CSC170 Introduction to Computers and their Applications

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

Adelphi University

Fall 2025

0145-170-003

Introduction to Computers and Their Applications - 3 credits

ONLINE

Taught by: Assistant Teaching Professor Kristin Pepper

Science 408

(516) 297-5241

pepper@adelphi.edu

www.adelphi.edu/~pe16132

Starting 8/26/2025

Office Hours

Science Building SCB 408

Monday 4:45 – 5:45 Virtual until 10/20 and then in person
Tuesday : 2:45 – 4:15
Thursday : 2:00 – 3:30

· Zoom meetings are by appointment only

Zoom room: https://adelphiuniversity.zoom.us/j/6520943212 - by appointment only – if waiting to be let in, call 516-877-4486.

Office hours are weekly scheduled times when the instructor is available to help students with the course on a drop-in basis. (An advance appointment is not required for an in person visit although it is helpful to notify the instructor that you plan to attend).

Post questions in the General Course Discussion Questions, which will email me and be available to all students for answers, plus feel free to email me directly with any private concerns.

Course Description and Purpose

Learn to use common computer applications (e.g. word processing, presentation, spreadsheets, databases, Web authoring, search engines), and also discuss social and ethical issues related to computing and telecommunications.

Gen Ed Learning

Goals and Distribution

Requirements

Information Literacy

Quantitative Reasoning

Course Learning Goals

Students will engage in online learning. Students will interpret technical specifications in computer advertisements as demonstrated by specifying a new computer and defending their choices. Students will design and publish a cohesive web site using free web design, graphics and ftp tools. Students will apply basic information literacy skills of locating, evaluating and citing scholarly sources when crafting a web site with a bibliography on an information technology issue. Students will implement Word and Excel projects to demonstrate proficiency with features such as table of contents, page numbering, headers and footers, relative vs absolute references, formulas, functions and charting. Students will find numerical data to support a thesis, present a graph built in Excel and discuss inferences from the data.

Prerequisite

None

Recommended Texts

A flash drive is recommended.

There is no required text for this course. Required materials are freely available online through Moodle.

You will need a computer with Windows, Mac or Linux operating system, not Chrome OS. Also need the ability to download software on that computer. You don’t need a microphone or camera.

Topics

Word and graphics

Excel

Specifying your computer system

Interoperation of products with Mail/Merge
Draw meaningful inferences from numerical data

IT Ethics - focus on social networking or AI

Creating a web site and managing files

Information Literacy Topics:

Citing Your Work
Evaluating Sources
Information Resources

Major Assignments

Word: Picture Album

Excel: Inventory Spreadsheet & Data Analysis Chart

Web: Greeting Card page and Final website

Computer Literacy: Hardware Comparison Spreadsheet

Ethics & Information Literacy: Social Network project

No software needs to be purchased because all is free or provided by Adelphi. Adelphi provides Office 365 free to students at https://it.adelphi.edu/catalog/microsoft-office-download/ though you can use an earlier Office version for most assignments. Chrome OS is not sufficient because it cannot use full versions of MS office. Adelphi Lab computers all have MS Office.

Grading

10% will be dropped for anything 1 week late, and some assignments cannot be handed in late. Be sure to back up your classwork frequently so that you do not lose work.

The course grading scale is: A 93-100, A- 90-92, B+ 87-89, B 83-86, B- 80-82, C+ 77-79, C 73-76, C- 70-72, D 60-69, and F is below 60. A+ is given at the professor's discretion.

The final grade will be a traditional letter grade (A-F).

Grade Percentages:

Task(s)	Weight
Social Networking Project (including Data Analysis)	17
Discussions / Participation	10

Weekly Assignments

Mastery Projects
Excel Mastery: Inventory Spreadsheet	6
Word Mastery: Picture Album	6
Hardware Mastery: HW Comparison Spreadsheet	6
Quizzes
Hardware Quiz	5
Word and Excel Quiz	5
Final website	8

Responsibility for Online Work

Students are responsible for handing in all assignments on time. Work is due by Wednesday at 11:55 pm (just before midnight) unless otherwise stated. (The introduction and first week are due on different days.) Submit questions to the general course discussion questions board. You can also call 877-3340 for Adelphi Customer Service, or call my number above and leave a message with your phone number.

All work submitted for grading must be original work and may not be copied from others. Limited collaboration is permitted, under the following conditions: All collaboration must be cited at the top of your work in the submitted work, and all copied text must be in quotes and all use of outside sources, including AI, must be cited. You must be able to explain all elements of your submissions.

Attendance

The following is the Adelphi University General Attendance Policy:

Only students who are registered for courses, and whose name appears on the official Class Roster may attend courses at the University. Adelphi students make a commitment to be active participants in their educational program; class attendance is an integral part of this commitment. Students are expected to be present promptly at the beginning of each class period, unless prevented by illness or by other compelling cause. In the event of such absence, students may request that faculty members be notified by the Office of Academic Services and Retention. Students are responsible for learning course content and completing coursework missed through absences.

Attendance for an online course is measured by some participation during the week. Every week requires that you click at least a few Moodle links and do the activity it launches.

The participation grade will be based heavily upon discussions but will also be effected by submitting work every week and any extra effort made in helping classmates.

Exams have to be taken before the stated due date. The decision to allow a make-up exam later will be made in accordance with the policies of Adelphi University.

Moodle

All course materials will be delivered through Moodle. A Moodle tutorial can be found at http://fcpe.adelphi.edu/moodle/student/

Tentative Schedule (Subject to Change).

Due Date	Week #	Subject	Quizzes and Major Assignments due
8/27/25	Pre	Getting Started Short Setup	First discussion posting
9/3/25	1	Introduction to Online Week Download software Social Networking Discussion	Social Network Discussion
9/10/25	2	Word Week Word Table of Contents, Section Control Social Networking Discussion	Photo Album
9/17/25	3	Web Introduction Week Web and Filezilla intro Social Networking Powerpoint	Create a first web site on panther Social Networking PowerPoint
9/24/25	4	Web Card Week Picture, background and email link Basic web design practice Begin CodeAcademy if you choose that path	Web Card
10/1/25	5	Information Literacy Week Find, cite and evaluate sources	Bibliography
10/8/25	6	Pro/Con Web Pages Identify supporting information and develop arguments Cement ability to link and post web pages	Pro/Con Web Site
10/15/25	7	Excel Basics Week Excel Introduction: layout and basic calcs and functions Excel : absolute reference, % of one total; if statement Good charting guidelines	Excel Stats Workbook
10/22/25	8	Excel Inventory Week Inventory spreadsheet SN Chart	Excel Inventory SN Chart
10/29/25	9	Excel Graph Questions and Quiz Week More Excel: Fix broken workbooks	Excel and Word Quiz
11/5/25	10	Excel Mastery Week Excel Macro, Mail Merge, Pivot, Lookup, Internet Data analysis, Filter	Data Analysis
11/12/25	11	Literacy - Graphing numerical data Excel pivot and graph analysis	Social Networking Graph Analysis
11/19/25	12	Hardware Week Computer hardware terminology and components Comparing advertised computers	Hardware Comparison
11/26/25		Thanksgiving break – nothing due
12/3/25	13	Web Project Week Introduce Web Project	Hardware Quiz
12/10/25	14	Advanced Web Week Web Project Work
12/17/25	Final	Web Project Due	Online Web Project Due

UNIVERSITY SERVICES

Student Access Office (SAO) and Disability Accommodation

If you require disability-related accommodations for this course, you are encouraged to contact the Student Access Office (SAO) at 516-877-3806 or at sao@adelphi.edu. In support of the most accessible student experience possible, the SAO will work with you to make an individualized assessment of your needs and to eliminate barriers with appropriate, reasonable accommodations.

University Libraries

Library faculty at Adelphi University Libraries provide semester-long support to students with research assignments, skills, research readiness, and more. To make an appointment with your subject specialist librarian visit http://askalibrarian.adelphi.edu/. These one-on-one consultations may include instruction on using databases to find articles, how to set up a search strategy, locating full-text, and requesting items through Interlibrary Borrowing. For more information visit the Libraries homepage, https://www.adelphi.edu/libraries.

Student Counseling Center (SCC)

The Student Counseling Center (SCC) provides free and confidential comprehensive mental health, preventative and educational services to any enrolled Adelphi student. Staffed by licensed mental health professionals including social workers, mental health counselors, clinical psychologists and psychiatric nurse practitioner, the SCC helps students define and accomplish their personal, academic and professional goals.

Services are provided in person and virtually. Counselors help students understand and cope with a variety of stressors and personal issues that may interfere with their academic and personal experiences. The SCC also supports students experiencing mental health distress or who are in crisis.. To schedule an appointment, call (516) 877-3646 or email scc@adelphi.edu. If you need immediate assistance, walk-in services are available year-round Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Additional information can also be found at scc.adelphi.edu.

Need support when the SCC is not available? For 24/7 emergency counseling, referral, or assistance, please contact:

· Long Island Crisis Center: (516) 679-1111

· National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988

· Crisis Text Line: Text PAWS to 741741

· Adelphi Office of Public Safety:

· Off campus: (516) 877-3511

· On campus: Extension 5 on any campus phone

911 (for immediate health-related emergency)

Center for Academic Support and Enrichment (CASE) formerly LWC

Located in Nexus 132, the Center for Academic Support and Enrichment (CASE) offers programs and services—like individual tutoring in writing and subjects across the curriculum, small group study sessions, academic coaching and targeted workshops—that help students explore, deepen and extend their classroom learning. Support programming focuses on establishing foundational skills and techniques of studentship, like time management and note-taking. Enrichment services develop higher-order critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills inherent in both abstractions and applications of curricular study.

Contact us via CASE email, phone (516) 877-3200 or via eCampus to review our full slate of real-time (in person and remote) and asynchronous services. These are included in your tuition, so you’ve already bought them! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to supercharge your college experience. Many services require reservations, especially late in the semester. Reserve a spot on our scheduling portal and/or join the self-directed virtual CASE LAB. Get on the CASE, and take your Adelphi experience to the next level.

Math & CS computer lab tutoring

Drop-in tutoring sessions are available in the Math Lab (Science Building room 420) and CS Lab (Science Building room 401) according to the schedule found at https://twitter.com/AdelphiMathCS by scrolling down to the latest posted schedule. If a CS tutor is on he schedule, you can just drop in to see them. They likely will not know your exact course material, but they should be able to help you problem solve or help you approach your material.

Scholarship and Creative Works Conference

Adelphi University holds its Scholarship and Creative Works Conference annually to provide a forum for undergraduate and graduate students to present scholarly research, performances and art works, computer games and more to the University community. There are no classes held on this day. In 2026, the Scholarship and Creative Works Conference will be held on Tuesday, April 28.

UNIVERSITY POLICIES

Honor Code

“The University is an academic community devoted to the pursuit of knowledge. Fundamental to this pursuit is academic integrity. In joining the Adelphi community I accept the University’s Statement of Academic Integrity and pledge to uphold the principles of honesty and civility embodied in it. I will conduct myself in accordance with ideals of truth and honesty and I will forthrightly oppose actions which would violate these ideals.”

The Code of Academic Integrity prohibits behavior that can broadly be described as lying, cheating, or stealing. Academic dishonesty/violations of the Code of Academic Integrity include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Fabricating data or citations

2. Collaborating in areas not approved by the professor

3. Unauthorized multiple submission of one's own work

4. Sabotage of others' work, including library vandalism or manipulation

5. Plagiarism

6. The creation of unfair advantage

7. The facilitation of dishonesty

8. Tampering with or falsifying records

9. Cheating

10. Other forms of academic dishonesty

Copying and pasting from any source into your assignments or exams without quotation marks, citations and references, constitutes plagiarism. Students are expected to produce and submit original work and to cite all sources appropriately. Unauthorized collaboration on any work, or the presentation of someone else’s work as your own, is plagiarism. Content generated by an Artificial Intelligence third-party service or site (AI-generated content, e.g. ChatGPT) without attribution or authorization is also a form of plagiarism. Unless explicitly stated, artificial intelligence-based technologies, such as ChatGPT or word mixing software, cannot be used to generate responses (partial or otherwise) for student assignments or exams.

If you are unsure about what plagiarism or another form of academic dishonesty are, please reach out to me to discuss it as soon as possible. An allegation of an academic integrity violation of this section may be referred for further review and could result in disciplinary action.

Turnitin

Adelphi University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from Internet resources. I reserve the right to request an electronic copy of any written assignment submitted in this course for review through Turnitin.com. Please see Adelphi's tips for students on preventing plagiarism and student instructions for Turnitin.com for more information.

Generative AI Policy

Definition of GenAI:

Generative AI refers to a class of artificial intelligence techniques that create new content, such as text, images, or music, by learning patterns from existing data. These models use machine learning algorithms to generate novel outputs based on input data.

ChatGPT is the best-known example of GenAI, along with Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, but tools like Quillbot and Grammarly also use GenAI technologies.

For additional information, please consult Adelphi’s Generative AI Policy.

Students’ Responsibility:

Students must ensure they understand the tools they are using to complete course assignments. By handing in work, students are accepting responsibility for following all University and course policies concerning academic integrity and will be reported for violations.

Turnitin’s AI detection software returns a score reflecting the percentage of text that is likely to have been generated by AI—it does not determine whether that text was generated by tools like ChatGPT from a prompt or by tools like Grammarly from existing text. Therefore, students who regularly use Grammarly and similar tools should ask permission from the instructor beforehand and should save versions of their work by using Google Docs or by enabling MS Word’s version history feature. Doing so will provide a record of each stage in the process of completing the assignment.

AI Eyeglasses and Wearable Technology Policy

AI eyeglasses and wearable technologies, such as Meta Ray-Ban Stories and Google Glass, are devices that incorporate artificial intelligence to access or display real-time visual, auditory, or internet-based information. These may include features such as live streaming, audio transcription, image recognition, real-time translation, and connectivity to external AI services.

Use of Generative AI in this Course is:

All generated content must be attributed to AI. Cite or note at the top of your assignment all use of AI. As you are learning to use word, excel and write html code, do not generate those documents.

Religious Observance Policy

Adelphi University welcomes diversity in its community and respects various religious observances. Students who anticipate being absent due to their religious observance are required by Adelphi University to notify their professors at the start of the semester. This will allow faculty to take these observances into consideration in light of their course exam and assignment schedules. Students absent from class, clinical experiences, practice, labs, etc. on those days, after prior notice to the professor, will not be penalized for any exam or assignment deadline missed because of those absences. Students must contact the instructor to work out suitable arrangements for make-ups or other satisfaction of academic requirements. Adelphi's Exam/Assignment Absence Policy can be viewed here.

Discrimination & Harassment

The University will not tolerate discrimination, harassment or violence based on the protected status of an individual's race, creed, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, predisposing genetic characteristics, religion, pregnancy, military status, veteran status, status as a victim of domestic violence, criminal conviction status, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state or federal laws. This includes sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking and sexual harassment. The University is dedicated to preventing, investigating, and remedying incidents of discrimination, harassment, violence and related retaliation. Reports of prohibited conduct can be made through our online reporting form found here or by contacting the Title IX Coordinator:

E:titleix@adelphi.edu

P: 516-877-4819

To learn more about campus resources and the University's Prohibited Discrimination and Harassment Policy or the Sex Discrimination, Sexual Misconduct and other Prohibited Conduct Grievance Procedures visit our Title IX webpage.

Student Pregnancy & Parental Leave

Adelphi will make reasonable modifications to its policies, practices, or procedures as necessary to prevent sex discrimination and ensure equal access to its education program. To request reasonable modifications, please contact the Title IX office at titleix@adelphi.edu.

For more information visit Student Pregnancy and Parental Leave Policy webpage.

Moodle

All course materials will be delivered through Moodle. You can access the Moodle course through ecampus.

If the University is closed for more than two days due to an emergency, log onto this course site under the Moodle tab in eCampus each day for instructions and assignments. Help for students in the use of Moodle can be found at Moodle Help.

Student Course

Evaluations

During the last two weeks of the class, you will receive notification, via email and eCampus, that the course evaluation is available for your input electronically. Your feedback is valuable and students are strongly encouraged to respond. Please be assured that your responses are anonymous and the results will not be available to the instructor until after course grades have been submitted after the semester ends.

Information Techology

The Student Tech Guide covers a wide range of technical support services, including, but not limited to, accounts and emails, safety and security, and software. Contact the Information Technology Help Desk with questions about technical support services.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HELP DESK CONTACT :

Phone: 516-877-3340

Email: helpdesk@adelphi.edu

Text with ChatBot Adele : 516-550-3507