HCI 201 Multimedia and the World Wide Web

Syllabus

L. Edward Allemand, Ph.D.

Instructor: L. Edward Allemand, Ph.D.

Best, Fastest Way to Contact Me with Questions, Difficulties: The Discussions Section in the D2L Online Materials for the course. I will be frequently in the Discussions. I do email much less frequently and primarily for administrative college issues; I am not available by phone.

Email: Try to use email for private matters. Also, please read the materials on debugging code through email (quick version: very, very difficult). Please see the final section of this syllabus regarding private matters such a health and family issues that really affect your finishing the course. My email: allemand@cdm.depaul.edu Use only this email, not a general De Paul email address or any other email return address given you by the system. If it is not allemand@cdm.depaul.edu I won’t get it.

Office Hours: Because it is an online course there are no in person office hours available. In the past I have offered a chat room but I have found that extremely few (practically none) make use of it. So I have put office hours on the CDM Intranet but they are a sheer formality. Contact me either through Discussions (preferable, especially if it is a problem that perhaps others have solved and can help you with it or is a general matter for the course) or by email if necessary.

Course Description: This is a course for non-majors in general information on the World Wide Web and more specifically an introduction to building a web page. This course also meets the Liberal Studies requirements for Scientific Inquiry. Thus, learning objectives include those for an SI course. We will do practical exercises in inquiry and technological reporting of findings to meet this requirement. The web technology component will also be oriented to practical application for a student. It will emphasize introductory techniques for building a practical, personal web page(s), suitable for career placement. There are NO PREREQUISITES but it assumed you have fundamental computer skills with knowledge of files and folders, usual computer experience of email, social network software, word processing. You will be asked to download and use software on your computer. You need to have experience in doing this. You will also need to get and use an account on a web hosting service since eventually all assignments must mounted on the internet. You are responsible for accomplishing this but there are detailed instructions in the Checklists of D2L on how to do it.

Computers and Operating Systems: The course is slanted to Microsoft but Mac users are given alternatives. So Mac and Microsoft Users should both be able to use course materials. E.G. Slides are in Powerpoint and .pdf files. There is a special Discussions Forum in the D2L Discussions for the course for Mac users to trade information. Please contribute to this if necessary.

Course Objectives:

· To acquire basic knowledge for building a practical professional website using various development means including HTML

· To acquire basic knowledge of use of multimedia in such website

· To become familiar with the scientific enterprise including vaiours views of its metod, its difference in proceeding according to the type of science and the general process of scientific publication

· To do as a project an investigation of a scientific topic and to build a web page publication of the findings using web page development skills learned in the earlier objectives

Other Things You will Need:

· The machines on campus do not save your work so a flashdrive is necessary to port it to and from campus. If you use the labs in the CDM building in the loop you need to have a CDM activated account.

· Campus Connection access: userid and password

· Reliable email address. Make sure the email address you have submitted to the university as part of your student profile and which will be the one on my classlist is what will reach you for emailings in this class. I send email to the class from time to time.

· Generally fast internet access and video streaming software (standard issue on most computers. MAC users please note remarks on QuickTime when you come to it in the Checklists). You need the internet with a fair degree of speed since you will be streaming videos of lessons. All work is eventually after the first two assignments mounted on an internet account.

· All of these are your responsibility. Tutoring or assistance with for instance video streaming does not come as part of the course but tutors are available through the tutoring service of CDM.

A Greener Approach and Course Home Base: All materials for the course are online, of course. These are located in the course management system D2L: http://d2l.depaul.edu access with your Campus Connect login. This is your course Home Base

Changes to this Syllabus: No version of a course goes exactly like previous ones. Therefore, from time to time, changes may be necessary to this syllabus. This is frankly very rare and usually would be minor and more often than not just matters of scheduling. Major content material and certainly any changes in requirements or grading will not occur.

Keeping Up – Weekly (yes Weekly) Deadlines:

The course builds incrementally, adding skills as we go along. Keeping up is essential. It is my general experience that students who fall behind, even a little, tend to fail. Thus don’t be fooled because the course is all online.

The course is an online course. This frees you from attending a fixed class, from commuting and allows you to do the work at your pace but within limits. It does not mean you have total flexibility to do assignments and turn in work at any time. There are weekly assignments and deadlines. The reason for this rigidity is precisely because the skills acquired are cumulative. You need to have mastered one set before moving on. The two major projects due approximately at the midpoint and at the end embody all the skills learned. It is impossible, no matter how talented a student is, in my experience, to “catch up” after a certain point. Thus, deadlines are enforced. You will do a first assignment on “Is this Course Suitable for me?” You will need to assess candidly whether you are willing to meet weekly deadlines.

Special Note to Graduating Seniors: My sincere congratulations BUT: In the past,especially in the Spring Quarter, I sometimes find graduating seniors trying to load this course onto several others and a full work schedule in order to finish. This mistake is thinking an online course can be sandwiched in at any time during the quarter. I will simply say that the usual result is the student fails the course. This is due to overestimating your ability to manage the time involved and underestimating the demand of regular deadlines, work schedules, and demands of other courses. Word to the Wise.

On the Other Hand the Advantage of an all online course: The entire course is open to you from start to finish from the first day. What does this mean? It means that as long as you observe End Dates of the assignments and quizzes, you can move along at your own pace. It is possible for you to finish the course early if you really put in the time. Some students come to this course with more technical experience than others. There is no reason you cannot move ahead. If you do turn in assignments in the Dropbox early, you may if you wish email me that you have done so. I do not look at Dropbox folders in advance of the End Dates unless requested to do so. Please note carefully the End Date for the course. Again, this is an absolute cut off date.

One last item: I happen to believe that online students get almost more individual attention than in class students. But I am sure a little thought will tell you that it is administratively impossible for me to respond to the following request: “Would you look at my assignment and tell me if it is ok?” The answer is usually “No”. This is not because I am being difficult, it is because there is a simple equation involved: #of dropbox items X # of students X % of such requests possible X # of email exchanges X #min per exchange. Get it? This is the reason for the Discussions section of D2L.

Assignments:

· Must be submitted electronically as in the instructions provided. This is done through the DropBox facility in D2L. There is an End Date on each assignment and Quiz. This is an absolute cut off. The system will not allow you in to turn in a late assignment or quiz. Please note this carefully.

· VIP: If you are ill or have some other legitimate interruption in your course work, you can contact me but I do not make the final judgements on these matters. Special permissions for late withdrawal or other concerns must be vetted by the proper office, e.g., Dean of Students or CDM administration. Pay attention to withdrawal dates set by the university and be realistic in your ability to do the course in a timely fashion. Work related travel or absence should be treated in the same way.

· You can discuss and help one another understand the assignments BUT you do another student (and yourself) a great disservice by sharing your hard work with them. The next section contains extracts and some interpretation of university policies on plagerism. In fact the Course Management System has built in safeguards against plagerism.

University Policies on Academic Integrity and Plagiarism:

University guidelines on academic integrity and plagiarism can be found on the Web and in the Student Handbook and are hereby incorporated in this document. The following items are not intended to contradict the university guidelines, but to emphasize or explain areas of particular note for this course.

· Plagiarism applies to any sort of material used on the Web, including for example sound, graphics or images, as well as text.

· Students are responsible for insuring that they use material only with permission and that, when such permission is subject to giving credit, they credit sources appropriately.

· Students who use images, text, sound, trademarks, or other materials developed or owned by others without their permission can be held legally liable. "Academic use" is not a legal defense.

· DePaul University and the professor take no responsibility for any student's use of materials developed or owned by others without their permission.

· Please also see the section on Academic Integrity on the Blackboard Class site

A Word about Content and Computer Usage Policies:

· Students are responsible for following University and the College rules for computer usage. These include rules about commercial usage and kinds of content.

· In general pages created for the course should have a professional tone and be suitable to your job-seeking portfolio. Use as your standard: Would I show this to a prospective employer?

· You are expected to write your own code (html). Systems which use templates and do all the code development for you are easily detected. You will receive very little if any credit for using such a system.

· Lastly, I know what I teach in this course and what I do not teach obviously. Web pages with very advanced work such as external css files and javascript are obviously probably not developed by you. Be careful of using others to do your work for you. It is usually immediately detectable. Again no credit will be given for such work.

Reuse of materials:

Anything developed or submitted for an employer or another course cannot be submitted for an assignment in this course without PRIOR permission of the instructor.

Grading Components

The following components determine the grade:

Component	Total Point Allotment*
Website Programming Assignments	45
Quizzes	40
Participation	15

*actual per item point allotment cf. Dropbox or Grades in D2L

Grade-Point Standards

A 92.0% C+ 78.0%

A- 90.0% C 72.0%

B+ 88.0% C- 70.0%

B 82.0% D+ 68.0%

B- 80.0% D 60.0%

F Below 60%

Incompletes and Other Exceptions to these Grades and Grading : Please do not ask me for a grade of incomplete or for special consideration or changes in deadlines due to illness or other matters. I cannot give an Incomplete by College rules. You must apply to the College of Computing and Digital Media for a grade of Incomplete. It is seldom granted simply “because you fell behind” but usually only for serious and unforeseeable reasons of health and other like serious reasons. One of the reasons for this rigidity is a standard in the computer industry where deadlines are enforced and it is felt students should get used to computer industry standards.

If you have special health or other concerns, you should consult with the Dean of Students office. Professors are not competent to make judgments in these matters. Either the Dean of Students office or the Administrative office of the CDM (College of Computing and Digital Media) will communicate with me after you have discussed the matter with them. This applies as well to excessive absence (even unforeseen) for business related travel. I always abide by the recommendations of these office.