Database Management Course Outline (Beginner)

Instructor: Mohammad Yasin Ud Dowla

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Course Duration: 11 weeks (2 hours per week)

Prerequisites: Basic computer skills, familiarity with SQL is helpful but not required.

Tools: SQL, MySQL, MySQL Workbench/phpMyAdmin/MS SQL Server

Course Objectives:

• Understand the purpose and benefits of using a database management system.
• Grasp the core concepts of the relational database model.
• Design simple database structures using Entity-Relationship Diagrams (ERDs).
• Basic Structured Query Language (SQL) queries to read, add, update, and delete data.
• Apply normalization techniques to improve database design.

Course Outline:

Module 1: Introduction to Databases (Week 1)

• What is a database?
• Traditional file systems vs. Database Management Systems (DBMS)
• Advantages of using a DBMS
• Real-world applications of databases

Module 2: The Relational Model (Week 2)

• Understanding the relational database model
• Key components of a relational database: Tables, Columns, Rows
• Data types in databases
• Primary and Foreign Keys
• Relational operators

Module 3: Entity-Relationship Modeling (Week 3)

• Introduction to Entity-Relationship Diagrams (ERDs)
• Identifying entities, attributes, and relationships
• Notation for representing ERDs
• Converting ERDs to relational tables

Module 4: Introduction to SQL (Week 4-6)

• Introduction to SQL: a powerful query language
• The SQL commands: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE
• Using WHERE clause for filtering data
• Combining tables using JOIN operations
• Sorting and aggregating data

Module 5: Database Design and Normalization (Week 7-8)

• Importance of good database design
• Introduction to normalization
• Normalization forms (1NF, 2NF, 3NF)
• Benefits of normalization.

Module 6: Additional Topics (Optional: Week 9-10)

• Introduction to database security concepts
• Introduction to database administration tasks
• Introduction to different types of databases (NoSQL)

Module 7: Assessment (Week 11)

• Weekly quizzes and assignments based on the covered topics
• Hands-on exercises to practice writing SQL queries
• Design project: Creating an ERD and corresponding relational tables for a given scenario

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