Morgan State University  

School of Business and Management  

Department of Information Science and Systems  

  

Semester:  Fall 2022                             Course and Section: INSS 250.001

Course Title: Concepts in Computational Thinking.

Instructor: Joel Weymouth       Office/Classroom:        Tel: 443-885-4009  717 609 6628 - Room 554.

Class Face-to-Face - Tuesday and Thursday 9:30 - 10:50

Note This is not a HiFlex or Asynchronous Class.   Meeting in Graves Building at 324

OFFICE HOURS:

Tuesday:  11 A.M. – 4 P.M.     

Thursday:  11 A.M. – 4 P.M.      

Policy in the Syllabus for F2F classes

Message from the Chairperson of INSS

This class is being taught in a face-to-face in-person modality. Under no circumstances will this class be converted into Hy-Flex. If the University decides to go fully remote for all classes, this class will also be taught in the remote modality.

Under certain circumstances, an instructor may teach the class remotely for a brief period of time upon prior approval from the Chairperson of INSS.

Office Hours: Before/After class as needed/scheduled/appointment             

Email: Joel.Weymouth@Morgan.edu

  

Last Day to Drop course without a Grade of “W”: 1/31/2023 (Make sure you can download and open Access, Excel, and PowerPoint before the deadline).

Last Day to Withdraw Course with a grade of “W”: 3/31/2023

Last Day to Withdraw from the Semester: 5/12/2023

Course Description 

This course introduces students to the principles of programming with practical examples from business environments. Students will gain proficiency with the foundations of structured program development. Topics include data types, operators, operands, expressions, conditional statements, iteration, arrays, sorting, functions, parameter passing, returning values, and others. Students design, code and execute structured programs.  

  

The aim of this course is to enhance the students’ analytical, logical, and structured thinking skills. Students will learn to formulate problems, design algorithms, and develop and implement solutions. The course discusses basic concepts such as selection, sequence, and iteration. (Formerly Information Systems Concepts and Methods). Prerequisites (with C or better grade): INSS 141.  

  Required Textbooks and Materials:

There is no textbook to purchase. We will use various online resources but will primarily follow the chapters in an attached PDF.

 Think Python and Python documentation from python.org:  

 

Think Python is an introduction to Python programming for beginners. It starts with basic concepts of programming and is carefully designed to define all terms when they are first used. Each new concept is presented in a logical progression. Larger pieces, like recursion and object-oriented programming, are divided into a sequence of smaller steps and introduced over the course of several chapters.  

This reference will be in CANVAS.

 A computer with python installed is also required. 

Course Objectives  

The objectives and goals of the course are:  

• To provide students with knowledge in computer programming concepts
• To learn how to think systematically, research, and develop algorithms
• To be able to analyze problems and write computer programs as a solution
• To learn debugging techniques and troubleshooting code

  Learning:

Specific topic coverage includes:   

• Algorithms and Information Processing
• Control Structures  
• Boolean logic and Numeric Data Types
• Strings, Text Files, Lists, and Dictionaries  
• Procedural Abstraction in Function Definitions
• Objects and Classes

  

Assignments will be used as the measuring instruments for the determinations of students’ proficiencies in the above topics.

 

  

Course Approach 

The topics covered are the primary source of information. However supplemental resources will be used as well to aid in understanding. The course shall cover concepts in each chapter of the book. Assignments involving designing and making programs in Python shall be given.

POLICIES

1. Prerequisite: Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class. There are no prerequisites for this class.
2. Enrollment: Students have a responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes. You are advised to review your official class schedule during the first 2 weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this class and section. Should you find an error in your class schedule, you have to correct the error with your advising office.  If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester for any class in which you are not properly registered.

For current requirements at Morgan please refer to https://www.morgan.edu/coronavirus

Policies

1. Class Attendance: Class attendance is mandatory. Be prompt to class. If you think you are going to be late by more than 10 minutes, please do not attend and disrupt the class proceedings. Students should not leave in the middle of the class disrupting the class proceedings. You must be in class to earn participation points and you are responsible for all content, including projects and assignments, presented in class. Any missed in-class assessments cannot be made up.
2. Missed classes: The authority to excuse absences rests with the course instructor. Students may be asked to verify their absences in order for them to be considered excused. Students missing any graded work due to an excused absence are responsible for informing the instructor about their excused absence within one week following the period of the excused absence (except where prior notification is required); and for making up the missed work. Documents provided more than a week after returning to school will NOT be accepted.

 

1. In Person: Message from the Chairperson of INSS: This class is being taught in a face-to-face in-person modality. Under no circumstances will this class be converted into Hy-Flex. If the University decides to go fully remote for all classes, this class will also be taught in the remote modality.

Under certain circumstances, an instructor may teach the class remotely for a brief period of time upon prior approval from the Chairperson of INSS.

 

1. Late submissions: Assignments are expected to be completed by the due date. For every day the homework assignment is late after due date, 2% of the maximum will be deducted from the assignment score. A maximum penalty of 24% will be applied to assignments submitted late.
2. Email Communication. As future business professionals, you should be aware of the importance of professional email communication. As such, all the emails you send me during the course should meet the basic email etiquette requirements. That is, your emails should include an appropriate subject line, a greeting, a closing line, your full name, and course section you are enrolled in. If you send me an email that does not meet these requirements, I will have to ask you to re-send it in the proper format. Again, please ensure your emails meet the requirements to avoid delayed responses.

Using Morgan State email, instead of personal email, ensures that you get a reply within 24 hours, and it avoids your message and my reply going to spam or getting ‘lost’ in the clutter.

1. Student Concerns: Feel free to approach the instructor during office hours should you have any concerns, comments or issues related to coursework. The Professor is quite understanding and appreciative of problems.
2. Academic Honesty: Any student who cheats automatically fails the course. Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, assignments) so as to get undeserved credit.   The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense.  It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade (0 points) for the work or course.  Repeat offenses may result in dismissal from the University.
3. Class Conduct: Students are expected to exhibit acceptable class conduct. Disruptive class behaviors will not be tolerated. Disruptive behavior includes but is not limited to talking or laughing loud or using cell phones during lectures. No drinking, smoking and eating are permitted inside the classroom. Turn off cell phones.
4. INSS Department Policy on Using Cell Phones & Laptops in Classrooms: Unless specifically authorized in written communication by an instructor, all electronic devices must be turned off before entering the classroom. Specifically, use of phones, laptops/tablets, headphones and so forth during a class without written permission would violate the department policy.  Students found violating this policy will be asked to leave the classroom while they are attending to their phone calls, SMS, or Internet access.
5. School of Business policy: Food and drink are NOT allowed in classrooms and computer labs.
6. Students with disabilities: Students with disabilities should feel free to contact the instructor in the beginning of the semester for any special accommodations. Such students should also meet with the officials in Academic Advising Center. https://www.morgan.edu/sdss/
7. Nondiscrimination and Sexual Misconduct Resources: Morgan State University is committed to maintaining an academic and working environment in which students, faculty, and staff feel safe and are free to develop intellectually, professionally, personally, and socially. To that end, discrimination against any person or group of persons on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, genetic information, gender identity, or any other protected basis under applicable law is prohibited by the University’s Nondiscrimination Policy and the University’s Gender and Sexual-Based Harassment and Violence Policy.  Incidents of sexual misconduct, to include sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking, constitute discrimination based upon sex in violation of University policies and federal and state laws, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.   If you or someone you know has experienced an incident of harassment or violence, please go to www.morgan.edu/titleix to find information on reporting options and the resources and services available for support

  

 

  

INSS Department Policies 

  

Cell Phone and Electronic Devices Policy:  

Unless specifically authorized in written communication by an instructor, all nonessential electronic devices must be turned off before entering the virtual classroom. Specifically, the use of phones, and other distractions such as video games, controllers, television, etc. during a class would violate the department policy. Students found violating this policy will be asked to leave the classroom while they are attending to their phone calls, SMS, or other personal business.

 

Disability Accommodation: If you require accommodation due to a disability please contact the Office of Student Disability Support Services (OSDSS) to register. For more information regarding the procedure refer to the OSDSS website (www.morgan.edu/sdss) It is your responsibility to request an accommodation from OSDSS before or at the beginning of the semester.

Class Policies 

  In addition to the above Departmental Policies, FOOD, DRINK, MUSIC are not allowed during the class or lab periods.

Assessments of Learning  

  Assessment is on a continuous basis. Assignments/classwork will be given for each chapter.

  

Week 1:                                                                Week 7:  

The way of the program                                     More Loops

              

Week 2:                                                                Week 8:  

Variables, expressions and statements              Strings  

              

Week 3:                                                                Week 9:  

Functions                                                             Break

              

Week 4:                                                                Week 10:  

Conditionals and Recursion                               Dictionaries  

              

Week 5:                                                                Week 11:  

More Functions                                                   Tuples  

              

Week 6:                                                                Week 12:  

Iteration                                                                Files

  

Week 13:                                                              If we have time:   

Classes and Objects                                             Class Functions and Inheritance  

Per MHEC requirements, a course schedule leaves all on-campus courses short of contact hours by 50 minutes per credit hour (a total of 150 minutes). To address this gap, the following additional activities are required:

• Additional research time will be provided to enable students to discuss and devise methodologies to solve problems
• To facilitate learning and mastery of class activities, time will also be allotted to practice programming and use of the Integrated Development Environment(IDE).

GRADING SCHEME:   

Attendance:   

200 Points (4 absences will lose 100 points, 8 absences lose 200 points) - you can't get above a B.  

Class Exercises:  

400 Points (16 * 25)

Each class will have a an IN-CLASS assignment what we have done in that class.

Class Bi-Weekly Assignments: 

8 x 100 = 800 Points   

Final Assignment: 200 Points  

Attendance: 200 Points

  

(Points) 1350 -1500=A;  1200-1349=B; 1050-1199=C;  900-1049=D; 00-899=F 

 

COVID Links

https://www.morgan.edu/coronavirus