MI021 Syllabus - IS Half - Fall 2008
please note: MI021/CS021 Computers in Management is a team taught course. The IS half is a first course in management viewed through the lens of information systems. The Excel half is an intensive, hands-on course designed to teach managerial-level spreadsheet skills. This syllabus is for the IS half only, as taught by Prof. John Gallaugher. The Excel professor's name for your section is listed in your Agora course registration. This professor will provide you with a syllabus & details at the start of the Excel half and any questions regarding the Excel half should be sent to that instructor. Your final grade for this course will be determined by averaging the IS half & Excel half at a 50% weight.
Anyone with a BusinessWeek subscription knows that a third or more of the magazine's cover stories are directly related to technology. Get excited - Information Systems (IS) have the power to create and restructure industries, empower individuals and firms, and dramatically reduce costs. Get scared – when poorly implemented, IS can squander shareholder wealth, taxpayer money, and destroy firms and careers.
As a manager you will not be able to ignore the role that technology, tech industries, and information systems will play in your career. Finance people will be lending to tech firms, they'll buy and sell tech stocks, and will try to figure out how technology shifts impact their investments. Marketers will use tech to discover what customers want and how to sell it to them. An accountant who doesn't understand technology is next to worthless – nearly all the data an auditor needs is stored in a company's information systems. Human resource staff use tech to find, train, and evaluate employees. Operations experts make firms more efficient by leveraging tech. And the hottest areas in corporate law involve privacy, piracy, and intellectual property – all tech topics.
As for IS majors – opportunities abound from tech firms to Wall Street to consulting. Grads who blend business and tech aren't seeing their jobs go abroad, instead tech jobs are growing faster than almost any other profession. And tech rules entrepreneurship. The last time you saw a 20-something on the cover of a business magazine, what industry did they work in? Tech firms also dominate the Fortune list of Best Companies to Work For, and have recently appeared at the top of Money Magazine's Best Careers list.
By the end of this course you should be able to:
MI021 is a course that integrates management concepts and technology. We will discuss how technology is applied for competitive advantage, and used to enhance other disciplines such as marketing, accounting, finance, and operations. Our readings are torn from business headlines, so you'll not only learn valuable theory, but also how this relates to what's happening today. You'll learn to apply management concepts to understand threats posed by and opportunities offered through the effective use of information systems. You are expected to develop an advanced, managerial level competency in thinking about how technology and business interrelate. While the 'big picture' is most important, the details (types of technologies and their relative advantages and disadvantages, definitions, acronyms, case/example specifics, etc.) are still very important and should not be ignored. Remember, we're not preparing you to earn a grade, we're preparing you for a career. Students who do well in MI021 typically do very well when asked to perform in individual or group interviews where it is common to be given a business problem to evaluate and to recommend a course of action. This is your training ground. Good luck!
The class environment is informal but is also one of mutual respect. Arriving late is a disruption - please show your classmates the courtesy of minimizing such disruptions by being on time and turning off cell-phones. Students may use laptops in class, but in-class use for work outside of class (including, but not limited to e-mail, chat, web-browsing, and preparing assignments during class time) is prohibited. Do not talk or have side conversations in class. During class DO NOT text message, IM, SMS, Facebook, check scores, news, or anything of the like. Questions are welcome and encouraged. Your collective experiences are substantial and valuable to others, so don't be shy about sharing! Occasionally, to keep us focused and on topic, I may request that a topic be handled outside class or I will post a related article in the appropriate page in the Course Topics Pages or to the Week in Geek readings (WiG). It is your responsibility to seek out the professor if you have additional questions or need further clarification on class topics and assignments. The professor will find time for you, but students who wait until the last minute may not be given priority. There are 200 students across all four sections of MI021. Students who miss deadlines or fail to follow submission guidelines create distractions in the flow of the course and will receive grade penalties, including zero credit grades. I want us to have a great experience and I'm counting on each of you to help me make this happen. Your efforts are enormously appreciated.
Grades in this half of MI021 will be determined in the table below. In addition, the class will collectively provide input on truly outstanding contributors to class. Students rated in the top 10% in combined student/instructor ratings will receive up to a 10% bonus of their end-of-IS-half point total (top contributor gaining 10% bonus, last student rated in the top 10% getting a 1% bonus). Details on student peer evaluation will be provided later in the semester. Students who successfully complete all hands-on technology assignments on time and who participate in class will have their final grade determined by the weighting scheme below.
| Wiki Homework Assignment | Sept. 12 | 5% |
| Course Wiki Contributions | throughout the semester but no later than the final exam | 5% |
| Mid Term Quiz | Sept. 24 | 5% |
| Group Project |
Written component Oct. 10 |
35% |
| Final Exam | Oct. 20 | 50% |
| TOTAL | 100% |
Late assignments drop 50% in value if submitted within 24 hrs. after the due date. Submissions 24 hrs. after due date will earn a zero grade. Questions relating to any hands-on assignments will appear on exam, increasing the overall influence of these assignments beyond the percentage listed. Class participation (including the timely completion of any assignments and effective preparation for all of our class meetings) is a basic expectation for all. Students failing to meet this expectation may see their final grades substantially lowered.
In this class we use wiki technology leveraging the idea that the ‘we’ is smarter than the ‘me’. As such, you will submit content to use in prior classes, and to suggest potential exam questions. All students must submit at least four potential exam questions and three article suggestions. Exam questions (with answers) can be posted at any time before the last presentation day. Possible exam questions should be posted both to the Exam Question Suggestion wiki page AND to your individual web page (this is so TAs can visit your web page for easy grading). Follow instructions on the Exam Question Suggestions page. Students not following these the submission guidelines or submitting questions late will receive zero credit. Similarly, your three article suggestions should be posted no later than the last presentation day, and within the appropriate pages of the ‘Course Topics Pages’ AND to your individual web page. Your wiki tutorial assignment covers the appropriate format for submitting articles to your web page. Any students failing to submit possible exam questions & articles to both questions in the format listed will not receive credit for this assignment.
Exams and quizzes are always closed book, closed notes. The exams are comprehensive and will test your recall-level knowledge of managerial concepts, strategic frameworks, technologies, as well as issues and examples highlighted in the readings and covered in class. One rarely has an opportunity to 'go back and look it up' when faced with a job interview, an internal meeting, or a client presentation; and students regularly write that this level of training has been of great help in their job hunt & careers. Format of the exams is usually a combination of short answer, brief essay, multiple choice, and true/false questions.
Examine the course schedule ahead of time and notify the instructor immediately if you cannot make a particular date or assignment. Do not schedule any interviews or trips at times exams or presentations are held. Do not bring doctors notes or any other excuses to me. Only excuses certified by the Dean's Office will be accepted. If something bad happens which requires your immediate attention, notify the Dean's Office immediately and have that office notify the faculty. Athletes with training schedule issues, and students with special testing needs, should see me with appropriate forms immediately at the start of the semester.
Everyone is expected to perform on the same criteria on given deadlines at the dates outlined in the syllabus. If you know you're not going to be in class on the 'due date' for an assignment, you must submit your work earlier. There are no changes to the grading policy and no extra credit will be offered. For students struggling with studying or personal issues, be aware that the university does offer additional help outside the classroom. While BC is an academically demanding place, we all want to see you succeed and there are several resources you can turn to for support in any class:
Students are expected to comply with the Boston College Technology Use Policy. When submitting write-ups, any and all references to published work must be explicitly referenced (references are not counted as part of the page limit on writeups). While it is recommended and encouraged that you consult outside sources, study together, and bounce ideas off one another, all work must be the sole creation of the individual submitting the material. Any evaluations are meant to be confidential. Collusion in the evaluation process or misrepresentation of one's identity (in written or electronic form) will be considered cheating. Cheating, copying the work of others, talking during exams, or any other breach of academic or technology policy will be pursued with the utmost seriousness. These actions will result in a grade of 'F' and referral to the Integrity Board of the Carroll School of Management for further action. There will be no exceptions made to this policy. Infractions will be dealt with swiftly and severely.
E-mail: john.gallaugher@bc.edu WWW: www.gallaugher.com
© Copyright 1997-2008, John M. Gallaugher, Ph.D.
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