Parkland College
2400 West Bradley Avenue, Champaign, Illinois 61821
Csc 150, Wireless Networking for Technicians  
Spring 2004
Class Notes: All grades are posted and the semester is finished.  You can see your grade on the Parkland Connection.  Have a nice summer! 

I have gone back and analyzed the scores on Blackboard, including the defective questions (there were three bad questions during the semester).  There were also two discrepancies between my intentions and how Blackboard scored the tests.  The Chapter 1 & 2 Minitest and the Chapter 7 Minitest were given 18 points by Blackboard, not the 10 I intended.  Unfortunately, Blackboard does not give any practical way of doing mass corrections to a test's scoring once it has been given.  I am worried that if I attempt to correct all of your scores individually, that I may create more problems than I'll solve.  The best justification that I can give for leaving them as Blackboard scored them, is that Blackboard's scoring was consistently applied to everyone.  Blackboard may have emphasized some questions differently than I intended.  It however emphasized them the same way for everyone, and so its changes are fair.

Fortunately, the grades do tend to cluster rather clearly into A, B, and C groups.  Here are the raw scores, without names of course, sorted in ascending order.

15.66667
46.33333
48.16667
61.16667
67.66667
68.33333
69.33333
71.83333
74.33333
77
77.5
79
80
81.16667
81.83333
85.83333
86
86.83333
88
93.83333
99
107
107
115
118

I hope you agree that the following curve is fair:

A: 85 to 129 (Blackboard's maximum).
B: 60 to 85
C: 40 to 60
(The person with 15.67 is auditing the course and does not receive a letter grade).

I will be giving 10 A's, 12 B's and 2 C's.

I apologize that I did not use Blackboard with more skill.  I know it is not much consolation, but I will either make sure that I improve significantly next time, or I will not use Blackboard.
Syllabus: Syllabus
   
Lab Times: CSIT Department Open Lab Times
Free software: CSIT - Microsoft Academic Alliance
Final Points: 113

(Blackboard scored these tests differently than my intentions, resulting in a total of 129 points).

Points  Task
   
10  Bits and Basics Minitest

10

  Chapter 1 & 2 Minitest

5

  Lab 1 - Home and Small Office Equipment

4

  Lab 2 - Cisco Aironet Access Point

4

  Lab 3 - Site Survey with AirMagnet WLAN Analyzer
10  Chapter 3 Minitest
20  Chapter 4 and 6 Miditest
10  Chapter 7 Minitest
40  Final Exam
Grade Scale
Grade  Points - Curve will be posted here soon
   
A  85 to 129 (Blackboard's maximum).
B  60 to 85
C  40 to 60
D  Not Applicable
F  Not Applicable
Tests:
Tue., Feb. 3
Fri., Jan 30 		Bits and Basics Minitest (10 questions)
Tue., Mar. 9
Fri., Mar. 12		 Chapter 1 & 2 Minitest (10 questions)
Tue., Apr. 20
Fri., Apr. 23 		Chapter 3 Minitest (10 questions)
Chapter 4 and 6 Miditest (20 questions)
Tue., May 4
Fri., May 7 		Chapter 7 Minitest (10 questions)
Tue., May 11
4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Thurs., May 13
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
 Fri., May 14
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Final, based on the Final Exam Study Guide (40 questions)
   
   
Labs:  
Tue., Feb. 24  & Tue., Mar. 2
Fri., Feb. 27 &  Fri., Mar. 5		 Lab 1 - Home and Small Office Equipment
Tue., Apr. 6  
Fri., Apr. 9
& following weeks		 Lab 2: Professional level equipment: Installing a Cisco Aironet Access Point attached to a Cisco router.
Lab 3: Site Survey with AirMagnet Handheld WLAN Analyzer
   
Daily Topics: The following schedule is tentative and may be modified as the semester progresses.
Tue., Jan. 13
Fri., Jan. 16 		Math Fundamentals
Tue., Jan. 20
Fri., Jan 23 		Wireless Waves
Tue., Jan. 27
Fri., Jan. 30		 Modulations
Tue., Feb. 3
Fri., Feb. 6		 Finish Modulations
Bits and Basics Minitest
Tue., Feb. 10
Fri., Feb. 13		 Chapter 1, Wireless LAN Preliminaries
Chapter 2, A Brief History of Networking Standards
Tue., Feb. 17
Fri., Feb. 20		 Chapter 3, Speeds and Feeds
Tue., Feb. 24
Fri., Feb. 27 		Lab 1 - Home and Small Office Equipment
Tue., Mar. 2
Fri., Mar. 5		 Lab 1 - Home and Small Office Equipment
 
Tue., Mar.9
Fri., Mar. 12		 Chapter 4, The 802.11 MAC sublayer -- Frames
Chapter 6, The 802.11 MAC sublayer -- Access (start)
Chapter 1 & 2 Minitest
Tue., Mar. 16
Fri., Mar. 19		 Chapter 4, The 802.11 MAC sublayer -- Frames
Chapter 6, The 802.11 MAC sublayer -- Access (continuation)
Sat., Mar. 20 to Sun.,  Mar. 28   Spring Recess and Spring Holiday
Tue., Mar. 30
Fri., Apr. 2		 Chapter 4, The 802.11 MAC sublayer -- Frames
Chapter 6, The 802.11 MAC sublayer -- Access (completion)
Tue., Apr. 6  
Fri., Apr. 9		 Lab 2: Professional level equipment: Installing a Cisco Aironet Access Point attached to a Cisco router.
Lab 3: Site Survey with AirMagnet Handheld WLAN Analyzer
Tue., Apr. 13
Fri., Apr. 16 		Chapter 4, The 802.11 MAC sublayer -- Frames - Review
Chapter 6, The 802.11 MAC sublayer -- Access - Review
Lab 2: Professional level equipment: Installing a Cisco Aironet Access Point attached to a Cisco router.
Lab 3: Site Survey with AirMagnet Handheld WLAN Analyzer
Tue., Apr. 20
Fri., Apr. 23 		Chapter 7, Security (start)
Chapter 3 Minitest (10 questions)
Chapter 4 and 6 Miditest (20 questions)
Tue., Apr. 27
Fri., Apr. 30 		Chapter 7, Security, (complete as necessary)
Lab 2: Professional level equipment: Installing a Cisco Aironet Access Point attached to a Cisco router.
Lab 3: Site Survey with AirMagnet Handheld WLAN Analyzer
 
Tue., May 4
Fri., May 7 		Lab 2: Professional level equipment: Installing a Cisco Aironet Access Point attached to a Cisco router.
Lab 3: Site Survey with AirMagnet Handheld WLAN Analyzer
Chapter 7 Minitest (10 questions)
Final Exam Study Guide
Tue., May 11
4:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Thurs., May 13
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

 Fri., May 14
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Final: This is an optional time to take the final for anyone that wants to get it out of the way early.
Final Exam Study Guide

Final: Note that the Tuesday section's scheduled final time is not the normal class day or time.  (Note: Scott has a conflict with two finals)
Final Exam Study Guide

Final: Note that the Friday section's scheduled final time is not the normal class time.
Final Exam Study Guide
  Scott Badman  Office:  B132  Phone:  353-2250  sbadman@parkland.edu  

Parkland College, 2400 W. Bradley Avenue, Champaign, IL 61821