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IT 180 Web Development I, Fall 2009
Syllabus (Tentative)
Contact information
- Instructor:
- Professor Elizabeth Chang
- Office:
- Hodson Tech 232
- Email address:
- chang@hood.edu
Please give all messages about this class a subject line which begins with "IT 180" or send the messager through Blackboard.
- Office hours:
- By appointment, or drop-in. I am in the office at many times throughout the week. You are welcome to come by to see if I am free or to call and make an appointment. Please be sure to contact me if you have any questions or just want to talk about the course. I may be able to clarify requirements or suggest additional resources and strategies for a problem or project. I will also be happy to answer questions or make appointments via email.
- Course web site:
- http://wyrd.hood.edu/~echang/it180/.
Class notes, labs, and assignment instructions will be posted on this site.
- Blackboard Site:
- http://blackboard.hood.edu/.
You will submit labs and assignments using Blackboard.
Scheduling
Monday and Wednesday from 11:30 to 12:45. Class meets in Hodson Tech 113.
The first class meeting is Wednesday, August 26; the last class meeting is Wednesday, December 9.
Class does not meet on September 7 (Labor Day), October 12 (Midterm Recess), or November 25 (Thanksgiving Break).
The final exam is scheduled for Wednesday, December 16 from 12:30-2:30 in HT 113.
All readings, lessons, labs, and breaks will be listed in the online topics calendar
Prerequisites: you need
- At least MATH 099 or a Level II score on Basic Math Skills Inventory.
- Some experience using general applications in the Windows environment, files and folders, and a Web Browser. You do not need any prior programming or web development experience to succeed in this course.
- Patience--developing computer applications requires lots of patience and can easily suck up lots of your time.
- Curiosity--You need to like problem solving; be unafraid to make mistakes, but willing to learn from them; and be willing to try new things.
Readings
Required Text: Elements of Standards Based Web Development with XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript Chang & Leveille . Draft distributed electronically in class.
Objectives
Although we will learn particular attributes of the computer languages HTML and JavaScript, this is not the only focus of the course. Rather, we will learn problem-solving techniques that can be applied to all programming languages. More specifically, the goals of the course are to:
- learn how documents are created and published on the World Wide Web.
- be introduced to the basic elements of XHTML, including structural elements and anchors.
- be introduced to the basic elements of CSS.
- practice creating standards-compliant web documents.
- be introduced to some basic constructs common to many programming language.
- learn elements of procedural programming in JavaScript.
- practice designing, implementing, and testing scripts for use on web pages.
Course Requirements
- Class attendance and participation
- Readings from online class notes You should read them before the class in which they will be discussed.
- In-class lab exercises Most class meetings will include a lab session. If you are prepared for class, there is normally sufficient time to complete the lab exercise during the class session. If you do not complete the assignment during the class period, you must finish it on your own time. Lab exercises must be submitted within 24 hours after the end of the class period.
- Homework assignments In addition to the lab work, there will be two out-of-class homework projects. Assignment details and due dates will be posted on the class web site.
- Midterm exam There will be one midterm exam during the term. It is tentatively scheduled for OCTOBER 7. You will be allowed to bring one page of notes.
- Final exam. The final exam is scheduled for Wednesday, December 16 from 12:30-2:30. You will be allowed to bring two pages of notes.
- Final project Project details will be posted well before the end of the semester.
These will be weighted in your final grade as follows:
- Lab exercises: 30%
- Homework assignments: 20%
- Midterm: 15%
- Final exam: 15%
- Final project: 20%
Hood College Honor Code
Every homework assignment, quiz, and exam must have the following statement written on it:
I pledge that I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this assignment/exam.
When you submit a lab exercise or assignment using Blackboard, type the pledge in the comments box.
The notion of "(un)authorized aid" will differ for homework assignments, labs, and exams.
- In labs, you may discuss the exercise freely with each other, and assist classmates in solving problems. It is important that you understand the results.
- For out-of-class homework assignments, you may discuss general aspects of problems with each other but you may not copy portions of solutions.
- For exams, you may not use any materials other than the allowed sheet of notes when taking the exam.
Grading
lab exercises will be graded on a 4-point (A to F) scale.
- 4 - A: Exercise is submitted on time. Work is complete and correctly addresses the points to be covered in the lab and follows the general guidelines.
- 3 - B: Exercise is submitted on time. Work is essentially complete, but omits or misses a few of the points to be covered in the lab or fails to follow guidelines.
- 2 - C: Exercise is submitted on time. Work omits or misses several of the points to be covered in the lab or fails to follow key guidelines.
- 1 - D: Exercise is submitted on time. Work is incomplete, omitting many of the points to be covered in the lab.
- 0 - F: Exercise not submitted on time.
Homework assignments will be graded on the quality and thoroughness of the work and compliance with assignment specs. In general, work will be rated.
- A: Excellent - all work completed on time; fully meets, and in places exceeds, all specifications and is of exceptional quality. Follows all general guidelines.
- B: Good - all work completed; meets all stated specifications. Follows most general guidelines.
- C: Acceptable - all work completed; meets many, but not all, specifications. Follows at least some general guidelines.
- D: Weak - fails to meet many specifications.
- F: Unacceptable - not submitted or fails to meet most specifications.
Grades may be modified with + and -.
Course Policies
Make-up Work and Late Homework Assignments:
- Lab exercises must be submitted within 24 hours of the end of the lab period. Labs will not be accepted late.
- Late homework assignments will be accepted, but will be penalized 7% of the possible score for each class day late.
- Missed exams may be made up only for serious circumstances not under your control.
- Assignments and labs that are not turned in will receive a grade of zero.
- Students who add the course during the drop-add period will not be penalized for late work that was assigned before they joined the class.
- “The computer ate my homework” is not an acceptable excuse for lateness. Always BACK UP YOUR FILES!
Missed classes: You are responsible for all work covered or handed out in class. If you miss a class, find out what was covered and assigned. All of the class notes, labs, and assignments will be posted online.
Policy on Using Images and Art
- In any of the projects for this course, you may use images or art of your own creation or from the Internet, from a digital camera, or from a scanned media. In all cases, you must document the source of the image or art.
- You do not need to attribute images that are provided in class for lab exercises.
-
If you created the image or art yourself then attribute it to yourself. Say briefly how it was created - for example that you drew the image yourself on a computer, or drew the image on paper then scanned it in, or you took a photograph.
-
If you did not create it yourself, such as a photo found on the Web, be sure that it is legal to use the image or art for free. Check the copyright information for any such file before downloading it. Clearly identify where you got the image. If it is from the Web, provide the complete URL of the page where the image is located. For example, http://www.pdphoto.org/PictureDetail.php?mat=pdef&pg=7526. If the photographer/artist is identified, also provide their name. - in the example, the artist is Jon Sullivan
Acceptable Use Policies You must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policies for wyrd.hood.edu.
The labs should have everything ready to use. If you want to work on your own computer, you may need to install some additional programs. Most of the following programs are all free. You can download them from the indicated sites to install your own computer. You can also ask me for a CD with the installation files.
A Web Browser with integrated JavaScript error reporting
- Mozilla Firefox a is free, fast, secure, feature-full browser that can be downloaded from http://www.mozilla.com. Firefox is installed in the labs. All class examples will be developed using Firefox.
A text or programming editor:
This is not the same as a word processor such as Microsoft Word. It is much simpler. A word processor puts a lot of extra information about formatting in the document. A text editor just saves the characters that you typed.
In a pinch, you can use Windows Notepad, but there are better alternatives.
For MS Windows:
For Mac, some options are:
For All platforms:
File transfer Utility
When you publish your documents on the web, you need to transfer them to a web server, a computer that is identified on the Internet, such as wyrd.hood.edu. For this you need a special program called a File Transfer Program, ot FTP utility.
If you are working off campus, you must use a Secure FTP, or SFTP, program. Many commercial file transfer clients (Cute FT, WS-FTP Pro, etc.) include a secure transfer option.
