Comp 377-001 (online)
COMP 477-001 (online)
Project Management
Jterm, 2022


Course #: COMP 377-001  (1057)
COMP 477-001  (1058)
Day/Time: Totally Online, Asynchronous
Prerequisites: COMP 271 or COMP 251
Instructor: Dr. Channah Naiman
email: cnaiman@luc.edu
web page: http://cnaiman.com/PM/COMP377syllabusJT22.html
zoom link: https://luc.zoom.us/my/cnaiman


Syllabus Index
Learning Objectives
Exams  
Texts and Software Grades
Tutoring Programmng environment
Sakai/Piazza
Academic Honesty
Course Format, Attendance
Religious Holidays
Homework/Assignments Students with Disabilities
Course Schedule Important Dates
Online Recording Policy



Course Description:  This course is an introduction to the philosophy and practice of project management. The course involves a student group project to investigate and plan a “real world” project. The investigation requires application of project-management tools covered in the class, including a project proposal that specifies project objectives, schedules, work breakdown structure, and responsibilities, an written interim report, and a final oral and written report. The course will likely include both business and computer science students working together on a student team.

Outcome:  Students will learn time management, work-flow management, and team dynamics to design, implement and test large-scale software projects.

Learning Objectives:
Learning Objectives:

Textbook and Lab Text:

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.

Tutorial # Topic


1 Assigning Resources
2 Creating the resource pool
3 Displaying the network and critical path
4 Entering predecessor information
5 Initial project data entry
6 Leveling Resources
7 Obtaining EV, CPI, and SPI
8 Recording actual progress
9 Working with cost information
10 Working with the project calendar


Sakai:
As of this writing, Sakai will be used for course announcements, homework submissions, and grade postings. It is your home page for the course.   The raw scores posted on Sakai should be correct (although I have encountered some problems with that).  Grades are calculated as specified in this syllabus.

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.  This course is also a J-term course, with about 10 days to cover the material for the entire semester.  While I have streamlined the readings and assignments as much I could without compromising the curriculum, there is nevertheless about 1.5  weeks of work that needs to be completed during every day of class.  

If you cannot commit to the time that is required for this kind of intense workload, you may want to consider taking the course another time.  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.   

The course is organized into an orientation module (which I recommend be completed before the semester begins), and six learning modules.  Modules 1-4 each contain 3 chapters, and last for 2 days. Module 5 has two chapters, but I suggest that you begin on the Agile Methodology readings and assignments in Module 5, and then complete that work in Module 6.  Module 6 focuses on Agile methodologies and the project presentation.     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.  The schedule is also summarized later in the syllabus.


Homeworks/Assignments:

Reading Assignments and Quizzes:  There are quizzes on the chapter reading assignments from each module.  The quizzes are from the textbook, 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.  They are to be taken online through Sakai.  Links are on the Module pages on Sakai.

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.

Discussion Board Assignments:  These are assignments that require some investigation and discussion, and your team must post their findings on a Sakai Discussion Board and each team must also post a response to another team's post.  There are two Discussion Board Assignments, in Modules 1 and 4.

Video Assignments:  There are two video assignments (aside from Orientation).  They are in Modules 1 and 5.  Their purpose is to provide a concrete application of the  concepts in the chapter.  There are also several other videos, which are often reviews of techniques and models that I found online.  Occasionally a video will also be part of your in-class team assignment.  All assignments are clearly listed in the Module  page.  There are no "lecture videos" as there were in COMP 300/400 or 353/453, for those students who have taken those classes with me; however, there are some "helper" videos, especially for the Agile assignments and for some of the models.  For a J-term class, I felt that lecture videos would simply take too much of your very limited time.  That time is better spent on the assignments, and the text is very clear.

Labs:  These are hands-on exercises from the lab text in MS Project, and they are very easy to complete:  simply follow the step-by-step instructions in the lab text and take the screenshots when instructed to do so.  Labs are completed in the first four modules, and they are applied to your project (in addition to the text lab assignments)

Programming Environment:  Campus Network, Rights and Responsibilities
As a user of the campus network, you should be aware of the technology expectations of Loyola University.

Much of your work will be done on your laptop, or, if you can't install MS Project on your laptop, on a virtual machine that I will provide for you.  So I don't think there will be an issue with saving your work.  However, if you use the University computers, be sure to save your work, in the cloud, on a flash drive, or wherever you can easily access it. If you use both computer lab machines and other machines, or just share with a partner, you will want to take all of your files with you. You can use a flash drive, OneDrive, Google Drive, Github, BitBucket, Box, DropBox, or, in a pinch, send an email to yourself or your partners wtih attachments.

Online Recording Policy: (official LUC policy.  For our course,  only the final presenation might be recorded)
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, which is shortly after the course ends, per Sakai policy. 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 instructor.

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. 



Academic Honesty:
The penalty for cheating may be anywhere from a 0 on an assignment to a grade of "F" in this course. The appropriate dean will be informed in writing of any cheating incidents. No exceptions, for any reason.  Please review Loyola's Academic Integrity policy.

Cheating consists of, but is not limited to:

Help from any source is fine concerning

Exams/Quizzes:  There are no exams.  There are quizzes on Sakai for each chapter that is covered in class.   Each quiz has 10 objective questions on the chapter.

.

Religious Holidays:  Students with religious holiday conflicts:  Please let me know within the first two days 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:  If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact the Student Accessibility Center (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.  Students who are allowed to take their exams in the SAC office are encouraged to do so.  If you choose not to do so, I cannot be responsible for the environment in which you will be tested.  For the purpose of our course,  you are taking the quizzes online, and you may choose any environment that is suitable.  If you are entitled to extra time, please let me  know so that I can set up the Sakai quiz accordingly.

Students with Sponsorships and Scholarships:  If you require a certain grade in order to satisfy a sponsor or a scholarship requirement, please be sure to monitor your grade on Sakai.  I will consider only your performance in this course in calculating grades, using the grading rubric posted in this syllabus.  If you cannot achieve a minimum grade that is required by a sponsor or a scholarship, I will not change your grade to help you meet that requirement.  This would be unfair to other students, and not reflective of your performance in this course.  You are responsible to monitor your grade and to keep apprised of the withdrawal dates posted by the registrar.




Grading:
Below is the Points Matrix, showing the points that can be earned in each module, and for each type of assignment.

The Orientation Module has "setup" assignments, designed to prepare you for the course.
Modules 1-5 have quizzes, and also some combination of an In-Class Assignments, Lab, Video, Discussion Board and Project Milestone.
Module 6 also includes the application of Agile Project Management techniques to your project.
Details are discussed in the Orientation Video, as well as listed on each Sakai module page.


 


Course grades are assigned as follows:
A
93
A-
90
B+
87
B
83
B-
80
C+
77
C
73
C-
70
D+
67
D
63



Course Schedule: Due to the compressed nature of Jterm, you have until 1/15 at 11:55 p.m. to submit all assignments.  However, I have listed Due Dates as a strong recommendation to keep you from falling behind.



Important Dates:

Please check the academic calendar for the jterm, 2022 for important dates.