CIS 3650 Web and Mobile Analytics

Asynchronized Online Course | Spring 2024

1. Instructor

Dr. Sonya Zhang
E-mail: [email protected] 

• Use "CIS 3650" in the subject line, spell your full name in the email body, and send it from your cpp.edu account.
• Do NOT submit any homework to me via email - they won't count.
• I typically aim to reply to student emails within 24 hours. However, please note that this timeframe does not include weekends, as we are advised not to work during weekends or outside the 8-hour weekday limit according to the university policy. Therefore, I recommend emailing Thursday or early Friday if you would like to receive a response before the weekend.

School Website: https://www.cpp.edu/cba/computer-information-systems/faculty/bios/sonya-zhang.shtml 
Personal Website: http://sonyazhang.com

2. Class meetings

This fully asynchronized online course has no face-to-face or synchronized Zoom meetings. Weekly learning materials and activities will be posted online using Canvas. The instructor will interact with students via Canvas announcements and email. Weekly learning activities and assignments will be posted on Canvas -> Modules.

3. Course Description

Web and mobile analytics studies the collection, analysis, and reporting of the audience, acquisition, behavior, and conversion data from websites and mobile applications to understand and optimize digital design, use, and performance. Advanced topics include data visualization, search engine optimization, attribution model, regular expression, tag management, conversion optimization, and preparing for professional certification exams such as the Google Analytics certification assessment.

4. Learning Objectives

Students successfully completing this course should have acquired the ability to:

1. Describe how web and mobile analytics tools provide business insights that help the business optimize digital presence and performance.
2. Understand and interpret audience, acquisition, behavior, and conversion reports.
3. Create data-driven insights and recommendations.
4. Understand and apply filters, dimensions, metrics, event tracking, tag management, configurations, and segmentation.
5. Understand and apply custom dashboards and reports.
6. Understand and explain analytics-driven optimization.
7. Prepare and take the Google Analytics certification exam.

5. Textbook and Software

Required Resources

• Google Analytics 4 training and resources (free with a Google account)
• Skillshop Exceedlms (free with a Google account)
• Access to a computer and the Internet

Required Software (all software is browser-based and free with a Google account)

• Google Analytics
• Google Tag Manager
• Google Looker Studio (previously Google Data Studio)

Recommended Textbook (optional)

Title: Digital Analytics for Marketing 1st Edition
Author: Marshall Sponder, Gohar F. Khan
ISBN-13: 978-1138190689
ISBN-10: 1138190683

6. Exams, Projects, and Assignments

All weekly learning modules are published and announced on Monday, and all learning activities and assignments are due Friday at 11:59 p.m.

Google Analytics 4 video and reading assignments: Students will take Google Analytics 4 courses and complete activities and assessments to assess learning outcomes.

Quizzes: Students will take multiple quizzes on GA knowledge and skills based on lecture videos and readings. 

Hands-on Exercises: Students will apply their knowledge and skills in hands-on exercises using GA4, Google Tag Manager, and Looker Studio.

Literature Review: Students will select an academic article (journal or conference paper) related to web and/or mobile analytics and review it following a structure outlined by the instructor. 

Google Analytics certification exam: After working through 8 modules encompassing Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, Data/Looker Studio, and various relevant topics, including SEO, SEM, Regular Expression, Attribution Models, etc., to master the knowledge and skills, students will take the Google Analytics certificate exam to assess their proficiency. They will need an 80% or better score on the exam to earn the certificate, which they can proudly showcase on their LinkedIn profiles. The exam is online and must be taken within the assigned week. Students will provide screenshots of the highest score and the certificate (including the certificate number, the date, and the student's full name as displayed on Bronco Direct) to Canvas before the deadline. Their exam score accounts for 20% of their course grade.

Group project: Students will work in groups of 3-4 and apply the comprehensive knowledge and skills learned in class to analyze digital data for a website using Google Analytics and provide business insights and/or recommendations. Peer and self-evaluation will be used to ensure a fair share of work.  Final deliverables include a presentation video and a report. The instructor will assign groups.

Make-up policy: There will be no make-up exams except for serious and compelling reasons substantiated by formal and authoritative documents.

Late submission: Late assignments or projects will incur a 50% penalty if submitted within 24 hours after the deadline, and no late work will be accepted afterward.

Turn-it-in: Students' written assignments will be checked through Turnitin.com for plagiarism detection, which will check against not only Internet sources but also previous students' work submitted to Canvas.

Student Responsibilities:

• Each student is responsible for successfully completing and submitting all assignments and projects. Corrupted files or incomplete submissions will not be credited. Students are also responsible for keeping a backup copy of each submission.
• To ensure fairness, the instructor will NOT review, debug, or fix problems in student assignments and projects BEFORE grading the entire class. The instructor will, however, help students understand expectations, clarify requirements, provide guidance, help students gain knowledge and skills in analysis, design, and problem-solving, and answer specific questions on course topics.
• Students must have spent a significant and reasonable amount of time and effort researching and working on the issue independently BEFORE asking for help.

7. Grading

8. Course Schedule