Syllabus
Last Updated on Sunday, 05 April 2009 23:07
POLICY STATEMENT
COMM/ART 351: Multimedia Design
Sara Hebert
EMAIL:
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OFFICE: TAC 108
OFFICE HOURS: M 5:30 -8:30PM and by appointment (please schedule at least 24 hours in advance)
PHONE: 841-3176 (from 8AM-5:30PM or voicemail)
TIME: Spring 2008, TTH 2 -3:15PM
ROOM: TAC 105 (Lecture days) or JAC 305 (Lab days)
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will introduce you to the fundamental concepts, issues, and concerns associated with designing user centered and accessible websites. Course readings, discussions, and exercises will encourage you to explore the aesthetic, technical, and historical/cultural dimensions of web design and you will use this knowledge as in planning and implementing your own website designs.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Castro, Elizabeth. HTML, XHTML, & CSS. Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2006.
Wroblewski, Luke. Site-Seeing: A Visual Approach to Web Usability. New York: Hungry Minds, 2002.
Robbins, Jennifer Niederst. Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to (X)HTML, StyleSheets, and Web Graphics. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, 2007.
RECOMMENDED: Cederholm, Dan. Bulletproof Web Design. Berkeley: New Riders, 2005.
You will also need an external storage device (flash drive, hard drive, etc.) and a set of CD-R's (for backing up and submitting exercises).
ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING
Your final course grade will be a composite of the following assignments:
Class Participation, Classwork, Quizzes, & Homework 15% Exam One 15% Exam Two 15% Midterm Project 20% Final Project 35%
Letter grades will have the following numerical values:
A+/98 B+/88 C+/78 D+/68 F/1-59* A/95 B/85 C/75 D/65 A-/92 B-/82 C-/72 D-/62
* Failure to complete an assignment will count as a 0.
If you feel you have been unfairly evaluated on any given assignment, please feel free to make a case in writing for the better grade; I cannot consider grade changes without this written rationale from you.
CLASS PARTICIPATION
Your active participation in class is essential; you need to come to every class on time and prepared to apply course readings and engage in class activities. Your efforts to grapple with concepts and terms, to pose thoughtful questions and responses, and to engage in discussions on critical issues are crucial to the learning goals of this course. Ten percent of your grade will derive from this participation and any quizzes, classwork, or homework (including blog posts) that are assigned. You should expect to receive at least one unannounced quiz per week. I will evaluate your participation based on the consistency and quality of your contributions. If you do not voluntarily participate in class, you should expect to be called on.
ATTENDENCE
COMM/ART 351 will help you develop technical skills and design strategies that cannot be learned merely by reading class notes and textbooks. Missing any classes will adversely affect your performance in the course and could lower your participation grade. Students who miss class must work with me to ensure adequate class participation and timely submission of assignments.
Please note that you will not pass the course if you miss more than six class meetings for any reason throughout the semester. (If you are more than 20 minutes late you are considered absent).
Students will not be penalized for officially-sanctioned absences (including absences for athletics, musical performances, or other school events) provided that 1) they make prior arrangements to complete all in-class and out-of-class work; 2) they participate fully in the class overall, and 3) they do not miss any other classes except in the case of an emergency. Other students who know that they are going to miss class for a justified reason should make arrangements with the professor in advance.
I expect you to contact me by phone or email anytime that you miss class, preferably that day before the class. If you are hospitalized or have a family emergency, please contact me as soon as possible and certainly before you return to class so that we can discuss any scheduled assignments. Understand that it is your job to keep track of your absences and to make sure that you complete all of the work for the course.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS
I will allow you to turn in an assignment late without penalty only if you 1) are ill or 2) have a death or some other major emergency in your family. Students who will miss a due date because of an officially sanctioned school event need to set up arrangements with me at the beginning of the term. If you turn in an assignment late for any other reason, be aware that I will not provide you with written comments on that assignment; that being said, you are welcome as always to meet with me and receive oral comments on your performance.
You are responsible for completing all work on time whether or not you are in class on the day it was assigned. I will deduct one letter grade if an exercise or rationale is turned in late; I will not accept exercises more than one week late. Homework (including blog posts), classwork, and quizzes missed due to an absence other than those mentioned above will receive a 0. There are no make-ups for classwork or quizzes; if you are absent for one of the reasons mentioned above, the quiz will not be averaged into your grade; if you are absent for another reason, you will receive a zero.
Assigned blog posts are due by noon on the day they are due. Posts made after noon will receive a
0.
USE OF COMPUTER RESOURCES
This class will require you to use Internet resources, including email and the World Wide Web. My expectation is that you already know how to send and receive email (including attachments) and use a web browser. If you do not, you need to inform me during the first week of classes; I will set up a training session for those who need it. I expect everyone to check his or her email at least once after 5:30pm every day.
In addition, this course will require you to use the web authoring program Macromedia Dreamweaver CS3 and graphic programs such as Adobe Illustrator CS3 and Adobe Photoshop CS3; these programs are available in the Turner 109 Lab and the Jackson 305 lab. All work that you do in these labs must be kept on your own drives or disks; do not leave files on the hard drives of these computers because many of them erase personal files on a daily or weekly basis. You will need to purchase a flash drive to move files from computer to computer as well as a number of CD-Rs for backing up and submitting files. Failure to backup your files on a regular basis will result in wailing and gnashing of teeth.
SCHOLASTIC DISHONESTY & THE HONOR COURT
Remember that when you became a student at Centenary College you agreed to adhere to the Centenary Honor Code. I will carefully explain what is and is not allowable in terms of collaboration. If you have any questions, please ask rather than risk a problem. As explained in the student handbook, every assignment you submit must have the following statement written in your own handwriting: "I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this paper (or examination), nor have I seen anyone else do so." If you have received unauthorized aid or witnessed an honor code violation, you must follow that with: "...except as I shall report immediately to the Honor Court." Please understand that I cannot grade any assignment lacking this honor code statement.
DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION
It is the policy of Centenary College to accommodate students with disabilities, pursuant to federal law, state law, and the College's commitment to equal educational opportunities. Any student with a disability, who needs accommodations, should inform the instructor at the beginning of the course. Students with disabilities need to contact Disability Services (a division of Counseling Services), which is located in the ground floor of Rotary Hall to obtain services. The phone numbers for Counseling Services are 869-5466 and 869-5424.
CLASS SCHEDULE
01/13/09 Tuesday In class: Intro to class, review syllabus and policies
01/15/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Assignment: Learning 9-12 (just terms), Chapter 2. Site-seeing 3-15 Blog post: Post a short blog about the presentation, organization, and interaction on a website you use daily. What design era does it fall into and why?
01/20/09 Tuesday Assignment: Site-seeing 16-33. The Narrative Web: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/narrative Blog post: Create a sample scenario modeled on the one on page 28 for the website you analyzed in your last blog post. Use this scenario to write a short narrative on how your user arrives to their “Ideal Outcome”
01/22/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Assignment: Learning Chapter 4,5. XHTML pp. 69-80 & pp. 215-25
Assignment: Learning Chapter 6, 7, 18, 19
Exercise 1 Assigned (Due 2/3)
01/29/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Assignment: Learning Chapter 11, Chapter 12. Web Design is 95% Typography: http://informationarchitects.jp/the-web-is-all-about-typography-period/
Blog Post: Pick and image from one of the resources we talked about in class, save each as a JPG, GIF, PNG
02/03/09 Tuesday Assignment: Site-seeing Chapter 3, 4. XHTML Chapter 10 Blog Post: Post a summary of an article on Reichenstein's “On the Web” resources. Your summary should be about 2 paragraphs and highlight points we didn't talk about in class.
02/05/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Assignment: Learning Chapter 13. XHTML Chapter 7. Site-seeing p 36-72, Chapter 5
Midterm Assignment Given - Due 3/5
02/10/09 Tuesday Assignment: Learning Chapter 14, 15. XHTML Chapter 8 (review), 11
Blog Post: What CSS concept are you having the hardest time understanding? Post 2 resources that may be helpful to understand that concept.
02/12/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Assignment: XHTML Chapter 12, Learning Chapter 21, p. 420-426
02/17/09 Tuesday
Exam Prep and Q&A
Assignment: Site-Seeing p 214-246
Blog Post: Pick your public domain text you would like to work with and post a link to it.
02/19/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Exam 1, one on one questions after test
02/24/09 Tuesday Mardi Gras Holiday
02/26/09 Thursday Mardi Gras Holiday
03/03/09 Tuesday Project Labwork, Location TBA
03/05/09 Thursday Midterm presentations Midterm Assignment due in class
03/10/09 Tuesday
Midterm presentations continue
Review chapters on positioning and floating, come prepared to ask questions or provide help to your classmates.
03/12/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Assignment: Old Way Chapters from http://www.cookwood.com/html/extras/oldway.html Bulletproof Chapter 8
03/17/09 Tuesday Assignment: Learning Chapter 8, 17 review XHTML Chapter 16 Exercise 3 Assigned (Due 3/24), Email a copy of Exercise 8-4
03/19/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Assignment: Learning Chapter 9 Final Project assigned
03/24/09 Tuesday
Assignment: Steve Krug: http://www.sensible.com/chapter.html
Jeffery Zeldman: “99.9% of Websites are Obsolete” (handout/PDF)
DIKW: http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm
Browse http://www.diveintoaccessibility.org
03/26/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Bring your midterm project to class on external storage or on a server.
Assignment: Bulletproof Chapter 1
Blog Post: What would you like to know more about? What concepts would you like to understand better?
03/31/09 Tuesday
Accessibility, Cross Browser Testing and FTP (review Learning Chapter 21)
Visit: http://browsershots.org/ http://www.browsercam.com/ Browser Statistics MultipleIE
SuperPreview
04/02/09 Thursday
Exam 2, one on one questions after the test
04/07/09 Tuesday
Learning Chapter 10
04/09/09 Thursday Easter Holiday
04/14/09 Tuesday Individual Appointments/TBA
04/16/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Project Labwork
04/21/09 Tuesday Individual Appointments/TBA
04/23/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Project Labwork
04/28/09 Tuesday Project Labwork (Location TBA)
Prep Week
04/30/09 Thursday
Class In the Lab
Project Labwork
Seniors present
Prep Week