2/24/04
COURSE LOGO TO BE DEVELOPED BY STUDENTS
This was from Jay Villamar, Fall, '02

COSC 330
WEB DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT



COURSE SYLLABUS, SPRING SEMESTER, 2004
( NOTE: Questions about the Syllabus contents may appear on course assessments! )

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Horton H. Tracy (Tony); FSU Faculty Page
CLASSROOM: Lowndes 201 for First Week and all assessments; Pullen 107 is reserved during other times, but I will not go there unless specifically requested; I will always be available via NetMeeting during class times.
CLASS TIMES: TTh, 12:30-2:00 ( Because this course is completely online and self-directed, these are not lectures", i.e. no new content will be presented; they are "tutorial" sessions where student questions will be addressed and current topics, associated with the course material, might be discussed.  Attendance is not required.  We will experiment with "virtual tutorial session" conducted as an online chat room during these hours; see the announcements and the link in the Navigation Panel.)
OFFICE: Lowndes, Room 203
OFFICE HOURS:   MWF, 1:00-2:00  and TTh 2:00 -3:00.   I will be available via NetMeeting  and PalTalk during these times. ).
TELEPHONE: 687-4361 (Office); 687-4364 (Sec./answering machine)
E-MAIL: ttracy@mail.frostburg.edu
WEB SITE OF THE COURSE: http://faculty.frostburg.edu/cosc/htracy/cosc330/

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

CATALOG DESCRIPTION: A practical study of the design, acquisition, and technical manipulation of multimedia elements for inclusion in an interactive environment such as the World Wide Web, presentation software, and tutorial/training packages.  Course elements include: core concepts of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs); elements of interface design; file formats, such a as text, graphics, compression, and archiving, encoding, sound, and video; file transfer; the acquisition and manipulation of multimedia data; and the implementation and evaluation of interactive software.  Not open to students who have credit for former COSC 230.  Every semester.
NEW FEATURES: Prerequisite experience in basic Web page development, e.g. a passing grade in COSC 120, is required. The practical component is based on the development of an advanced Web page project.

LEARNING MATERIALS:

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
To help the student...
  1. understand the scope and facilities of hypermedia development
  2. learn basic Web development skills, e.g. how to
    1. use a WYSIWYG HTML authoring system such as Microsoft FrontPage (Listen to  Tim Berners-Lee on generating HTML documents (20:26 into his interview on ZDTV's "Big Thinkers", January, 2000.)
    2. use multimedia editors for graphics, audio, and video
    3. create hypermedia documents
    4. manage a Web site,
  3. create a sophisticated Web site embodying current advanced Web development techniques
  4. become independent learners who efficiently utilize cyberspace (by gaining experience with online learning), i.e. to..
    1. gain experience with online learning (COSC 330 learning material and Web based learning facilities)
    2. gain the confidence that they can learn how to use unfamiliar communications hardware and software on their own (as Cyberspace evolves), and
    3. develop the habit of experimenting and using computer "Help" features to answer their own questions.
To introduce the student to ...
  1. Web sites providing learning of Web development skills
  2. the University Web development facilities,
To give the student an appreciation of...
 
  1. the esthetic qualities of Web sites
  2. good Web site design
 ATTENDANCE POLICY :

Class attendance is NOT mandatory; in fact, since the course is completely online, students enrolled in the on-campus course should attend the on-campus sessions only...

  1. if attendance is specified in the schedule, e.g. the first two class sessions,
  2. if it is announced that attendance is required in the course announcements page, or
  3. if you have questions of the teacher, that can not be addressed via the course Forum or teleconferencing using Microsoft NetMeeting.
However, this is NOT an excuse to get lazy; students are required to stay current, i.e. study the material scheduled in the course schedule. Students are responsible for all material discussed in classes for which attendance is specified or announced.

Students who miss an assessment for an excusable reason will be allowed to take a makeup assessment in the Computer Science Department immediately after they return to campus. Excusable reasons include, but are not limited to, emergencies such as official FSU activities, Hospitalization, and death in the immediate family.  These excuses must be phoned in, before the exam, to the Department Secretary (301-687-4364). It should be remembered that makeup assessments will be more difficult than regular exams and will not normally benefit from grade curves!

GRADING POLICY:

     
    WEIGHTS:
    GRADE SCALE:
    Assignments 40%  A 90% - 100% (rounded)
    3 Assessments (10% each) 30%  B 80% - 89%        "
    Final Exam (Cumulative) 15%  C 70% - 79%        "
    Semester Project 15%   D 60% - 69%        "

    		 F <60%                "
Incomplete assignments that are resubmitted will receive automatic 5%, 15%, 25% or 35% deductions (depending on completeness) before they are regraded. Assignments turned in late, but before the graded assignments of the rest of the class are returned, will receive automatic 20% deductions. Very late assignments (turned in after the graded assignments have been returned) will receive automatic 30 or 40% reductions. However, remember, a 60 is much better than a 0 (which will be entered for every unfinished assignment at the end of the year!).  NOTE: STUDENTS WHO SUBMIT TOO MANY LATE ASSIGNMENTS FAIL TO FULFILL MY MINIMUM EXPECTATIONS (See a separate handout.) and WILL NOT MUCH BENEFIT (IF ANY!) FROM THE "CURVE" (actually it is a normalization) APPLIED TO THE FINAL GRADE. Please do not abuse this lenient grading policy; it is implemented to encourage every student to do every assignment no matter how late it is completed; it is NOT designed to give students an excuse to ignore or forget deadlines! ( NOTE: All of my policies are geared to encourage learning regardless of deadlines, rules, regulations, etc. If I feel a student is making a sincere effort to learn, he/she will find that I am very sympathetic to handicaps, difficulties, frustrations, etc. so come talk to me about them! (NOTE: The course may be taken on a PASS/FAIL basis by requesting this from the Registrar.) Also, I will occasionally give a plus "+" to a grade; that is simply a reminder to me that the submission contained more that I required.  It does not directly affect the course grade (because it would be unfair to award grades based on unspecified requirements), however, if a student consistently has done more than required I am impressed, and that can positively affect a judgment call at the end of the course.
(!)NOTE: It is essential to realize that SAQs/FIBs, preassessments and assessments are integral parts of the learning environment of this course. Both are primarily designed to uncover what you do not know or do not understand so that "WE" can correct this before it really hurts you, i.e. on the Final Assessment, in a subsequent course, or in your career. Therefore, you will find that SAQs/FIBs and preassessmentswill have the most challenging questions (students might call them "tricky") but they do not (directly) affect your grade. Assessments will be less "tricky" but will be strictly graded. If the class average is too low (because the test is too long or too difficult) then students may raise their grades by reworking their tests (thereby learning from their mistakes). Otherwise, grades will not be modified nor dropped. TheFinal Assessment, which is required, should be straightforward (because you have mastered all the tricky concepts, and you really can't learn from mistakes on the final), but it will be strictly graded.
Assessment grades and the final grade (not the Final Assessment) will be normalized. If the class average on assessments is below the standard, students, who have honored A PROMISE TO FULFILL MINIMUM EXPECTATIONS may have the opportunity to "normalize their grade" by correcting their mistakes on the assessment. If a student corrects every mistake, she or he will gain 100% of the normalization which will be added to their grade. (Note that normalization is available only to those who are present when the graded assessments are returned in class!)

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:

Academic dishonesty is absolutely unacceptable and may result in automatic failure of the course and perhaps dismissal from the University. Academic dishonesty is defined to include any form of cheating and /or plagiarism. Cheating and plagiarism are defined in the PATHFINDER). NOTE: Students are encouraged to study together and discuss homework assignments, but they should write the assignments independently; copying assignments as well as allowing someone to copy an assignment is considered cheating.

To begin the course read and follow the instructions in the CHECKLIST FOR COURSE ACTIVITIES.