CS131: Software for Personal Computing

(Fall 2009)

Course Instructor: Michel Hanna

Course CRN: 13364

Instructor's Office: 6504 Sennott Square

Phone: 412-624-9955

mail: mhanna@cs.pitt.edu

 

Class Times: Monday and Wednesday from 3:00 PM to 4:15 PM

Class Location: 5505 Sennott Square

Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM and by appointment

Course syllabus is here.

Announcements:

1-      The Final exam’s review sheet is available now here.

2-      There will be no class on Monday 12/02/2009 and there is no homework assigned to this day. The final exam review materials will be ready on Sunday 12/06/2009 or even before it.

3-      Quiz # 3 is on Monday 11/09/2009 covering MS Excel and Quiz # 4 is on Wednesday 11/18/2009 covering MS PowerPoint

4-     The final Exam time is changed to be 10:00AM to 11:50AM. It’s still the same date Dec. 17th 2009. At the same classroom 5505 Sennott Square.

5-     The midterm is going to be on Monday 19th of October regular class time.

6-      The midterm review sheet is posted here

7-      Quiz # 2 is on Monday 10/05/2009!

8-      You should have your book with you every class starting Sept 21st.

9-      The final exam is determined at Thursday, December 17th

Course Schedule

Day

Topic

Slides & Labs Activities

Homework/Comments

Aug 31

*      Getting started

*      Course syllabus

*      Available Free software to students on campus

*      Campus Computing Services (Accounts, Computing Labs & others)

*      Where is my Pitt Password?

*      Got Wireless?! and the Pitt public key

*      Slides: Introduction to Computers

*      The book we are using is "Go with Microsoft, Office 2007 Introductory" Make sure you buy the right version.

*      We will have home work on regular bases. Please check this page section frequently.

Sep 2

 

*      Introduction to Windows

*      Working with shortcuts (why?)

*      Compress files

*      Show/hide file extensions

*      File type associations

*      Using the Clipboard

*      Saving a File

*      Customize Your Desktop/Start Menu/Taskbar

*      Slides: Introduction to Windows XP

*      Please read the extra materials slides about Windows XP for the next time!

Sep 7

*      Labor day (No Class today)

Sep 9

*      Continue with Windows slides II

*      Show/hide file extensions

*      File type associations

*      Customize Your Desktop/Start Menu/Taskbar

*      Compress files

*      Using dialog boxes and other controls

*      Slides: Win XP tutorial (extra materials)

*      Lab1-WinXP and the activity sheet.

*      We are not doing sections 2, 5, 9, 15 in the Lab1-WinXP document; however you are attempting the entire activity sheet.

*      Homework for Sep 14th: hand in your Windows activity sheet.

Sep 14

*      The Andrew File System (AFS)

*      Demo for AFS mapping

*      Working with AFS

*      Known problems when using AFS Client

*      Slides: The AFS Slides

*      AFS Client – Lab 2

*      Download a copy of the AFS-Client program.

*      AFS problems

*      There is no Homework today; however, we will have quiz this Wednesday Sep 16th. Do not come late!

Sep 16

*      Introduction to UNIX

*      Connecting to remote UNIX machine

*      Login and log out of UNIX

*      Some of the most handy UNIX commands

*      Change directory and print current directory

*      Copy, rename, delete and move files and folders

*      Edit text files in UNIX

*      Quiz # 1 (Introduction slides + Windows slides + lab1 + lectures)

*      Slides: Unix and Telnet

*      UNIX - Lab 3

*      If we did not finish the lab today, you can hand it in next Monday September 21st.

Sep 21

*      Configure Outlook

*      Start and Navigate Outlook

*      Read and Respond to Email

*      Delete Outlook Information

*      Store Contact Information

*      Manage Tasks

*      Work with the Calendar

*      You should have your book with you today!

*      Slides: Outlook

*      Lab 4: project 2A from the book: Activities: 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8 and 2.9

*      Required files

*      Homework (due Sep 28th): Project 2C from the book ONLY.

*      Required files

Sep 23

*      MS word chapter 5 from the book

*      Slides: Creating Documents with MS Word 2007

*      Project 5A: Skip 5.1, 5.5

*      Files required

*       No Homework!

Sep 28

*      Continue MS word chapter 5

*      Project 5B: Skip 5.13, 5.14, 5.21, 5.22

*      Files required

*      Homework (due Oct 5th): Project 5G (Contract) from the 1st edition or Project 5E from the 3rd edition.

*      Files required

Sep 30

*      MS word chapter 6 from the book

*      Slides: Formatting and Organizing Text

*      Project 6B

*      Files required

*       

*      Files required

Oct 5

*      MS word chapter 7 from the book

*      Quiz # 2 (AFS + Unix + Outlook + Word Ch5)

*      Slides: Using Graphics and Tables

*      Project 7A: Skip activities 7.8-to-7.11

*      Project 7B: we will add it to project 7A

*      Files required

*      Project “Student Days” (7I from 1st edition book or 7G from 3rd edition book) due October 13th 2009.

*      Files required

Oct 7

*      MS word chapter 8 from the book

*      Slides: Special Document Formats, Columns

*      Lab 9 – how to create your own webpage

*      Project “Itinerary” (8G from 1st edition book or 8E from 3rd edition book) due October 23st 2009.

*      Send it by email send it before the 24th of Oct!

*      Files required

Oct 12

One day Fall Break
(No Class today but we will meet tomorrow instead!)

Oct 13

*      Review Session and materials for the midterm

Oct 14

*      Starting up MS Excel Chapter 9

*      Slides: Creating a Worksheet and Charting Data

*      Project 9A from the book

*      Project Team Comparisons (9I from the 1st edition and 9G from the 3rd edition) due October 26th 2009.

Oct 19

*      Midterm Exam

Oct 21

*      No Class today (Research Engagement)

Oct 26

*      Continuing MS Excel Chapter 9

*      No files are required

*      Do not leave early!

Oct 28

*      MS Excel Chapter 10

*      Slides: Managing Workbooks and Analyzing Data

*      Project 10B

*      No Files are required!

*      Homework project ”Venue Revenue” 10H (1st edition book) or 10F (3rd edition) due Nov 4th 2009.

*      Files required

Nov 2

*      MS Excel Chapter 11

*      Slides: Using Functions and Tables

*      Project 11B

*      No files are required

*      Homework project “Retirement” 11H (1st edition book) or 11F (3rd edition) due Nov 9th 2009.

*      Files required

*      Additional homework - Excel Homework (due Nov 11th 2009)

Nov 4

*      Starting up MS PowerPoint Chapter 15

*      Slides: Starting MS PowerPoint 2007

*      Project 15B

*      Files required

*      Homework project “Flyer” 15G (1st edition book) or 15E (3rd edition) due Nov 11th 2009.

*      Files required

Nov 9

*      MS PowerPoint Chapter 16

*      Quiz # 3 covering MS Excel!

*      Slides: Designing a PowerPoint Presentation

*      Project 16B & for each slide do the following steps:
- Add a different slide transition to each slide.
- Add animations to the first 4 slides (use Entrance and Exit effects only)

*      Files required

*      Homework project “Family” 16H (1st edition book) or 16F (3rd edition) due Nov 18th 2009.

*      Files required

Nov 11

*      MS PowerPoint Chapter 17

*      Slides: Enhancing a Presentation with Animation, Tables, and Charts

*      Project 17B

*      Files required

*      Homework project “Restaurants” 17G (1st edition book) or 17E (3rd edition) due Nov 23th 2009.

*      Files required

Nov 16

*      No Class today (Research Engagement)

Nov 18

*      Starting up MS Access Chapter 12

*      Quiz # 4 covering MS PowerPoint!

*      Slides: Getting Started with Access Databases and Tables

*      Project 12A: Activities 1 to 9

*      No Files are required

*      Homework project “Gift Shop” 12G (1st edition book) or 12E (3rd edition) due Nov 30th 2009.

*      Files required

Nov 23

*      Continue MS Access Chapter 12

*      Integrated projects from the book

*      Same slides

Nov 25

Thanksgivings recess (No class Today)

Nov 30

*      MS Access Chapter 13

*      Slides: Sort and Query a Database

*      Project 13A

*      Files required

*      Homework project “Students and Scholarships” 13I (1st edition book) or 13G (3rd edition) due Dec 9th 2009.

*      Files required

Dec 2

*      MS Access Chapter 14

*      Slides: Forms, Filters, and Reports

*      Project 14A

*      Files required

*      Homework project “Raffle Sponsors” 14G (1st edition book) or 14E (3rd edition) due Dec 9th 2009.

*      Files required

Dec 7

*      No class today

Dec 9

*      Review Session

*      Access Only

*      The final exam’s review sheet

*      Office hours are by appointment ONLY

Dec 14

No Class Today according to the regulations

Thursday Dec 17

10:00 AM to 11:50 AM

The Final Exam at 5505 Sennott Square

Note: different day and different time

 Important Websites and Resources:

    my.pitt.edu

    Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Viewer (For viewing the Lecture slides)

    Dr. Khalifa's Webpage for more resources

    FTP archive for the book CD

 Announcements:

-    The Final exam’s review sheet is available now here.

-    There will be no class on Monday 12/02/2009 and there is no homework assigned to this day.. The final exam review materials will be ready on Sunday 12/06/2009 or even before it.

-    Quiz # 3 is on Monday 11/09/2009 covering MS Excel and Quiz # 4 is on Wednesday 11/18/2009 covering MS PowerPoint

-    The Final Exam time is changed to be 10:00AM to 11:50AM. It’s still the same date Dec. 17th 2009. At the same classroom 5505 Sennott Square.

-    The midterm is going to be on Monday 19th of October regular class time.

-    The midterm review sheet is posted here

-       Quiz # 2 on Monday 10/05/2009!

-    You should have your book with you every class starting Sept 21st.

-    The final exam is determined at Thursday, December 17th

General and Important Administrative Rules:

1-      Start your email subject to me with the course number “cs131:”

2-      Check this web page at least two times a week, i.e., once before each class

3-      Come early to the class and log in to your computer

4-      It’s not OK to surf the web during the class or do anything other than what we are working on (see the syllabus)

5-      The labs are due on the same day

6-      You have to have the book every class starting the second week