addition, if a student willingly provides answers or assistance on an individually assigned exam or assignment, he or she will also be held culpable of cheating.

Any student who is caught cheating on any assignment or exam will receive a grade of zero (0) for that assignment or exam. Further, a recommendation will be made to the appropriate university officials that additional disciplinary action be taken.

Students should be aware of the UM-St. Louis Rights and Responsibilities of Computer Users Code. Infractions against this code will also be pursued through the full extent of University procedures.

Name

Telephone Number: (day)
(evening)

Student Id Number

Do you have an email address off campus that you check regularly? yes / no

If yes, please specify it:

Program ___ M.B.A. ___ M.S. in MIS ___ M. Acc.

Hours to Graduation (including this semester)

Undergraduate Major(s) and Degree Granting Institution

Occupation (how do you support yourself now; for what company do you work)

Intended Occupation (what do you hope to do differently after you complete your degree)

Computer-oriented Courses (please list and indicate where and when you took them)

Do you have any handicaps of which I should be aware? yes / no

If yes, please specify

What is your computer-oriented experience (Please describe)

What do you want to learn in this class?

Provide three questions you have about IS/IT.

Do you surf the Web? (Please describe) yes / no

Do you have experience with e-mail? (Please describe) yes / no

Comments:

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~sauter/480/index.html

Page Owner: Professor Sauter (Vicki.Sauter@umsl.edu)

Last Modified: January 5, 1999