Philadelphia University Faculty of Information Technology Department of CIS
First semester, 2016/2017

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Course Syllabus	
Course Title: Fundamentals of Computer Networks:
	
Course code: 0761340	

Course Level:3	Course prerequisite (s) :0721221	
Lecture Time: 9-10	Credit hours: 3 H	

	Academic Staff Specifics		

Name	
Rank	Office Number and

Location	Office

Hours	
E-mail Address	
Hasan Al-Refai	Assistance

Professor	Room: 7326

IT building	Su,Tu,Th
12:10-13:00
13:10-14:00	
halrefai@philadelphia.edu.jo

Course module description:
This course covers technical and managerial aspects related to data communication, computer
and telecommunication networks.

Course module objectives:
This course aims to provide:
•	A  solid  understanding of  data  communications and networking principles including networking and telecommunications technologies, hardware and software.
•	A basic knowledge and skills on telecommunication networks management, network security, cost-benefit analysis and evaluation of connectivity options.

Course/ module components:
•   Books (title , author (s), publisher, year of publication)
1. Data Communication and Computer Networks: A business user's approach,
Curt M. White, Boston/Thomson, 2007.
2.  Business Data Networks and Telecommunication, Raymond R. Panko, Prentice
Hall, 2003.

•     Support material (s): Textbook Slides
Teaching methods:
Duration: 16 weeks totalizing 48 hours
Lectures: 2 hours per week, totalizing 32 h ours Tutorials: (0-1 hour per month, totalizing 4 hours Laboratory: 3 hours per month, totalizing 12 hours

Learning outcomes:
A student completing this module should be able to:

• Knowledge and understanding
-    Understand   a   wide   range   of   principles   and   techniques   related   to   data
communications, computer networks and telecommunication.(A)
-	Understand  the  professional  and  ethical  responsibilities  of     the  practising computer professional including understanding the need for quality.(A)
-    Understand the application of computer networking in a business context (A)

• Cognitive skills (thinking and analysis)
-  Evaluate,  select,  and  implement  different  communication  options  within  an
organization.(B)

• Communication skills (personal and academic).
- Plan and undertake a major individual project, and prepare and deliver coherent and
structured verbal and written technical report. (C)
- Be able to display an integrated approach to the deployment of communication skills,  use  IT  skills  and  display mature  computer  literacy,  strike  the  balance between self-reliance and seeking help when necessary in new situations, and display personal responsibility by working to multiple in complex activities.(C).

•   Practical and subject specific skills (Transferable Skills).
- Install and configure LAN switches, routers, firewalls.

Assessment instruments
•   Quizzes.
•   Home works
•   Final examination: 50 marks

Allocation of Marks	
Assessment Instruments	Mark	
First examination	20%	
Second examination	20%	
Final examination: 50 marks	40%	
Assignments, Quizzes	20%	
Total	100%	

* Make-up exams will be offered for valid reasons only with consent of the Dean. Make-up exams may be different from regular exams in content and format.
Documentation and Academic Honesty
Submit your home work covered with a sheet containing your name, number, course title and number, and type and number of the home work (e.g. tutorial, assignment, and project).

Any completed homework must be handed in to my office (room IT ---) by 15:00 on the due date. After the deadline “zero” will be awarded. You must keep a duplicate copy of your work because it may be needed while the original is being marked.

You should hand in with your assignments:
1-   A printed listing of your test programs (if any).
2-   A brief report to explain your findings.
3-   Your solution of questions.
For the research report, you are required to write a report similar to a research paper. It should include:
o Abstract: It describes the main synopsis of your paper.
o	Introduction: It provides background information necessary to understand the research and getting readers interested in your subject. The introduction is where you put your problem in context and is likely where the bulk of your sources will appear.
o	Methods (Algorithms and Implementation): Describe your methods here. Summarize the algorithms generally, highlight features relevant to your project, and refer readers to your references for further details.
o	Results  and  Discussion  (Benchmarking  and  Analysis):  This  section  is  the  most important part of your paper. It is here that you demonstrate the work you have accomplished on this project and explain its significance. The quality of your analysis will impact your final grade more than any other component on the paper. You should therefore plan to spend the bulk of your project time not just gathering data, but determining  what  it  ultimately  means  and  deciding  how  best  to  showcase  these findings.
o	Conclusion: The conclusion should give your reader the points to “take home” from your paper. It should state clearly what your results demonstrate about the problem you were tackling in the paper. It should also generalize your findings, putting them into a useful context that can be built upon. All generalizations should be supported by your data, however; the discussion should prove these points, so that when the reader gets to the conclusion, the statements are logical and seem self-evident.
o	Bibliography: Refer to any reference that you used in your assignment. Citations in the body of the paper should refer to a bibliography at the end of the paper.

• Protection by Copyright
1. Coursework, laboratory exercises, reports, and essays submitted for assessment must be your own work, unless in the case of group projects a joint effort is expected and is indicated as such.
2. Use of quotations or data from the work of others is entirely acceptable, and is often very valuable provided that the source of the quotation or data is given. Failure to provide a
source or put quotation marks around material that is taken from elsewhere gives the appearance that the comments are ostensibly your own. When quoting word-for-word
from the work of another person quotation marks or indenting (setting the quotation in from the margin) must be used and the source of the quoted material must be acknowledged.
3. Sources of quotations used should be listed in full in a bibliography at the end of your piece of work.
• Avoiding Plagiarism.
1.   Unacknowledged  direct  copying  from  the  work  of  another  person,  or  the  close paraphrasing of somebody else's work, is called plagiarism and is a serious offence, equated with cheating in examinations. This applies to copying both from other students' work and from published sources such as books, reports or journal articles.
2.   Paraphrasing,   when   the   original   statement   is   still   identifiable   and   has   no acknowledgement, is plagiarism. A close paraphrase of another person's work must have
an  acknowledgement  to  the  source.  It  is  not  acceptable  for  you  to  put  together
unacknowledged passages from the same or from different sources linking these together with a few words or sentences of your own and changing a few words from the original
text: this is regarded as over-dependence on other sources, which is a form of plagiarism.

3.   Direct quotations from an earlier piece of your own work, if not attributed, suggest that your work is original, when in fact it is not. The direct copying of one's own writings qualifies as plagiarism if the fact that the work has been or is to be presented elsewhere is not acknowledged.
4.   Plagiarism is a serious offence and will always result in imposition of a penalty. In deciding upon the penalty the Department will take into account factors such as the year
of study, the extent and proportion of the work that has been plagiarized, and the apparent
intent of the student. The penalties that can be imposed range from a minimum of a zero mark for the work (without allowing resubmission) through caution to disciplinary measures (such as suspension or expulsion).

	
week	Basic and support material to
be covered	Homework/reports
and their due dates	
	(1)	Introduction to data
communication and networks		
	(2)	Fundamentals of data and signals		
	(3)	Media conducted and Wireless
		
	(4)	Multiplexing and Compression
		
	(5)	Errors, Error Detection, and Error Control
		
	(6)
First examination	Local Area Networks 
		
	(7)	Local Area Networks		
	(8)	Metropolitan and Wide Area
Networks (1)
		
	(9)	Metropolitan and Wide Area
Networks (2)
		
	(10)	Internet : Overview on TCP/IP
stack		
	(11)
Second examination	Internet : Overview on TCP/IP
stack	
	
	(12)	Network Management
		
	(13)	Network Management
		
	(14)	Network Security
		
	(15)	Network Security	
	
	(16)
Final
Examination	Revision		

Course/module academic calendar

Expected workload:

On average students need to spend 2 hours of study and preparation for each 50-minute lecture/tutorial.

Attendance policy:

Absence from lectures and/or tutorials shall not exceed 15%. Students who exceed the 15% limit without a medical or emergency excuse acceptable to and approved by the Dean of the relevant college/faculty shall not be allowed to take the final examination and shall receive a mark of zero for the course. If the excuse is approved by the Dean, the student shall be considered to have withdrawn from the course.

Module References

Books

1.  Business Data communications, William Stallings, Prentice Hall, 2005.
2.  Data Communication and Network, Dave Miller, McGraw Hill, 2006.

3.  Business Data communications, Stamper, David. A, Prentice Hall, 2003.
4.  Business Data Communications, Forouzan, Behruz. A Fegan, Sophia Chung, McGraw Hill, 2007.
5.  Computer Networks and internets: with Internet Applications, Comer Douglas
E, Upper Saddle River, 2004.
6.  Business Data Communications and Networking, Jerry Fitzgerald, Alan
Dennis, 7th edition, 2002.
7.  Computer Networking: a top-down approach featuring Internet, Kurose
James F, Ross Keith W, Addison Wesley, 2007.
8.  Data Communication and Computer Networks, Gupta Prakash, Prentice
Hall, 2006.
9.  Computer Communication and Network technologies, Gallo Michael A, Hancock William M, Pacific Group, 2001.
10. Communication Networks: Principles and Practice, Hasera Sumit, Narang
Nishit, Narang Sumita, McGraw Hill, 2005.