Staying on Schedule

During this past advising and registration period, I had to sign off on a large number of course substitutions and waivers so that students could meet requirements for graduation this Fall. Most, but not all, of these were due to some significant changes in the CIS area that has occurred over the past two years. Specifically, these changes are:

• A smaller Computer Information Systems faculty due to retirements and budget cuts
• Inclusion of CINS435 (Information Systems Design) as a required course

In the past, CINS430 was the final course in the curriculum and was offered each semester. Two years ago the CIS faculty made the move to provide students with a more comprehensive and realistic exposure to the Information Systems career with a two course sequence that focused on a single development project. CINS430 (Information Systems Analysis) and CINS435 (Information Systems Design) are now a required sequence of courses in the CIS curriculum. Read the post “Scheduling Classes” to read more about the change. Part of this change in the overall CIS curriculum is that CINS430 will no longer be offered in the Spring semester. Students must take CINS430 in the Fall so that they can transition to CINS435 in the Spring, and pick up the development project begun in the previous semester.

Some of you may have also noticed that some classes were not offered in Fall 2008. CINS 302, 306, and 340 will no longer be offered every semester. To deal with our additional CIS class (CINS435) and the smaller size of the CIS faculty, we are implementing a more standardized rotation of classes. You will need to be sure that you and your advisor plan out your progress through the CIS curriculum so that when you need specific classes, they will be available.

The new CIS course rotation is as follows:

Fall

• CINS220
• CINS302
• CINS340
• CINS344 (Elective)
• CINS350
• CINS430

Spring

• CINS220
• CINS306
• CINS341 (Elective)
• CINS350
• CINS435
• CINS492 (Elective)

CIS@ULM Moving?

Hello and welcome to what will probably be the new home of CIS@ULM. If you never read the old blog that was hosted on Blogger, well then you won’t really notice anything. I’ve included a link to our old blog in the BlogRoll section on this page so you can see what we’ve been doing. If this move becomes permanent, that older blog will go away.

By way of introduction to those that are just finding out about this blog, this is the quasi-official online home for the Computer Information Systems program. Sort of unofficial official site so to speak. I and the other CIS faculty will be posting information here that pertains to the goings on in our program, the industry, and items to help/inform our students. We’re doing this to provide a place, even virtually, for all of us to rally around in the absense of a department and department office.

I’ve provided some backgound on this blog and listed the rules that we’ll be following. Hopefully, this will provide a way for all of us to come together as a discipline or major. As things progress, we may move this blog on campus, or we may not. I do want this to be “our” space, so comments and suggestions are welcome.

Enjoy and Welcome Back

Dr. Barnett