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NOVA COLLEGE-WIDE COURSE CONTENT SUMMARY

ITE 115 - INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER APPLICATIONS & CONCEPTS (3 CR.)



Course Description
Covers computer concepts and Internet skills and uses a software suite, which includes word processing,
spreadsheet, database, and presentation software to demonstrate skills. Lecture - 3 hours per week


Course Prerequisites/Co-requisites
Students must be able to read and write at the college level.


Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

Identify and discuss the four main functions of computer hardware: input, processing, output, and
storage.
Identify and describe major hardware components.
Identify, describe and use communications and networking terminology and technology to include
Internet operations and its uses.
Describe the major operating system functions and demonstrate usage of operating system services
to include: disk management, file management, and memory management.
Identify and discuss computer ethics and security issues.
Demonstrate searching, validation, and evaluation of information found online and in library
databases.
Identify, discuss and use important categories of application software: word processing, spreadsheet,
database management, and presentation graphics.
Identify and discuss software development processes and programming languages.
Create a Web site with xhtml tags and post to a Web server
Identify and discuss Decision Support Systems, Artificial Intelligence, agents, and emerging
technology. (optional)


Course Content
Computer Hardware
Communications Technology
Operating Systems
Ethics and Security
Information Literacy
Productivity Tools
Word Processing
Spreadsheets
Databases
Presentation Graphics
Web Authoring and Publishing
Software Development
Specialized and Emerging Technologies (optional)





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Computer Hardware

Input/Output
Define the term hardware.
Describe the different monitor and resolution types:
Describe the use of the keyboard and other input devices.
Describe various pointing devices (mouse, trackball, joystick, touchpad).
Discuss different print technologies.
Discuss the function of hardware ports (serial, parallel, USB, firewire).



Processing
Define the term CPU.
Discuss the function of the motherboard.
Define the term expansion slot.
Discuss the processing speed/system clock.
Discuss the function of the bus.



Storage
Differentiate between the different types of storage (primary and secondary).
Describe types of storage (dynamic and persistent).
List the data storage hierarchy (Bits, Bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes, and Terabytes).


Communications Technologies
Discuss essential Telephony principles.
Describe telecommunication devices
Describe LANS, WANS, the Internet
Define Wireless
Define Intranets
Define Client/Server and other architectures
Define Topologies
Define the following terms and use the capabilities within the Internet - World Wide Web,
Uniform Resource Locator, Domain Names, File Transfer, Telnet and other common protocols
Explain the operations of Web servers and browsers.
Define the term Search Engine and use a search engine to identify relevant Web sites.
Explain how to evaluate a Web site for relevancy, bias and credibility.
Send and receive email with an attachment.
Name and define the parts that make up a search engine.
Discuss how Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, and podcasting can be
used to communicate and collaborate.



Operating Systems
Define the term operating system and discuss major operating system functions
Compare and contrast commonly used operating systems
Windows
Unix/Linux
Apple
Distinguish between system software and application software
Distinguish between a command-based system and graphical user interface.
Identify and describe the parts and use of a window in a GUI
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Distinguish between active window and background items
Identify and be able to use common dialog box controls:
-Use (radio) buttons
-Use check boxes
-Use text box
-Use list box
-Identify command buttons.
Identify the various shapes and significance of the mouse pointer.
Explain the concept of disk formatting
Demonstrate desktop management skills
Use themes, screen savers, backgrounds
Use Tiling, cascading
Use Short-cuts and icons
Use Task bar, Quick Launch, Desktop menus
Demonstrate file management skills
Create and recognize valid file names and folders
Use find, copy, move, rename, delete files and folders
Explain the deletion process and recovery methods
Navigation and selection via GUI tools
Use the operating system Help system to find answers to questions about operations and
command usage


Ethics And Security
Distinguish among a computer virus, worm, Trojan horse, denial of service attack, back door
and spoofing, and identify ways to safeguard against these attacks.
Discuss and explain the concepts of:
Hacking and Cracking
Authorization
Attacks, Spam, Phishing, Malware
Discuss and explain intellectual property rights, piracy, and information theft.
Discuss and explain plagiarism and issues associated with using the Web for research.
Discuss and explain codes of conduct and privacy issues associated with computing.
Discuss social, legal, and ethical issues including privacy, intellectual property, health
concerns, green computing, and accessibility.


Information Literacy
Identify types and purposes of resource formats (books, encyclopedias, DVDs, popular
publications, scholarly publications, Internet websites, Wikipedia).
Construct a search strategy using appropriate commands for the information retrieval system
selected (phrase, truncation, Boolean operators, and subject terms).
Explain how to evaluate information found online and in library databases for reliability,
validity, accuracy, authority, timeliness, and point of view or bias.


Productivity Tools

Word Processing
Identify the significant components of the word processing interface.
Use the Help system.
Perform basic editing, text formatting, move, copy, and cut and paste functions.
Use available view modes.
Use essential save and backup options.
Use print functions.
Create headers and footers.
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Use document identification features such as embedded date, time and pagination in
headers and/or footers
Use document style features such as font styles, sizes, colors, margins, alignment, and
indentation
Use document context manipulation functions, such as find, search and replace, spell
checker, and a grammarian.



Spreadsheets
Identify and explain the significant components of the spreadsheet interface. Note: emphasis
should be on the CUI (common user interface) shared between most productivity tools.
Use the Help system.
Perform basic editing, data entry, move, copy, and cut and paste functions.
Perform basic insertion, deletion and modifications to at the sheet/workbook level.
Create, and use formulas.
Use basic, built-in spreadsheet functions
Use various addressing and referencing schemes.
Use essential formatting features, including data type, color, alignment, shading, and font
characteristics.
Use print functions.
Perform basic data representation using graphs and charts.



Databases
Distinguish among file, record, field and character
Describe the purpose and uses of:
Tables
Forms
Reports
Queries
Use various GUI based design tools for database creation and manipulation such as wizards
or manual database design.
Use relational concepts such as primary and foreign keys, constraints, and referential
integrity.
Create and use simple queries for searching and manipulating datasets.
Create simple reports and forms using a GUI interface, including grouping and sorting
features.


Presentation Graphics
Describe use of presentations, including discussion on appropriate data display techniques.
Create and manipulate simple slide shows with outlines and notes.
Create slide presentation that includes text, graphics, animation, and transitions.
Use design layouts and templates for presentations.


Web Authoring And Publishing
Create a Web page using the following xhtml tags:
Basic tags (head, body, title)
DTD or schema
Insert a graphic using the img tag.
Create a link using the a tag.
Use table tags to create a table. (table, td, tr)
Insert headings (h1...h6)
Insert ordered and unordered lists (ul, ol, li)
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Create simple inline and embedded styles using CSS
Publish a Web page on the Internet


Software Development
Define and discuss each step in the program development cycle.
Define and discuss basic program design and methodologies
Algorithms
Structured and Object-Oriented Programming
Control Structures
Define and discuss essentials of program development.
Planning and Analysis
Coding
Debugging and testing
Maintenance

Optional Topics

Specialized And Emerging Technologies
Describe the types of Management Information Systems
Executive Information Systems
Decision and Group Decision Support Systems
Knowledge-based and Expert Systems
Describe the principles in emerging information systems technologies
Artificial Intelligence
Learning Systems
Natural Language Processing
Neural networks
Software agents
Search engine technologies
Robotics
Bioinformatics