CS101       Introduction to Higher Education                             
 

Instructor:              Dr. Raj S Pamula (rpamula@calstatela.edu) & Jenny Chang (jchang7@calstatela.edu)

Office Hours:          Posted on the department home page: www.calstatela.edu/cs

Grading Policy:       Course is graded CR/NC. A CR will be given only if you attend all the classes/presentations, submit all your assignments and participate in class discussions.

 Course Description: Exploration of skills and resources that will help students to obtain a baccalaureate degree in the Department of Computer Science. This course must be taken once during the first two quarters at Cal. State LA. This course fulfills the University requirement of Introduction to Higher Education. Graded CR/NC.

 

Course Outline:

 

1)    Introduction (Assignment)

a)     CSULA

i)      University/College resources

ii)    Library resources

b)    University rules and regulations

i)      Get familiar with the on-line catalog

ii)    Probation, Disqualification, Reinstatement & Readmission

iii)   Academic Renewal

iv)   Course Overload

v)    Graduation Checks

c)     General Education/University requirements for a B.S in CS

i)      Lower division & Upper division requirements

ii)    Block requirements

iii)   Diversity requirements

 

2)    Computer Science (Assignment)

i)      What is Computer Science?

ii)    Hardware/Software needs

iii)   Critical thinking & Writing skills in the development of software

iv)   Tour of the various computer labs

v)    Lower division & Upper division requirements

vi)   Choosing Electives

vii) Making a quarterly plan to graduation

viii)         Career opportunities after a baccalaureate degree

ix)   Meet the Computer Science Faculty

 

3)   How to be a successful CS Student? (Assignment)

a)   Hardware

i)     PC specification/requirements

b)   Software

i)     Accessing the school network (FTP, Telnet)

(1) Secure vs. Unsecured

ii)    Email (Pine and Webmail, Outlook, Netscape)

iii)  Compilers for Java, C++

iv)  Compression tools (zip)

c)    Web Pages

i)     Notepad or TextPad vs. FrontPage

 

4)   Languages and Compilers, Platforms (Assignment)

a)   Java, C++, LISP, Prolog

b)   Command-line or GUI oriented

c)    Windows, Unix, Linux

d)   Basic Commands for Windows and Unix/Linux

 

5)   Campus Network (Assignment)

a)   Servers

b)   Mail servers

c)    MACs

d)   Open Access Labs

e)   Server side vs. Client Side

 

6)   Software Engineering/CS Project

a)   Initial Product Definition / Customer Requirements

b)   Tools and Technologies Plan

c)    Product Design

d)   Software Architecture

e)   Software Design

f)     Development

g)   Software Testing

h)   Documentation

i)     Product Delivery / Presentation

 

7)   ACM/CSNetwork

a)   ACM (Assignment)

i)     Student Chapter membership

ii)    Getting involved on campus

b)   CSNetwork (Assignment)

i)     Making your profile/bio-data

ii)    Updating the profile

iii)  Interact with current students

iv)  Interact with alumni

v)    Bulletin Board

 

8)   Computer Ethics

 

 

References:

CSLA Class Schedule

CSLA University Catalog (online)

Homepages (University, College, Department, Faculty)

Gardner & Jeweler, Your College Experience: Strategies for Success, Wadsworth (1997)