CSCI 311 - System Architecture

Syllabus for section 01, Fall 2025.

This course is offered in a hybrid format and meets Wednesdays 3:00-3:50 in Penny Hall room 311.

Important Dates

Instructor Information

Dr. Mike Murphy
mmurphy2@coastal.edu
Office Location: Penny Hall room 238
https://ww2.coastal.edu/mmurphy2

Office Hours

Please see my schedule page for current office hour information.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

1. Explain the basic operation of a Central Processing Unit.
2. Distinguish between different Instruction Set Architectures and identify benefits and weaknesses of various commercially available CPUs.
3. Describe the operation of memory and storage devices, including addressing and partitioning schemes.
4. Describe the hardware-software interface of a computer system, including the bootloader, kernel, firmware, and device drivers.
5. Calculate power and cooling requirements for equipment given thermal design power specifications.
6. Explain how multiple systems can be hosted within a data center in a safe and efficient manner.

ABET Assessment

This course measures the following Performance Indicators:

• 1.1. Define requirements and/or specifications for a computing problem.
• 1.2. Analyze a complex problem by breaking it down into smaller components.
• 1.6. Analyze a component of a complex problem.
• 2.4. Compare multiple solutions against requirements.
• IT 6.3. Select systems appropriate for different user and environment requirements.

Texts and Materials

• No textbook is required for this course.
• I will provide or link readings, reference materials, tutorials, and/or videos to cover background material.

Technology Requirements

• You will need a laptop or desktop computer for this course. Linux, macOS, and Windows systems will work. Chromebooks, phones, tablets, and similar devices with limited functionality will not work for some course activities.
• To be able to download software in a reasonable time, as well as to upload your submissions, you’ll need a broadband Internet connection.
• In order to edit the submission worksheets, you will need LibreOffice Writer or Microsoft Word.
• You will need a phone with a working camera or a camera that you can connect to your computer to collect screenshots for many of the milestones.

Raspberry Pi 5 Kit

A Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB model) and related accessories are required for this course. You may purchase your own device or borrow one from the University. Details regarding borrowing a Raspberry Pi and its accessories will be communicated separately.

The required components are as follows:

1. Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB model)
2. Case to protect the Raspberry Pi 5 (any Pi 5 case will work)
3. Raspberry Pi 5 Active Cooler
4. Raspberry Pi 5 USB-C Power Supply (or another type C power supply that is capable of supplying 5 amps at 5 volts)
5. Raspberry Pi 5 RTC clock battery
6. USB keyboard
7. USB mouse
8. MicroSD card reader for your laptop
9. Micro HDMI to HDMI adapter
10. HDMI cable
11. Some type of monitor or TV with an HDMI input
12. MicroSD cards (look for class A2, speed at least V30, and beware of counterfeits on popular marketplace sites)

Grading

There are NO grades in this course, nor are there any quizzes or exams. Instead, this course uses an ungrading approach that is divided into three distinct Phases:

1. The Planning Phase begins at the start of the course and runs to the day before the census date. During this phase, you will complete a Course Plan and check that your computer is ready and working. Course logistics, including borrowing the Raspberry Pi kit, are handled during this phase.
2. The Discovery Phase runs from the day after the census date until the day before the last day to drop this course with a W. This phase covers the technical content of the course through a series of 10 Milestones.
3. The Reflection Phase runs from the last day to drop through the day before the last day of classes. During this phase, you will reflect on what you learned during the Discovery Phase and practice documenting your accomplishments. This phase focuses on professional skills.

There is NO final exam in this course.

Planning Phase

The purpose of the Planning Phase is to introduce you to the course and ensure that you and your computer are ready for the Discovery Phase. During the Planning Phase, you will complete a Course Plan worksheet to help you review this syllabus, understand the organization of the class, and develop a strategy for staying on track in this course. You will also practice taking and including a screenshot, exporting your completed worksheet to PDF format, and uploading a submission to Moodle.

Discovery Phase

During the Discovery Phase, you’ll work on 10 Milestones, which are technical activities that combine background material with a hands-on experience. Each Milestone has an associated worksheet to complete using LibreOffice Writer or Microsoft Word. You’ll save your completed worksheet to a PDF file and upload it to Moodle as the Milestone submission.

I’ll review your submitted worksheets and provide feedback through Moodle. This feedback will give you an indication of the strengths and any weaknesses in your submission, but it won’t include a grade. Each Milestone will have a due date and a closing date. I will provide feedback just after the due date, and you will have through the closing date to revise your milestone submission.

Reflection Phase

Once we finish the Discovery Phase of the course, we’ll move into the Reflection Phase, which will have its own worksheet to help guide you through the reflection process. In the Refection, you’ll have an opportunity to document the knowledge, skills, and achievements you made during the Discovery Phase. You will also document challenges encountered during the semester, identify areas for future learning, and propose a final course grade.

I will provide feedback on your reflection document, and you will be welcome to submit any revisions or adjustments through the end of the Reflection Phase. My feedback on the Reflection will resemble Milestone feedback, except that I will also include your final course grade with this feedback.

Please note that this course isn’t “over” once we reach the Reflection Phase! While the technical material in this course is largely covered in the Discovery Phase, the Reflection Phase is actually covering important professional skills and related ABET requirements:

• Criterion 3, Student Outcome 3: Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts.
• Criterion 5: The curriculum must combine technical, professional, and general education components to prepare students for a career, further study, and lifelong professional development in the computing discipline associated with the program.

The reflection document is designed to guide you through the process of communicating your accomplishments, identifying areas for continuous improvement, and delivering a self-evaluation. You are likely to encounter this process each year of your future professional career during annual performance reviews. For this reason, attention to detail in the Reflection documents will have a direct bearing on your overall course grade.

Final Grade

Although we have no grades during the semester, University policy requires a final grade to be assigned to this course using the established A-F letter scale. You will propose your final grade in the second part of the course reflection. I may agree or disagree with your self-assessment and may ultimately assign a higher or lower grade than what you propose.

This approach to final grading is designed to reduce the amount of grade-related stress in this course, giving you more time and mental energy to focus on the material. In order for this approach to work, I need you to engage with the material and submit complete worksheets for each Milestone and the Reflection. Passing this course with the required C or better generally requires that you fully complete at least 7 of the 10 Milestones and the Reflection. I strongly encourage you to do more than the minimum and aim for a final grade of A by completing all the Milestones, learning as much as you can, and revising your work when my feedback indicates an opportunity to do so. More guidance about final grading may be found in the Course Reflection instructions.

Course Policies

Academic Integrity

We’re all required to follow the CCU Academic Integrity Code, which is part of the Code of Student Conduct. I prefer not to have to engage in the Academic Integrity process, but I’m required to do so if these rules are broken. For this course, it’s important not to hire or permit someone else to take the course in your place or to engage in willful or flagrant plagiarism, as these kinds of violations could result in a course grade of FX. I don’t mind if you work with another student or in a small group on the Milestones, provided that you aren’t simply copying or sharing answers.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT can be helpful editing tools, and you’re welcome to use them for this purpose. It is NOT OK to ask an AI tool to complete a Milestone or reflection document for you, as doing so would be problematic in several ways. First, taking a solution generated by an AI tool and submitting it as your own would be a form of plagiarism that would be in conflict with academic integrity. Second, generative AI algorithms are prone to a phenomenon called hallucination, in which they produce answers that sound great but are factually wrong. Unless you do your own work and learn the necessary knowledge to distinguish correct from incorrect output, you won’t have any way to know if the AI algorithm is giving you a good answer or total garbage.

Another reason to use caution with generative AI tools is that the companies that own the AI systems are using both your queries and your personal information to train their systems. Whatever you put into the AI tool becomes part of the system’s knowledge base. Worse, if you actually read the license agreements and privacy policies for some of these tools, you will find that you’re agreeing to let the AI companies train their models with information about you that they have collected or purchased from a data broker. AI models are expensive to train and operate, and these companies are in business to make money. They will happily absorb your data into their model while also selling it to the highest bidder. Be especially wary when using these tools.

Attendance

Per the University Distance Learning Policy, each missed submission counts as an absence. Note that this policy also applies to hybrid courses. You will be dropped from the course if your Course Plan is not submitted in Moodle by 11:59 PM ET on the last day of the Planning Phase. Regular attendance at weekly class meetings is expected but is not recorded or graded.

Communications

I try to be available as much as possible during the semester via email, Teams, and in-person office hours. However, my work day may not always align with the time of day that you’re working on coursework. In general, I will reply to email and Teams messages within 1-2 business days, which may be longer than 2 calendar days in the case of messages sent over a weekend or holiday. I’m unable to return telephone calls when I’m not physically in the office, so response times are typically longer.

Contingency Plan

Per the CCU Academic Continuity Plan, courses will continue online whenever the University is unable to hold in-person classes. During contingency operations, this class will meet at the normal time (3:00-3:50 PM ET on Wednesdays) in Microsoft Teams. We will proceed online unless the Governor orders the University to close completely or the Provost gives alternate instructions. Please remember that an emergency in Horry County might impact my ability to communicate, and that synchronous communications (such as Teams) might not work properly. In such a situation, I plan to communicate with you using Moodle announcements and email. If you need to reach me during an emergency, please send me an email. My ability to respond will be dictated by emergency conditions, but I will respond when I’m able.

This is a fall semester course, which means that we may be affected by tropical storms and hurricanes. Please review my Hurricane Information page for specific information about tropical impacts. I live in Horry County Coastal Evacuation Zone C and will communicate my availability via Moodle announcements ahead of the storm.

ALWAYS take your laptop or other computer with you whenever you go out of town, including during University breaks, evacuations, and other travel. Remember that you could encounter travel difficulties and have issues returning on time even if University operations are not affected.

Disability Accommodations

I am happy to work with any students requiring accommodations for a disability. University policy stipulates that Accessibility and Disability Services is the only office on campus that is authorized to evaluate and provide academic accommodations. Please have your accommodations information sent to me within the first week of class or within a week of approval if accommodations are implemented in the middle of the semester.

Late Work

You will be able to submit, revise, and resubmit the worksheets for each activity until the published closing date for that activity. No worksheets will be accepted after the corresponding closing date unless you have been granted an accommodation by Accessibility and Disability Services.

I will post weekly announcements in Moodle regarding important dates for that week. By default, you will receive an emailed copy of each announcement.

If you become so sick that you’re unable to do your work, or if some other significant hardship arises, please let me know immediately. You need to notify me before the closing date unless you are hospitalized or otherwise incapacitated.

Submission Requirements

In order to ensure fairness and maintain accurate class records, all work in this course must be submitted via Moodle. I cannot accept submissions via email, printed paper, Teams, or by any other means unless an accommodation has been granted by Accessibility and Disability Services. Computer problems and life events are certainly possible during the semester, so I encourage you to submit your worksheets well before the closing dates.

To receive feedback on an activity, please submit your worksheet for that activity to Moodle. You will have the opportunity to revise and resubmit up to the closing of the corresponding activity, as detailed above. There is no penalty for submitting work in progress.

Disclaimer

Portions of this course may deal with issues related to cost analysis, laws, and ethics. I am not a lawyer, accountant, or financial advisor, and no portion of this class constitutes legal, financial, or other regulated professional advice. This syllabus is tentative and is subject to change with notice to the class during the semester. If a portion of this syllabus is found to be non-compliant with University policies or applicable laws, the remainder of this syllabus will remain effective.