Transformational Technology

ATEC 4340.0I2
Online Class
Fall 2010
Professor: Michael Lynch
ATEC 1.190

Instructor Contact Information:

• Cell Phone: 214-228-5146

• Email: mdl064000@utdallas.edu. To contact me by email, please put subject as:
• ATEC 4340.0i2: Subject.

• Course Description: This course focuses on how to change business processes through technology
and also discusses strategies of companies like Apple, Google and others who have scored major
successes with innovative technology based commerce practices.

• Learning Outcomes:
• Provide students with a clear understanding of some of the new technologies that are transforming
our lives on a global basis.
• Provide students with a clear understanding of what a business model is and how it applies to the
success or failure of todays technology centered organizations.
• How traditional and unique business models facilitate the growth of a company’s products or services.
• How new ideas, new products, new services, and new approaches to the marketplace can result in
new opportunities to create new businesses.
• Enable students to evaluate business models that might work best for a specific product or service.
• How the combination of both business model innovation and technological innovations have powered
the rise of some of todays great organization.
• Introduce students to the possibility of new careers and project opportunities in emerging industries.
• Develop a complete business model defining the value proposition, market space offering, resource
model, and financial model.

Course readings: Most of the readings for this course will be material found online, although there are
two required textbooks: “FREE: The Future of Radical Price”, by Chris Anderson and “Business Model
Generation,” by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur. Students may be required to use other books for
their research assignments. Books which can be found in the UTD library or purchased. The
bibliography for the final course paper, for example, must contain information found in books and/or
scholarly printed resources, and should not rely solely on information found on the Internet or acquired
through case discussion articles.

Class Grading

Course requirements:
Class participation will be a key element of this course. Meaningful class participation, on the part of
each student, means keeping up with the assigned readings making contributions to the scheduled
topic discussions, engaging with the instructor, and other class members in a dialog about these topics.

This course is aimed at assessing student progress in five areas: research skills, information collection
and assessment, writing, presentation and course participation.

Students will be asked to demonstrate proficiency in each of these areas through the class discussions
and assignments. There will be periodic writing assignments in the course, as well as a midterm paper
and a final exam and a final project. Teams of 4-5 student will also be responsible for preparing a
business model as a final project on their topic of interest. This will require some advanced preparation,
the development of a powerpoint presentation and supporting material.

The weighting of factors in the final grade will be:

Class discussions: 15%
Written assignments: 15%
Midterm exam: 25%
Final Team Project: 20%
Final exam: 25%

All assignments are based on a 100 point basis.

Online Discussion / Interactive Questions

• Discussions open on Monday morning, 7am and close the following Sunday at midnight.
• There are two graded discussions per week worth a total of 6 points. (3 points per discussion)
• Score 1 point per discussion by posting your first post no later than midnight Tuesday.
• Score 2 additional points per discussion by posting 2 additional post by the following Sunday at
midnight Here’s where it gets tricky. The additional posts following the first post on Tuesday must be
at least one day apart. This allows for a dialog to develop.
• Discussions for the week close by Sunday.
Class Calendar
Week 1 - August 23:
Topic: Class and instructor introductions, course objectives.
Assignments:
• Discussions
Week 2 - August 30:
Topic: Transformational Technologies Overview
Assignments:
• Discussions
• Readings: BMG: 1-2
Week 3 - September 6:
Topic: Transformational Technology and the Business Model
Assignments:
• Discussions

Week 4 - September 13:

Topic: Disruptive Technologies
Assignments:
• Discussion
• Paper: “How has a new technology made a change in your life?”
Week 5 - September 20:
Topic: Business Models and the New Economy
Assignments:
• Discussions
• Readings: BMG: 3

Week 6 - September 27:

Topic: Power of the Crowd
Assignments:
• Discussions
• Readings/Viewings as assigned
• Readings: BMG: 4 - 5
Week 7 - October 10:
Midterm Exam due by 5pm CST
Midterm Grades are due on Friday, October 15th

Week 8 - October 25:

Topic: New Technologies Lifecycle
Assignments:
• Discussions
• Readings as Assigned
• Form Teams

Week 9 - November 1:
Topic: Longtail Business Model
Assignments:
• Discussions
• Readings as Assigned
• Business Model Proposal

Week 10 - November 15:

Topic: Disruptive Business Models
Assignments:
• Discussions
• Readings as Assigned

Week 11 - October 18:

Topic: Internet Business Models
Assignments:
• Discussions
• Readings as Assigned

Week 12 - October 11:

Topic: FREE as a Business Model
Assignments:
• Discussions
• Readings as Assigned
Week 13 - November 8
Topic: TransTech an Instrument of Change
Assignments:
• Discussions
• Readings as Assigned

Week 14 - November 15:

Topic: New Technologies to Watch
Assignments:
• Discussions
• Readings as Assigned
Week 15 - November 22:
Topic: Workshop Week

Week 16 - November 29:

Topic: Wrap-up Week
Assignments:
• Post Term Paper and Presentation

Week 17 - December 6 - December 12: Finals

Final exam due to instructor by 5pm CST.
Class Policies:
• In fairness to other students, no late assignments will be accepted without prior approval. To request
an extension, email instructor with the request date before the deadline. You must keep records of all
correspondence. Late assignments are highly discouraged.

• Attendance at class is expected. Please discuss absences beforehand with instructor and your team.
This is a project oriented class and your team depends on you. For each unexcused absence, 50
points will be deducted from your total grade.

• Responses to phone calls or emails from instructor are expected within 24 hours.
• Students are expected to have done weekly assigned readings prior to class.
• Professional conduct as a team member is expected. Teams are encouraged to work without need for
supervision by instructor; however instructor is available for coaching and consultation on subject
matter.

• However, should a team encounter non-participation (lack of attendance in class or at other team
meetings) by a team member, communication with the instructor is encouraged and appropriate
grade reflection will occur.

• Team members are required to communicate with each other on a consistent basis and to meet team
established deadlines.

• Team members will be evaluating each other as part of team presentations. Students who uniformly
receive unsatisfactory evaluations from other team members may receive a decrease in team project
grade, after review by the instructor.

• No extra credit is available. You must be able to work in a cooperative team environment to complete
the class.

• Please be courteous with the use of cell phones, pagers and surfing during class. Please do not do
your homework for other classes in this class.

• Academic dishonesty in any form will not be tolerated.

• The instructor reserves the right to make adjustments to the syllabus as needed.
• Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance: It is the policy of UTD to provide reasonable and
appropriate accommodations for individuals with documented disabilities. This college will adhere to
all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing
reasonable accommodations as required to afford equal educational opportunity.