WBIT 2000 Summer 2010 Syllabus

Course Name : WBIT 2000 The Enterprise & IT

Course Description: This course will cover the structure and management of an information technology infrastructure. From the management aspect the course will touch on principles and practices of managing both people and technology to support an organization. The course will emphasize how to make an information technology infrastructure effective, efficient, and productive. The management of hardware, software, data, networks and other supporting IT functions will be studied.

Prerequisites: none

Course Objectives/Outcomes/Goals  Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

* Discuss the value, roles, and goals of IT as a part of the corporate infrastructure

* Discuss ways in which IT might be used to gain competitive advantage

* Discuss the main roles and functions of computer operations management

* Explain the impact of capacity and availability management for systems

* Discuss the role of service level agreements

* Identify challenges to information technology budgets and discuss strategies for addressing these challenges

* Describe the role of teams in information technology projects and evaluate team effectiveness

* Identify common ethical issues surrounding the use of technology in organizations and analyze strategies for addressing these issues

* Explain how telecommunications policies and regulations affect the application of information technology

Textbook Information Required Text : Applegate, Austin and McFarlan

Corporate Information Strategy and Management, Text and Cases, Eight Edition

McGraw-Hill, 2009; ISBN 978-0-07-340293-2

Instructor Contact Policy: Email is the official tool for contacting me. Please use the email tool inside Vista to communicate with me. I will respond to all emails within 48-72 hours of receipt. If the Vista email does not work or in case of emergency, don't hesitate to email me at

Policy on Changes to the Syllabus: The instructor reserves the right to change the syllabus and class schedule, including assignments and tests, and will notify the class when such a change has occurred.

Class Cancellation Policy: While class cancellation does not apply to an asynchronous online course, should instructional delays occur due to server or connection problems or other unforeseen circumstances, we will endeavor to remain on schedule. Such remedies may include adjustments to due dates of assignments and online discussions.

Attendance/Participation: All students enrolled in the WebBSIT Program must verify their enrollment by completing the Enrollment Verification Survey in each course. The Verification Survey is on the home page of your course. Enrollment verification information is provided to the Financial Aid Office of your home institution. To verify your enrollment you must log-in to each of your WebBSIT VISTA courses by 5:00 pm on the first day of course instruction and complete the Enrollment Verification Survey. Consistent participation is required in each of WebBSIT VISTA course. Activities include, e-mail correspondence, discussion threads and study groups, assignment submissions, etc.

Withdrawal: Withdrawal policy varies by institution. In general, students who stop attending class without a submission of the necessary withdrawal paperwork will receive an automatic grade of ‘F’. Students who withdraw after the mid-point of the course will receive an automatic grade of ‘WF’. Withdrawal policy and procedures are published in the Academic Catalog of your consortium institution.

No-Show: Students must log into each of their WebBSIT Vista courses by 5pm of the day classes begin (Academic Calendar) to confirm their attendance.

Remember, you are taking an online course and participation in the course is the only way the instructor can "see" you.

If you fail to log into your courses by 5pm of the day classes begin to complete the WebBSIT Enrollment Verification Survey you are considered a “No Show” and notification will be sent to your WebBSIT Institution for appropriate action.

If you fail to participate in course activities within a two-week period at any time during the semester, the instructor will consider your lack of activity as an indication of your intention not to continue in the course.

At this point, the instructor may choose to remove you from group activities or interactions. Failure to participate without officially withdrawing from the course will result in a grade of F.

The special circumstances of taking a WebBSIT course demand regular and consistent participation. Be sure to pace yourself throughout the semester making sure your responses to communications and assignments are timely. If you are not able to participate in any assigned class activities, contact your instructor immediately.

Academic Honesty: Unless otherwise indicated, all assignments and discussions are individual assessments. Evidence of collaboration between students on these tasks will be treated as cheating. Note that representing the work of another as your own is also considered cheating. The usual penalty for cheating is an 'F' in the course. Any student guilty of a dishonest academic activity such as (but not limited to) copying sections from another student's paper or plagiarizing from another source such as a website will receive an F in this course. For further information on Academic Dishonesty review that section of Academic Catalog of your consortium institution.

Technology Requirements: Computers located in on-campus labs or libraries cannot be used as the primary computer resource for taking online classes.

Required Hardware :

1. Computer: A personal computer with Windows XP or higher, or a MacIntosh with OS X.

2. Sound: A sound card with speakers or headphones.

3. Monitor: A VGA (or equivalent) or better monitor.

Strongly Recommended Hardware :

1. Printer connected to the computer

2. CD-ROM drive

3. Microphone or headset

Internet Connectivity : For a dial-up connection, at least a 56k modem is recommended. Slower dial-up connections will affect course performance. High speed Internet connectivity (cable or DSL) is strongly recommended.

Required Software :

1. Microsoft Office 2003 or beyond, including: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

2. Other software as required to test port scanning, wireless security, etc. as needed

3. Web Browser: A JavaScript enabled Web browser. These include Firefox 3.0 or Internet Explorer 7.0 or newer versions of either. Ignore the browser warning you get with Firefox; it WORKS! (Note: Internet Service Providers with proprietary browsers such as AOL may have difficulty with JavaScript-based activities. Test your browser to see if it will work with JavaScript.)

4. Virus protection software

5. Flash Player: Animations (Tutorials) used in this course may require the installation of the cross-platform Flash Player. Download the latest version of Flash Player at Adobe

Assessment Policies / Overview of Grading / Grading Scale Your course grade will be computed as follows:

40% Discussion Participation (10% for each discussion, the lowest grade will be dropped)

40% Individual Assignments (10% for each assignment, the lowest grade will be dropped)

20% Term Paper, group project (approval on proposal and draft is needed before submission)

This course does not have examinations.

Discussion Participation Policies: Discussions are an important part of this course and help you and your team express your understanding of assigned topics. Always post your reply and respond to at least one post from another student. Your reply should be more in depth than: "I agree!"

Assignment Deadline Policies  No late work policy : Don't procrastinate! No late assignments, discussion postings or group projects/papers will be accepted. It is my strict policy not to accept late submissions. I know that events and situations in life can happen without notice, so I am generous with partial credits. Submit partial assignments for partial credit by the deadlines.

Proctored Exams: This course has no proctored exams.

How to Succeed in this Course: Keep up with or ahead of scheduled work. Notify your instructor immediately if there is a problem.

Guideline for Assignments: In order of significance, the most important factors determining your assignment grade are

1. completeness

2. correctness

3. organization

4. readability

Completeness : If your writing is a collection of answers, then completeness is a measure of the total number of questions that you have successfully covered. A question is considered to be covered if the underlying answer looks reasonable and it explains your thought in a non-trivial fashion (i.e., simply quoting text from somewhere as an answer is considered trivial). You should try your best to write in your own words and provide credit for sources, quotes and citations.

Correctness : Correctness becomes a grading issue only for problems that are completely answered or covered. A correct answer addresses the question according to well-defined arguments and knowledge from assigned reading materials. Specifically, if you have got a question mostly completed, you will get credit for answering it, but points will be taken off for errors or ill-conceived arguments. If you don't have a question mostly covered, you will not get credit for it. Grading policies are designed to be fair both to the person being graded and to the class as a whole.

Organizational writing style and readability: Finally, quality of organization and quality of your writing will be assessed subjectively. There are two aspects of these qualities that can affect your grade: (a) If there are statements in your writing that significantly and noticeably affect readability, they are considered to be significant; and (b) If there are errors that make it difficult for me to understand your writing, this results in a drastic increase in the amount of time required to review your assignment, these issues are considered to be significant. The word “significant” here means “adversely affects your grade.”

Assignments and group paper may not be revised after the due date. The grade you get is the grade you earn. There is NO do-over in the college-level study.

Your Term Paper: A portion of your course grade will be derived from a term paper. As explained in Preparing Your Term Paper in the "Course Resources" section, a successful term paper is one that earns a grade of A and doesn't kill you in the process! The key to a successful term paper is a narrow scope. That's how you get enough depth with a reasonable amount of work.

Choose a general topic from one of the units of this course. Then find a very specific area within that topic which you will research further. You have some time to think about this.

In about 2-3 weeks into the course (the exact date is in the Course Calendar and the Assignments tool) turn in a Term Paper Proposal. In your proposal, provide the title of your paper, a draft "Statement of the Problem," an abstract that explains in a paragraph or two the topic you intend to research and write about, and list at least three references to material on that topic. (You will have to have done some research to list the references; that's how you know you can find enough material on your chosen topic.) Your proposal will not be a part of your grade, but will be marked "Approved" or "Not Approved." If your proposal is approved, proceed. If it is not approved, the instructor will tell you why. You must then submit a revised proposal for approval.

Your term paper will not be graded (and will count as a zero!) if you do not work from an approved proposal.

About 2-3 weeks before your paper is due, you will submit a term paper draft. Your draft will not be graded, but will be approved or disapproved with comments. The purpose is to be sure you're on the right track so that you earn a good grade on the final paper. Your term paper draft must have all the required sections described in Preparing Your Term Paper, and the problem statement must be in final form. The literature review may be in draft form, but should be mostly complete. The discussion and conclusion may be in draft or outline form.

Your term paper will not be graded (and will count as a zero!) if you do not work from an approved draft.

Your final paper must be at least six and no more than 12 typed, double-spaced pages, exclusive of references and figures. It must be prepared in the format described in Preparing Your Term Paper. You must cite at least six references, of which one may be from the class text. Your remaining references must come from books or papers published in respected journals. At most three references may come from popular publications or Internet publications.

Refer to the Standards of Academic Conduct paper and be careful to attribute comments, observations, and ideas which are not your own. There is a writing example in the "Course Resources" section that will show you how to do this.

Plagiarism, fabrication, reference padding, or other academic misconduct will result in a grade of zero on the paper, a letter-grade reduction in your course grade, and possibly other penalties. I reserve the right to screen your papers using an anti-plagiarism service like Turnitin.com

Be careful what you upload. I will not accept, "I uploaded the wrong thing" as an excuse for unsatisfactory work or academic misconduct.

Important Dates: Please see for important WebBSIT dates.

Instructor Information 

Name: Bhagyavati

Email:

Phone: (706) 568-2410

GeogiaView VISTA 8 Online Support Center  Link to the University System of Georgia Vista Maintenance Schedule: