Online Computer Information Systems program curriculum

Achieve your true potential! This course will help you sharpen existing skills, build on your strengths, and discover the best ways to learn. You'll identify your learning styles, learn new behaviors to ensure college success, and maximize your learning as you complete your program of study.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Identify personal strengths and traits used to succeed in motivating and setting goals to complete higher education.
• Describe the requirements for successful online learning.
• Discuss the value of goal setting and time management.
• Explain methods to achieve effective reading comprehension and note-taking.
• Recognize effective academic writing and types of plagiarism.
• Describe strategies for online testing.
• Explain the role of critical thinking in problem solving.
• Identify the necessary skills for successful online research.

Credit Hours: 3

Introduction to Computers provides you with foundational skills and knowledge needed for today's technology-based careers. You'll learn the components of systems—from the CPU and memory to input devices and peripherals—and how these components interact with an operating system to perform critical tasks. Keeping current with fast-changing computer technologies, this course will discuss the computer technologies today that are allowing the creation of a virtualized mobile workforce. It will explore how computers connect to the internet, what services can be found online, and what dangers exist in the form of viruses, Trojans, and other malware. The course will also familiarize you with the basics of today's office productivity applications and help to establish a foundation for working with these different types of applications, including spreadsheets and presentation-creation tools.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Identify all of the major types of computing devices and their internal and external components.
• Compile a list of the various computer operating systems that are utilized today and identify characteristics about each one.
• Relate the various cloud-based technologies to the virtual and remote abilities that are utilized in a professional environment.
• Describe modern office productivity suite applications.
• Illustrate basic office software tasks using Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
• Characterize the role computer networking plays in society and identify current networking technologies.
• List the hardware components, software applications, and IT protocols that make the internet possible today.
• Apply basic maintenance tasks on your computer to combat viruses, malware, and computing inefficiencies.

Credit Hours: 3

This course offers an introduction to basic writing skills that are especially relevant to academic assignments. The course focuses on APA paragraph development and organization in conjunction with a review of basic grammar and mechanics. The course also covers basic techniques for critically editing and revising one's work.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Use appropriate style, grammar, and mechanics in writing assignments.
• Compose a strong paragraph with attention to the following: topic sentences; and effective use of transitions.
• Identify and use a variety of essay structures, including expository, descriptive, narrative, comparison and contrast, and persuasion/argumentative.
• Organize, develop, and produce a fully developed five-paragraph essay.
• Differentiate and apply correct techniques for prewriting, writing, and proofreading using a variety of styles.
• Correctly apply the rules of APA for use in direct or indirect quotations and reference citations.

Credit Hours: 3

This course provides an overview of technological advances over the span of human history. Topics include the interrelationship of technology and culture; ethics and morals as they relate to technological progress; energy; ecology; demography; war and politics; and the unintended consequences of globalization, including social inequality, climate change, and global warming.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Explain how technology and culture are interrelated, and outline technological advances from ancient times to the present.
• Discuss different perspectives on ethics and morals as they relate to technological applications.
• Explain basic concepts related to energy, including the pros and cons of nonrenewable and renewable sources of energy.
• Discuss basic concepts of ecology, including the environmental challenges of global warming and climate change.
• Explain basic concepts of demography, especially as they apply to population growth.
• Describe how war and politics have affected nations as they adapted to advances in technologies.
• Explain the origins of global inequality, including colonialism and capitalism.
• Discuss different approaches to measuring the evolution of technologies, the unintended consequences of globalization, and the prospects of a paradigm shift.

Credit Hours: 3

In this course, you will learn how to navigate Windows 10, work with files and folders, and conduct Google searches in Microsoft Edge. You will discover Windows apps, including Windows Entertainment, Information, and Productivity apps. You will also learn about viruses and spyware, along with strategies to protect your computer. Lastly, you will be provided with the knowledge needed to practice advanced resource, performance, and task management.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Navigate Windows 10, create and save documents, and manage a Windows 10 system.
• Work with files and folders, using File Explorer to display locations, folders, and files.
• Use Windows 10 backup and recovery tools.
• Discover Windows Entertainment, Information, and Productivity apps.
• Practice advanced file management and use search tools in File Explorer.
• Conduct Google searches in Microsoft Edge and use Windows 10 Utility and Accessibility apps.
• Discuss viruses and spyware, along with strategies to protect your computer from both types of malware.
• Understand factors that slow down computers.
• Use Task Manager, resource and performance monitors, and the services console.

Credit Hours: 3

The ability to communicate well is essential to success in any professional environment. English Composition II is organized to provide you with a broad understanding of multiple types of written communication. Far from being just academic exercises, formal writing skills allow you to relate to the world in ever-increasing ways. Simply put, good writing is good thinking. As you master various techniques of effective writing, you'll note a change in the way you process information, and those around you (including your employer) will also note the transformation.

English Composition II begins with the assumption that you've attained basic writing skills through completion of English Composition I. So, in fact, English Composition II is a continuation of English Composition I. In that light, you'll be expected to access and review basic concepts covered in English Composition I and, in particular, the sections on grammar and mechanics.

English Composition II begins by offering you tips on college writing, active reading, and study strategies at the college level. Next, you'll explore the framework for drafting a college essay, including elaborate explorations for finding a topic, assessing your audience, and determining the purpose of your essay as you identify its thesis and craft a thesis statement.

Next, because college essays often require research, you'll be introduced to strategies for finding and using sources. Based on this preparatory foundation, you'll be challenged to analyze essays in all of the various rhetorical modes, which, in turn, will prepare you to write college-level essays for these different patterns of development.

The balance of this online text is devoted to the specifics of reading, analyzing, and writing college-level essays, including description, narration, illustration, process analysis, comparison and Contrast, classification and Division, definition, cause and Effect, argument, and business applications.

By the end of EN130, you'll be able to do the following:

• Describe the nature of academic writing at the college level.
• Understand and apply the principles of active reading.
• Comprehend and apply the structure of a college essay.
• Develop an essay thesis that's supported by facts, authorities, and examples.
• Apply the principles of revision and editing.
• Write an academic essay supported by relevant and credible sources.
• Critically evaluate essays in all of these patterns of development:

  • Narrative, Descriptive, Illustration, Process, Comparison and contrast, Definition, Classification and division, Cause and effect, Argument.
• Create effective, engaging, and informative essays in all of these patterns of discourse through the following:

  • A deep understanding of the writing process; Organizing an essay in terms of space order, time order, or order of importance; Creating attention-getting introductions and memorable conclusions; Using facts, logical reasoning, examples, and authorities to support your thesis; Identifying and avoiding logical fallacies; Effectively applying the techniques of persuasion; Blending two or more patterns of development in a single essay.

Credit Hours: 3

View General Education Elective (Science 100-200 Level) offerings.

This course, MS Office Applications I, is designed to help the student get started in the world of computing. Students will learn about similarities among Office applications and will focus on Word and Excel, the word processing and spreadsheet programs, respectively, included in Microsoft Office. Upon completion of the course, students will better understand how to gain the most out of their Windows operating system and the applications packaged in Office 2016.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Explore the Microsoft Office 2016 Environment and perform basic tasks.
• Perform commands from the Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar and apply formatting in Office Programs.
• Create a document and use a template, working with text and graphics.
• Insert and modify text, graphics, text boxes, and drawing objects.
• Create and modify lists and tab stops and insert a SmartArt graphic and an Online Video.
• Launch and use Excel Online and Google Sheets.
• Create, save, and navigate an Excel workbook, using functions, formatting cells, adding cell styles and themes, and charting data in a worksheet.
• Edit values, construct formulas, and format a worksheet.

Credit Hours: 3

This course, MS Office Applications II, is designed to help students expand their knowledge of the world of computing. In this course, students will focus on Access, PowerPoint, and Outlook, which respectively are the database management, presentation, and e-mail/scheduling programs included in Microsoft Office. Access is a database system for retaining and using essential information. PowerPoint is a graphics and audio-visual application and is the most visual and creative of the Microsoft applications. Outlook is an e-mail program used for sending and receiving messages. Each aspect of this course will further hone the students' computing skills and prepare them for full use of the Microsoft Office 2016 package.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Explain the basic terms and uses of Microsoft Access 2016 and PowerPoint 2016.
• Create new databases, tables, queries, forms, and reports with Access.
• Create a complete database from a template in Access.
• Open a new, blank PowerPoint presentation and add content, pictures, and themes.
• Edit, format, and apply slide transitions to a PowerPoint presentation.
• Provide an overview of functions and terminology used in Outlook 2016.
• Manage email with Outlook.
• Manage records, tasks, and a calendar with Outlook.

Credit Hours: 3

This course introduces the design and development of databases using data modeling tools, normalization, structured query language (SQL), database application design, and Internet technology.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Discuss the term database, its importance, what it contains, and the tasks necessary to develop a database.
• Write queries in SQL to retrieve data from single and multiple tables using a variety of the basic commands.
• Explain the concept of functional dependency, primary keys, candidate keys, composite keys, and the advantages and disadvantages of normalization.
• Describe the key elements of the E-R model, data modeling processes, and transforming data models into database design.
• Create table structures, views, and application programming using SQL statements.
• Discuss the concept of database redesign.
• Manage multiuser databases and databases with Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, MySQL, and ArangoDB.
• Discuss web server environments, Big Data, data warehouses, and business intelligent systems.

Credit Hours: 3