CMST 100L Syllabus Supplement, Term 5, 2006-2007, RAF Mildenhall

Faculty Contact Information:

Phil Richardson, Collegiate Associate Professor
Local address: The Old Bakery, Hale Road, Ashill, Thetford, Norfolk IP25 7AX (Great Britain).

Grading Information:

I prefer to give each student an 'S'. Your grade, however, must be earned as I can only reflect the performance I observe. I do understand that students have many other responsibilities, but your own learning is your responsibility. Moreover, I also expect you to assist the learning of others in this class. I will work with every student within reason to help her or him complete this course successfully.

"Incompletes" will not be given unless thoroughly justified and backed up by a contract negotiated with the instructor allowing for completion within four weeks of the end of term.

(As a part of the normal course schedule, students have until 23 July 2007 to complete and post the Web Site assignment for this course.)

Other Information:

Students must complete six assigned Independent Challenges or Visual Workshops during the weekend. Your instructor will evaluate your completed work in class. In the unlikely event you cannot complete all six units in class, you may turn them in within seven days of the last class session. Forward your remaining assigned work as files within a zipped folder via email attachment to your instructor's email address.

In class, within each unit, you will complete the "white pages" which walk you through the correct procedures for using Microsoft FrontPage. Then, from the "blue pages" you will complete the Concept and Skill Reviews for each unit plus any assigned Independent Challenge or Visual Workshop. You will do this for each unit prior to proceeding on the the next unit. If time allows, you are encouraged to complete unassigned exercises at the end of each unit.

Please prepare for the class by previewing the entire text including the examples, projects, and lab assignments. When you meet them in class, they will not be as foreign and you will improve your learning.

If you do not have an archive (zip) utility, you can download IZArc (that is the letter "I"), a freeware (donations accepted but not required) archive utility that will allow you to both zip and unzip files using a variety of protocols. Go to download.com. For more information on "zipping" files, see the help files for the specific archiving utility program you use. Supplemental Instructions will be given in class. We have Power Archiver installed on our lab computers.

For information on posting files to a generic web site and using a file transfer utility program, see the help menus on site or my web site at the following address: http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/posting_info.html

Two "Must's":
  •    Attribution:
    •    It is not uncommon for many web sites to look similar. Web authoring tools, like the Microsoft FrontPage series of programs, provide templates that you will see time and again on individual sites on the web. Many community sites where you build your site on-line use Microsoft FrontPage tools. Using such tools and templates is quite acceptable. However, copying significant portions of any web page - or the look and feel of a particular web site - is not acceptable without the copyright owner's permission.

    •    Give credit in your work to those whose ideas and words you use - and use them well. No one is expected to know everything. Indeed, we need to avoid "re-inventing the wheel". So look around and build on the ideas and words of others. Just take care to give them full credit.

    •    You may use footnotes or endnotes where needed but web pages have "meta-tag" descriptors, "alt" and "comment" tags that do not normally show on a web page, but are visible to the reader who views "Source" in a web browser. Plagiarized exercises and web pages will receive a grade of 0 (zero). See the UMUC European Division Catalog policy on academic integrity.
  •    Good grammar, punctuation, usage and style:
    •    Effective writing is critical to the intellectual life of university students and graduates within the work place. Effective managers are usually effective communicators. Your work in this course must demonstrate your ability to master and effectively communicate course content.

    •    We must be able to share our ideas with others properly. That means we need to pay constant attention to the way in which we present those ideas. Written and oral work which contains significant errors in English or presentation typically impairs the quality of the message you are trying to communicate. Use your eyes and brain to check your work -- a mechanical computer can hurt as well as help. Proofread and check your work PRIOR to submission. Poor English or presentation will reduce my evaluation of your work by one or more letter grades regardless of the brilliance of the ideas therein.
Supplemental Information:

See my web site for further guidance on

Class Policy:
http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/class_policy.html

Using email in this course (when needed): The first element of the subject line of every email in this course will begin "CMST 100L 07t5" followed by a brief topic indicating of the content of the email. All electronic mail will be acknowledged so that you will know I have received your message. See also:

http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/email_hints.html
http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~prichard/crs_guid_gen/email_attach.html

Course Project:

As students plan a Web site, they should include these features in their design:
  •  Design and build your site with at least five pages.
  •  Create a storyboard of your site, your home page and one page on each major "branch" of your site.
  •  Use an intuitive navigation structure (we will discuss this in class)
  •  Use at least 3 graphic files
  •  Use a variety of colors (not necessarily on the same page)
  •  Use at least 2 e-mail links
  •  Use at least 5 Web links
  •  Use at least 3 different font styles and sizes (not necessarily on the same page)
  •  Optional: Frames and borders
Be as creative and as original as you want to be. Feel free to increase the size of your Web site beyond five pages and use other design features.

At the beginning of the first hour of the third session (morning of Day 2), each student will submit a "Web Site Proposal" document. (These proposals will be discussed in class during the first session.) This document should be a short essay, answering the following questions in no more than one-page of text plus storyboard diagrams as set out above.
  •   What is the Purpose of your Web site?
  •   What is the Theme of your Web site?
  •   Who is the Intended audience?
  •   What emotions do you want your Web site to evoke?
  •   How will the features you have included in your storyboard and plan help you achieve your purpose?
Use word-processing software for this proposal. Remember to spell check and submit a professional assignment. (Storyboards may be prepared with a computer or with paper and pencil or pen.)

Students will work on their course project during the weekend. Prior to the end of class on Day 2, each student will present his or her web site to the class for comments. (This may be in the form of a "work in progress.") The final step in the project is posting your web site on the Internet which may be completed within two weeks after the end of class.

Each student should open an account for free Web space hosted by one of several Web services. For example, Geocities and Tripod offer free Web space.

Post your web site on-line NLT 23 July 2007. Submit the exact URL to your instructor via email. Confirm that you can view your completed web site from a computer other than the one used to build the site. Confirm that the instructor can view your completed web site.
Phil Richardson, phil.richardson@faculty.ed.umuc.edu, Revised 2 May 2007