Goals of class
To create discerning users, manipulators and creators of Information Technology in all of its varied ramifications. To empower students to be masters of Information Technology, not unquestioning slaves.
General information
Bring the following to each class:
- your mind - engaged in drive and not in neutral or sleep mode
- a pen/pencil and paper to make notes in class
- handouts you have printed out. All the classwork will be from online instructions.
- course text books. You'll need to refer to these during the class assignments.
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Class times, location:
We'll meet in the Bolling PC Lab on Mondays and Thursdays at 2:30 pm prompt!
If anyone arrives late the referee (me) will add on the same amount of "injury time" to the end of the class. So, be prompt!
Texts:
- HTML for the World Wide Web 5th edition (this is important) by Elizabeth Castro, Peachpit Press, ISBN: 0-321-13007-3
- Web Style Guide 2nd edition by Lynch and Horton, Yale University Press, ISBN: 0-300-08898-1
I don't care how you purchase these books but do remember to get the latest editions and not an older outdated edition.
Professor
- Mark Pearson,
- B.Sc Zoology from University of Swansea (Wales),
- PhD Entomology from Imperial College (London University)
- M.Sc Computer Science from Brunel University
Email markp, phone 973-2102 (I don't answer voicemail regularly), this course's blog .
Office hours:
By appointment only.
Attendance
- This is a hands-on course. I spend a lot of time preparing for class
sessions. So ...
Attendance is mandatory
I shall bring a Add/Drop form with me to class sessions. If you miss 3 classes I sign the form.
- "But I'm an athlete and I've got a game / practice / training
session"
You need to give me a schedule for mid-week games.
I need an email from your coach for every athletic caused absence.
- Excuses, excuses.
If you cannot make a class for a personal reason (and going home for the weekend does not excuse you from a Thursday afternoon class) you need to let me know beforehand by email or in person. I don't often check my voicemail so don't bother leaving a phone message.
- Part of your grade will be for attendance. Classes missed will count against you even if they are "excused".
Homework
We will probably have a routine where you do a practical homework excercise coming from the Thursday class and some reading / light excercise following Monday's class. Any reading homework is likely to be tested by a short online quiz at the beginning of the Thursday class.
To make homework the least painful for all concerned I am going to propose the following:
- Do all your homework assignments. If you miss one assignment I will not give you an 'A', and that's that.
- No Extensions unless for exceptional circumstances. And ...
- Follow homework instructions explicitly.
- Most of your assignments will take the form of a "posting" to your Blog. I will attempt to make a comment on every one. But this depends upon your doing the assignment on time.
- Please do not leave reading/commenting on text to the morning before class. I can guarantee that you won't get an "A" this way.
- If I say or indicate that
I want an email message with a certain subject line by a certain date
and time, the following will not do:
- a grubby piece of paper with scribbles shoved into my hand at the start of class.
- a Microsoft Word document as an attachment. I NEVER ACCEPT a WORD DOCUMENT!
- a mail message after the cut off time with a random (or missing) subject line.
You have been warned!
- No copying / "sharing" / or web page pasting:
- copying stuff without the other person's knowledge
- "sharing". Don't "share" your answers with your mates to help them out. It may seem kind but it ain't and I can easily detect it.
- web page copying. When you come to do your own web pages for homework I want your own writing. I can easily detect text that has been copied and pasted from another page on the Web. Google makes it trivial to discover this. Gimme your own work even if you think it's not much good.
Grading policy
The marks you get per assignment will be converted to a letter grade at the end of the course. You will get an ID # from me via email so that you can see how you have performed in the various categories of each assignment by looking at the appropriate row of the table in each of the links below. Individual comments on the assignments will be made in your Blog.
There will a "grading rubric" for each of the projects you'll do. This will indicate the minimum requirements for the work. To get an "A" will require an intelligent extrapolation of these requirements.
Accommodations
Any student who needs special accommodations for a documented disability (physical, learning, psychiatric, visual, and/or hearing) should tell your professor AND contact Academic Support Services at the start of the semester.
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