• to learn the fundamental concepts and techniques used in 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
  

• Textbook:  Project Management The Managerial Process, by Erik W. Larson and Clifford Gray, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Education, 2014.  isbn: 978-0-07-809659-4.  There are several different isbns for this book, depending on the format or package that you get.
• Lab Text:  Labs will be completed using Microsoft Project, 2016.  However, since the LUC labs are still running Microsoft Project 2013, I am listed the lab books for oth 2013 and 2016.  Assignments are also listed for both.  So you may use either.
• Microsoft Project 2013, Step by Step, by Carl Chatfield and Timoth Johnson, Microsoft Press, 2013, isbn:  978-0-7356-6911-6.  However, there is a free  pdf, which you may access here.  Please note that the page numbers for the assignments are listed for the regular book, not the pdf version.
• Microsoft Project 2016, Step by Step, by Carl Chatfield and Timoth Johnson, Microsoft Press, 2016, isbn:  978-0735698741.   However, there is a free  pdf, which you may access here.  Please note that for this version, page numbers of the assginments are listed as the page numbers of the pdf file.

Software:

• We will be using MS Project 2016, or, if you already have it installed, or want to use the LUC labs, 2013.  The software is free to LUC students.  You may sign up for an account on Microsoft Imagine  and download and install the software.  Detailed instructions, as well as set of screenshots of my installation, 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, please contact me well before class begins, so that I can set up a Virtual Machine (VM) for you with Project already installed. 

As of this writing, Sakai will be used for course announcements, homework submissions, and grade postings. It is your home page for the course.   While the raw scores posted on Sakai should be correct (although I have encountered some problems with that too!), please do not rely upon Sakai's Course Total calculations.  Grades are calculated as specified in this syllabus. .

Course Format:

This course is 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 Adobe Connect.  This course is also a J-term course, with about 12 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 more than one week of work that needs to be completed during every day of class.  

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 semeser 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), five learning modules and a post-course feedback module.  Each learning module contains 2-3 chapters, and lasts for 2-3 days.  In each module, there is some combination of quizzes, in-class assginment, discusison board assginment, video assignment,  lab assignment and a Project Miletstone.  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 htat you need for that module.

Reading Assignments and Quizzes:  There are  3 chapters per module, except for Module 5, which has 2 chatpers.  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.

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

• 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 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 Services for Students with Disabilities Office (773-508-3700 and SSWD@luc.edu) as soon as possible.  Students with documented disabilities who provide me with a letter from the SSWD office will be fully accommodated as per the terms of the letter.  Students who are allowed to take their exams in the SSWD 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.

• Regarding the 80 points for the Final Project Presentation and Final Project Report in Module 5:  A "very good" project that fulfills the requirements and is perfectly satisfactory can earn about 65 of those points.  "Very good" is a B or B+.    If you complete the minimum requirements and do not earn 80 points, please don't ask me what you did "wrong".  The answer will most likley be  "nothing".  The full 80 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 necessasrily 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.
• In a regular semester, late assignments are worth only half credit.  However, given the condensed time frame, I have made the decision to post a due date for each module at the end of that module.  But the "hard" deadline is the end of the course.  That means that you have until 1/15 at 11:55 p.m. to complete your quizzes and in-class assignments.  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.  There is simply no way around the very tight time frame in a J-term class.  You must apply good time management skills and also simply be willing to commit to the amount of time that you would normally devote during an entire semester in a much shorter period. And 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.

Important Dates: