Faculty Contact Information:
Edmund I. Deaton
E-mail: edeaton@faculty.ed.umuc.edu
Phone: TBA
We will use the Web Board as one of our principle means of contact. Information on how to use the Web Boarad will be given on the first day of class. | |
Consultation:
Via the Web Board, via E-mail
30 minutes before and after each class meeting. | |
Required Texts and Readings:
| White, C.(2002). Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach (2nd ed.). Boston: Thompson Course Technology. | |
Supplementary Readings:
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The standard for papers in the graduate program is the APA style. All participants in this course and all graduate INSS, MGMT, PUAD, and ECON courses should have a copy of the style guide:
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition. Washington DC: Author. All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at http://www.umuc.edu/library/. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students' research and writing skills. | |
Recommended Journals:
| Publications of the various professional societies (such as ACM -- the Association for Computing Machinery, the IEEE Computing Society, and the various management professional societies) are strongly recommended. In addition, there are many trade journals (such as eWEEK) that MIS professionals should become familiar with, many of these being published both weekly and on-line. | |
Course Description:
| 3 semester hours credit. Prerequisites: Either INSS 510, INSS 520, or permission of the Program Director. Provides analysis of data communications technology and its application within the public and private sector enterprise. Gives an in-depth view of the communications environment, data communications and telecommunications equipment, and local and wide area networks. The student is involved in case studies of communications systems design in educational, industrial, governmental, and military environments. | |
Course Goals:
Upon completion of the course, participants should:
1. Understand the different network topologies, and their advantages and disadvantages.
2. Understand issues involved in network security and data integrity.
3. Understand the strengths and limitations of the Internet.
4. Discuss the roles of IT professionals in network design and maintenance.
5. Be able to research current topics in networking. | |
Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course the student will be able to:
1. Discuss the evolution of networks and the Internet
2. Explain the hierarchical, layered structure of a typical network architecture
3. Describe emerging network technologies and assess their capabilities, limitations, and near-term potential
4. Discuss important network standards in their historical context
5. Describe the responsibilities of the layers of the ISO reference model
6. Explain how a network can detect and correct transmission errors
7. Illustrate how a packet is routed over the Internet
8. Discuss the fundamental ideas of public-key cryptography
9. Summarize common authentication protocols
10. Summarize the capabilities and limitations of the means of cryptography that are currently available
11. Explain the different roles and responsibilities of clients and servers for a range of possible applications. | |
Grading Information:
Grades will be assigned as follows:
A 90%+ C 70 - 79%
B 80 - 89% F under 70% F(a) or nonattendance F(n)
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Course Requirements:
Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society.
In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you will be graded on:
Project(s) 30%
Term Paper 20%
Mid Term Examination 25%
Final Examination 25%
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Description of Course Requirements:
Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to come to class prepared to engage in all discussions in a professional and informed manner. Usually this requires two to three hours for every hour of a face-to-face class and approximately ten hours of preparation per week for a DE class.
Complete graduate level projects or programming assignments, write graduate level papers or case studies: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Plan on committing a significant number of hours over the duration of this course to producing professional level deliverables, to include programs, projects, papers, and/or case studies.
Orally/visually present prepared material: You are required to present your results in a professional manner. In a face-to-face course, this typically means an oral presentation accompanied by appropriate visual material. In a DE class, this means creating a visual/textual presentation for your instructor and classmates.
Complete two written examinations: The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical thinking skills necessary for successfully passing the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students. The examination questions used for this course will either be taken directly from past comprehensive exams or written as though to be included on a comprehensive exam. | |
Course Schedule:
All readings are from the textbook for the course:
Date Topics Assignments due
Mo 25 Aug Course Mechanics (introductions, etc.), Intro to Networks and Data Communications (Ch. 1)
We 27 Aug Data, Signals, Media (CH. 2,3)
Mo 1 Sep*** Connections (Ch. 4) Weekly Assignment #1
We 3 Sep Multiplexing (Ch. 5)
Mo 8 Sep Errors, Detection, Control (Ch. 6) Weekly Assignment #2
We 10 Sep Local Area Networks (Ch. 7)
Mo 15 Sep LANs: Internetworking (Ch. 8) Weekly Assignment #3
We 17 Sep Midterm Examination
Mo 22 Sep LANs: Software and Support (Ch. 9) Weekly Assignment #4
We 24 Sep MANs and WANs (Ch.10)
Mo 29 Sep The Internet (Ch. 11) Weekly Assignment #5
We 1 Oct Telecommunications (Ch. 12)
Mo 6 Oct Network Security (Ch. 13) Weekly Assignment #6
We 8 Oct Design and Management (Ch. 14)
Mo 13 Oct Final Examination * Take-home Exam Question(s)
We 15 Oct Student Presentations Research Paper
*Note that the final exam is not on the last day of class
***This class may be rescheduled. | |
Academic Policies:
Please refer to the UMUC - Europe Graduate Catalog, available online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs/index.html or from your local Education Center, for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities | |
Faculty Bio:
Dr. Deaton received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Texas. He has been teaching and doing research in Computer Science since 1980. After many years at San Diego State University he retired in 1992. He was a visiting professor at Hope College, Holland, Michigan during 1993-1995. He spent two years at Oklahoma State University from 1980 to 1982 as a visiting professor and visited there again in 1992. He worked as a management consultant with a Southern California consulting firm for several years in the 1980's. He specialized in database design for governmental entities. He has been with the University of Maryland, European Division since 1995. He teaches in the graduate MIS program and also teaches undergraduate computer science courses. His academic specialty is data base design. His primary hobbies are hiking and Alpine climbing. Although based in Heidelberg, he calls Rota, Spain home and hopes to be assigned there for some time each year.
E-mail: edeaton@faculty.ed.umuc.edu Phone: 956 81 38 51 (h), 635 81 01 97 (c)
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