NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPT. OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND RURAL SOCIOLOGY
Instructor: Mr. John Paul Owens
Office: 154-B Carver Hall
Telephone: 334-7901
Email: owensj@ncat.edu
Office Hours:
Tuesday and Thursday: 1:00 - 5:00 p.m
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: 10:00-11:59 a.m.
Or by Appointment
Course Objective:
This course is designed to provide students with the tools to utilize computers for decision-making. Emphasis will be placed on utilizing existing software packages for the micro-computers to make financial, economics and quantitative analysis of farm and agribusiness-related problems.
Course Text:
There is no assigned text for this course. However, journal and Internet articles will be assigned. Students may also purchase any of the commercial books available for Windows 95, Internet, and Microsoft Office (Excel).
Materials and other necessities:
As a student you are entitled to an email account. If you do not have an email account, you may obtain one from the University Computer Center located in the basement of the Fort Research Building. You will need an email account for this course.
Because this is a computer course, you will need to save electronic copies of class exercises and homework assignments. You will need five (5) High Density (HD) diskettes with your name on each. Please bring these to the next class.
Last semester there was an abuse and waste of paper provided for printing in this laboratory. Therefore, for projects, we will provide you with paper for printing. For your personal or other assignments, this laboratory will NOT furnish computer paper for printing.
Late Projects:
Projects are assigned well in advance and the Due dates are noted on your class schedule. Late projects will not be accepted and will count as zero. For class project, see next section. Please refer to your 1997-99 Undergraduate Bulletin, page 69, or 1997-1999 Graduate Program Bulletin, pages 49-50.
Class Attendance:
Class attendance is not considered as part of your grade evaluation. However, projects competed in class are part of your grade evaluation. Please refer to your 1997-99 Undergraduate Bulletin, page 69 or 1997-1999 Graduate Program Bulletin, pages 49-50.
Grade Evaluation:
Projects (in class & assigned) 20%
Main Project 20%
Midterm Examination 30%
Final Examination 30%
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100%
WARNING
This is a computer application course. The only effective method to master computer application software is to use them. Practice, Practice, Practice. The length of this class is not adequate to master a software application. It is your responsibility to practice the application after class and master the competency before the next class. If you have problems contact the instructor. Your assignment everyday is to practice the software for a minimum of 30 minutes after class. This course is designed to build one skill on another. Every competency is based on a basic understanding of computers, and one competency is build upon another. If you only practice your computer skills while in class, then you will sorely disappointed with your grade evaluation.
CLASS SCHEDULE
Week 1-2 OVERVIEW of OPERATING SYSTEMS - WINDOWS 95/98/NT/DOS
Hardware & Software Requirements
File and Folder Management
Fixed and Floppy Drive Management
Using Icons and Taskbars
Week 3-4 INTERNET AND WEB PAGES
Week 5-8 SPREADSHEETS -Excel
Overview
Financial
Forecasting
Breakeven
Graphing
Spreadsheets as databases, Sorting & Query
Matrix
Statistical Operations
Week 9-10 LINEAR PROGRAMMING
Week 11-12 DATABASES
Week 13-14 Presentation Programs
Week 15-16 STATISTICAL PROGRAMS
MicroStat
SPSS