IFSM 399 Cooperative Education in Information Systems

Syllabus

Instructor: Mr. Richard Sponaugle

Phone: 301-738-6087

Office: SG Building I Room 303

E-mail: sponaugle@umbc.edu

Fall 2004 Office Hours:

Monday & Tuesday 1 - 2 pm

All other times by appointment only

University of Maryland Baltimore County University of Maryland Baltimore County

Baltimore Maryland 21250

Course Description: (per catalog) This course provides the opportunity for

IFSM majors to earn academic credit while employed in a professional position under the Cooperative Education Program. The course is repeatable to a maximum of six credits for a second co-op assignment. Course grading is Pass/Fail only, based on the students meeting the requirements of The Shriver Center’s Work and

Service Learning Programs, and an acceptable performance evaluation from the employer. Note-This course cannot be used to fulfill the major requirement for an upper-level IFSM elective for students following the pre-2000 Systems Analysis and Design BS track.

Prerequisites: Admission to the Cooperative Education program.

Enrollment Procedures:

A. Enrollment is by permission only. Students need to have a signed Permission Slip from The Shriver Center. The signed slip is presented to the IFSM 399 instructor in order to get electronic clearance prior to registration.

B. Students must be placed, and enrolled in PRAC 099, or PRAC 098.

Course Requirements:

A. The student must comply with all the requirements of the Internship programs, including:

1. Completion and return of the Placement Registration form within the first two weeks of placement.

2. Arrangement of the mid-semester review with your Shriver Center coordinator.

3. Completion and return of the Student Performance Evaluation by the last day of classes in the summer.

4. Fulfillment of all the rules and regulations in the PRAC 098 or 099syllabus.

B. A weekly journal must be kept, summarizing major duties, projects, and responsibilities, and submitted with the summary paper (see C. below)

C. Each student must submit a 10 to 15 page typed summary paper to the IFSM instructor for the course. The paper is due approximately one week before the end of the semester.

The content of the paper is as follows:

1. A brief description of your company or agency, with emphasis on how your functional department, and particular position fit in the whole organization.

2.The process you went through in setting and meeting the learning objectives you established at the beginning of the semester.

3. A section on the value of your placement as a part of your IFSM curriculum.

4.Your answers to several questions about the IFSM curriculum as it relates to your Co-op job, designed to help the IFSM Department plan its courses. A page, titled Supplementary Questions, is attached to this syllabus.

Grading: Grading for this course is Pass/Fail only. A grade of Pass will be given for students whose mid-semester review, journal and summary report meet requirements and are deemed satisfactory.

Due Dates: All assignments are to be handed in by the due date. The paper must be in the IFSM Department by the last day of classes, or if some situation beyond your control will make it late, you must get my permission to extend the date. If I do not hear from you, or get your paper by the due date, I may have to give you an "F" since this course is only graded Pass/Fail.

Supplementary Questions for

IFSM 399 Students

Answers to the following questions must be included in a special section at the end of the paper required of students enrolled in IFSM 399.

Please make this the final section of your paper with the heading "Supplementary

Questions". The information given in answer to the questions may duplicate to some extent material in the body of the paper, but it should be included here to assist us in gathering specific data about the kinds of work done by IFSM students, and how well they are prepared by the courses in our program.

1 What type of computer system did you work with?

2. Did your job involve any programming?

If the answer is "yes", what language(s) did you use?

3. Did your job involve the use of a specialized language, or a proprietary software package?

If "yes" please identify the software you used, and answer the following additional questions:

Did you learn the software "on the job", or attend a training class for it?

Did any of your IFSM courses help you in understanding and learning this new software?

If "yes" please identify the course(s).

4. a. Which of the IFSM courses you have taken were most useful to you in this Co-op or internship?

b. Are there any other IFSM courses you wish you had taken before going on this job?

c. Are there other kinds of courses we do not offer which would have been useful for you?

5. Based on your experience, what suggestions do you have for improving the IFSM major in order to better equip our students for jobs?

6. Are there any procedural matters in terms of signing up for the 399 course or learning about the co-op or FAQ’s that you think should be added to the website for the course?