MET-161 Course Overview and Philosophy
MET 161 is an introduction to computers and computer applications. The analytical and computational skills needed to solve design problems using computers are developed.  Emphasis is on factor-label unit conversion, graphing data, spreadsheet analysis and communication via the Internet.

The course has a pattern of 2 hours of lecture and 2 hours of lab per week. You can expect a hands-on, applications oriented class that meets for all four hours in a laboratory where you will sit in front of a modern personal computer connected to the campus network. The lab is set up for lecture/demonstration where you may immediately try what you just saw.

MET 161 is continually changing in order to stay abreast of advancing technology and industry practice. No regular text book has all or even most of the topics for the course. Students come with a variety of backgrounds and computer experiences. Few, if any are familiar with the material covered in the course. Students rely on or develop their listening skills during the lectures and demonstrations; develop their ability to find information using help systems, Internet sources, and reference books. They also develop skill in experimentation by trying things on their computer, develop skill in asking questions and working with others. Consequently, a goal of the course is to acquire some independence with computers and software. Another goal is to learn how to learn about software and computer applications.

A tentative list of topics currently or previously covered follows (bold were emphasized):
 
 
Windows NT Computer Architecture MET Overview
Internet Email  Internet Browsing & Browsers Web & Library Searches 
Constructing Web Pages HTML Animated Gifs
QBASIC and DOS Structured Programming Unit Conversions
Factor Label Method Metric & Common Units Problem Solving
Excel  Graphing Data Macro Programming
Visual Basic (VB) VB for Applications (VBA) Computer Graphics
Visual Programming VBA in AutoCAD DWF Web Drawings
Other software not mentioned above such as Microsoft Word, Netscape Navigator, Netscape Collabra, Netscape Composer, FrontPage are also used

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