Communication Networks
Syllabus for CPSC/ITEC 3230, Fall 2008
Class meeting times:
TR 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.
September 2 – December 18, 2008
Room 002 F.M. Smith Library
Final exam:
Wednesday, December 17; 8:00 – 10 a.m.
Room 002 Library
Class announcements:
Homework #1 is posted; see http://csit/~farnham/courses/cpsc3230/cpsc3230Homework1..htm
Last updated: September 4, 2008
See my General Course Syllabus for information
regarding Contacting
me, Text and
equipment requirements, General
grading information, General
term paper requirements, Grading
for papers, One-minute
papers, Daily
quizzes, Grading
for presentations, Grading
for group projects, Late work,
Plagiarism
and cheating, Final exam,
Incomplete
grades, Class
attendance, Inclement weather, and Disabilities.
Course description and
objective
This course covers the theory and principles of transmission modes and data communications networks. Topics include communications hardware and software, local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and metropolitan networks (MANs). Protocols, architectures, and internetworking will be examined. Current advances in network technology will be discussed. Students successfully completing this course have grounding in the fundamentals of data communications and terminology.
This course gives emphasis to the following Graceland Educational Goals:
#8: To be competent in using current technology for information processing.
Prerequisite:
CPSC1300 Computer Programming I
Required texts and
equipment
In
addition to general text and equipment
requirements, the
following are required for this course:
Text: Barrett,
D., King, T. Computer Networking
Illuminated. Jones and Bartlett
Publishing, Inc. 2005.
Other:
An account on
E-mail list
The e-mail list for this course is
cpsc3230-l@graceland.edu. (That's dash "L".) The student’s
This list will be used primarily by me to send various class-related announcements to the class. Students are invited to use this list for discussions among themselves and me relating to this class. This is a closed list, meaning I must approve each request to be subscribed or unsubscribed. This is an unmoderated list, meaning anyone can send a message to the list at any time. To send messages to the members of this list, use the address given above.
If you have any questions or comments which you do not want to send to everyone in the class, please feel free to contact me privately.
Course work
·
Assignments.
There will be ten homework assignments, consisting of exercises at the end of
the chapters and/or practical assignments in the lab. Answers to written
exercises must be emailed to me by the due date. Solutions for lab exercises
must be deposited in the student’s submissions directory for this class on the
trinity (csit) server by the due date.
The due date for assignments will be provided at the time the assignment
is given to the class.
1. Quizzes. Each week, there will be a short (usually one
question) quiz to test students’ understanding of material presented in the
previous week’s class periods. The types
of questions may be tru/false, multiple choice and/or short answer questions of
the instructor’s devising. See my general course syllabus for detailed information regarding quizzes.
2. “One-minute papers.” See my general course
syllabus for detailed information regarding one-minute
papers .
3. There will be two unit exams and one final
exam, including the same types of questions as the quizzes. Important note: all quizzes and exams will be closed book,
closed note, closed Internet, and closed neighbor.
4. The final exam will be a demonstration
of the students’ mastery of the subject. As such, it is a comprehensive exam.
Be sure you are aware of the University Policy for final
exams. The final exam for this course is Wednesday, December 17; 8:00 – 10 a.m.,
in Room 002 Library.
Computation of grades
and grading scale
See my general course syllabus regarding general grading information, late work and incomplete grades. The components of the course are designed to contribute the following weights to the final grade for the course:
Assignments – 40%
Quizzes – 10%
One-minute papers – 10%
Unit exams - 20
Final Exam – 20%
The points earned by a student will be divided by the available component points, multiplied by the component weight and the letter grade assigned based on the following scale:
|
Grading Scale |
|
|
Final Point Range |
Letter Grade |
|
90 to 100 percent |
A |
|
80 to 89 percent |
B |
|
70 to 79 percent |
C |
|
60 to 69 percent |
D |
|
Below 60 percent |
F |
Thus, a student who does poorly on exams may do well by regularly turning in quality assignments and extra credit.
Individual scores for this course
will be posted throughout the semester at http://csit.graceland.edu/~farnham/courses/cpsc3230gr.htm.
A unique grade identifier will be
assigned to each student during the first week of class to enable students to
identify their own scores in the web page.
Extra credit
For extra credit, a student may write and present a biography of a person who made a key contribution to the field of Computer Science or Information Technology. More information about the requirements for a biography paper and presentation will be provided on the first day of class.
Tentative course
schedule
|
Week |
Dates |
Activity |
||
|
1 |
09/01 –
09/05 |
Introductions Reading:
Preface, Appendix C |
||
|
2 |
09/08 –
09/12 |
Reading:
Apendix A, B |
||
|
3 |
09/15 –
09/19 |
09/16: Exam
1 09/16: Last
Day to Add Reading:
Chapter 1 |
||
|
4 |
09/22 – 09/26 |
09/23: Last
Day to Change to Pass/Fail or back to Graded, and Last Day to Drop Reading:
Chapter 2 No Class
09/25: Bob at Duke University |
||
|
5 |
09/29 – 10/03 |
Reading:
Chapter 3 |
||
|
6 |
10/06 – 10/10 |
Reading:
Chapter 4 |
||
|
7 |
10/13 – 10/17 |
Reading:
Chapter 5 |
||
|
8 |
10/20 – 10/24 |
Midterm
Break: 10/17 5:00 p.m. through 10/22 8:00 a.m. No class
10/21: Midterm Break Reading:
Chapter 6 |
||
|
9 |
10/27 – 10/31 |
Reading:
Chapter 7 |
||
|
10 |
11/03 – 11/07 |
11/04: Exam
2 Reading:
Chapter 8 |
||
|
11 |
11/10 – 11/14 |
11/15: Last
Day to Put on Audit Reading:
Chapter 9 |
||
|
12 |
11/17 – 11/21 |
Reading:
Chapter 10 |
||
|
13 |
11/24 – 11/28 |
Thanksgiving
Break: 11/25 9:00 p.m. through 12/01 8:00 a.m. Reading:
Chapter 11 No class: Thursday
11/27: Thanksgiving Break |
||
|
14 |
12/01 – 12/05 |
Chapter 12 |
||
|
15 |
12/08 – 12/12 |
Chapter 13 |
||
|
16 |
12/15 – 12/18 |
Final Exam
Week Final:
December 17; 8:00 – 10 a.m. 002 Library |
||