DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER STUDIES AND ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGY
ITSC
1425 - PERSONAL COMPUTING HARDWARE
SECTION
41416 ¨
Fall, 2009
|
Instructor: |
James
Hanson |
|
Office: |
RGC
004.3 |
|
Phone: |
512-223-3044 |
|
E-mail: |
jhanson@austincc.edu |
|
URL: |
http://www.austincc.edu/jhanson |
Class
Meetings:
|
LECTURE |
RGC1 003 |
1:25pm to |
TTh |
|
LABORATORY |
RGC1 003 |
4:05pm |
TTh |
Office
Hours:
|
RGC 004.3 |
1:00pm – 1:25pm 1:00pm – 1:25pm & 4:05 – 6:00pm |
MW TTh |
Also, available by appointment.
Prerequisites:
COSC 1300 and one semester of programming.
Textbook:
Michael Meyers, CompTIA A+
Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Sixth Edition, Osborne/McGraw Hill, ISBN-13: 978-0-07-226311-4/ISBN-10: 0-07-226311-3
1. Students are expected to attend all
classes. A student is subject to
dismissal by the instructor if he or she misses 10% of the class meetings. It
is the student's responsibility to withdraw from the class by withdrawal date,
if a grade of "W" is desired. Students who just stop coming to class
generally receive a grade of F.
2. Class participation is highly emphasized in
this course. Participation can be ‑ discussions, sharing of topic related
work experience, demonstrating hardware/software items.
Course
Objectives
This
course maps fully to CompTIA’s new 2006 A+ Exam
objectives. The course is designed to be a complete, step-by-step approach for
learning the fundamentals of supporting and troubleshooting computer hardware
and software.
Specific topic coverage includes:
·
Introducing
Hardware
·
Introducing
Operating Systems
·
PC
Repair Fundamentals
·
Form
Factors and Power Supplies
·
Processors
and Chipsets
·
Motherboards
·
Upgrading
Memory
·
Hard
Drives
·
Installing
and Supporting I/O Devices
·
Multimedia
Devices and Mass Storage
·
Installing
Windows 2000/XP
·
Supporting
Windows 2000/XP Users and Their Data
·
Troubleshooting
Windows 2000/XP Startup
·
Windows
9x/ME Commands and Startup Disk
·
Supporting
Windows 9x/ME
·
PCs
on a Network
·
PCs
on the Internet
·
Securing
your PC and LAN
·
Notebooks,
Tablet PCs, and PDAs
·
Supporting
Printers and Scanners
·
The
Professional PC Technician
The final
course grade will be computed from the following:
1. Four exams (including optional final)
2. Lab exercises
|
Exams |
70% |
|
Lab exercises |
30% |
|
|
|
|
Total of: |
100% |
Letter
grades as follows:
|
90 ‑ 100 % = |
A |
|
80 ‑ 89
% = |
B |
|
70 ‑ 79
% = |
C |
|
60 ‑ 69
% = |
D |
|
less than 60% |
F |
Students with Disabilities Policy:
“Each ACC campus offers support services for students with
documented physical or psychological disabilities. Students with disabilities must request
reasonable accommodations through the Office for Students with Disabilities on
the campus where they expect to take the majority of their classes. Students are encouraged to make this request
three weeks before the start of the semester.”
(Refer to the Current ACC Student Handbook)
Academic Integrity:
A student is expected to complete his or her own projects
and tests. Students are responsible for
observing the policy on academic integrity described in the Current ACC Student
Handbook, under “Student Discipline Policy, Section C”.
“Acts prohibited by the college for which discipline may be
administered include scholastic dishonesty, including but not limited to
cheating on an exam or quiz, plagiarizing, and unauthorized collaboration with
another in preparing outside work.
Academic work submitted by students shall be the result of their own
thought, research or self-expression. Academic
work is defined as, but not limited to tests, quizzes, whether taken electronically
or on paper; projects, either individual or group; classroom presentations, and
homework”.
The penalty accessed will be in accordance with the current
ACC Student Handbook policy. See http://www.austincc.edu/handbook/policies4.htm
for more information.
EXAMINATIONS
Four examinations will be given. The dates for each exam and
the topics covered on each exam are listed on the last page of this handout.
Exams must be taken on scheduled dates. The exam dates may be changed due to
unforeseen circumstances.
At the end of the semester, there will be an optional
comprehensive exam. If you choose to take this exam, the grade you make on the
comprehensive exam will replace the lowest regular exam score. You are not
required to take this exam, unless you have missed one of the previous exams or
are trying to improve your grade.
MAKEUP
EXAMINATIONS
There are NO make up exams.
If you miss an exam, you will receive a grade of “0”.
STUDENT OBJECTIVES
Upon
course completion student should be able to:
1. understand the capabilities and limits of the microcomputer
and OS.
2. understand computer architecture at the operating level
including expansion buses, operating speed, and memory addressing capability.
3. have the basic
skills required to pass the A+ certification exam.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:
|
Week |
Topics |
Chapters |
Exam Date |
|
1 |
Class
overview and syllabus Path
of the PC Tech |
Chapter 1 |
|
|
2 |
The
Visible PC Microprocessors |
Chapter 2 Chapter 3 |
|
|
3 |
RAM
BIOS
and CMOS |
Chapter 4 Chapter 5 |
|
|
4 |
Expansion
Bus Motherboards |
Chapter 6 Chapter 7 |
|
|
5 |
Power
Supplies Exam
1 |
Chapter 8 1-8 |
Thu., 9/24 |
|
6 |
Hard
Drives Implementing
hard drives |
Chapter 9 Chapter 10 |
|
|
7 |
Removable
Media Installing
and Upgrading Windows |
Chapter 11 Chapter 12 |
|
|
8 |
Understanding
Windows Working
with the Command Line Interface |
Chapter 13 Chapter 14 |
|
|
9 |
Maintaining
and troubleshooting Windows Input/Output |
Chapter 15 Chapter 16 |
|
|
10 |
Exam
2 Video |
8-16 Chapter 17 |
Tues., 10/27 |
|
11 |
Sound Portable
Computing |
Chapter 18 Chapter 19 |
|
|
12 |
Printers Local
Area Networking |
Chapter 20 Chapter 21 |
|
|
13 |
Internet
|
Chapter 22 |
|
|
14 |
Computer
Security |
Chapter 23 |
|
|
15 |
The
Complete PC Tech Exam
3 |
Chapter 24 16-24 |
Thur., 12/3 |
|
16 |
Finish
lab projects Final
exam |
1-24 |
Thur., 12/10 |