Faculty Contact Information:
Cameron D. Bunch
E-mail: cbunch@faculty.ed.umuc.edu
Phone: +34-956-823672 (x3672 on base)
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Consultation:
By appointment. I will normally be available before and after class but can be available at other times with prior appointment.
Class meets Tuesdays/Thursdays, 28 Oct - 18 Dec, 1845-2130
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Required Texts and Readings:
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White, C.(2002). Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach (2nd ed.). Boston: Thompson Course Technology.
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Supplementary Readings:
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.
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Recommended Journals:
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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.
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Course Description:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Grading Information:
Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
Participation 10%
Midterm Exam 15%
Final Exam 30%
Research Paper 15%
Project 20%
Project Presentation 10%
90% - 100% A
89% - 80% B
70% - 79% C
below 70% F(a)
The midterm exam will be take-home. The final exam will be in-class, closed book/closed notes.
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F(a) is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog, available in your local Education Center or online at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs.
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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.
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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 a graduate level project, write a graduate level research paper: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Plan on committing approximately 150 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.
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Course Schedule:
This schedule presents 16 units or modules, with each unit corresponding to a regular three-hour weekday meeting.
Initial meeting (Tues 28 Oct):
Introductions
Review of syllabus
Clarification of goals, objectives and requirements
Chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Networks and Data
Communications
Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Data and Signals
Second meeting (Thurs 30 Oct):
Chapter 3: The Media: Conducted and Wireless
Chapter 4: Making Connections
Third meeting (Tues 4 Nov):
Chapter 5: Multiplexing - Sharing a Medium
Fourth meeting (Thurs 6 Nov):
Chapter 6: Errors, Error Detection, and Error Control
Fifth meeting (Tues 11 Nov):
Chapter 7: Local Area Networks - The Basics
Sixth meeting (Thurs 13 Nov):
Chapter 8: Local Area Networks - Internetworking
Seventh meeting (Tues 18 Nov):
Chapter 9: Local Area Networks - Software and Support Systems
Eighth meeting (Thurs 20 Nov):
Chapter 10: Introduction to Metropolitan Area Networks and Wide
Area Networks
Give out take-home midterm exam (Ch 1-6)
Ninth meeting (Tues 25 Nov):
Chapter 11: The Internet
Take-home midterm exam due
Tenth meeting (Thurs 27 Nov):
Lab Work: Networking Protocols and Network Simulation
Eleventh meeting (Tues 2 Dec):
Chapter 12: Telecommunications Systems
Twelfth meeting (Thurs 4 Dec):
Chapter 13: Network Security
Thirteenth meeting (Tues 9 Dec):
Chapter 14: Network Design and Management
Fourteenth meeting (Thurs 11 Dec):
Lab Work: Network security
Fifteenth meeting (Tues 16 Dec):
Final Examination
Sixteenth meeting (Thurs 18 Dec):
Student presentations
Course evaluations
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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
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Faculty Bio:
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Cameron Bunch received his BS in Information Systems Management in 1989 from the University of Maryland. He received his MS degree in Management Information Systems in 2000 from Bowie State University. He has worked extensively in the computer and information systems field over the past 20 years in systems and application programming, analysis and design, and information management. He currently is the Chief Information Officer for the US Naval Hospital, Rota Spain.
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