Overview Learning Objectives - University of Alberta

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University of Alberta

Department of Accounting, Operations and Information Systems Alberta School of Business

Fall 2017

MIS 418/618 Introduction to E-commerce

Instructor: Robb Sombach

Office: 2-33 Business Building Office hours: Wednesday 11:00 - 12:00

or by appointment Email: [email protected]

Date and Time: MW 12:30 - 13:50 Classroom: BUS B-18

Website:

Business School Blackboard System https://ulearn.ualberta.ca

Announcements, notes, and assignment will be posted on the Blackboard system. Please check the Blackboard system frequently for announcements and take necessary actions.

Overview

This course is an introduction to technical and managerial aspects of e-commerce. The emphasis of this course is on introducing students to understanding and designing e-business systems using a process- oriented approach. The design and management of e-business systems will be covered at a strategic, managerial and operational level. The students are expected to apply the theoretical concepts to their own prototype system which will be developed in a team environment.

Learning Objectives

This course incorporates the Learning Goals of the Bachelor of Commerce Program, in particular Critical Thinking, Oral Communication and Teamwork. When you finish the course you should be able to:

1. Recognize an opportunity for e-commerce / e-business applications within a business or organization.

● Understand e-business strategy, economics, markets, business models, value chains, consumer behaviors

● Understand how e-commerce changes industries, supply chains and markets through disintermediation and reintermediation

How will this be measured? – Group Project, Assignments, Exams

2. Demonstrate a strong understanding of strategy and marketing issues related to e-commerce.

● Retailing, payment systems, order fulfillment, support services

● Business-to-business e-commerce, public exchanges, auctions

● Launching successful e-business projects

● Impact of mobile-commerce and pervasive computing

● Management, risk, trust, usability

● Impact of measurability of response to advertising, search engine advertising How will this be measured? – Group Project, Assignments, Exams

3. Explain the basics of existing and emerging e-commerce technologies and concepts.

● Basic architecture: Internet, Web servers, HTML

● Payment systems, encryption, m-commerce, etc.

How will this be measured? – Group Project, Assignments, Exams

4. Analyze, design, develop and present a Web-based e-commerce solution.

● Understand components of the WordPress blogging software and its use in E-commerce

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● Develop a WordPress-based website, including common components used in a modern professional business

● Analyze the web sites usability and trust-building features How will this be measured? – Group Project

5. Be comfortable presenting to an audience in a professional manner.

How will this be measured? – Group Project presentation to client

Course Format and Materials

The format of the course will consist of lectures, discussions, case studies, and computer laboratory

experience as well as individual and group assignments. Changes in schedule may occur: please consult the Blackboard website (http://ulearn.ualberta.ca) regularly for announcements of possible changes and updated syllabi.

● Textbook (optional): eBusiness: A Canadian Perspective for a Networked World, Fourth Edition, Trites, G., and E. Boritz, Pearson Education Canada, 2013. It is also available as an e-book (from CourseSmart) at http://www.coursesmart.com/9780132482035

● Supplementary resource materials such as articles, lab notes, references, etc … will be published in uLearn

Grading

Grades will be determined by the following components. Assignment details will be handed out in class and available on the course website.

Component Weight

Individual Assignments (30%)

Assignment 1: HTML About Me (Resume) 10%

Assignment 2: Research Paper 10%

Class Participation (In-class Exercises, Attendance) 10%

Exams (45%)

Midterm 15%

Final (Note: the MIS 618 Final Exam will be different from the MIS 418 Final Exam) 30%

System Design Project (30%)

Part 1: WordPress Website Planning Documentation 5%

Part 2: WordPress Website Production 15%

Part 3: Presentation 5%

Total 100%

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Exams

The Midterm and Final exams are closed-book and closed-note. Generally, they will not be cumulative but your understanding of previous concepts may be applied to material in the Final Exam. The Final Exam (only) for both MIS 418 and MIS 618 students will be different. Absence from an exam will be treated as a zero unless official evidence of illness or family crisis is provided within one week of the missed exam and is documented to the satisfaction of the Undergraduate Office. Students who miss the final exam must apply through

the Undergraduate Office for a deferred final exam.

Class Participation

It will be evaluated based on attendance, in-class exercises and discussions.

Group Project

For the group projects, each group member will receive an individual grade, which is determined by the instructor’s evaluation of the group performance (planning document, website and presentation), combined with the peer assessment forms (a Peer Assessment Form will be available for download at the course website).

For group projects, peer assessment will be utilized to determine the relative contribution of each group member, and the contribution will be factored into the project grade, as follows:

● Students will rank the contribution of their project peers, the maximum being 100%, and an average contribution rating will be computed for each group member (the instructor will not be involved unless something obviously collusive or deceptive is brought to his attention). You must attain at least an average of 65% in order to receive the full group project mark; otherwise you will be penalized, as described in the following chart:

Peer Evaluation Assessment Penalty

Peer Evaluation Assessment Penalty

65% to 100% No penalty assessment

60% to <65% 10% out of 100%

50% to <60% 20% out of 100%

40% to <50% 30% out of 100%

30% to <40% 40% out of 100%

20% to <30% 50% out of 100%

10% to <20% 60% out of 100%

0% to <10% No credit for project will be given

For example, suppose the total marks for the group work is 35 and your group receives 30/35 marks; if your peer evaluation assessment contribution average was 52%, you will be penalized by 20%, and receive 24/35 for the group work.

Late assignments will be docked 25% per day (or part thereof) late. Any assignment more than two days late will be given a zero grade. Under normal circumstances, project assignments will be marked within a week.

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Conversion of Individual Student Achievement (Percentage) to Final Grade (Letter) The University has published a recommended grade distribution:

see https://policiesonline.ualberta.ca/PoliciesProcedures/Pages/DispPol.aspx?PID=101. Letter grades are only assigned to the final total weighted points achieved by a student in the semester. The process for assigning grades begins with the following general cut-off of points for letter grades.

Grade Letter Approximate Cut-off Percentages

A-, A, and A+ 90% and above

B-, B, and B+ 80% to 90%

C-, C, and C+ 70% to 80%

D and D+ 60% to 70%

F below 60%

Given this general starting point, the cut-off points for each letter grade are adjusted based on the individual performance of students in the section. The class is not graded to a specific “curve” per say. There is a curve in the student's’ favour, but I don’t use a “traditional” curve. To set the adjusted cut-offs for each letter grade, raw marks are examined overall for natural break points that distinguish one or a group of students from each other.

With a large class, and using the 90/80/70/60 scale as a general starting point for cut-offs, differences between one grade and the next may be extremely small. In large classes it is not always possible to find clear

distinctions between students and the difference between one grade and the next may be extremely small.

Where this is the case, performance of students on both sides of the proposed line will be looked at to determine whether the higher or lower grade is more fair and appropriate.

Every effort will be made to respect the natural break points. If a student’s total weighted point score is

clustered with a set of students, then every attempt is made to grade the entire cluster identically. For example, if a student is the highest score in a large but tightly clustered group of students (e.g. no large gaps exist within the cluster) and that student is right below the adjusted cut-off for an A-, then all students in that cluster usually need to be able to be raised to an A- in order to give the highest scoring student an A-. If it is not possible to raise everyone’s grade in the cluster, then the individual student grade will not be raised either. However, sometimes there are no obvious natural cut-offs and in this case, the cut-offs are determined in order to be fair to all students.

In the past, adjustments to the 90/80/70/60 scale have ALWAYS been in the student's’ favour. A grade has never been raised to get an A- above 90, for example. The amount of adjustment for any specific grade will vary from semester to semester. Although no reason why this semester would be any different from the past, the instructor reserves the right to move the cut-off either up or down. Having said that, my style is to always curve in the student's’ favour.

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Graduate student (MIS 618) grades are adjusted separately from undergraduate student (MIS 418) grades.

Assignments are normally submitted through BlackBoard’s Assignment Submission tool. File naming conventions will be specified in assignment documents.

Pre-booked lab times will be available for you to work on your projects: you have priority during these scheduled times (Occasional exceptions: check postings outside the lab for confirmation).

● In BUS B18: Tue 9:30am - 11:50am

● In BUS B18: Thur 9:30am - 1:50pm

Cheating and Plagiarism

The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behavior (online at www.ualberta.ca/secretariat/appeals.htm) and avoid any behavior that could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.