The first week of the MIS 766 is complete. I’ve definitely enjoyed the course. So far, it has remained generally simpler than I thought it might be, but I’m getting exposure to ideas that are useful to have.

So far, we’ve primarily talked about databases at a theoretical level. We started off talking about the overall theory of databases and then moved into conceptual design of a database structure. The general principles of databases is to consolidate data in a way that it can be easily and reliably accessed. There are some underlying concepts such as the idea that data should exist in one place and not multiple places (avoids redundancy and errors).

The conceptual design of databases has to do with understanding how the data relate to each other. We have been using Entity-Relationship (ER) diagrams to indicate this. It’s not conceptually difficult and is more of a practice of thinking carefully through the relationships between pieces of information. The instructor’s presentation is much clearer than the book’s presentation, and there are some simplifications she introduced that makes things just a little bit easier to follow. The relationships in her relationship diagrams are not split into two directions, which avoids extra writing and definitions that can be understood through context.

There’s also a major group project that will be due at the end of semester, with smaller pieces due along the way. I’m in a group where I think I’m the only native English speaker, and since this is my only class of this type so far, I have no idea whether that’s common. But I have decided not to get too picky with the language part. I’ll write my parts and add suggestions as a team member, but I’m not going to be that guy that goes through everything with a fine-tooth comb and has to put everything into his own voice. I’m ultimately not that concerned about the overall grade (there’s no way I’m failing this course, right?), and so I want to make sure to enhance the learning experience for the others in the group.

We had our first exam yesterday. We were allowed 50 minutes at first, and I completed mine in about 45 minutes. After I completed it, the instructor expanded the time to 90 minutes, which is probably a more fair amount of time. I’ve always been a fast test taker, and so if it took me nearly the full amount of time to go through the test (and review my answers), it’s probably not enough time. But I do get to have the personal victory of having completed the exam in the original allotted time before the instructor increased it.