Course Syllabus

PDF of the V261 Semester Schedule.pdf

Welcome to Using IT in Public Affairs!

Meeting Location: SPEA PV151

Meeting Time: 11:10am - 12:25pm on Tuesday & Thursday

eText: McGraw Hill - SIMnet

Course Description

An introduction to information technology and computing applications in public affairs. Topics include basic IT concepts, data analysis,  infrastructure, security and ethics, data and document management, cloud computing, and IT futures. Direct application of the above with office suites, website development,  spreadsheets and statistics, and databases. No prior experience is required. 

 Learning Outcomes 

In this course, you will learn the most valued skills in the IT industry today. Through instruction and hands-on experience in Microsoft Office and various web development applications, you will be able to:

• work with complex spreadsheets
• describe in general terms how computers work
• discuss current issues and future trends in technology 
• formulate data driven arguments
• create well-designed data visualizations
• use relational databases 
• develop web sites
• apply the principles of good leadership, teamwork and project management through class discussions and by working on solo and group projects. 

This course also encourages you to take full ownership of your learning. I will do all I can to help you understand the material, but the degree to which you learn it is ultimately up to you.

 Other Tools We'll Be Using

• Canvas (Indiana University's online learning management system)
• Teams (Video Conferencing and Team Exercises)
• Kaltura (video recording software)
• IUWare, IUAnyWare and office.iu.edu to access the tools used in this course
• Cloud storage (e.g. OneDrive or Google Drive)
• AI ( Gemini, ChatGpt, and CoPilot) 

Please note: As we progress through the semester, this list may change. Learn about these tools at Keep Learning.