Course Objective:

Information technology is transforming firms, markets, products, and processes with remarkable speed. This presents managers with new challenges and valuable opportunities.  Firms are turning to information technology not just to solve isolated problems, but also as a catalyst for organizational change and as an  integrating force that can span functions, time, and space.

The objective of this course is to teach you some frameworks for analyzing the use of information technology in organizations.  While the focus of lectures will be on the frameworks themselves and using them for analysis, the assignments will give you further opportunities to use the frameworks for analysis, and the assignments and class discussions will provide numerous opportunities to enhance your communication skills.  The course is designed with line and senior managers in mind, as opposed to the   managers of the IS function.  The course focuses on:

electronic business;

the strategic use of information technology;

search, social media, and mobile and cloud computing;

big data, data mining, and data visualization;

the impact of information technology on organizations;

two important applications of information technology: spreadsheets and databases.

Grading:

About half the assignments will be using online tools (spreadsheets, databases, and data visualization) and about half will be related to cases. You have the option of doing the assignments alone or with one or two other people. My recommendation is to either work alone or with one other person. While the maximum team size is three, this is just to give you flexibility forming teams.  All of the assignments   have been designed to be done individually.  One of the best things you can do to help insure your success in the class is to try and do the online assignments with one other person with a similar background with the application in question.  While doing them alone may theoretically be preferable, working with someone else of a similar background reduces the chances of getting stuck and frustrated with some relatively trivial mechanical detail.  Every semester some students are disappointed with the results of their exams.  Inevitably, in almost every such case, the they did not actually do the assignments themselves. Instead, they merely looked at and “understood” what their team submitted.  There is no substitute for actually doing the assignment whether alone or with a teammate.

Short of a medical or personal emergency, no extensions will be given after the due date. If you can’t finish an assignment on time, contact me before the due date, ideally at least 24 hours (not 2 – 3 hours). Do not submit an assignment late without contacting me first. Everyone has demands on their time. It is much better to get something in than nothing. Again, if you need an extension, contact me before the due date.

Regrade requests must be made within one week of the item’s return.  The entire assignment or exam may be regraded, not just the questions requested, so that the grade may go up or down . For each question or part of question a re-grade is requested, there is a 1-point “re-grade fee” that is refunded if the re- grade request is warranted, i.e., more points are awarded. While most people only request a re-grade when they think it is warranted, occasionally people request a significant percentage of the exam be re-graded seemingly hoping to get another few points. This is neither fair to the instructor nor the rest of the class that is not engaging in frivolous re-grading. From an economic perspective, you should only seek a re-grade on a question if you think there is at least a 50% chance you deserve at least one additional point. Again, the 1-point fee is only if you request a re-grade on a question and the instructor determines that no additional points are warranted.

Extra Credit:

There will be opportunities for extra credit, e.g., for filling out surveys.  In total, they will add at most 1% to your course grade.  I will make up grades without extra credit, establish grading breakpoints, and then  add in the extra credit.  Thus, you do not need to do any extra credit to do well, e.g., get an A.  If extra credit moves you from just below a grade cutoff to just above, you will get the higher grade.

Switching Teams:

Over the course of the semester you will be allowed to switch teams once, e.g., you can go from working   alone to working with someone else or from working with someone else to working alone or working with a different person.  Note that switching teams will apply for assignments that have not yet been distributed, i.e., existing teams will remain for any assignments that have already been made.  Also note that for the project, you can make other arrangements, again with a maximum team size of three.

Class Participation:

The best way to appreciate many aspects of the use and impact of information technology is through class discussion.  I view this course as a cooperative learning experience and expect students to share insights   from their own experience as well as the readings.  As such, it is important that you be prepared for class.

I expect that you will be prepared for class discussion whenever we discuss cases or I otherwise have asked you to prepare for class.  Good comments are relevant to the topic at hand and provide further insight. Frequently, there are not “right” answers.  Better comments are made clearly and are well supported.   In addition, it is important to foster a positive learning environment.  While it is fine, perhaps even good, to disagree with another student, be sure to do so in a thoughtful and considerate manner.  Demonstrating mastery of advance material at inappropriate times does not help foster a positive learning environment. Asking “dumb” questions often does help; frequently many other students have the same question and are  relieved someone asked it.

Class Recordings:

I have asked that the class be videotaped and these recordings will be posted on Blackboard. There is always the possibility for technical problems.

Classroom Etiquette:

If you come in late or need to leave early, please do not walk across the front of the classroom.  Instead, please sit near the door.  If you arrive early, please sit in the middle or far side of the room so there are  seats for people that arrive late or need to leave early.

Exams:

Please contact me immediately if you anticipate missing an exam.  Exams will be online and open-book and open-notes.

Honor Code:

If you choose to be on a team, you will obviously work with them on assignments.  However , you should not be working with students from any other team.  In addition, you should not be using solutions or student assignments from previous semesters (except when these have been distributed in class this quarter).  In short, any written work should be entirely your own or your team’s.  More information is available atwww.rochester.edu/college/honesty. Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Note that any projects must be unique for this class, i.e., not be used for or overlap with one for another class or purpose without my explicit written permission (if you are interested in having your project be an extension of something else, let’s discuss).