HTML - Level 1

CS-50.11A, section 8164, Summer 2010

presented by Muiz Brinkerhoff

email is the BEST way to contact me - classes@insideSkills.com

Welcome to Creating Web Pages (HTML-1)

This course is designed for the beginning student who wants to learn how to create web pages which conform to the standards established by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) for good web page design.

HyperText Markup Language (HTML), eXtensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are the basis of all the lessons in the course. The basic principle is that the HTML or XHTML code which structures the page content into paragraphs, headings, lists, images, and links, is kept separate from the CSS code which controls the appearance, formatting, and style of the page content. In order to accomplish this effectively and efficiently, and produce pages that conform to the W3C Validation standards, the X/HTML and CSS markup and scripting languages need to be learned, as well as the abilities to recognize incorrect code, and to fix it.

For students who are considering a career in Web design, and who are pursuing any of the Web Content/Development Certificates, it is essential that you master HTML, XHTML, CSS, and the Validation principles. If you just want to create a home page for yourself or others as a hobby, or if you don't particularly want to learn to write correct code by hand, which validates without any errors, you may want to consider a different approach ... a course in MicroSoft FrontPage, or using a web hosting service that creates websites for you, automatically, using the point and click method of choosing from a few pre-defined options.

In addition to memorizing HTML, XHTML, and CSS codes, you will be asked to develop skills in organizing information; writing clearly and concisely; using colors and graphics which are effective and pleasing to the eye; and presenting your finished Web project to an audience.

To be successful in this class you need to be already familiar with the basics of computer usage, be proficient in file management (including saving files, creating new folders, renaming files and folders, and being able to find previously created files), and feel comfortable using the Internet. In the eight weeks of this introductory course, you'll learn how to structure information/content on a web page using correct XHTML (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language) code, and then at the end of the course how to format the appearance of that information/content, using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

We have an excellent book to work with, plus there is a CD that you can purchase which is great for online students and especially good for visual learners (details below in the Text & Materials section). If you like what you've learned and are ready for more, this first eight-week class is continued in CS 50.11-B, another eight-week class in which you will learn even more about developing web pages. 

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Contacting Your Instructor - Muiz Brinkerhoff

Email:

classes@insideSkills.com
for personal communications with me, email is the BEST way to contact me.

You MUST put 'CS-50.11A' at the BEGINNING of the Subject line of EVERY email to me. There is NO GUARANTEE I will find your email and respond to it, if this Subject line prefix is missing.

NOTE: ALL requests for help with COURSE WORK and ASSIGMENTS, MUST be posted in the Discussion Forum, so that all students can see the question and can benefit by the answer or answers posted, and also to avoid my having to answer the same question multiple times in multiple private emails.
 
Requests for help of a non-personal nature sent via email will be returned, so they can be posted in the appropriate Forum area.

Also use a descriptive Subject so that I can easily determine the topic, as well as locate the email again if needed. It's pretty frustrating to have a series of emails in my box with no subject, or just the generic word 'Help' in the subject.

Thanks in advance for honoring these 2 requests. There is NO GUARANTEE that I will respond to any email that is missing either of these 2 features.

Email is usually answered within 24 hours, if not sooner.

Phone:

707.527.4999 ext 9203 (does NOT take messages -- send an email instead)

Discussion Forum:

This is where you'll post ALL requests for help with ASSIGNMENTS and COURSE WORK, so that everyone in the class can benefit from the answers. It is also where you'll post your replies to the various assignment segments and Discussion Topics, and where you can also post Tips, Tricks, and other Resources that you've discovered that you'd like to share with the class.

In-Person REQUIRED Lab Hours:

Santa Rosa Campus - Wed 12:15 - 1:25 pm, Rm 2802 Maggini Hall, 2nd Flr
(This is NOT an Open Lab period. It is a REQUIRED, hands-on practice session, guided by the instructor, with a required assignment to be submitted at the end of the session)
Petaluma Campus - none

Online "Office" Hours:

Wed mornings 11:30 - 12 noon
using CCC Confer Virtual Office/Classroom powered by Elluminate!

--login at cccConfer.org, in the Office Hours section
http://www.cccconfer.org/products.aspx
and enter your first name, last name, email address, a screen name (your first name and first initial of your last name) plus the passcode, XXXX.

NOTE: You CANNOT use your computer's built in microphone and normal speakers for the Online Office Hours session, as they will produce a very annoying echo of everything you say and hear, which will make clear communication for everyone too difficult.

For those without a fast internet connection, or without a plug-in headset, there is the possibility of dialing in to a toll free number, and joining the audio portion of my Office Hours session via your telephone.

HOWEVER, I will not REGULARLY be dialing into the telephone conference portion of my Office Hours session. You MUST FIRST alert me via email that you need to exercise this option.

If you do, and if I confirm that I'll speak with you via CCC Confer's Telephone Conference Session, you will then dial in to the following toll free number

1-888-886-3951

and enter the passcode, XXXX, followed by a hash symbol (#) when prompted

What Is This CCC Confer?
(more info on connecting to and using CCC Confer's Elluminate! Virtual Classroom)

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The 3 Different Websites You'll Be Using

Main Class Site - insideSkills.com

www.insideSkills.com/classes
This is where you are right now. It is my own personal domain (a subsection of my InsideSkills.com domain), not connected to any of the official SRJC websites. This is where all of my class section websites are located. Each of the official college class section pages you may see at CATE (online.santarosa.edu), have links that point back here to this domain, and the appropriate class websites located here.

The CATE System - online.santarosa.edu

online.santarosa.edu/homepage/mbrinkerhoff
This URL leads to my official SRJC homepage. It is located at the SRJC CATE system website. CATE stands for Center for Advanced Technology in Education, which is a course management system where instructors can create entire course websites, with tests, gradebooks, mailing lists, and bulletin boards, etc. Many instructors at the college, and especially those who don't have the time or interest in creating their own separate course websites, host their course websites, course materials, and gradebooks for their online classes at CATE. My homepage at CATE has a link which points back to this insideSkills.com/classes site, as do all of my individual official Class Section web pages also found at CATE (online.santarosa.edu).

The important thing to keep in mind is that the various websites are separate, though they may have links that point to the others, and that each system, and possibly each class section, may have its own login username and password. You need to stay clear about where you are, and which username and password is appropriate for the site your browser is showing you.
 
In the past students have gotten confused and have had a lot of frustration trying to use a username and password from one site to access another site, because they just assumed that a single username and password would work for every login, no matter where they were.

If you're having trouble logging in, and ask for help in the Forum. REMEMBER you MUST include the URL of the page where you are trying to enter your Username and Password. If you don't include that crucial info, I'll just have to ask for it, and it will delay getting you the help you want.

Your Class Website Location at student:

http://student.santarosa.edu/~username
This is the generic browser URL of the student webserver where you'll upload your class website and other assignments. You can tell it is a browser URL because of the 'http://" at the beginning. Also notice the generic student "username" in place of an actual account name. Also CRUCIAL is the tilde character ~, which precedes the user name. You must always include this character in the browser URL, or your website will not be found.
 

Be AWARE that though the primary domain is santarosa.edu, it is a DIFFERENT location than CATE (online.santarosa.edu) -- a sub-domain actually -- and it is different from the main college website (www.santarosa.edu), and also different from this website (www.insideSkills.com/classes).
 
The login username and password used to access your web account at student.santarosa.edu may be different from those you have used in previous classes, or to access other locations or accounts.
 
The important thing to keep in mind is that the 3 websites used in this class are separate, though they may have links that point to the others, and that each system, and possibly each class section, may have its own login username and password.

You need to stay clear about where you are, and which username and password is appropriate for the site your browser is showing you.
  
In the past students have gotten confused and have had a lot of frustration trying to use a username and password from one site to access another site, because they just assumed that a single username and password would work for every login, no matter where they were.

If you're having trouble logging in, and ask for help in the Forum, REMEMBER you MUST include the URL of the page where you are trying to enter your Username and Password. If you don't include that crucial info, I'll just have to ask for it, and it will delay getting you the help you want.

 

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Texts and Materials

there is one required text, and a highly recommend CD for this course. Students may purchase the text at the campus bookstore, at Amazon.com, or any other bookseller that carries it. The CD is available both at the campus bookstore and at CC Now.com. If you are having the text and/or CD shipped to you, MAKE CERTAIN that you place your order in plenty of time to have it in your hands before the course begins, otherwise you risk falling behind and having difficulty catching up.

If it isn't convenient for you to visit the campus bookstore, they will ship you the text, the CD , or both -- contact Monica Sheets (707.524.1828, msheets@santarosa.edu). The shipping charge has been $6.00 US, (it may be different now -- ask when you call). Make sure you let Monica know the course number, your section number, and whether you want the text, the CD, or both.

TEXT - REQUIRED

Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, paperback
Elizabeth Freeman and Eric Freeman
2006, O'Reilly Publishers, Sebastopol California
ISBN-10: 0-596-10197-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-596-10197-8

link to Amazon.com for this text ($26.39 plus shipping)
http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-HTML-CSS-XHTML/
dp/059610197X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&
qid=1234378196&sr=8-1

link to Campus Bookstore-Petaluma for this text ($40 new, $30 used)
http://bookstore.santarosa.edu/PETALUMA/TextBookDetail.aspx?
BookPriceID=2816216&MBSNumber=753890&SecID=1154114&trm=SPRING%2009

CD (HIGHLY recommended for online students, and for all visual learners)

Creating Web Pages with HTML-1
This CD was created and is self published by Linda Hemenway, SRJC instructor and course chair for SRJC's Web Development training program. The CD has videos and written instructions demonstrating many of the techniques you must master, plus advanced tips, and cautions against mistakes frequently made by beginners.

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Iif you learn better by seeing it demonstrated, and by hearing the steps described as you watch them being done -- YOU NEED THIS CD. If you have no trouble learing from reading details on a printed page or a webpage, then you might not need this CD.
 
link to CC Now.com for this CD ($20, plus $5 shipping)
http://www.ccnow.com/cgi-local/cart.cgi?videogeeks_01M_continue-page

link to Campus Bookstore-Petaluma for this CD ($26.65 new, $20 used)
http://bookstore.santarosa.edu/PETALUMA/TextBookDetail.aspx?
BookPriceID=2816956&MBSNumber=0&SecID=1154111&trm=SPRING%2009

At the campus bookstore you need to ASK for the CD, it won't be displayed on the shelf along with the text.

If you do your work in the computer lab in Petaluma or Santa Rosa, you may borrow the Lab copy of the CD while you are in the lab, however you cannot check it out and take it away from the lab.

Other Required Materials

Since this course focuses on creating Web pages, you MUST have regular, dependable access to:

• a computer (Mac or Windows)
• a web browser (Firefox v2 or 3 is recommended as your Primary browser, Safari, and Internet Explorer can be used as secondary browsers to see how they render your pages)
  
  
  If you are an AOL user, you MUST download and install Firefox for use in this class. The AOL browser is problematic and since I'm not an AOL subscriber, I can't help you troubleshoot any problems that may arise.
  
• reliable, regular access to the Internet
  • you need to keep in frequent touch with the Discussion Forum, and the Announcements section on the Home page of this class website. ( frequently means at least 3 times a week, PLUS every time you work on your assignments )
• a working email account that you check frequently ( same definition as above )
• a working web account at student.santarosa.edu the college's student web server, where you'll upload your assignment web pages
  • if you don't have an account, or
  • if you've forgotten your password,
    • see the instructions and links at student.santarosa.edu.
  • If you need some extra assistance, BEFORE posting a Help Request in the Forum, or contacting me individually, make sure you have read the appropriate sections of the Start Here, the Instructions for Preliminary Steps page (which is also accessed from the Start Here page in the several Step by Step Instructions sections), and FAQ page of this website.
     

• Required Software:

  • Plain Text HTML/CSS Code creation and editing software
    
    • for  Windows - Notepad
    • for  Mac - TextEdit (in plain text mode), SimpleText, or BBEdit
    • you MAY NOT use Dreamweaver, GoLive, HomeSite, Frontpage. or any other web creation software, which creates the X/HTML for you
    • you MAY NOT use MS Word, Corel WordPerfect, or any other word processing program, as it will add hidden text formatting characters to your pages
  • SFTP (Secure FTP, not regular FTP) Software to upload your pages
       for Windows - WinSCP, SSH/SFTP client, or other Secure FTP client
       for Mac - Terminal plus SSH/SFTP (built in) or Fugu SSH/SFTP client
  • Firefox Web Browser
    • do NOT use Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) as your first web browser, since IE does not follow the W3C standards for rending X/HTML and CSS code, in many cases. Use Firefox first and foremost, and if you wish, look at your pages in IE, after using Firefox. Once we get to the point of adding CSS code to the pages, you will see differences in how IE renders the pages.

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Grade Status: Pass/No Pass vs Letter Grade

This class is available to be taken for Pass/No Pass (P/NP -- formerly known as Credit/No Credit), as well as for a letter grade. Students may change their status until . The appropriate form must be submitted to Admissions & Records before that deadline -- A&R will not allow status changes after that date.

Students working towards a WEB CERTIFICATE from SRJC or planning to transfer credits to another school, the MUST take the class for a letter grade. 

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Dropping the Class

If you decide to drop this course, or if your life becomes too busy or too complicated to do the course work and submit the assignments, it is your responsibility to officially drop it, online or by submitting a drop form to Admissions & Records.

Instructors no longer automatically drop students who stop participating. Only No Shows (students who have never checked in) are dropped by the instructor. If you submit the Check In form, you have "attended" the first class, and cannot be dropped as a No Show.

If you stop submitting assignments and do not drop the course yourself, you will receive an F (or No Pass) as a final grade. This is college policy, which instructors must follow.

Also please do me the personal courtesy of letting me know that you're dropping, rather than just disappearing.

Dropping Deadlines

• To get a a refund, drop before 14 Jun 2010
• To avoid a 'W', drop before 21 Jun 2010
• To drop with a 'W', drop before 25 Jul 2010
   

Any students still officially on the class roster after 25 Jul 2010 are required to have a grade issued. Petitions to drop courses late, submitted once this deadline has passed, are no longer approved by Admissions as readily as they were in the past.

Class Attendance

Because of the complexity and technical nature of the course material, and because of the short duration of the class, students are expected to attend each weekly class session, and to submit their assignments by the published deadlines.

The ONLY way for me to know that you are making satisfactory progress with the course material, is for you to regularly submit your assignments, and to interact with the Discussion Forum.

If situations arise in your work, family, or home lives, which impact your ability to attend the weekly sessions, and/or to stay on track with the assignment deadlines, please communicate with me. If you encounter difficulties with the assignments, don't isolate, don't try to 'tough it out', don't wait until you've gone into overwhelm ... let me know what's going on -- either by posting a request for help in the Discussion Forum, or if the situation is personal, via a private email. Other students may be experiencing the same frustrations and difficulties, but if you don't speak up, you are forcing yourself to suffer alone.

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Late Assignment Penalty - 20% Deduction

The class format is NOT self-paced. Assignments are due EACH WEEK by a certain deadline, in order to keep everyone on track and moving through the course material together, although you have the freedom to decide when during each week to work on them, as long as you are able to submit them by the published deadlines.

All assignments are due before 11:59:59 pm (midnight) PST/PDT (ie GMT -8/-7) on the Due Dates published on the Assigments Calendar.

Please be aware that the midnight deadline actually means midnight, not "before the start of the business day, the following morning". I'll allow a few hours "wiggle" room (until 3 am), once or twice, but anything submitted after 3am is late, and without having received approval for an extension, the late penalty will apply.

Also, if you're regularly submitting in between midnight and 3 am, you aren't starting your assignments early enough, and the late penalties will apply.

Late submissions, without a pre-approved deadline extension from me, will receive a 20% late penalty deduction.

If your schedule gets jammed, if family or work obligations interfere, so that it looks like you won't be able to meet the Monday midnight deadline, contact me ahead of time and request an extension of the deadline, to avoid the late penalty deduction. I usually approve most requests.

Only 2 Late Submissions

Only two (2) late assignments will be accepted, with or without deadline extensions. Once this limit of 2 late submissions has been reached, any further late submissions receive no credit. There is far too much material to work through, and only 8 short weeks in which to accomplish it, and we need to keep moving forward.

If your life is so busy that it requires you to submit more than 2 assignments late, you are probably too busy to give this course the time and attention that it requires, and should seriously consider dropping the course before you fail it, and taking it again in the future when you schedule is less busy.

No More Than 1 Week Late

Submissions more than 1 week late are not accepted for credit, without prior approval from me.

I Have a Life Outside of This Class

Since I also have a life outside of this class, I am not at my computer and online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If it turns out that you need to request a deadline extension, try to email the request at least 24 hours in advance of the deadline, if not earlier in the week, in order to give me sufficient time to see it, and respond to it. While I usually check email on Saturday and Sunday mornings, I'm not regularly online all weekend, and definitely not into the evenings, so any requests made after early Sunday morning are unlikely to be seen until Monday morning, well after the deadline.

Plan Ahead, Budget Your Time

Plan ahead, and budget your time accordingly, rather than leaving things to the very last minute. DO NOT WAIT until the evening of the deadline day to begin your assignments, as they will often take longer to complete than you anticipate.

Do a reality check on Friday evening or Saturday morning, and if it looks like you might not be finished by the deadline, request a deadling extension. If it turns out you don't need it, no harm done.

Estimated Time Commitment

You can expect to spend 6 - 10 hours each week on the work for this course. Some students will be able to do the work in half that time, and others may require twice that long, or even longer if they find the material particularly challenging. 

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Assignments returned for ReDo

If a submitted assignment has so many errors or missing elements that less than 70% of the possible points are earned, I may, occasionally, and at my discretion, "return" it to be redone for a maximum 'redo' score of 70% of the total points. I'll send an email alerting the student to the need to redo the assignment.

Redos will normally be due by the next assignment deadline along with the assignments normally due on that date, unless a different due date is negotiated with me.

ONLY 1 assigment may be redone during this course.

Assignments returned for a Redo, which are not re-done by the Redo deadline (normally the next regular assignment due date), will receive No Credit.

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Documentation Required
to Waive Late Penalty or Late Submission Limit

It's not that I'm heartless, cruel, or insenstive. It's just that from having been a teacher for as long as I have been, I've probably heard every phoney excuse in the book (and to be perfectly candid, I used many of them myself when I was a lot younger). There are some poor grannies out there who have died and been buried multiple times, before their bereft grandchildren finally graduated.

I don't want to be put in the position of trying to evaluate a student's honesty, based solely on email communication. I don't even like trying to do that in person, but via email, it's like floundering around in the dark.

So, if you want to waive the penalty or the late limit, please provide some supporting documentation along with your request.

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Grades

Scores for Individual Assignments

There will be approximately 400 - 450 points available to be earned on assignments and quizzes. Details for each assigment will show the total points, and the breakdown for each segment.

If I deduct any points for an assignment, I will send you an email explaining the reason for the deduction. It will be a very brief explanation -- "missing <title> tag, -2 points", "one sentence not sufficient for Discussion Topic, -5 points", and so on.

I'm sorry but though I might want to take the time to give each student regular, positive encouragement with every assignment, I won't be sending any individual acknowlegements or praise for doing a good job when I give full points for an assignment. There simply isn't the time to do this. Instructors for this course get paid for 4.3 hours a week, per section, no matter how much time it actually takes to prepare the class, answer emails, post explanations in the Forum, grade assignments, and provide assisstance to students who need it. I sincerely wish it were different.

Please remember that if I give full points, you ARE doing a good job, and I'm aware of it.

Scores for each week's assignments will be posted in an online gradebook located at the CATE online.santarosa.edu website. Use the Grades link in the nav bar on any page. If I'm teaching multiple sections of the class, use the Section link for the Class Section that you're registered in to access the correct section Gradebook.

You'll need to login with your CATE username and password which you created for this class, on the initial Check In form.

Assignments will be scored and the Gradebook updated, by the latest, ONE week after the published assignment due dates.

Final Grades

Final grades are calculated by dividing total points earned by total points available, the decimal result expressed as a percentage, and converted to a letter grade in the standard fashion:

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Guidelines: Using the Discussion Forum for Help

for more info, open: Discussion Forum Guidelines

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Guidelines: 7 Pertinent Details When Requesting Help

As mentioned above ALL requests for help with course work and your assignments should be made by posting a help request in the class forum. The reason for this is that it is the best use of my time to answer a question once, in a venue where everyone in the class can see and benefit from the answer, rather than multiple times in separate emails. In addition, if it takes me longer than normal to get to the help request, another class member may see the question and post an answer.

Please word your request for assistance carefully and completely, so that it is clear what you're working on, and specifically what the difficulty is. If you provide only very general info -- for example: "My page won't validate", "This style isn't showing up", "I can't see my images" -- I'll just have to ask for more concrete details anyway.

I'm good at troubleshooting, but I'm not a mind reader and not clairvoyant, so the above type of general info isn't sufficient for me to respond with anything helpful. Please use the following guidelines for providing helpful info when requesting help.

for more info, open: 7 Pertinent Details Guidelines

Guidelines: When to Ask for Help

for more info, open: Asking for Help Guidelines

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Standards of Conduct

Students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner which reflects their awareness of common standards of human decency, politness, and the basic civil and human rights of others. By registering for a class at SRJC, students agree to make themselves aware of, and to actively abide by, SRJC's official Code of Student Conduct as published at www.santarosa.edu/admin/scs/index.html and the three additional pages entitled: Sections 1, 2, and 3. Please familiarize yourself with the Code of Conduct, so that you are clear about it.

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Doing Your Own Work vs Plagiarism/Cheating

All students enrolled in courses at SRJC are expected to do their own work. Plagiarism is defined as any work created by someone else that is stolen, copied, 'borrowed', or otherwise submitted as your own work, or included as part of your work, without permission and/or a clearly stated attribution of true ownership -- including the work of other students, other authors, from textbooks, from web sites, or from any other sources not produced by the student her/himself. Any work submitted under a student's name, without clear attibution to the contrary, is deemed to be represented as the work of that student.

By registering for a class at the college, students agree to do their own work, and not to steal the work of others and represent it as their own.

If plagiarism is discovered the student will receive a 0 grade for that assignment, an email warning, and the Dept Chair will be notified. If it happens a second time, the Dean will be involved, and the student may be dropped from the class.

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Special Services (DRD)

If you need disability-related accommodations for this class, such as a note taker, test-taking services, special furniture, etc., please provide the Authorization for Academic Accommodations (AAA letter) from the Disability Resources Department (DRD) to the instructor as soon as possible.

You may also speak with me privately about your accommodations. Disability Resources (707-527-4278), is located in Analy Village C, on the Santa Rosa Campus, and in Petaluma Village on the Petaluma Campus.

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Computer Labs

The SRJC provides several computer labs including:

• Petaluma Open Lab - Petaluma Campus, room PC 641 (Richard W Call Bldg)
• Santa Rosa Open Lab - Santa Rosa Campus, Maggini Hall, 2nd floor
  • (NOTE: The old Maggini Hall 3rd floor open lab is no longer available, as that room is now a classroom. The open lab is now on the 2nd floor, in what used to be the Business Dept open lab. That lab is now being shared by students taking both CIS and BOT courses.
     
  • If you are a Mac user, there are only 4 MacIntosh computers in the Maggini 2nd floor Open Lab
    
    • So far this has not been a problem for Mac users, however if all 4 are in use when you want to work, you might consider the Petaluma Open Lab -- almost all of the computers in that lab are dual-boot machines, running both Mac and Windows.
      

If you don't have access to a computer and the necessary software at home, or at work, it is your responsibility to arrange your schedule to use the SRJC computer lab regularly, so that you can submit your assignments.

It is also YOUR responsibility to be aware of the opening and closing times of the lab(s) you use, as well as any restricted hours or early closings in connection with school holidays and exam week at the end of the semester. The schedule for the lab is usually posted on the Lab door, and often there are copies at the lab assistant's desk.

During the summer session the labs have a different, more restricted, schedule than during fall and spring semesters.

Open lab times and other information of interest can be viewed at the CS website

CS Lab Info and Link to All Campus Lab Hours

Printing in Campus Labs

For quite a few years, it has been College policy that the printers in the open labs CANNOT be used to print anything but the FINAL copy of the assignment that is being turned in for grading.

This means that students may NOT print the class website, nor any of the instructions pages from the class website, nor preliminary or practice versions of the assignment, nor any anything from any other website. ONLY the assignment to be turned in may be printed.

The reason for this is the expense of paper and printer ink cartridges. With the extremely restrictced State Education budget, the amount of money allocated for paper and ink in the open labs has been slashed without mercy. If the lab goes through the amount of paper and ink allocated for a semester, before that semester ends, the printers will sit empty of ink, and or paper, until the next semester.

Do yourself a favor, by doing your part to conserve ink and paper, and also avoid being busted and embarrassed publicly by one of the lab assistants, who will confiscate any pages that you have printed which are not being turned in for grading.

There are printers in the library where you can pay by the page to print out class Syllabi, or assignment instruction details, or anything else you'd like print. Alternatively, use your printer at home, or at work.

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Net-iquette: General Email & Forum Posting Etiquette

Email, forum postings, and other text-based messages can easily be misinterpreted or misunderstood by those reading what has been written, because text-based communications lack the additional layers and dimensions of information available in face-to-face, in person, or voice-to-voice, telephone communications ... the various subtleties, nuances, and emphases of vocal tones, myriad facial expressions, and other body language cues can't be seen or heard in a typed communication.

All of these can make the very same series of words mean completely different things -- a simple statement of fact, a question, a hostile or aggressive challenge or insult, a humorous or ironic commentary or satire, a sarcastic put-down or judgement, and so on.

Keeping this in mind:

• Be brief, polite, patient, and never post a communication when angry
• Always remember that there is no such thing as a single sense of humor, and what one person finds very funny, another can find deeply disrespectful, insulting, or offensive
• Please keep all emails and forum postings focused on the subject matter of the class
• Please DO NOT post or send jokes, humorous items, or any other Off Topic items, including chain letters, political or religious forwards, sales or marketing opportunities, and so on and so on
• Always include a pertinent subject/title for the posting so that the reader can quickly identify the message and determine its importance or relevance to her/him.
• Never assume your email messages are private, or that they will be read ONLY by yourself or the recipient -- backup copies are always kept on some server, somewhere
• Use capital letters (upper case) ONLY to highlight or emphasize an important word or phrase or to distinguish a title or heading. CAPITALIZING WHOLE SENTENCES OR PARAGRAPHS IS RECEIVED AND INTERPRETED AS SHOUTING! -- so use CAPs sparingly
• Be professional, kind, compassionate, and polite when speaking to others, and share your own experiences rather than talking about others. Email is easily forwarded.
• Never forward any personal email without FIRST getting the author's permission

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Weekly Class Topics, Reading and Schedule of Assignments

See the Assignments page for specific details about each week's reading and watching assignments, from the text and the CD, and homework assignment details, and due dates.