SYLLABUS

Advanced World Wide Web: CO404-01

Course description: Students will create interactive websites using Macromedia Flash and some HTML. We will discuss web trends and standards. Class will be a combination of lecture, demonstration and lab time. Students will be expected to spend a considerable amount of time outside of class practicing with the software programs.

Location: Gasson 002, Interactive Media Laboratory (Macintosh Lab)

Meeting day(s): Tuesdays

Meeting time(s): 4:30 to 7 p.m.

Prerequisite: some experience with computers and the web

Email: malecn@bc.edu (Note: subject line should say: AW1 or AW2)

Office location: Gasson 002

Office hours: Tuesdays after class or by appointment.

Phone: Email is the best way to reach me.

Biography: I have been teaching computers and web design for ten years at the college level. I work full-time at MIT as the Director of Communications for Resource Development. Previously, I worked at BC as the Director of Marketing &Communication for the Graduate School of Social Work. I also worked as a newspaper reporter in Connecticut at The Hartford Courant for 6 years before coming to Boston. I have been doing freelance desktop publishing, web design, and database design for more than 15 years. I received my BA in American Studies and Journalism from UConn, and my M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from BC. I’m currently working on my Ph.D./MBA in Sociology.

Homework and Grading Details
1. Homework assignments must be posted on the web and viewable in all browsers by noon on the Monday before class. Any assignments not posted by this time will receive a zero. If you cannot post your assignment to the web due to technical problems (server down, etc.) you must email all necessary files to the instructor before noon.

2. Each assignment is graded on a scale of 10.
–10 signifies a complete mastery & creative understanding of the assignment. Given when assignments go beyond the minimum requirements and show a good understanding of how to apply what was learned to enhance a website.
–5 signifies that the homework meets the minimum requirements of the assignment and is posted on time. Anything below a 5 signifies that the homework is missing some of the minimum requirements of the assignment. Given when students do not follow the directions for an assignment, don’t complete part of an assignment, or post something that does not work as intended.
–0 signifies that the assignment was not posted by the the deadline.
There will be no exceptions; leave yourself enough time to account for computer and network outages, travel delays and any other unexpected delays.

3. You must begin assignments early enough so there is time to seek out help from a tutor if necessary. No points are deducted for asking for help in advance of assignment deadlines.

GRADING
• Final Project 20% Your final project will be a interactive tutorial designed in Flash with an animated introduction, navigation system, and several ActionScript components. Each person will complete their final project individually; no partners or groups.
• Class participation 15% Attendance, effort, communication, willingness to seek out tutoring when needed.
• Homework assignments 30%All homework assignments are graded, and late assignments are not accepted.
• Quizzes 20% Two quizzes will test your knowledge of web design and Flash.
• Final Exam 15% Part of the final will be completed in class, part will be a take home assignment.

Grades are computed according to university policy as follows: A=4.0, A- =3.66, B+=3.33, B=3.0, B- =2.66, C+=2.33, C=2.0, C-=1.66, D+=1.33, D=1.0, D- =.66, F=0.

ATTENDANCE
Attendance is essential for this class since each week builds on skills learned in class. Your participation grade will be lowered for each class missed. As per the Communications Department policy, this includes classes you miss because of late registration, illness, and other “excused” absences. You must email me before class if you will not be attending for any reason. You are responsible for getting notes from a classmate and learning the material covered prior to returning to class the following week. The Communications Department’s policy on absences applies to this class; you must follow this policy even if you are not a communications major.

COMMUNICATIONS ATTENDANCE POLICY
Attendance is required as a condition of successful completion of all courses in the department of Communication. After missing any class session, a student is responsible for finding out about assignments, due dates, announcements, handouts, and so forth that were covered during the missed session, and for making up any missed work. The student is also responsible for obtaining class notes from a classmate for the session, and for learning the material from that session for any relevant exams or quizzes.

The equivalent of 2 weeks of absence from any course will reduce a student’s course grade by one full letter grade. Absence from a combined total of 3 weeks of class meetings will result in automatic failure of the course. Thus, if the class meets once a week, three missed sessions equals automatic failure. If a course meets twice a week, six missed sessions will result in failure of the course, and a combined nine missed class sessions will result in automatic failure of a course that meets 3 times per week. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Absences for any reason, including illness, personal crises, athletics or other extra-curricular activities are included in this total. If a student is involved in any activity that might require that student to miss three or more weeks of a particular course, then that student should not enroll in the course. Individual faculty members may add additional requirements or stipulations to this policy.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR EMAIL to the INSTRUCTOR
Before sending an email to the Instructor or the Teaching Assistant be certain to check all on-line documentation, links from the on-line syllabus, and with one or two of your classmates.

Emails MUST have the AW as the subject header (regardless of the topic of your question) if you would like a response.

I will be using a mail filter to keep organized and the computer can only filter messages with the appropriate phrase in the subject header. Please check the spelling before you click send.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY
Department of Communication Policy on Academic Integrity

The department of Communication holds the highest standards of academic honesty for Boston College Communication majors. The maintenance of these standards is essential to the basic functioning of the department as an academic community, and makes possible the conduct of fair, meaningful, and worthwhile educational experiences. Because the faculty of this department takes academic honesty so seriously, we remind all students in all Communication courses of the academic integrity statement signed by all students upon matriculation at Boston College.

Please re-read the statement carefully. Instances of cheating, plagiarism, dishonesty or collusion will be treated seriously within the department of Communication. Sanctions for such breaches of academic integrity range from failure of the course to expulsion from Boston College. All cases will be referred to the department chairperson or the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

To ensure honesty in written work, the department requires all written assignments for all department courses to be submitted on diskette as well as on paper. The diskettes will be checked for plagiarized material internally within the department and externally through a professional service. Written work will not be accepted unless it is accompanied by a diskette version.

STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY FROM BC’s COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
The College [of Arts and Sciences] expects all students to adhere to the accepted norms of intellectual honesty in their academic work. Any forms of cheating, plagiarism, or dishonesty or collusion in another’s dishonesty is a fundamental violation of these norms.

CHEATING is the use or attempted use of unauthorized aids in any exam or other academic exercise submitted for evaluation. This includes data falsification; the fabrication of data; deceitful alteration of collected data included in a report; copying from another student’s work; unauthorized cooperation in doing assignments or during an examination; the use of purchased essays, term papers, or preparatory research for such papers; submission of the same written work in more than one course without prior written approval from the instructor(s) involved; and dishonesty in requests for either extensions or papers or make-up examinations.

PLAGIARISM is the deliberate act of taking the words, ideas, data, illustrative material, or statements of someone else, without full and proper acknowledgement, and presenting them as one’s own.

COLLUSION is assisting or attempting to assist another student in an act of academic dishonesty.

As part of your scholarly development, you must learn how to work cooperatively in a community of scholars and fruitfully utilize the work of others without violating the norms of intellectual honesty. You have a responsibility to learn the parameters of collaboration and the proper forms for quoting, summarizing and paraphrasing.

Faculty members who detect any form of academic dishonesty have the responsibility to take appropriate action. The faculty member also has the responsibility to report the incident and penalty to the Department Chairperson and the appropriate Class Dean. The report will remain in your student file until you graduate.

If the gravity of the offense seems to warrant it or if the faculty member prefers that another academic authority decide the matter, he or she may refer the case to a Dean. In addition, if the student is unwilling to accept the faculty member’s decision, he or she may choose to have the matter adjudicated either by an Associate Dean or by an Administrative Board. The section of the College of Arts and Sciences in the Boston College Undergraduate Catalogue has further details about this process.

Academic integrity is a very important matter. If you have any questions in any of your courses about what is allowed or not allowed, please discuss the matter immediately with the instructor.

Course Requirements

Introduction
Students will be required to post all class and homework assignments on an HTML page on their BC website. All homework pages must be at the following address:

www2.bc.edu/~yourusername/aw/index.html

See Details in the HW#1 entry.

Recommended Software
Adobe Flash CS3
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
Fetch or WSFTP

Option: Flash is installed in the lab, but time there is limited, so please plan carefully if you will not be purchasing Flash. Please read the system requirements to be sure the software will operate on your computer. If you do not have a computer, you will need to spend a great deal of time in the lab to complete assignments and your final projects. Please consult the schedule for the IML and the SLSC in advance to be sure you will have enough access.