Orientation Video

Special ONLINE notes: This course is formatted as a completely online, asynchronous course. I will be available for zoom meetings, email or MS Teams to answer any questions that you may have about the course, homework issues.  I will post a doodle signup sheet for students who want to meet with me individually, and once teams are formed, teams will be required to sign up for team meetings with me on the Doodle signup sheet (to be posted).

• to learn the fundamental concepts and techniques used in both conventional and Agile Project Management
• to apply your knowledge to a sample business project
• to understand the role of Project Management and projects in the organization
• to enhance your presentation skills through project presentations
• to gain experience working in a team environment
• to support the project development process and management with MS Project and some Agile tools
  

• Textbook:  Project Management The Managerial Process, by Erik W. Larson and Clifford Gray, Eighth edition.  There are several different isbns, depending on the format or package that you get.

• Connect access(w/eBook): 978126073617  (You do NOT have to use McGraw-Hill connect, but it is here as an option.  Many students like it as it has a smart ebook and some nice features.  It is one of many options that you have for a text.  We are not using it beyond the textbook, but you may certainly use its other features if you choose to do so.)
  

• To register for this course on Connect, use this registration link
  

• Loose leaf: 9781260736151

• Loose leaf w/Connect: 9781264091775
  

• Bound rental: 9781260238860
  

• eBook only: 9781264151660 

• Or, you can find the book any place else of your choosing.
  
• Lab Text:  Labs will be completed using Microsoft Project, 2019.  This is because that is the version that will be installed and supported in the university labs for this academic year.  It is also the latest version, and available free to you through Loyola (see the Orientation for instructions).
  
• Microsoft Project 2019, Step by Step, by Cindy Lewis, Carl Chatfield and Timoth Johnson, Microsoft Press, 2019,
  

  Either of the isbns below will be fine:

   Microsoft Project 2019 Step by Step, ISBN: 9781509307425  (hard copy)
  Microsoft Project 2019 Step by Step, ISBN: 9781509307456  (ebook)

• Note that the lab assignments for the course list the page numbers from the hard copy.  The pdf file numbers the pages of its file from the very beginning, including the book cover, copyright page, etc.  However, the pdf file also shows the actual hard-copy book page at the bottom of each page.
• Note that if you find an unofficial copy of the text, the page numbers may not match the official version.
  

Software:

• We will be using MS Project 2019.  The software is free to LUC students.  You may access it through https://azureforeducation.microsoft.com/devtools and download and install the software, and/or you may use a Virtual Machine that the department will set up for you.  Detailed instructions are available on Sakai in the Orientation Module that you were sent before the semester.  If any student has a problem installing MS Project, or if you cannot install it on your laptop, you may use the Virtual Machine (VM) with Project already installed.
• The text has some video tutorials on the use of MS Project 2019:

As of this writing, Sakai will be used for course announcements, homework submissions, and grade postings. It is your home page for the course.   All sections will share the same Sakai site.  This is to encourage team formation across sections.

Course Format:

This course is a totally online, asynchronous course.  This means that there are no in-person scheduled sessions, and you can work on your own time.  The only exception may be the final project presentation, which may be presented over Zoom.  You are also required to work with a team for many assignments and for a major semester project.  This collaboration can also be done completely online.  Nevertheless, you must build into your time management the time needed to collaborate on assignments and Project Milestones with your team.   All course materials are posted on Sakai, and the course schedule, grading criteria, video links and policies are on this syllabus.

The course is organized into six modules.   In each module, there is some combination of quizzes, in-class assignment,  video assignment,  lab assignment and a Project Milestone.  Not every module has every type of assignment.  There are "module"  menu buttons on Sakai that help you navigate the module home page, where you can find everything that you need for that module.  In addition, the course schedule shows the weekly schedule.

Reading Assignments and Quizzes:  Most of the modules have 3 chapters.  Check the course schedule for exact reading assignments.  Modules 1 and 6 also have supplemental slides and/or other material.  The quizzes are from the textbook (although a heads-up that I have modified them), and their purpose is to  keep you up to date with the reading and make sure that you extract the important concepts.  The quizzes are individual assessments and may not be completed in collaboration with anyone else.

In-class Team Assignments:  These are team-based assignments that are sometimes a text-based review of an important model, skill or concept.  You will generally collaborate with your team to work on the problem, or discuss the scenario being presented.  Your team will then submit the final answers.

Students are expected to have read the statement on academic integrity  This policy applies to the course.

• Using or copying an outside person's work on an exam or assignment in any fashion. "Outside person" includes a person who put something on a web page. It has become depressingly familiar for me, most every semester, meting out penalties for using someone else's work on the web. Do not do it.
• Anything that vaguely resembles something from any Instructor's Manual anywhere.
• Work includes outlines, pseudocode, code, and documentation.
• Allowing your own work to be copied or used by an outside person.
• Submitting as your own work something that has been written by an outside person (or web site).
• Using any unauthorized reference on an exam or assignment
• Not acknowledging and describing in writing on an assignment any help you received or gave.
• If you are working on a pair or group project, an "outside person" only refers to people other than your assigned partner or team.
• Note that cheating goes both ways: both giving and receiving.
• Consultation is allowed with the TA (if we are fortunate enough to get one) and with me. If you consult with the TA and/or with me, still make a comment at the top of your work about the substance and depth of the help.

• The meaning of program or query specifications (not the plan for the solution or the actual solution).
• The tools used to write programs.
  
• The restrictions of the current programming language syntax.

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Students with religious holiday conflicts:  Please let me know within the first two weeks of class if you have a religious holiday conflict with any exam or homework due date, so that we can plan on an accommodation.

Students with Disabilities:  I

If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact the Services for Student Accessibility Office (773-508-3700 and SAC@luc.edu) as soon as possible.  Students with documented disabilities who provide me with a letter from the SAC office will be fully accommodated as per the terms of the letter.  In this course, quizzes may be taken outside of class, so you will most likely not require a separate testing location.  However, if you need extra time, please let me know as soon as possible.  No medical or disability accommodations can be provided beyond what SAC specifies.  Accommodations cannot be provided retroactively.  Please do not send me doctor's notes or any personal medical information, unless there is some unforeseen medical emergency that cannot be covered by a SAC accommodation.

Online Recording Policy

In this class software may be used to record live class discussions. As a student in this class, your participation in live class discussions will be recorded. These recordings will be made available only to students enrolled in the class, to assist those who cannot attend the live session or to serve as a resource for those who would like to review content that was presented. All recordings will become unavailable to students in the class when the Sakai course is unpublished (i.e. shortly after the course ends, per the Sakai administrative schedule: https://www.luc.edu/itrs/sakai/sakaiadministrativeschedule/). Students who prefer to participate via audio only will be allowed to disable their video camera so only audio will be captured. Please discuss this option with your professor. The use of all video recordings will be in keeping with the University Privacy Statement shown below:

Privacy Statement

Assuring privacy among faculty and students engaged in online and face-to-face instructional activities helps promote open and robust conversations and mitigates concerns that comments made within the context of the class will be shared beyond the classroom. As such, recordings of instructional activities occurring in online or face-to-face classes may be used solely for internal class purposes by the faculty member and students registered for the course, and only during the period in which the course is offered. Students will be informed of such recordings by a statement in the syllabus for the course in which they will be recorded. Instructors who wish to make subsequent use of recordings that include student activity may do so only with informed written consent of the students involved or if all student activity is removed from the recording. Recordings including student activity that have been initiated by the instructor may be retained by the instructor only for individual use. 

• Regarding the 100 points for the Final Project.  This consists of 40 points for the presentation and 60 points for the report.   A "very good" project that fulfills the requirements and is perfectly satisfactory can earn about 85 of those points.  "Very good" is a B or B+.    If you complete the minimum requirements and do not earn 100 points, please don't ask me what you did "wrong".  The answer will most likely be  "nothing".  The full 100 points can be earned for a project that is truly excellent, incorporating all components in a comprehensive manner, being unusually complex or having some difficulty factor in its requirements, or simply having a real "Wow" factor.  A grade of "A" means "excellent".  There are many points in this course that could be considered free points.  Full points for Homework and Labs can be earned if significant effort is demonstrated:  you are graded for completeness, not necessarily for correctness (although grossly incorrect answers will be marked off).  But for a project to get an A, it must be excellent.
• No extra credit opportunities will be provided.  It is neither practical nor fair to the other students.  Note that there are 1035 points available.  However, the course is graded on the basis of 1000 points, which means that there are 35 extra points built into the course.
• You may only submit an assignment late if you request and are granted permission to do so.  Even for valid reasons, late assignments are worth only half credit.  Due dates are clearly listed on Sakai.     Do NOT postpone your Project Milestones, as it will be nearly impossible to "catch up" quickly, and I will also not be able to provide feedback to your Milestones if I get them at the last minute.  I would suggest that you give priority to those assignments that must be completed as a team.  Since you are working in a team for your project and many other assignments, it would be unfair to your team mates to procrastinate.   My best advice is:  do NOT fall behind.  Do NOT postpone your assignments and think that it will be easy to make up later.  While I can be very flexible during the semester, I cannot and will not be flexible at the end of the semester.  If something isn't turned in by the end of the semester, you get a zero, and there are no acceptable excuses.  There is no such thing as an emergency at the last minute--there is only poor planning.  If you choose to wait until the day before an assignment is due, and then your Internet connection goes down, that is simply not an emergency.
• I will be unavailable to help with assignments for about 1.5 days before assignments are due.  If you choose to wait until the last minute to do your work, I completely respect your right to make that choice.  However, it is my experience that students who wait until the last minute need a lot of help in order to make up for lost time, and this is unfair to those students who have been working throughout the module.