CST-235 Systems Analysis & Design

Brief course description:

Prerequisite: CST 133 or CIS 133, and CST 170 or CIS 130, 1 semester of

accounting, and a programming language course. Includes study of data processing

systems and procedures involving analysis of various existing data processing

applications in business and industry. Includes a study of integrated or total

management information and data processing systems. Emphasis is given to

developing detailed procedures in various areas of management. Designed to study

the three phases: Analysis of present information flow; system specification and

equipment; implementation and documentation of the system. Credit may be earned

in CST 235 or CIS 235, but not both. (45-0)

Hardware/Software Requirements:

Hardware: In order to take this course, a student will need the following hardware

configuration at a minimum:

A PC with at least a Pentium III

256 MB RAM

3.0 GB available hard drive space

A sound card and speakers (nice to have for some of the interactive

exercises not critical)

High-speed internet connection (preferably not dial-up)

A monitor capable of 1024 X 576 resolution

A working Internet Service Provider (ISP) at the start of the semester.

Email Account: Students will also need an e-mail account, available through the college for

communication between themselves and the instructor. If your account has

changed since you registered for this course or you do not currently have an email

account, it is your responsibility to let your instructor know. Please use your Delta

email account for all communication with your instructor as other email protocols

may go directly to the Delta College spam quarantine.

Software: Your computer system will need a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox,

etc.) Please note: Internet Explorer 8.0 is NOT Recommended for the

e-learning software D2L.

Windows XP Operating System or newer

Word processing program (i.e. Microsoft Word or WordPad)

Orientation The following should assist in acclimating you to CST-235 Systems Analysis and

Design and Desire2Learn.

Welcome to e-Learning or as some may refer to it as Distance Learning. For many

of you e-Learning may be new. You may have questions about what to expect from

an “e-Learning” course. E-Learning leans toward self-paced education; the best

way to describe an online course is “Independent Study”. Most of your interaction

with fellow learners and your instructor will be via e-mail or on-line chat sessions.

You all have different reasons for being here. It is my hope that we all as learners

will walk away from this course enriched. You as a learner are the most important

part of instruction. What you will learn from this course is based on the skills you

will need.

How to get the Most of This Course

Take charge of your learning asks questions, explore, and go after what you

need. You are actively involved in the learning process. The learning

activities are designed to teach you to solve problems and learn on your own.

Plan how to invest your time and energy, the text is designed with

objectives and lists them at the beginning of each chapter. These

objectives outline some of the core skills you should learn from each section.

Complete the readings and practice tutorials (a must). These skills will be

tested through completion of the Review, Case & Internet assignments at

the ends of the tutorials and intermittent written exams.

You earn your grade based on how well you perform rather than how well

others in the class perform. You are not graded on a curve. Once you begin

to check your grades, you will see statistics that will give you some idea how

you scored on an assignment based on the overall class.

Give as well as receive. Be open. Have patience - we are, after all, working

with technology which sometimes has us at its mercy. When communicating

with others, be courteous. When asking for help be as detailed as possible.

Get Organized. We do not meet, so there is no instructor to remind you

verbally what to do or when an assignment is due. We have the majority of

our communication via email, phone or instant messenger. Therefore, the

timeframe of communication may be longer than that of a traditional

classroom setting. When you begin to work on your assignments, please keep

this in mind and begin your assignments in a timely manner to allow for

response to your questions so that you will be able to meet submission

deadlines.

The following will take you through Weebly’s layout for this course; make sure

that you print the recommended documents for this course.

This course has its own separate website that you will be using. It is called

cst235sad.weebly.com. After typing in this URL in your browser’s address bar,

you will see the main screen for this course. This website is very easy to navigate

through.

The menu on the left side will allow you to choose the page. You will start with the

home page where you will see the course syllabus. There is also a link to the course

syllabus where you can download and print it for a hardcopy.

When you select a menu option on the top of the window, you will be given the

details necessary for each chapter. Let’s do Chapter 1, as an example. When you

click on the Chapter 1 menu option, you will see the tutorial objectives. The

chapter may have an avatar. You just need to click the play button to hear the

directions for this chapter. This also goes the same for a YouTube video. Just

click the play button to view and hear the video.

The task list is a great way to stay on track and know what exactly you need to do

for this tutorial. Follow each step and you will have no trouble completing what is

expected each week. As you view the task list, you will see hyperlinks. For

example, click on the hyperlink for the PowerPoint presentation to view the lecture

for this chapter.

Class Discussions At times, you will be expected to post comments to a discussion board. You will

also do this in the Weebly site. In the task list, there will be a hyperlink to the

discussion board. Click the hyperlink to go to the topic.

A new webpage opens in the course for that particular discussion board.

Click the comments link at the end of the topic. All of the comments will then be

displayed for this topic. Scroll to the bottom of the comment list. A reply form will

be available for you to add your comment.

Make sure you add your first and last name so you will receive the proper credit

for your post. After typing in your comments, please click the submit button.

The following will take you through Desire2Learn’s layout for this course; make

sure that you print the recommended documents for this course.

Course Layout: By now many of you have logged in. You should see a screen similar to the following

when you log in.

Next, you will want to select the specific online course you want to access. For

this course, Click on CST-235 under the current semester you are enrolled in.

Every time you log in to the course, you will come to the Course Home screen. This

window contains the current announcement. Please note that you may not always

see an announcement. That may depend upon the last time you were logged in. I

will email all course announcements to you.

Course tabs:

Course Home is the main page that comes up when you enter the course. It

contains a course calendar, important student resource links, course

announcements, e-learning help desk information, etc.

Content is where you will go to view each Module. A Module will be broken down

into each Tutorial or Chapter. In each Module you can view the PowerPoint

presentations for each Tutorial, get your weekly assignment and what details are

expected for each assignment and also the due date for each. I have also included

some important How To’s in that folder about using USB devices, compressing files,

and creating webpages when we get to that specific chapter. The chapter’s data

files are downloaded and included into each Module. You will have access to the

solutions files once they are posted after the assignment due date.

If you chose not to login to Desire2Learn at the very least once per week, you may

find that you will have missed instructions for several weeks assignments. Grades

for corrected assignments will be posted within one week of that assignments DUE

DATE. Any assignments posted after the due date may be subject to grading

delays and points penalty. It is the responsibility of the student to make sure that

he/she is correctly posting to the Assignment dropbox and following the defined

naming conventions set by instructor. Failure to follow naming convention can

result in grading delays or not receiving credit for an assignment. Occasionally you

will be required to mail assignments to your instructor either printed or on disk. It

is highly recommended that you keep a backup copy of your assignment at least

until your grade is posted. Refer to the CST-235 Systems Analysis & Design

syllabus for additional details concerning assignments.

The content area contains a map view where you can collapse and expand each

Module.

The button Download allows you to download each topic and/or print it.

Discussions may be used to work with other students to discuss course problems

and issues. Discussion is found under Course Tasks. Click on the drop-down arrow

next to Course Tasks and select Discussions. At this time, you will need to respond

to the Course Introductions discussion. There will be other discussion board topics

that you will need to post an original submission for and a comment post on another

student’s.

Groups tab is where you will the members for your group project.

Dropbox is where you will upload your assignments to be graded. Dropbox is

located under Course Tasks. Click on the drop-down arrow next to Course Tasks

and choose Dropbox. You may also use it as your weekly assignment schedule, the

points for each assignment, the number of submissions you have used, any

feedback given, and the due date for each. It is highly recommended that you print the Assignment Schedule. You may at most see four weeks of assignments

at one time. As an assignments’ due date comes, an additional week will be added

to the list of assignments.

Testing contains the weekly quizzes, midterm and final exams you will be required

to take.

Testing is located also under Course Tasks. Click the drop-down arrow next to

Course Tasks and choose Quizzes/Tests. Pay attention to the due dates of the

quizzes – when 2 weeks are spent on 1 chapter, the quiz is due after the 1st week

before you will complete the assigned chapter work.

Grades lists all of the assignments that are due this semester and the grade

earned for each assignment. To access your grade, click on the Grades

Classlist is where you would send email messages to your instructor, classmates,

or your group if your course is participating in small group exercises. Classlist can

be found under Communication. Click the drop-down arrow next to Communication

and select Classlist.

Email is where you will send email messages to recipients outside of the CST-235

course. Email is also located under Communication. Click the drop-down arrow next

to Communication and choose Email.

Calendar is where you will be able to see what is due on a daily basis. The

calendar can be seen from the course’s main page on the right.

General Information

Course Syllabus:

The Course Syllabus is found under the Orientation Module. It is highly

recommended that you print the syllabus.

Assignments:

Uploading to Digital Drop Box:

Click on the drop-down arrow next to Course Tasks. Select Dropbox. Find the

appropriate assignment you are submitting and click on the specific assignment link.

Once the assignment opens up, click the Add a File button.

It is best to save your files on your computer or a USB device. Click the My

Computer button and then click Browse. The path and filename appear in the

window next to the Browse button.

Make sure your filename is labeled your fullnamefilename to meet class

requirements. Click Upload.

You may add comments to include to your instructor. Then click the Submit

button.

Once submitted, you can see from the assignment schedule that your assignment

has been submitted. Please note: Most assignments only allow 1 submission. If you

make a mistake and need the submission reset, you must notify your instructor to

reset this so you can upload again.

Late Assignments:

Late assignments will not be accepted. You will be able to use the points from the

orientation quiz to use at your discretion.

Office 365 is now free to all Delta students. If you need Office 365, you may

download it free. Follow the steps outlined on the next few pages. If not, you may

skip those pages and go to page 19.

MS Office 2013/Office 365 is now available for FREE to all students at Delta

College. To download and install the Office software, please follow the next

outlined steps:

1. First you need to figure out if you have the 32-bit or 64-bit version of

Windows. To do that, click/touch START, type in SYSTEM

INFORMATION in the search text box.

Click on the System Information link at the top.

DOWNLOADING MS

OFFICE

2. Look at System Type: You will see x64-based PC, or x32-based. This is

important because you will need to download the 32-bit or 64-bit version

of Office. Please make a note of the Windows version you have,

3. Go to the following website: http://www.microsoft.com/education/ww/StudentAdvantage/Pages/hed-install.aspx

Click on THIS LINK on the webpage.

Next, fill in the log in information as shown below.

I only needed to enter my username.

Then you will be redirected to Delta’s log in screen.

4. Login with you Delta credentials.

Language: English is already selected. If not, please select English.

However, this screen shows 32-bit and this computer shown has Windows

64-bit. If your Windows is 64-bit, click the advanced screen and an

option will appear.

Choose the correct 32-bit or 64-bit version.

Click the INSTALL button and follow the instructions on the screen until

you receive a message box that installation is complete.

Printing:

It is not always necessary to print your assignments. Throughout the course, your

instructor will direct you as to which assignments to print and submit for mailing.

However, you should always format your assignment as if it is going to be printed.

So far you should have printed the following documents:

Online Orientation

Course Syllabus CST-235 Systems Analysis & Design

Orientation Survey

Assignment Schedule

Please review these documents and keep them with your other materials for this

course. You will need to complete the Orientation Survey. This survey must be

completed with MS Word or WordPad in order to receive full credit. Click the link

in the packet to download the survey (file and save). Complete the entire survey

and submit it as YOURLASTNAMEOrientation to the Digital Drop Box. Use the

printed documents, Desire2Learn and the online orientation to assist you.

If you have any questions please email

me: ckbarber@delta.edu Thanks for your participation and I look forward to a

great semester.