Sample syllabus

Course Description

In this course, we will be covering basic principles of database management systems (DBMS) and of DBMS application development. DBMS objectives, systems architecture, database models with emphasis on Entity-Relationship and Relational models, data definition and manipulation languages, the Structured Query Language (SQL), database design, application development tools. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. This course prepares you to as a database developer to gain an understanding of the place of databases in software development. We will learn the principles of data storage and retrieval and how this skill is used in business.

Course Instructor

My name is Allan Gitobu. I will be your instructor for this course. I am a PhD candidate at Claremont Graduate University. I also work as a software Engineer at a Pharmacy Benefits Management company in San Diego, CA. My research interest is in healthcare IT. I have about twenty years’ experience in software development especially in the area of software development. I have worked broadly in system design and mobile application development for IOS.

Contact Information

Office: ACB 999
Phone:858 231 5809
E-mail: allan.mugambi@cgu.edu
In-person Office Hours: M, T 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Phone/Skype Hours by appointment: Skype address allangitobu

Learning Outcomes - Destinations for Your Learning Journey

Course Goals

Have you ever considered that you access and manipulate data on a database almost every time you do anything on a mobile phone? Looking up a contact or creating a new one on the phone is a database manipulation activity. Yet many people will respond that they have never used a database. Businesses run on data, so that places those who manage data or control its access at a central and important place in data management. In this class, we will learn how to exercise control over data and position ourselves as ones with absolute authority with how businesses are to access and use data. Much of what we do in computer information system revolves around how to acquire, store, and retrieve data. We are in charge.

Learning Outcomes

In successfully completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Design a database system framework showing how computer systems store data.
2. Demonstrate and understanding of entity-relationship models in database design.
3. Illustrate how to create a database on a relational database management system (RDMS)
4. Demonstrate knowledge of retrieving data from a database using structured query language (SQL)

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES

In addition to mastery subject matter, you will be able to:

1. Work in a team to develop a business-class database.
2. Demonstrate the value of the database design to a business use.
3. Communicate orally and in writing to both academic and non-academic audiences. 

MID-TERM OR END OF COURSE REFLECTION

Part way through the class, we will reflect on how you are moving toward these outcomes or goals. What have you enjoyed? What have you most struggled with (this can be the same as the things you enjoyed!), and how are you working to help yourself succeed? How can I help you?  You will post these reflections on the discussion board on the Canvas.

Course Texts & Resources

Required:

BOOK: Vidhya, V., et al. Database Management Systems, Alpha Science International, 2016. ProQuest Ebook Central
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/claremont/detail.action?docID=5248352.

You may access this book as an e-book from the university library

Course Outline

Date	Topic	Reference
January 7, 2020	Introduction to DBMS, File processing systems, database systems structure	Vidhya et al (2016) chapter 1
January 14, 2020	Introduction to data models	Vidhya et al (2016) chapter 2
January 21, 2020	Relational Algebra, basic operations, relational calculus	Vidhya et al (2016) chapter 3
February 4, 2020	SQL fundamentals	Vidhya et al (2016) chapter 4
February 11, 2010	Joins, constraints, and advanced SQL	Vidhya et al (2016) chapter 5
February 18, 2020	Mid-term exam and project presentation
February 25, 2010	Relational database design	Vidhya et al (2016) chapter 6
March 3, 2020	Transactional processing	Vidhya et al (2016) chapter 7
March 10, 2020	Query processing	Vidhya et al (2016) chapter 13
March 17, 2020	PL/SQL	Vidhya et al (2016) chapter 14
March 24, 2020	Final project presentations
March 31, 2020	Final exam

Assignments & Assessments - Gauging Your Progress

Detailed instructions for doing and submitting assignments are on Canvas.  Here is your first assignment and rubric

Assignment 1

Measure	Description
Goal	The goal of the assignment is to illustrate the relational database model. In this assignment, we will select an area of our own interest and show data for that area on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (or any other flat table method) and identify how identical data may be meaningfully grouped together to form database tables.
Purpose	To help learners realize the value of a relational database model and the relative ease of querying data from it.
Instructions	Follow the following steps in your project Create a minimum of 10 records on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet of the information you may want to track about the selected area of interest. Show the aspects you want to track as column headers and data on the rows. These are called attributes. For example, if your area of interest is automobiles, some of the headers (attributes) could be "Engine size," "passenger capacity," "Body type", "Make", or "Model". Each record should show how different one aspect of an automobile is from the other. For example, a “Toyota Prius” is a sedan that takes 5 people and is electric, while a Ford F-150 is a pickup truck that takes three people and runs on gas. In this case, the attribute for “Body type” will have a sedan for the Prius and Pickup track for the Ford F-150 Of the data records created identify pieces of data that differ and those that are similar. Suggest a grouping and label for pieces of information that are similar. Create a list for each data group. Provide an identifier for each group. For example, if you create a group for the car model list all the models and provide and an identifier for each model. Show this listing on the same spreadsheet tab as the main listing from item 1. Lastly, make a copy of the listing on item one and replace the text for each attribute with the identifier you have created in the data group. For example, if the identifier for Toyota is a 2, replace every occurrence of Toyota with a 2. Show this on the same tab.
Submission	Upload the spreadsheet with the main listing, the group listing, and the main listing with attributes replaced by identifiers. These should be on the same spreadsheet to ease cross-referencing.
Assessment	See rubric

Rubric for Assigment 1

Measure	Good: 3 points	Fair: 2 points	Poor: 1 Point
Data attributes	You have provided more than 5 data attributes	You have provided 3 or 4 data attributes	You have provided 1 to 3 data attributes.
Data records	You have provided more than 10 data records	You have provided 6 to 10 data records.	You have provided 1 to 5 data records.
Data grouping	You have created more than 5 data groups	You have provided 4 to 5 data groups.	You have provided 1 to 3 data groups.
Identifier referencing	You have provided data references for more than 5 data groups with their corresponding identifiers.	You have provided data references for 3 or 4 data groups with their corresponding identifiers.	You have provided data references for 1 to 3 data groups with corresponding identifiers.

We will have a mid-term exam, a final exam, and a database (group) project. The group project will be in groups of two to work on a database project throughout the course (If the number of registered students is an odd number one group will have three members). Below is an outline of the milestones of your project throughout the semester. You will receive a grade and feedback for your project in the middle and at the end of the semester.

Semester long class project

Project Milestone	Specific Requirement	Due Date
Group formation	Form a team of two students and let the instructor know how you will work together. Document how you will meet.	The second week of class
Project identification	Identify the subject area of the database you will be designing. What is the business environment where your database will be used?	The third week of class
Database design	What data areas will be represented in your database? What will be the main tables in your database?	The fourth week of class
Database tables and views design	What will be the data columns in your database? What is the source of the data? How will data be entered? What queries will be used to create the database tables?	The sixth week of class
Queries	What queries will be used for data manipulation?	The seventh week of class
Reports	Visualize and show possible reports that can be drawn from your database	The ninth week of class
Lessons learned and final presentation	Document lessons learned and show your database design to the rest of the class. Be innovative.	The tenth week of class

Grading

Item	Points per item	Total points	Weight
Database project – 5 milestone tasks	10	50	20%
Midterm exam		100	40%
Final exam		100	40%