CS 115: Computers and Applications

Course Information
Spring 2021
Sections INA, INB

Online through D2L (https://live.wilkes.edu/)

Instructor
Prof. Jason Wagner

Email: jason.wagner1@wilkes.edu
Phone: (570) 408 3859
Office Hours: by appointment, virtually through Google Hangouts
Course Website: https://live.wilkes.edu/

Course Description
From the Wilkes University Bulletin: An introduction to computers and computing, with
emphasis on personal computing in both the Windows and OS X operating systems.
Extensive hands-on experience will involve the application of current commercial software
(including word processing, database, and spreadsheet). Not open to students who have received
credit in any 200-level CS course. Students majoring in either Computer Science or Computer
Information Systems will not receive credit for this course. This course is three credits. (Bulletin:
http://wilkes.edu/bulletin/current/undergraduate/course-descriptions/computer-science/)

Course Objectives
• Define the relationship between hardware and software. In particular, the
relationship between hardware and the operating system and the operating system
and applications.
• Develop an understanding of privacy and security issues with respect to networks,
email, social media and WWW usage.
• Know intellectual property laws with respect to software, music, and video, and
understand the ethical use of information for academic and personal purposes.
• Utilize software such as word processing, spreadsheet, and database software to
effectively organize, manage, and communicate information.
• Understand the roles of computers and technology in mass communication,
including social media.

Course Materials
There is no textbook for this course.
Students will be required to have access to a PC running Windows or MacOS. You will not be
able to complete this course using phones, tablets, Chromebooks, etc.

You will also need access to your Wilkes account to access LIVE and email. Contact the Help
Desk (570-408-HELP) if you need assistance accessing this account. Communication for this
course will take place through Wilkes email (ewilkes.wilkes.edu). Labs, exams, and all other
course materials will be completed through the LIVE course management system
(live.wilkes.edu). For these to work, you will need access to your Wilkes network account
(same as your Wilkes email account).

All students will be required to have access to Microsoft Office 2010 or later for Windows or
Microsoft Office 2011 or later for Mac. A subscription to Microsoft Office 365 with the most
recent updates is also sufficient to complete the assignments in this course. You can obtain a
free Microsoft Office 365 subscription for the latest version of Microsoft Office by
registering as a student at https://office.com/student with your Wilkes email account.
The computers in on-campus labs and the Farley Library will also have a recent version of
Microsoft Office installed on them. Note that the following will not contain all of the
necessary features to complete the labs: Microsoft Office 2007 or earlier for Windows;
Microsoft Office 2008 or earlier for Mac; the browser-based version of Microsoft Office
included in the Office 365 subscription; the iOS version of Microsoft Office; the Android
version of Microsoft Office; and other alternative to Microsoft Office, which include Google
Drive, OpenOffice, and iWork. The only exception to this is the lab on databases which
OpenOffice Base may be used instead of Microsoft Access, as Microsoft Access is not available for
Macs and does not come with all versions of Microsoft Office.

Students will be required to install Lockdown Browser on their computer and use Respondus
Monitor to take exams. You will need a webcam to be able to use this software, and your
photo identification (such as Wilkes ID or a driver’s license) to begin the exam.

Grading
Final course grades will be distributed on the following scale:
>= 90.00 = 4.0
85.00-89.99 = 3.5
80.00-84.99 = 3.0
75.00-79.99 = 2.5
70.00-74.99 = 2.0
65.00-69.99 = 1.5
60.00-64.99 = 1.0
<= 59.99 = 0.0

Midterm grades will be distributed based upon the following criteria:

Syllabus: CS 115 INA/INB – Spring 2021 Page 2

 • Failure to meet the deadline for discussion postings three or more times will result in
an unsatisfactory for attendance.
• A current average of less than 70% on labs and exams will result in an unsatisfactory
for performance.

Note that, although final grades are displayed in D2L, the final course grade does not include
any penalties for academic dishonesty, attendance, etc.

The instructor may also report unsatisfactory performance to the student’s academic advisor.

Grade Composition
Your final grade will be constructed by the following formula:
Exams (3): 30 %
Labs (12): 40 %
Discussions (15): 20 %
Quizzes (10): 10 %

Exams
There will be three (3) exams. These exams will consist of objective (multiple choice,
true/false, matching, and ordering) and subjective questions (fill in the blank, short answer,
and essay questions) randomly taken from a larger pool. The exam may be taken at any time
during the 100-hour window from 8am Thursday of the week assigned through 12pm on the
following Monday. For example, for Exam 1, students have from 8am Thursday of Module 5
through 12pm Monday of Module 6 to take the exam. Students will have one hour from the
time that the exam is opened to complete it. Upon the end of this house, the exam will
automatically submit if it has not already been submitted. Even if you leave your computer,
the one-hour clock is still counting. Students should be sure that they have adequate time
available to complete the exam without interruption. No exceptions will be made without
documentation for an unavoidable, unforeseen emergency that occurred.

There will be no makeup exams for students who do not complete the exam in the assigned
time window unless arrangements are made and confirmed in advance with the instructor.
In the event that a makeup exam is administered, it may differ from the original in terms of
both format and difficulty.

Students will be required to take the exams through Lockdown Browser and Respondus
Monitor software. This software will prevent you from opening any other windows or tabs
on your computer besides the exam window in D2L, require you to show photo
identification before beginning the exam, and record you through your webcam while you
take the exam. There is a sample exam in the course that may be taken at any time to verify that
the software is functioning as expected on your computer.

Labs
There will be 14 labs throughout the course. Students are required to submit their labs by
11:59pm (Eastern) Sunday evening of the week that they were assigned. All labs must be
submitted electronically through LIVE, unless otherwise directed by the instructor. Labs that

Syllabus: CS 115 INA/INB – Spring 2021 Page 3

are printed or submitted through e-mail will not be accepted. All labs must be completed
independently.

Discussions
There will be a discussion topic in each of the fifteen (15) modules in the course. Students are
required to make an initial posting to the discussions by 11:59 pm (Eastern) Wednesday
evening and respond to two additional students, besides those in the thread you started, by
11:59 pm (Eastern) Sunday evening. Your initial discussion post should contain at least 200
words. Your responses to classmates should contain at least 100 words.

Discussions are configured in D2L to require that you make an initial posting prior to being
able to view any of your classmates’ postings, and do not allow you to edit/delete posts. Your
first chronological posting will be graded as your initial post.

Discussions will be worth 15 points, with each of the three required postings worth 5 points
each. These five points will be based upon:

Criteria Pts
Timeliness Posting was made on time. 1
Length Posting contained minimum number of words. 1
Relevance & Postings were both on-topic with respect to the original discussion 3
Accuracy topic and/or the post being replied to, and contained accurate
statements, including (informal) citations when necessary.

Participation in discussions may also be used to determine borderline grades at the end of
the semester.

Students are also expected to follow netiquette guidelines, found in the Course Resources
module at the beginning of the course, when interacting with the class on the discussion
boards.

Quizzes
There will be 12 quizzes, available from 12 am (Eastern) Thursday through 11:59 pm (Eastern)
Sunday of the weeks they are assigned. The lowest two quiz scores will be dropped. All
quizzes will consist of 10 multiple choice, true/false, or matching questions. There is a time
limit of 10 minutes.

Incorrect Grades
Students have 10 days from the time a grade is posted in LIVE to report an error in the
grading of an exam, discussion, or lab for it to be regraded and, if necessary, the score to be
adjusted.

Incomplete Grades
Incomplete grades will be given at the sole discretion of the instructor. Incompletes will only
be given if proper documentation is provided to support a situation, such as illness of the
student or family member or other life event, that would make it otherwise impossible to

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complete all coursework prior to the end of the semester. Incompletes will not be given
simply because a student did not finish all of the coursework prior to the end of the semester.

Course Schedule
The course schedule is attached at the end of this syllabus. It is tentative and subject to
change. The most recent version can be found online on the course website.

Course Policies
Attendance/Communication
Just as attendance is critical to success in a face-to-face course, communication is critical to
success in an online course. Students should check in to the online course and their Wilkes
email account daily for updates in the course.

Late Assignments
Late assignments will be assessed a penalty of 25% of the points earned, plus 25% for each
additional day that the assignment is late. Assignments more than four days late will earn 0
points. Late assignments will not be accepted following the conclusion of classes (which
excludes finals week).

Inclement Weather
In the case of inclement weather, you are still required to complete all work in this course,
even if the University is closed during the period in which the work is assigned or due. If
the University closes on the day of an exam, the exam will be held on the following week.

Academic Integrity Policy

All work is expected to be entirely your own work, unless otherwise directed by the
instructor. While you are encouraged to help fellow students, this does not allow for directly
receiving answers or electronic files to complete the course work.

The following definitions from the Wilkes University Student Handbook constitute
violations of academic integrity:

• Plagiarism: The use of another’s ideas, programs, or words without proper

acknowledgement.
• Collusion: Improper collaboration with another in preparing assignments, computer
programs, or in taking examinations.
• Cheating: Giving improper aid to another, or receiving such aid from another, or from
some other sources.
• Falsifying: The fabrication, misrepresentation, or alteration of citations, experimental
data, laboratory data, or data derived from other empirical methods.

Examples of providing help to a fellow student include:

• Pointing a fellow student to a particular page in the course text

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 • Pointing a fellow student to a particular slide in the lecture slides
• Pointing a fellow student to a particular example from class demonstrations

Under no circumstances does providing an answer to another student fall under the
category of help.

Penalties for violations of the Academic Integrity policy will be assessed for both any
students who provided or received improper assistance.

The first violation of the academic integrity policy will result in penalties up to the following:
• 0 points awarded on the grade in question
• A deduction of 1.0 point off of the final average on the 4.0 scale
• As described in the section of this syllabus regarding Course Withdrawals, the
instructor will not grant permission to drop the course if the violation occurs in
Withdrawal Period 2 or later in the semester
• If the violation occurs on an assessment within a grading category with a dropped
grade, that assessment will not count as one of the dropped scores
• Notification to the student’s academic advisor, Chair of the Department of
Mathematics and Computer Science, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering,
Dean/Associate Dean of Student Affairs, and Provost

A second violation will result in an automatic final course grade 0.0 for the course, and a
report of the violation to the Dean of Student Affairs for disciplinary action, which will be
placed in your permanent record.

For more information, see the section on Plagiarism in the Wilkes University Student
Handbook (http://www.wilkes.edu/PDFFiles/StudentHandbook/StudentHandbook.pdf,
pages 74-76).

The instructor of this course may run student work through plagiarism detection software,
such as TurnItIn or Grammarly.

All exams should be taken without the use of any resources, including physical resources,
digital resources, computer applications (with the exception of the web browser with a
single tab that has the exam window open), other people, etc. Failure to comply with these
requirements will result in the penalties outlined above. Any attempts to circumvent the
Lockdown Browser or Respondus Monitor software will be considered a violation of the
academic integrity policy.

As noted in Wilkes University’s Acceptable Use Policy

(https://wilkes.edu/PDFFiles/ITS/AcceptableUse_Policy_2014-2.pdf, page 2): “Users may not,
under any circumstances, […] share their access credentials with other individuals with the
exception of Information Technology Services support staff for support-related functions.” Any
student found to be sharing their Wilkes login information (which includes email and
LIVE) will automatically be found in violation of the Academic Integrity Policy of this
course if there is any question as to whether the student or somebody else completed
course work. The University’s policy prohibits sharing login information, removing the

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possibility of any valid reason/excuse for this to happen, and it will be assumed that it was to
have another person complete your coursework

Course Withdrawal
As per the Wilkes University Student Handbook
(http://www.wilkes.edu/PDFFiles/StudentHandbook/StudentHandbook.pdf, pages 81-82):
• Weeks 1 and 2: Students may withdraw from the course for any reason by informing
the course instructor and their academic advisor.
• Weeks 3 through 10: Students may withdraw from the course with approval from the
course instructor and their academic advisor. I will grant approval for any reason
unless the student has violated the academic integrity policy outlined in the
syllabus.
• Week 11 and later: Students may withdraw from the course with approval from the
course instructor and Dean of the College of Science and Engineering. Poor
performance is not a sufficient reason to withdraw from a course after the 10th
week. However, I will respect the Dean’s decision and grant permission if their
approval is granted.

Special Accommodations
If a student has a disability that qualifies under the Americans with Disabilities Act and
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and requires accommodations, the student should
contact the Disability Office within University College.

Help Desk
Any issues you encounter with your Wilkes accounts or computers in the open labs should be
directed to the Help Desk, at (570) 408 HELP.

Syllabus: CS 115 INA/INB – Spring 2021 Page 7

Course Schedule
The schedule is subject to change. An up-to-date version can be found online on the course website.

Week Readings Assignments

Course Introduction/Syllabus Introductions
Computer Basics, Productivity D2L Setup
1 (2/1)
Apps Discussion: Dependence on Technology
Quiz 1
Labs: Excel Introduction Discussion: Internet Addiction
2 (2/8) Lab: Excel Practice, Excel Problem #1
Quiz 2
Hardware, Part 1 Discussion: Outsourcing/Automation
3 (2/15) Lab: Absolute Cell Referencing Lab: Excel Problem (#2)
Quiz 3
Hardware, Part 2 Discussion: Digital Disruption
4 (2/22) Lab: Tables/Charts Lab: Charts
Quiz 4
Lab: PivotTables, VLOOKUP Discussion: Political Power
Lab: PivotTables
5 (3/1)
EXAM 1 (Modules 1-5): Available 8am Thursday, March 4th through 12pm
Monday, March 8th
Software Discussion: Biotechnology
6 (3/8) Lab: What-If Analysis Lab: What-If Analysis
Quiz 5
Security Discussion: Open Wireless
7 (3/15) Privacy on Social Media Lab: Word Styles
Lab: Word Quiz 6
The Internet Discussion: The Bystander Effect
8 (3/22) Search Engines Lab: PowerPoint Template
Lab: PowerPoint Quiz 7
Lab: Google Drive Discussion: Right To Be Forgotten
9 (3/29) Lab: Google Drive
Quiz 8
Media Discussion: Net Neutrality
Wordpress Lab: Website
10 (4/5)
EXAM 2 (Modules 6-10): Available 8am Thursday, April 8th through 12pm
Monday, April 12th
Databases Discussion: Digital Divide
11 (4/12) Lab: Access Lab: Database (due end of Module 13)
Quiz 9
Networking Discussion: DRM vs. Piracy
12 (4/19) Lab: Access (2) Lab: Database (due end of Module 13)
Quiz 10
13 (4/26) Artificial Intelligence Discussion: Ad Blockers

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 Lab: Access (3) Lab: Database
Quiz 11
Data Mining Discussion: Making AI Make Decisions
14 (5/3) Lab: Data Mining
Quiz 12
Course Wrap-Up Discussion: Boundaries of Data Mining
COMPLETE SRS FORMS
15 (5/10)
EXAM 3 (Modules 11-15): Available 8am Monday, May 10th through 11:59pm
Friday, May 14th
*** THERE IS NO CUMULATIVE FINAL EXAM FOR THIS COURSE ***

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