Course Outline

Contents

• Course Staff
• Course Details
• Course Summary
• Assumed Knowledge
• Student Learning Outcomes
• Teaching Strategies
• Teaching Rationale
• Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
• Assessment
• Course Schedule
• Resources for Students
• Course Evaluation and Development

Course Staff

Staff Name	Role	Email	Phone
Aarthi Natarajan	Course Convenor	aarthin@cse.unsw.edu.au	9385 4056
Weitao Xu	Lecturer	xuweitao005@gmail.com	-

Consultations

Staff Name	Day/Time	Location
Aarthi Natarajan	To be advised	K17_402 (Weeks 4 - 8)
Wei Tao	To be advised	K17_402 (Weeks 1-3, 8-12)

Course Details

Course Code	COMP1000
Course Title	Web, Spreadsheets and Databases
Convenor	Aarthi Natarajan
Admin	Aarthi Natarajan
Classes	Timetable for all classes
Consultations	.. to be finalised
Units of Credit	6
Course Website	http://cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1000/17s1/
Handbook Entry	http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/current/COMP1000.html

Course Summary

This course will explore fundamental concepts of the world wide web (www) spreadsheets and databases. We will explain in straightforward terms the concepts underlying www, spreadsheets and databases and their advantages so that students can exploit them effectively. Besides lectures, this course will have weekly labs. The labs will help you to put into practice the knowledge acquired from lectures; ultimately leading to the outcome that you will be able to develop web, spreadsheet and database applications.

Assumed Knowledge

COMP1000 is intended for students with not prior tertiary study of computer science. Many, perhaps most, students who take COMP1000 do so in part to meet the UNSW General Education requirement.

Student Learning Outcomes

After completing COMP1000, students should

• have an informal and yet technically sound knowledge of the fundamentals of the www, and be able to build their own simple web sites, and understand how they work.
• properly understand the differences between spreadsheets and databases and when it is appropriate to use one rather than the other;
• understand the computational concepts underlying modern spreadsheet and database applications; and,
• be able to design and implement sophisticated spreadsheet and database applications

Teaching Strategies

1. Lectures will provide a detailed description of content along with examples related to the key learning areas, namely spreadsheets, web design and databases. There are 3 hours of lecture each week from 1 to 12.
2. Programming laboratories provide an opportunity to practise the skills being learned in lectures. In computing particularly, learning requires doing. We have 2 hours of face-to-face lab times, where students can work on in the lab and gain individual feedback from the lab demonstrators.
3. Textbooks and reference books provide supplementary material, and/or a slightly different point of view on the technical material. They also have exercises, describing step-by-step how to perform tasks in Excel and Access.
4. Consultation sessions give students an opportunity to ask the lecturers, one-on-one, specific questions about any of the course material that they might be uncertain about;
5. The mid-s ession and final examination provide do provide a focus and a deadline to make sure you revise the material covered in the course. Revision can be an important part of learning.

Teaching Rationale

The lectures and labs together are structured to present and re-inforce concepts and techniques required for developing applications involving web design and building of databases and spreadsheets.

Academic Honesty and Plagiarism

UNSW has an ongoing commitment to fostering a culture of learning informed by academic integrity. All UNSW staff and students have a responsibility to adhere to this principle of academic integrity. Plagiarism undermines academic integrity and is not tolerated at UNSW. Plagiarism at UNSW is defined as using the words or ideas of others and passing them off as your own.

If you haven't done so yet, please take the time to read the full text of

• UNSW's policy regarding academic honesty and plagiarism

The pages below describe the policies and procedures in more detail:

• Student Code Policy
• Plagiarism Policy Statement
• Plagiarism Procedure
• Student Misconduct Procedure

Assessment

The key assessment criteria are outlined below in the table below. A satisfactory performance (>50%) is required in all the three components in order to satisfactorily pass the course

Assessment	Topics	Due	Marks
Labs	All topics	Weeks 3,4,5,6...	25%
Mid-Session Exam	Topics on Weeks 1-6	Week 7	25%
Final Exam	All course content	Exam period	50%

Lab Classes

Each lab class develops skills in the topics covered in recent lectures, and the assessment for the lab is designed to check that you have indeed developed these skills. Labs will commence in Week 2. The lab specification for each week:

• will outline the criteria by which lab marks will be assigned
• will be uploaded in the week prior to the lab being due

Each lab must be marked during your 2-hour slot. You can prepare for them and start them in advance at home if you find it difficult to complete them in the 2-hour lab slot. You may also use the CSE labs at other times, e.g. for practice. Try to avoid other formal class times. When other classes are scheduled for the lab, you may need to ask the tutor whether you can use one of the computers, and you will need to work silently. An electronic submission might also be required for each lab.

Late submission of labs is not permitted. The material covered in lab classes may also be tested in the final exam.

Mid-Session Exam

The mid-session test is designed to provide students with feedback on their performance on the topics covered in the first part of the course. It is planned to hold the test in part of the lecture time in week 7, and the venue for the exam will be confirmed. This exam will contribute to 25% of your final marks.

Final Exam

The final exam tests students on the learning objectives and the content that have been covered through the 12 weeks of the course and will account for 50% of the final marks.

Course Schedule

Week	Lecture	Lab
1	Spreadsheets: Introduction to Excel, formula and functions	-
2	Spreadsheets: Charts and Tables	Lab 1 specification & workbooks
3	Spreadsheets: Data-sets and Macros	Lab 2 specification & workbooks
4	Web: Introduction to WWW, HTML	Lab 3 specification & workbooks
5	Web: More HTML & CSS	Lab 4 specification & workbooks
6	Web: CSS, Forms and JavaScript	Lab 5 specification
7	Mid-semester exam	Lab 6 specification
8	Databases:Introduction to databases with Access 2010	Lab 7 specification
9	Databases: Relational Databases & Queries	Lab 8 specification & databases
10	Databases: Advanced Queries: Moving Beyond the Select Query	Lab 9 specification & databases
11	Databases: Access: Data Validation Techniques	Lab 10 specification & databases
12	Databases: Using Macros and SQL in Access	Lab 11 specification & databases
13	Study Period

Resources for Students

Details are below for many of these - follow the links:

• Text Book . The textbooks provide detailed reference material on functionality available Access and Excel.
• The reference books provide further detail.
• Lecture Notes can be accessed, as they become available The lectures provide a guide to, and exposition of, the course material. The lecture notes provide a fairly comprehensive summary of what is said in the lectures, additional comments may be made in lectures that are not covered in the lecture notes, and you are responsible for finding out about anything extra that was said in lectures, if you happen to miss the lecture.
• Laboratory Classes . A theoretical understanding of the material is not enough: to get a firm hold on the course material, you need hands-on experience. The lab classes provide this.
• Your lab computer (or your own computer): experimentation with Excel, Access, etc. is a good way to learn, and is perhaps the only way to consolidate what you have learned.
• Your fellow students - get to know them and talk to them - because they, like you, are committed to learning about web, spreadsheets and databases, they can help you to learn, and, by doing so, they will help clarify concepts for themselves. Just remember to stay on the right side of the plagiarism rules , when discussing assignments.
• The MessageBoard - which potentially has contributions from both staff and students is accessible via the course web page;
• Staff consultation sessions

Text Books

• Text book: Grauer, Mulbery, Poatsy: Microsoft Office Excel 2010 Introductory. Pearson Education, 2011. Four Excel chapters, about 300 pages.
• Text book: Grauer, Mast, Poatsy: Microsoft Office Access 2010 Introductory. Pearson Education, 2011. Four Access chapters, about 300 pages.

Recommended Reference Books

Recommended books for the course include:

• Recommended*: Grauer, Mulbery, Poatsy: Microsoft Office Excel 2010 Comprehensive. Pearson Education, 2011. Eleven Excel chapters: about 650 pages.
• Recommended*: Grauer, Poatsy, Mast, Hogan: Microsoft Office Access 2010 Comprehensive. Pearson Education, 2011. Ten Access chapters: about 635 pages.
• Recommended: Lehnert, Kopec: Web 101 (3rd edition). Pearson Education, 2007.

* Be aware that the Comprehensive edition is a <u>superset</u> of the Introductory edition for both of the Grauer et al. books.

Course Evaluation and Development

The survey responses of the course offereing in16s1 indicated that overall the students were satisfied with the quality of lectures and mode of delivery. We will continue to implement the same teaching strategy, but also ensure that the lab exercises are well designed to reinforce the lecture concepts covered in the previous week.

This course will be evaluated at the end of the session using the myExperience system. Closer to the end of the semester, students will receive an email inviting them to provide feedback on the course offering. It is important that students complete the survey to ensure continuous, ongoing improvement of the course.