Please note that the specifics of this Course Syllabus are subject to change. Instructors will notify students of any changes and students will be responsible for abiding by them. Even if you print this syllabus, please check the online version often.

Description

IST 110: Information, People and Technology (3 credits) - The use, analysis and design of information systems and technologies to organize, coordinate, and inform human enterprises.

Prerequisites

• None

Objectives

Information, People and Technology presents the high points of an education in the College of Information Sciences and Technology. It opens an intellectual journey through the ideas and challenges that IT professionals face in the world. It will address major questions such as: How can we use technology to organize and integrate human enterprises? How can technology help people and organizations adapt rapidly and creatively? What can we do about information overload?

Three perspectives (or facets) address the core issues: information, or the basic science of data encoding, transmission and storage; people, or the interactions among technologies, institutions, regulations and users; and technology, or the design and operation of basic information technology devices. Students completing the course will be confident users and consumers of information technology. Students will develop research and analytical skills to evaluate specific devices and understand how those devices function in larger socio-technical systems. Students will be able to predict and anticipate the impact of new technologies on human institutions as well as understand the potential impact of institutions on the use and design of information technologies.

The course employs an action-oriented approach. Students learn by doing—formulating and solving problems drawn from professional contexts, detecting and recovering from errors related to technology use, and locating, reading and studying materials that support their analysis and problem-solving. Students will accomplish this by participating in group-based learning. The course provides students with the opportunity to use, modify, and evaluate software to search for, frame, and express ideas with fluency. A variety of mechanisms are used to assess student performance. These evaluation methods typically include exams, quizzes, homework assignments, group projects, and peer and self-assessments.

Note: Individual lessons objectives come from the corresponding chapters in the course textbook.

Instructor

• TBD

Materials

• This course is designed to be used with the COMPLETE edition of Visualizing Technology by Geoghan.

For this course, students may purchase the COMPLETE edition of the 6th, 7th, or 8th edition.  Just please make sure you are purchasing the COMPLETE edition and not the Introductory edition.   Any edition on the following list will be fine for this course. 

Purchase ONE of the following editions of the text: 

Geoghan, D. (2017). Visualizing Technology (6th ed.). NY, NY: Pearson. ISBN 978-0134608204.

--or--

Geoghan, D. (2018). Visualizing Technology (7th ed.). NY, NY: Pearson. ISBN 9780134816449.

--or--

Geoghan, D. (2019). Visualizing Technology (8th ed.). NY, NY: Pearson. ISBN 978-0135440902.

Assignments & Grading

Course Grading Scale

The following are minimum cutoffs for each grade:

• 93.00% = A
• 90.00% = A-
• 87.00% = B+
• 83.00% = B
• 80.00% = B-
• 77.00% = C+
• 70.00% = C
• 60.00% = D
• less than 60.00% = F

Course Policies and Expectations

• Logging into Canvas - Students are expected to login regularly to check for course updates, announcements, emails, discussions, etc.
• Emailing through Canvas - Students are expected to use Canvas for all course email communication.
• Attending virtual meetings - Students are expected to use specified virtual meeting tool(s) for collaboration, meetings, presentations, etc., as needed.