COURSE SPECIFICATION

1. PROGRAMME : Basic Sciences

2. PRESENTED TO : Senate
3. PRESENTED BY : Faculty of Agriculture
4. SUBJECT : Introduction to Computer System
5. YEAR/LEVEL OF STUDY :1
6. MODULE TITLE : Computer Applications I
7. COURSE CODE : CAP 31101
8. DURATION : 13 weeks per semester
9. LECTURES HOURS PER WEEK : 1 hour
10. TUTORIAL HOURS PER WEEK : None
11. PRACTICAL HOURS PER WEEK : 3 hours
12. STUDENT INDEPENDENT LEARNING HOURS PER WEEK: None
13. TOTAL MODULE CREDITS : 2.5 credits
14. PREREQUISITE MODULES : None
15. COREQUISITE MODULE : None
16. DELIVERY METHODS
16.1 Mode of Delivery : Face-to-face and ODL
16.2 Teaching methods : Lectures, seminars, practicals
16.3 Assessment weighting:
Course work = 40%
End of Semester Exam = 60%

17. AIM(S) OF THE COURSE

To enable students, understand the basic elements and components of a computer
system and familiarize students with the various computer software applications
and their application in different fields including Agriculture, Natural Resources,
and Environment.

18. LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the course students should be able to:
a) Describe the concepts of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
b) Convert numbers to different numbering systems.
c) Demonstrate an understanding of uses of computers and their classification.
 d) Use the computer to manage files.
e) Apply various hardware and software tools in different aspects including
Agriculture
f) Produce documents using word processing applications.

19. TOPICS OF STUDY

a) Computer fundamentals
i. Information Processing; Data and Information, Data Representation; units of
data representation and character sets, Multimedia – Graphics and sound,
Information Processing Cycle
ii. The Use of computers and Information Technology In Different Aspects of Life
including in Education, Finance, Government, Health Care, Science, Publishing
Travel and Manufacturing; (Home User Small Office/Home Office User, Mobile
User, Power User, Enterprise User),
iii. Types and Characteristics of Computers
iv. Computer Storage and Memory; RAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, Cache
Memory and Registers
v. Classification of Computers:
- On the basis of Technology (Digital, Analog and Hybrid);
- On the basis of processing speed and storage capacity (Micro, Mini,
Mainframe, Supercomputers, Personal computers and Portables);
- On the basis of Purpose (General & Special).
b) Evolution of computers
i. History of computers
ii. Computer Generations and their features: First Generation Computers; Second
Generation Computers; Third Generation Computers; Fourth Generation
Computers; Fifth Generation Computers
c) Computer Hardware
i. Input Hardware Devices Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick, Digitizer, Scanner, MICR,
OCR, OMR, Light Pen, Touch Screen, Bar Code Reader, Voice Input Devices,
ii. Output Hardware Devices; Monitor and its type (VGA, SVGA and XGA), Printers
iii. System Unit, Central Processing Unit
iv. Storage Hardware Devices: Magnetic Disks: Hard disks, Optical disks - CD ROM,
CD ROM-R, CD ROM-RW), DVD ROM, Flash Memory,
v. Modern storage technologies: RAID, SAN, Mirroring, Clustering, Online
Secondary Storage.
vi. Communication Hardware Devices
d) Computer Networking Basics
i. Introduction to Computer Networking and benefits
ii. Network Topologies (Network Structures); Bus topology, Star topology, Ring
topology, Mesh topology
iii. Types of Networks; PAN, LAN, WAN, MAN. WLAN, Intranet and extranet
technology
iv. Communication Devices and their use; MODEM, SWITCH, HUB, ROUTERS and
others
v. Data Transmission Modes; Half Duplex, Full Duplex, Data transmission rate,
Serial and Parallel, Synchronous and Asynchronous Transmission,
vi. Broadband technologies
e) Internet Technology and E-mail
i. Introduction to Internet and the world-wide web (WWW)
ii. Web Browsers: How web browsers work in relation to WWW
iii. Internet Protocols and their functions
iv. Searching for information on the web
v. Introduction to electronic services (e-services)
vi. Communication, teleconferencing, videoconferencing and Virtual communities;
Blogs, e-mails, online chats, VOIP, Skype and others
vii. Features of e-mail, Creation and how it works
f) Computer Software
i. Types of computer languages in relation to computer generations; Machine
Languages, Assembly Languages, High Level Languages, 4GLs, Use of
Compilers, Interpreters and Assemblers
ii. Applications Software:
- Types and functions of Application software,
- Sources of Application Software: (Proprietary vs Open Source, In-house
developed vs Off-the-shelf)
iii. System Software; Operating System Software, Utilities Software.
iv. Microsoft Office and Microsoft word; Office environment, Introduction to
Microsoft Word: Typing, editing, formatting, creating Tables
v. Applications Software: Types and functions of Application software, Sources of
Application Software: (Proprietary vs Open Source, In-house developed vs Off-
the-shelf)
vi. Microsoft Office and Microsoft word; Office environment, Introduction to
Microsoft Word: Typing, editing, formatting, creating Tables, Mail Merge facility
in MS Word and others
 g) ICT Security and Law
i. Data Protection; use of authentication and passwords to protect data
ii. ICT systems Threats (physical and logical): - viruses, worms, malware, spam,
Trojan horses, theft, malicious damage, hackers, crackers.
iii. Copyright and licensing: - piracy, freeware, shareware, open source,
proprietary
iv. Data security (data protection Act): - Backup, Firewall
v. ICT and health (ergonomics)
vi. ICT and environment: - e-waste, energy saving options

PRACTICAL/LAB TOPICS
a) Computer basics; Identifying main computer parts and their functions, basic
computer terms
b) Using Computer Keyboard and Mouse; keyboard keys, types, mouse types and
mouse functions. Keyboarding skills.
c) Login and logout of a computers; computer booting, creating user accounts
changing user accounts, creating user passwords.
d) Using features of an operating system; Disk Operating system, windows
operating system: Navigating through menus, options, desktop properties,
standard icons, task bar, dialog boxes, folders of a computer.
e) Using the search property of a computer
f) Microsoft office works
g) Manage files and folders; creating, deleting, copying, moving, renaming files
and folders. Typing characters, numbers and words.
h) Connecting hardware and checking system information; checking RAM,
processor speed, system type, hard disk space.
i) Using word processing package; creating, saving, formatting, editing a
document. Using short cuts, splitting a window, setting up a page for printing.
j) Using word processors; Creating, inserting and editing tables, create charts,
inserting graphics and objects and charts, mail merging in MS Word.
k) Surfing the net, creating and sending an email, social networking

20. PRESCRIBED TEXTS

a) Shelly G, Vermaat M (2011). Discovering Computers: Living in a Digital World,
Complete. 11th ed.
b) Williams B, Sawyer S (2010). Using Information Technology – A practical
Introduction to Computer and Communication, Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
c) Norton P (2007). Introduction to Computers. 6th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
21. RECOMMENDED TEXTS/READINGS
a) Gay G, Blades R (2009). Oxford Information Technology for CSEC. New York:
Oxford University Press.
b) Courter G, Marquis A (2003). Microsoft Office 2003: User Certification Study
Guide. New Delhi
c) Bhavnagar S (2008). Textbook of Computer Science for Class XII. London:
Prentice Hall.
d) Gupta V (2008). COMDEX Computer Course Kit. New Delhi: Dream Tech Press.
e) Norton P (2007). Introduction to Computers. 6th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
f) http://office.microsoft.com
g) http://www.openoffice.org/
h) http://staroffice.com/

This course /module specification was approved by senate on

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