Tuesday, Thursday 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Instructor: Jim Gibson

Phone: (815) 224-2720 ext. 453,or 455

Home Phone: (815) 925-7481

Office: E-310

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 5:30 PM - 5:50 PM

By appointment as needed.

Course Description: A hands-on course for new personal computer owners. Covers elementary maintenance of a personal computer, its peripherals, and its software. Preventative maintenance and minor repair of hardware, as well as upgrading and installation of software and hardware, will be discussed. Three semester hours.

Text: Managing and maintaining Your PC, Third Edition, Andrews, Course

Prerequisite: none

Course Objectives: As a result of successful completion of this course, the student should have a basic knowledge of:

1. the different components of the PC hardware, their names, and their

functions.

2. important working environment factors that can affect the operation

and life span of a PC and its peripherals.

3. basic preventative maintenance tasks that can add to the life and

performance of a PC.

4. isolating and repairing common PC problems and when to ask for

professional assistance.

5. installing and replacing basic PC components: chips, expansion boards,

power supplies, floppy and hard disk drives, etc.

6. the configuration of a PC and its software for proper operation.

7. selecting add-in and add-on hardware available (displays, memory,

drives, input devices, etc.)

Grading: Grade Scale:

Midterm final 40%                90 to 100 = A

Tests and Quizzes 30%         80 to 89 = B

Lab Work 30%                    70 to 79 = C

                                             60 to 69 = D

Attendance: The policy of Illinois Valley Community College as to absences is as follows:

STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO ATTEND ALL CLASSES

REGULARLY. IF ABSENCE FROM CLASS IS UNAVOIDABLE,

IT IS THE STUDENT'S RESPONSIBILITY TO EXPLAIN THE

ABSENCE TO HIS INSTRUCTOR AND ARRANGE TO COMPLETE

ANY WORK MISSED.

IF AN INSTRUCTOR FEELS THE NUMBER OF ACCUMULATED

ABSENCES IS INTERFERING WITH THE STUDENT'S PROGRESS

AND ABILITY TO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THE COURSE,

THE STUDENT MAY BE DROPPED FROM THE COURSE WITHOUT

NOTICE.

If you miss more than 1/15 of the contact hours for the class bad things could happen.

Summer 2003 SCHEDULE

Class Outline:

Week 1  

Chapter 1

1. Hardware
2. Software
3. Homework – End of chapter questions

1. How Software Manages Hardware Resources
2. The Booting Process

Week 2

June 24 

Chapter 3    

1. Types of System boards
2. The CPU and Chip Set
3. ROM BIOS
4. RAM
5. Buses and Expansion Slots
6. Hardware Configuration

June 26    

OUT Of CLASS Internet assignment NO LECTURE 

Chapter 4

1. Physical memory
2. How memory is used by DOS and Windows 95
3. Managing memory
4. Upgrading memory

 Test 1-3

Lab at 7:50 PM D-101

Week 3  

July 1

Chapter 5

1. Floppy Drives
2. Keyboards
3. Computer Video
4. Pointing Devices

July 3

Chapter 6

1. How a hard Drive is organized
2. Using DOS to manage a Hard Drive
3. Formatting and Optimizing the Hard drive
4. Hard Drive Technology
5. Removable Drives

Week 4  

July 8

TEST 4-6

Chapter 7

1. Installing a Hard Drive
2. Utility Software
3. Data Recovery
4. Hard Drive Troubleshooting

July 10 

MIDTERM

Week 5  

July 15

Chapter 8    Troubleshooting

1. Protect yourself, the hardware and the Software
2. How to isolate computer problems and devise a course of action
3. When a PC is your permanent responsibility
4. Chapter 7 labs

July 17 

Chapter 9

1. I/O Devices, The right tools for the job
2. Using ports and expansion slots for add-on-devices
3. Notebook computers
4. CD ROM drives

Week 6  

July 22

Chapter 10

test 7-9

1. Multimedia on a PC
2. Multimedia PC requirements
3. Video Cards and Monitors
4. Devices supporting Multimedia
5. Supporting printers

July 24

Chapter 12

Week 7 

July 29

test 9-12

Everything else questions and review