<br>

Last revised 4/28/05 being revised now

Course Syllabus for IRLS 588-004: Database Development and Management


Fall 2005 Instructor:

Edward Xia


COURSE NAME, NUMBER, AND PREREQUISITES

IRLS 588-004: Database Development and Management

There are no formal pre-requisites.

But, the course presupposes basic computer literacy. This course assumes that all students have had a general background in computing literacy. If you have difficulties to meet this requirement, please see the instructor immediately.

[return to top of page]


COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to help students develop a broad understanding of modern database management systems. It covers theory, methods, and techniques widely used today to design, develop, and maintain a relational database system. The course emphasizes the applications of fundamental database principles in a stand-alone database environment using MS Access on the Windows platform. Applications under internet environment will also be discussed on the class using MySQL, PHP, and Apache in the Linux platform. The course takes a problem-based learning approach through ample hands-on experiences to prepare the student for designing and utilizing real world database systems in a team working environment.
[return to top of page]

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to


[return to top of page]


REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS


[return to top of page]

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Discussion Forum

Class discussion forum serves as a student sharing and self-learning tool for this course. Students are encouraged to ask and answer any questions about lectures, assignments, quizzes, midterms, and projects in the class discussion forum. All discussion beyond the academic nature will be removed without notice.

Class Participation

Active Participation: This course requires that all students participate actively in lecture, labs, and group assignments and projects. Class participation is essential to your success in this course. You will be expected to attend lecture sessions which cover not only important sections discussed on the textbooks but also supplemental materials from other sources, hands-on exercises, and in-class discussions. If you miss a class, you are responsible for the class materials yourself. As this course requires significant team work, quality participation in a team environment is also very important. Evaluations from your peers at the end of the semester contribute to a part of your final grade on each team project.


[return to top of page]


COURSE POLICIES

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center . If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Policies

Assignments/Projects: Assignments and projects are due at the end of each class. Submission should be made through D2L electronically, unless the instructor specifies other submission methods. Late submission can be accepted with prior authorization on the basis of good reasons.

Individual assignments must be completed independently. Students are strongly encouraged to form study groups and to learn from peer students. However, discussion on homework questions in study group should be limited to general approaches to solutions. Specific answers should never be discussed. Standards of professional and academic ethics must be respected.

Incompletes

The 1997-8 University of Arizona General Academic Manual, p.23 reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a semester, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case the grade of E must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incompete grade before the end of the semester ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.
[return to top of page]


SCHEDULE (subject to change)

Week

Topic

Lab

Homework

1

Course introduction / Introduction to Data & Database

  

Form Project Teams

2

Database Concepts

Access Introduction

Project Part A due

3

ER Model

Table Design

  

4

Normalization

Table Design

Assignment 1 due

5

Database Design

Table Design

Assignment 2 due

6

Conceptual Design

Table Design

  

7

Implementation

Review Session

Project Part B&C due

8

Mid-Term / Data Retrieval

Database Query

  

9

Data Retrieval / Reports

Database Query

Quiz I

10

Data Retrieval / Reports

Database Query

11

Client-Server System Structure

Report

Assignment 3 due

12

Database Migration

Mysql

Project Part D due

13

Data Warehouse and Distributed Database System

ODBC Access/ Mysql

Quiz II

14

Data Mining

 Database supported Web

Project Part E&F due

15

Project Presentation

   Project Part G due / Quiz III

16

Project Presentation

  

Project Part H, I due

 

[return to top of page]


GRADING (subject to change)

Your course evaluation will be based on the quality of your participation in each of the stated course requirements. A final course grade will be calculated considering each graded requirement, quizzes, mid-term exam, group project, and your class participation. It is the students' responsibility to check their grades weekly to be sure that they are properly credited for assignments submitted.

Grading matrix

Assignments

  

15%

75
 

Entity Relationship Design

25

    
 

Database Normalization

25

    
 

Structural Query Language

25

    

Group Project

  

55%

275
 

Part A: Project & Team Description

10

    
 

Part B: Database Design

25

    
 

Part C: Implementation (Tables)

30

    
 

Part D: Data Retrieval (Queries & Reports)

40

    
 

Part E: Database Migration (Microsoft ACCESS / MySQL)

30

    
 

Part F: Web Database Connection (PHP / MySQL)

25

    
 

Part G: Project Demo / Presentation

40

    
 

Part H: Project Report

50

    
 

Part I: Individual Contribution

25

    

Quizzes (Best two)

  

10%

50
 

Quiz I

25

    
 

Quiz II

25

    
 

Quiz III

25

    

Midterm Exam

  

15%

75

Participation

  

5%

25

Total:

  

100%

500

A – 450 or above

B – 400 - 449

C – 350 – 399

D – 300 – 349

F – 299 or below

Quizzes: There are three quizzes through the semester. Each quiz will be announced in advance. The one with the lowest score will be dropped.

Mid-Term Exam: The mid-term exam is a comprehensive one and covers materials on lectures, hands-on exercises, and textbook.

Group project: A semester-long group project will be assigned in this course. It is divided into eight sections and each Part is evaluated independently on the basis of group performance. Every group member receives the same score from Part A to Part H except Part I, which will be scored based on peer evaluation by your group members.

Participation: Your class participation will count 5% of your final course grade. Class participation includes class attendance and active involvement in the class activity.


[return to top of page]


CONTACTING ME

Edward Xia

Rm. 8, SIRLS

(520)626-5570

xiaz@email.arizona.edu

Office hours: Tuesday 1:30pm-3:30pm or by appointment

[return to top of page]