TEC 5323 Advanced Database Technology

Syllabus
Schedule
Assignments
Resources
Discussion
Tests
FAQ
Notes

Course Policy
(Updated June 2019)

 

  After you completely understand the policy, you are required to report to the instructor. See the end of file for report requirement. This is a part of your grade. You may be required to serve on jury duty if you fail to report to the instructor.

Serious Note: According to university policy, summer courses are supposed to have the same content and rigor as courses taught on regular (Fall and Spring) semester.  In other words, this course will have the same work requirements as in regular semester which runs for 16 weeks.  However, due to the fact that there are only six (6) weeks for the summer session, we will have to work more than twice as hard.  For example, we normally require 10 push ups every week (in your own private room).  Now, it seems to be logic that we have to do 27 pushups every week for the summer session.

 

Expectations on Students:

  1. Do anticipate hard work on this course. Generally, a course on Internet requires more time and more effort from students even though it does not require any trips to classroom.

  2. Students learn from students. Many problems you will experience during the course will be solved by students in the class. Do not expect the instructor to solve the problem for you. In other words, if you have any questions/problems, please post it on discussion board in D2L. Students will have the first opportunity to respond to the problems.

  3. Your problems should be posted in D2L Discussion Board, under Week x: Problems and Solutions, where x stands for the week number.

  4. Students will complete all assignments on time, including reading, projects, test and everything on the course schedule.

  5. Read all assigned chapters posted on the course schedule and do every exercises in those chapters.

  6. Drink lemonade.

  7. Have a professional sense of humor.



Plagiarism Issue:

While we encourage knowledge sharing in the class, we have to realize that it is the individual's responsibility to complete the assigned projects. Copy of code from anyone in the class or any previous classes is strictly prohibited. If you were found copying from others (or enable others to copy), the project scores of both parties will be reduced to zero (0) point, and may result in a "F" grade for the course.

In case of repeated violations, a student may be dismissed from the university.

Please understand this is a serious issue.


Expec
tations on Instructor:

  1. The instructor will do his best to facilitate the class online discussion and interaction.

  2. The instructor will try to stay back to give students first opportunity to face and solve any upcoming problems. It is the best way for graduate students to learn from each other. Students are the greatest knowledge assets in the graduate program. Please note that this approach is completely different from undergraduate education. In other words, if anyone has any questions or problems, it is the best to post it to online discussion before mid night every Wednesday.

  3. The instructor will provide required reading materials on the subject on the course web site. The site will be updated weekly for the corresponding week. Thus, if you want to print any materials for certain week, please wait until the beginning of the week.

  4. The instructor will post discussion question(s) before mid night on every Monday if deem necessary.

  5. The instructor will answer every e-mail from students as soon as possible, usually within 480 hours. Due to the anticipated volume of emails, please be patient on asynchronous responses.

  6. Drink a lot of water.

Scope of the Course:

This course mainly deals with database server technology.  Generally, a server resides on backend main computer (UNIX, Linux or Windows) for a typical organization.  It stores all important information assets for the entire company.  Students are expected to be able to perform basic database administration and database development tasks upon completion of this course.

Due to limitation of time, graphic user interface (GUI) such as Oracle Forms and Reports are NOT covered in this course.  Those tasks generally fall onto database developers in the information technology arena. 

If we take an automobile as an analogy, this course deals with the "engine" (server). We do not handle user interface such as steering wheels or brakes due to time constraints. I do not mean they are not important. It is the complexity of the technology that we have to focus on what is the most important.

 

Web Design:

In order to provide the best access speed and performance, the course web site has been designed with minimum amount of graphics and other bells and whistles. Do you think that is an excuse for the instructor not to spend time searching nice graphics?

 

Readings:

Students are required to read each assigned chapters and supplemental readings on the course web site, as specified in the course schedule for each week. You will also use the book you received from the Textbook Rental as your reference, which is easy to understand. Please keep it away from your favorite pets.

Important Tip : You will find almost straight answers for each project in this course from the corresponding chapters posted on the course schedule.


As a part of continuous improvement, students are encouraged to find errors in the posted chapters. If you find an error in any code (exerc
ise) presented in the text, you will receive 5 bonus points for this course. Please email the instructor about your findings to redeem your bonus.

 

Assignment Submission:

All assignments are to be submitted through Dropbox under Assessment in D2L.

 

Due Date/Time:         

1. Assignments include projects, readings and discussions.

2. All weekly assignments are due at 11:30 PM on the specified Saturday each week.  If someone attempted to submit an assignment 1 minute passing the due time (for instance, 11:31 PM), s/he will be rejected by the system.

3. Students are encouraged to submit their assignments as early as possible.  There will be no excuse if your computer or network does not coperate at 11:29 PM on the due day.

4. The system will not accept late submission. There will a reduction of 25% in possible achievable points for the later assignment each day after the due date, if the student has received approval from the instructor.  

5. "Weekly Discussion" and "Weekly Problems and Solutions" will be locked after the due time. That is, you will not be able to post your contributions after the due time (11:30 PM on Saturday).

 

Online Discussion:

1. Discussion Board is the main vehicle for the entire class to have active interactions.  Students are required to actively participate in all discussions.  The total weight of discussion accounts for 20% of the final grade.

2. Students are supposed to complete discussions by the due date.  Due date policy applies to discussion, definitely.

3. There will be two major categories of questions to be discussed: instructor-posted, and student-posted (Problems and Solutions).  Students are required to participate in BOTH discussions.

4. Instructor-posted questions are intended to facilitate and verify your understanding of the related subject.  The following guidelines will be followed for evaluation.  Each question will have a total of 100 achievable points for the week.

a. Responsiveness to the right question (hit the point). (20 points)

b. Clarity of response. (10 points)

c. Completeness of response. (15 points)

d. Support for response from reading or other resources. (20 points)

e. Correct sentence structure and spelling.  Please use complete sentences and correct English grammar/spelling. By the way, I do not like the language used in text message such as "how r u?"(10 points)

f. Professionalism or Netiquette (no bad languages). (See Resources section) (10 points)

g. Reply to at least two (2) other students' discussions.  (10 points)

h. Do not use such expressions as "I do not know." Offer your insight or suggestions.

i. Have a sense of humor (5 points)

 

5.                  Student-initiated questions (under Weekely Problems and Solutions) are intended as a forum for students to discuss problems encountered during the study.  Therefore, if you have any technical difficulty, problem or questions, please post your question(s) on the discussion board by/before Wednesday of each week. 

a. Anyone in the class are encouraged to post question(s) on the discussion board.

b. Every students are required to respond to the questions that are posted before 11:30 PM every Saturday of the week.

c. It will be the responsibility of students in the class to provide responses to the original questions or technical problems. The poster of the original question is required to respond as well.

d. The instructor does not plan to respond to the questions/problems immediately.  Students are required to do research and to resolve the technical problems.

e. The rule for responding to (student posted) technical problem is simpler than above instructor-posted questions. We are looking for involvement and participation from everyone.

f. Have a sense of humor. The world is hard enough.

g. Due time policy above will be followed.

h. Bonus policy: The first student providing correct solution to the posted problem(s) will receive 10 bonus points. 

 

Assignment Submission !!!

To ensure everyone understands and will follow the course policy, every student is required to submit a Microsoft WORD file throughD2L. In the file, please state the following:

1. Full Names

2. "I fully understand and intend to follow the course policy."

Optional: Your signature as it appears on your credit card.

Convention for File Name: Please name your file as firstname_lastname_policy.doc, where firstname and lastname are your first and last name, respectively, and "_" is underscore. Seriously, the above convention will help the instructor's grading. Therefore, the instructor will be more generous when grading your project if you follow the convention.

Please submit your assignment using D2L--Dropbox--Course Policy.

 

Off the Subject:

Being a husband is like any other job. It helps a lot if you like the boss.

Taking an Internet class is like any other job. It helps a lot if you like your classmates.

 

School of Technology
College of Business & Applied Sciences
Eastern Illinois University