THE WALLACE E. CARROLL SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
MD240: Management Information Systems
Fall 2002
MD240 Home
Syllabus/Schedule
Guidelines/Grading
Case Study Questions
Team Project
GRADING:
The percentage breakdown of your final grade will be as follows:
10% Class Participation
10% Case Study Analysis Outlines
15% Quiz Scores
25% Team Project: CRM Case Study Simulation
15% Midterm Exam
25% Final Exam
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100%
CLASS PARTICIPATION:
Much of the value of a business education comes from thought processes that you develop through communication and cooperation experiences. As a result, much of what you will learn during this course will result from a thoughtful exchange of ideas during class. Those of you who are geniuses and have led debate club have gifts that you are obligated to share with your peers. The rest of us, typically, have fears about thinking out loud or standing out in front of our peers. For these individuals, it is imperative to get used to talking in the language of IS and reasoning about IS on our feet, so that we can (i) figure out whether the geniuses are for real and not just feeding us a line, and (ii) develop an authoritative managerial communication style. It is important that everyone makes their best effort to contribute.
From prior experience, many students openly contribute to classes, and those students tend to get A's. Other students contribute less, or not at all, and tend to get grades somewhere below those who contribute.
To grade class contributions, students will be scored on a 0-1 point scale three times throughout the semester. Sufficient contributions to class will obtain you a score of 1, which will be worth approximately 3% of your grade. Making no contributions to the class, or being absent without excuse, will lead to a score of 0 for that period. (Note that scheduling several job interviews during class time is not considered to be a valid excuse. One, yes. Week after week, no.) While this may not seem to be much, you should realize that three consecutive zeros will drag your grade down by a full letter grade.
Of course, I do not expect that every student will contribute to every class. Note that it is the quality of comments that counts the most. Interim class participation scores will be posted periodically to the class page on the World Wide Web, and you are always free to ask me in person directly about your participation.
CASE ANALYSIS OUTLINE:
Over the course of the semester, we will have three case study discussions. For these discussions to work well, it is essential that all students come fully prepared.
To help you structure your preparation, I will provide a list of discussion questions for each case study. You will be asked to turn in a typed, one-page outline for a total of two case studies. For each of these you will do your analysis individually.
The case analysis outline should concisely present your thoughts on each of the discussion questions. For the individual write-ups, your outline should be in the range of 1-2 pages (note: 0.5 pages is not enough), use full 1 inch margins, using a font no smaller than 12 pt Times Roman. Bullet points or other devices to get your thoughts across quickly are recommended.
Your overall case grade will be the average of your two case write-ups. Grades will be assigned on a 10 point scale, as follows:
10 pts: Outstanding analysis
9 pts: Excellent analysis
8 pts: Very good analysis
7 pts: Good analysis
6 pts: So-so analysis
5 pts: and lower: Poor analysis
TEAM PROJECT: CRM CASE SIMULATION:
You will be asked to form groups of approximately 5 students each. Your group will work under the guidance of professional CRM consultants from Deloitte Consulting to provide a solution to a case study. For more information, please see the Team Project web page.
Grading will be based on the following elements:
(1) quality and thoroughness of your analysis and solution,
(2) quality of your written deliverable(s),
(3) quality of presentation of your solution, and
(4) apparent original research effort involved, e.g., how much time you spent interviewing your client, researching technologies that might relate to your project, etc.
QUIZ:
There will be a total of four multiple choice quizzes based on the readings. The top three quiz grades will be used to calculate your final grade. Quizzes will be taken during class time, but won't be discussed in class. Grade results, disputes, and question content discussions will be handled completely after class or via email. This way, the administrative aspects of the quizzes will be handled outside of class, leaving class time for other topics. A zero will be given on any quiz missed and there will be no make-ups.
MIDTERM AND FINAL EXAMS:
The examinations will provide opportunities for you to integrate the concepts, cases, and discussions. The midterm exam will be oriented toward mastering terminology and technologies from the first half of the course. The format of the midterm exam will be short answer. The final exam will be comprehensive and will cover all material from the full semester. The format of the final exam will be essay-based medium and long answer.
NOTE: The Carroll School's Educational Policy Committee clarified school policy for faculty during Fall semester 2001, stating that (i) faculty must hold an exam in each class during finals week unless they notify the Dean otherwise, and (ii) final exams must be held during finals weeek and not before. As such, each student in MD240 will be expected to take the final exam during finals week at the time specified by the Boston College final exam schedule.
Disability Accommodation:
If any student has need for a specific accommodation, please discuss this with me early in the semester.
Plagiarism, Unduly Stressful Situations, etc.:
All students are expected to do their own work, unless instructed to work in groups. If any homework instructions are unclear, please ask me to clarify. I will not tolerate cheating of any kind. Any academic offense, such as plagiarism or cheating, will be handled according to protocol in the Boston College student handbook.
Also, if you are having trouble keeping up with the material because of uncontrollable situations (e.g., personal loss, girlfriend or boyfriend left you, who knows what else) and have missed some classes or quizzes, please talk to me about it. I would rather know what is going on, than just be left wondering why you are not in class.