A338/A538
General Course Information.

General Course Goals.

I hope to accomplish several things in this course. Since this is the seventh year we've done it, I think I have a pretty good idea of what needs to be covered and how.

In general, there are two areas I want cover: the technical and the practical. In many cases, these are related, but not always. The technical amounts to the "how to" aspect of any class. We want to learn how things work and how to use them.

The practical is more ethereal. It's the sort of thing you can't or don't usually get in technical classes. Ideas about problem solving, professional growth and development on-the-job, all those things you need to know about if you're really going to do network administration as all or part of your job.

"Technical" Course Goals.

The technical goal of this course is very practical in nature. We want you to learn about networks. This includes (some) hardware, Networking Topologies, Networking Protocols, Network Operating Systems, and Desktop Operating Systems.

When you complete this course, you will have learned about or worked to some degree with: Linux, Windows XP Professional, and Windows 2003 Server with ADS. You will have a "working knowledge" of some of these systems (some more than others).

I will try to make this experience as practical as possible, using what I know about systems currently in place in both business and education, so that when you are done, you can honestly say you have some useful networking knowledge and experience.

Grading.

Ughhh! I know this is never fun, but here's what I have in mind at this point.

Attendance: Because I post the lecture outlines in advance, attendance is mandatory if you want to pass. If you skip lectures on a regular basis, thinking you can get by on the posted outlines, you will fail. I know, it's happened several times over the last 5+ years that I've been making the outlines available. I will take attendance at every lecture in the form of "attendance cards" that you will submit within the first 10 minutes of the official start of lecture. Your overall attendance average for all lectures (26 total) will represent 5% of your final grade. Attendance will also be taken at every lab and this will represent another 5% of your final grade.

Homework: There will be homework assignments for each section of the course that will be graded and represent 15% of the course grade (14% for A538).

Labs: The labs will not be graded, since the goal is use and hands-on experience. However, what you do in the labs may appear on the exams or homework, or both, so you'll still have to learn this stuff. Also, attendance will be taken at every lab, as noted above. As noted above, lab attendance will be part of your final grade.

Exams: For A338, there will be 4 exams, representing 60% of the course grade, (56% for A538) evenly distributed across all the exams (15% each) (14% for A538). So, there will not be a so-called comprehensive final. Instead, the 4th exam will take place during the final exam time. However, it's my custom to design my classes so each "section" builds on the previous. In other words, even though the last exam won't be a comprehensive final, it's certainly possible you won't do well on it unless you've done well on the previous exams, labs and homework. You'll have to know what we've already learned to keep up.

Final Project: There will also be a group project (paper) for both A338 and A538.

For both A338 and A538 the Final Project will be a Group Project and it will be worth 15% of your Final Grade (20% for A538). Groups will be assigned after the Second Exam and the Automatic "W" deadline, but you will get the details of the project several weeks prior to Exam 2 and the Automatic "W" deadline, so you have a better understand of the Project itself. There will be a number of intermediate project deadlines with the final written project due the last week of regular classes.

NB: All graduate work will be graded by me.

Important Course Policies.

Be absolutely sure you understand the following course policies. It will be assumed that you have read and accept these policies before the end of the first week of class.

If you have never been in a CS course before, these policies may seem inflexible. However, they are not unlike the sort of guidelines found in other courses in the School of Informatics or the sort of contract stipulations you would find associated with a job in the "real world."

1. You are solely responsible for your performance in this course. We are here to help you whenever possible, but all of your choices have logical consequences. Make sure you take interest in your scores and Final Grade before you earn them.
2. No work will be accepted late, period. If I do not have a homework assignment in my possession before I leave the lecture hall the day it is due, it will be scored a 0 (zero). Similarly, if you miss the deadline on the Final Project, you should expect a score of 0 (zero) there as well, which would result in the loss of at least a full letter grade on your Final Grade.
3. I do not accept work electronically, UNLESS specifically requested. While there are a few cases where I will specifically ask you to submit work via email (related to the final group project), no other work will be accepted eletronically. If it is due on a certain day/date, I expect it in legible hard-copy form before the end of the lecture period at that time. Anything else will probably result in a score of 0. [See #2 above].
4. This is an Information Technology course, and we expect you to use the technology. What this means, specifically, is we expect you to have an IU Email account and we expect you to use it. We expect you to check email at least twice daily, under normal circumstances. Please note that IU policy stipulates all faculty, staff, and students are expected to check email at least once daily. We are merely extending that policy to "twice daily." If an announcement is made in class regarding a schedule change, etc., we would expect you to check email at every opportunity. Just be sure you understand that "I didn't check email" or "I didn't come to class that day" will not be acceptable reasons for not getting work done on time or failing to meet other course requirments.
5. Any requests for an alternative exam time must include documentation supporting the need for an alternative. There are certainly legitimate reasons to request an alternative, such as job interviews, conferences, etc. However, these are also events you know about well in advance. Any such request must be made directly to me, at least a week in advance of the exam, preferably two weeks.
6. Emergencies: I realize emergencies will arise, but it is still your responsbility to notify me as quickly as possible should such an emergency occur. NOTE: I consider an emergency to be something like a death in the immediate family in the last 24 hours or severe personal injury requiring hospitalization. In all other circumstances, I think you should be able to contact me before an exam or other major course event. Such non-emergencies that will not be excused include (but are not limited to): failed alarm clocks, missed buses, non-emergency illnesses, non-emergency doctor visits, dead pets, non-functioning automobiles, not "getting back to town in time," and just failing to show up at the scheduled time for any other reason. My email and voicemail numbers are clearly indicated on the course HomePage and I am in my office by 7:30am on lecture days. I try not to be totally unreasonable in this regard, but if you come to me a week after missing an exam and claim you missed the exam because of car trouble, I will not be sympathetic at all. Again, this policy is similar to those for other courses in the School of Informatics. [Similarly, if you missed a project deadline at work and didn't contact your Supervisor for week, would you expect her/him to be very sympathetic? If you had a major presentation to a client and failed to notify your Manager in advance that you could not attend, what would you expect the consequences to be?] Again, I am in my office on class days by 7:30am and can be reached via email and my voicemail, both of which are posted on the HomePage.

Finally ...

Don't let any of the above scare you away. I just wanted to be sure anyone enrolled in the course this semester or interested in this course in the future has a decent amount of information to make an informed decision.