SYLLABUS

SYST 489 - Senior Seminar

Fall 2006

Professor:

Dr. Peggy Brouse

Assignment Submission:

WebCT usage is required in the class; instructions are below.

Work Phone:

(703) 993-1502 (with voice mail)

FAX:

(703) 993-1706

E-mail:

[email protected]

Office:

GMU:Science and Technology II - Room 317

Office Hours:

Mondays 1:30 � 3:00 p.m. and by appointment

Course Description:

This course is designed to introduce the students to several important topics in systems engineering, provide additional experience to the students in writing and giving presentations, and obtain feedback on the curriculum for the B.S. in Systems Engineering.Several lectures will be devoted to ethics in systems engineering.Writing and making presentations for systems engineering will also be covered early in the semester. Lecture series presenters will present material that is not part of the required course load to expand the horizons of the students.Each student will write a short paper on each of these presentations.In addition, students will work in teams to critique and redesign the curriculum in Systems Engineering.Each group will deliver a written product and provide at least one briefing to the class.The best critique and redesign will be presented to the faculty.

Course Hours:

Monday and Wednesday3:00PM to 4:15PM in S&T 2, room 18

Text:

1.      Pocket Book of Technical Writing for Engineers and Scientists (2005), 2d edition, Leo Finkelstein.McGraw-Hill.����������� ISBN 0-07-246849-1

2.      Preparing and Delivering Effective Technical Presentations (2000), David Adamy.Artech House Publishers; 2nd edition.ISBN 1-5805-3017-6

3.      Social, Ethical and Policy Implications of Engineering: Selected Readings (2000) Joseph Herkert. IEEE Press ISBN 0-7803-4712-9

Grades:

On following page

Disabilities Statement:

If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at 993-2474.  All academic accommodations must be arranged through the DRC.

 

Topic

Lecture

Deliverables

Grading

Technical Writing

From Finkelstein text

1 - Introduction, Technical Definition, Description of a Mechanism, Description of a Process:pages 1 - 61

2 � Proposals, Progress Reports, Feasibility Reports:pages 63 � 118

3 � Instructions and Manuals, Laboratory and Project Reports, Research Reports:pages 119 � 170

4 � Documentation, Visuals, Electronic Publishing: pages 207 � 232, 251 - 266

 

 

Giving Presentations

From Adamy text

 

 

 

Ethics

From Herkert text

Individual: Case write-ups (every case except the one your group presents)

 

Group: Team presentation and discussion lead.Team paper.

Individual:

10%

 

 

Group:

20%

Curriculum Review

 

Group: Determine subject of curriculum review

Brief subject

Interview professors, students

Draft review

Final review

In-class brief

Brief faculty

Group:

25%

Technology Review

Attend speaker series lecture

Individual:

Short paper on lecture attended (3 pages)

Long paper on bleeding edge technology (20 pages)

Individual:

10%

 

25%

Professionalism

 

Individual:

Evaluated by instructor

Individual:

10%


Exact Grade Breakdown

 

Individual

 

 

Ethics - Writeups (5 at 2% each)

10%

 

Bleeding Edge Annotated Outline Presentation

5%

 

Bleeding Edge Presentation

5%

 

Bleeding Edge Paper Draft

5%

 

Bleeding Edge Paper

10%

 

Seminar Review Paper

10%

 

Professionalism

10%

 

Group

 

 

Ethics Case Presentation

10%

 

Ethics Case paper

10%

 

Curriculum Review Subject

5%

 

Curriculum Review Draft Presentation/Paper (2.5% each)

5%

 

Curriculum Review Final Presentation/Paper (7.5% each)

15%

 

Writing Intensive Statement

This course fulfills all/in part the Writing-Intensive requirement in the Systems Engineering undergraduate major. It does so through the five ethic write-ups, bleeding edge paper outline, bleeding edge draft paper, bleeding edge final paper and the seminar review paper.The bleeding edge paper will be completed through a draft/feedback/revision process. The due date for each is below; I will provide comments on each.

Disabilities Statement

If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at 993-2474.  All academic accommodations must be arranged through the DRC


How To Access WebCT?

 

         Go to http://webct41.gmu.edu

 

         Enter WebCT ID and password:

Students need a WebCT ID and password to login. Their WebCT ID is their Mason mail user name (e.g. the WebCT ID for [email protected] would be jdoe);�� Starting August 16, 2005 at 7am, all WebCT user accounts will convert to the same password as their Mason email accounts. On that date, at that time, logging into WebCT will require the user to enter the same password required to access their Mason email account. WebCT users will no longer be able to reset their passwords using the �password settings� utility on their myWebCT page. Starting August 16, passwords for WebCT can be reset or obtained by clicking on the obtain or reset username/password link.

         If you do not know your Mason mail user name, go to http://mail.gmu.edu and click on �Activating My Account� icon, follow the steps.

 

         All assignments have due dates and submissions after the due date/time will not be possible, since WebCT will automatically block �submit my homework� option.

 

         From time to time, WebCT works too slowly. Especially from a dial-up internet connection, WebCT access may not be so efficient all the time; students are encouraged to submit their work earlier than the deadline.

 

         If you experience any problem while accessing/using WebCT, pls. send an e-mail to Dr. Brouse, [email protected]


CLASS SCHEDULE

Week 1>

28/30 August

            DEGREE AUDIT ASSIGNMENT � WORTH 2 POINTS

            Background; Introductions; Honor Code

            Group assignments, In-class writing assignment

 

 

 

Week 2>

4/6 September

       LABOR DAY - no classes

       DEGREE AUDIT ASSIGNMENT � WORTH 2 POINTS

       University Career Services10 minute presentation

       WebCT demo

 

 

 

Week 3>

11/13 September

       Group work day � Curriculum Review Subject presentation

       Lecture Finkelstein 1, 2

 

 

 

Week 4>

18/20 September

       Lecture Finkelstein 3

       Group: 5 min presentation of curriculum review subject

 

 

 

Week 5>

25/27 September

       Group: 5 min presentation of curriculum review subject

       Lecture Finkelstein 4

       Ethics case choices due

 

 

 

Week 6>

2/4 October

       Review ABET objectives and Outcomes

       Lecture Adamy 1, 2

       Individual: Write up (annotated outline) on bleeding edge paper due

 

 

 

Week 7>

10/11 October

         NOTE: 10 October is a Tuesday class - Lecture Adamy 3

         Individual: 5 min presentations on bleeding edge paper

 

 

 

Week 8>

16/18 October

       Individual: 5 min presentations on bleeding edge paper

       Lecture: Herkert

 

 

 

Week 9>

23/25 October

       Lecture: Herkert

       Group Work Days on Ethics Cases and final paper

 

 

 

Week 10>

30 October/�� 1 November

       Group Presentation: Ethics Case 1

       Group Presentation: Ethics Case 2, Individual: Write up (draft paper) on bleeding edge paper due

 

 

 

Week 11>

6/8November

       Work day on Curriculum Review

       Group Presentation: Ethics Case 3

 

 

 

Week 12>

13/15 November

       Group Presentation: Ethics Case 4

       Group Presentation: Ethics Case 5

 

 

 

Week 13>

20/22 November

       Group: 5 min presentation of curriculum review to date, Group: Write up (draft) on curriculum review due

       Thanksgiving Break

 

 

 

Week 14>

27/29 November

       Group Presentation: Ethics Case 6

       Individual: Presentations of bleeding edge paper, Final bleeding edge due

 

 

 

Week 15>

4/6 December

       Individual: Presentations of bleeding edge paper, Group: Final curriculum review due

       Individual: short paper on lecture attended due

       Individual:Evaluation of Others in Group due

       Group: Presentation to faculty on curriculum review (everyone attends)> will be coordinated with SYST490 presentations to faculty