CAS111d Course Orientation

Welcome to CAS 111d: Beginning Website using Dreamweaver. For many of you, this may be your first class in the area of website development and design. For others, you may have been creating websites for years and are just looking to learn how to use Dreamweaver. It is going to be a great term for all of us as we explore the ins and outs of creating websites using Dreamweaver.

Course Structure and Assignment Submission

This course is divided into 10 weekly learning modules. Each week, you will be reading through lecture material from your instructor and completing the designated assignments. There are 4 types of assignments for this class:

  1. Calisthenics, Cafe Soylent Green (Textbook Tutorial), Oregon Film Festival (On-Your-Own), and Spiffy (in SWS) - These are your weekly assignments. Some will be step-by-step exercises in your Textbook, The Missing Manual. Page numbers and specific instructions will be given in the weekly module lecture within the Course Calendar. Others will be supplemental assignments not found in your textbook. All instructions for the Calisthenics exercises will be given in the D2L Brightspace module for that week. All assignments are vary in point value depend on the complexity of the assignments and the work that you have to turn-in.
  2. Final Website Project (in SWS) - you will be using skills learned throughout the term to create a multi-page website on a topic of your choice. You will be working on this throughout the term. Information on this project will be presented in Week 2. Each Update is worth 10 points, and the final submission is worth 50 points for a total of 90 points.
    Table of Contents - an index page that links to all your assignments. It is worth 5 points.
  3. Discussions (inside D2L Brightspace) - some modules will include an online discussion on a particular topic. Make sure you participate fully -- those extra points do add up and, as some have found out, can be the difference between one grade or another. The Discussion Board is the primary location for online students to engage with other students in the class. You should be checking the Discussion boards regularly throughout the week. Engaging online with your instructor and your classmates will significantly improve your learning experience. The discussions must be turn-in at the exact due date based on the Course Calendar, and you can't do any make-up work for this. The required discussions are worth 10 points each.
  4. Participations (in class) - you can receive points for participating in class, completing Intro Quiz, attending class, and completing the in-class exercises from the instructors.

Capstone Artifact: If you are pursuing the 2-year AAS degree in Website Development and Design, you will be required to create an online portfolio the final term in which you complete the degree. This course has been identified as a course that provides an artifact, sample of your work, for the portfolio. Please showcase skills gained from the concepts presented in this class to produce a professional portfolio artifact. You are responsible for ensuring the safe-keeping of all portfolio artifacts. Your Instructor will discuss this requirement with you during the term.

You are responsible for doing your own work and for communicating with the instructor. The assignments have specific due dates so please check the Course Calendar which you can find in the Content area within D2L Brightspace. If you get stuck, upload your files to SWS and email your questions to your instructor, or you can post your questions to the Help section in the Discussion area.

Stay on top of your assignments. If you do get behind, let the instructor know right away, do not wait until the end of the term or the night before assignments are due.

IMPORTANT! BE SURE TO READ THE FOLLOWING:

All of our course material and assignments are located within D2L Brightspace. Each week, you should participate in D2L Brightspace by following this outline:

  1. Read the Module Lecture material for the week. For example, if it is Week 1, you would read the Module 1 Lecture. In additional to reading the Lecture material in D2L Brightspace, there may be additional reading requirements for the week. These will be posted at the top of the Module Lecture.

    DO NOT SKIP THE READING REQUIREMENTS!!! Valuable information is contained in this material!
  2. Complete the assignments (Calisthenics, Cafe Soylent Green, Oregon Film Festival, and Spiffy) for the week. The requirements for each assignment will be outlined in the Module Lecture material for that week.
  3. Participate in the Discussion topic if one is required.
  4. Send an email to tell your instructor that your websites are uploaded and ready to be graded.

    You must include a relevant subject in the "Subject:" or "RE:" section of your e-mail. The subject must include the class you are taking, your name, and the topic of your message (usually an assignment name). Use a subject such as the ones in the examples in the box below. The following are examples for all the different cases I could think of (use this as a reference for later):

    For a question or help: QUESTION CAS 111D Maria Gonzales

    For notification of absence: ABSENT 1/24/2014 CAS 111D Jane Doe

    For completed assignments: CAS 111D Project 2 Maitlin Benoit

    For revised assignment: CAS 111D Calisthenics 2 REVISED Fred Jones

    In the email message, you should also type the URL for your sites on the SWS. This will make it SO EASY for your assignments to be graded (your instructor will thank you!) If you do not send me any email, your instructor WILL NOT grade your work and it will be marked late! Even if you uploaded the files to the SWS on time, you WILL NOT receive credit unless you send me the email.

    Information about the SWS and uploading files will be covered in Module 1.
  5. Read the weekly News Announcements from your instructor on the Course Home Page.
  6. Check your Grades. Be sure to contact your instructor immediately if you have any questions or concerns about your grades. DO NOT wait until the end of the term!

Late Policy:

Assignments are due by 12:00pm (noon) each Monday. In order for your assignment to be "on-time" and receive full credit, you must have all files uploaded correctly to the SWS, AND you must have send me an email for that week. Late assignments will lose 50% of their total points.

 

Instructor

Access to Class Materials: http://spot.pcc.edu/~mbudiman/for-students.html

You can read more about your instructor by clicking on the Instructor Information link in the Content section of your D2L Brightspace course.

Communication Guidelines: Please use MyPCC email or from D2L Brightspace Classlist for all communication with me. This allows me to keep track of student emails more efficiently. If you send me an email during the week (Mon-Fri), you can expect a reply within 24 hours or I will talk about it in class. If you send an email over the weekend or on holidays, you can expect a reply on the next business day. By working on your assignments early in the week, you will have more opportunities to communicate with me if you encounter a problem. If you wait until the last minute to work on your assignment, you may not receive a response before the assignment is due.

 

Dreamweaver: About the Software

In this course, we will be using the following software:

This course is written for Adobe Dreamweaver CS6. All students must have access to this software for completion of class assignments - either by purchasing it for your personal computer, or making time to visit the PCC computer lab. Our textbook is specific to CS6. The updated textbook has not yet been published for the newer CC version.

Previous version of Dreamweaver CS6 are NOT acceptable, your textbook instructions will not work as indicated on your version of the software.

Follow the directions on how to download Adobe CS6. Please note: this is ONLY for students who have already purchased and downloaded the CC version.

You can read more from the Adobe Blog about what has changed with DW CC vs. CS6.

Student Computing Centers (SCC) at PCC will be open certain hours each day, including Saturdays, for students to complete their assignments. Lab hours are usually posted on the door outside each lab.

There are many similarities between the PC and Macintosh versions of this program. Additionally, the textbook accommodates both platforms, so it's possible to use either with this class.

Earlier versions of Dreamweaver (anything prior to CS6) are not recommended for use with this course. Many of the features of earlier versions are different than the recent version, particularly those that relate to CSS and the placement and names of many menu items. Also, some features that we will use are not present in earlier versions of Dreamweaver.

Options for Using Computers and Software to do Coursework

Feel free to use any combination of the following options to do your coursework:

  1. You can use your home computer as long as you have the current software as stated above.
  2. Use the PCC Student Computing Centers (SCC).
  3. Use the Macintosh Multimedia Lab if you are a currently enrolled MM student.)
  4. Use a friend's computer (be sure you are doing the work yourself.
  5. Use a computer at work (this is assuming you have permission to do that).

Adobe has a 30-day trial of the new version, but once it runs out, it will cease to work. You need access to Dreamweaver CS6 for the entire term. Please do not email me stating you had problems doing your homework because you don' t have Dreamweaver access.

 

Internet Etiquette (or Netiquette)

It's important that you use appropriate etiquette (or good manners as my Mom would say) when you communicate over the Internet in e-mail and on forums and discussion boards. Why? Because I assume you want to be taken seriously and you want to succeed in your career (or even have a career!).

If you actively or even accidentally insult people you won't get called back on jobs, you won't get letters of recommendation, and you won't keep your clients. It's personal and professional suicide to alienate people. And the worst thing is if you do insult people, they will almost never let you know -- they will just ignore you and that's that.

So before you hit Send, think about what you are saying and how you might take it if you were the recipient. Remember, diplomacy works wonders. Being snarky or testy serves to break down communication channels. If you feel frustrated, or you have a problem, state is as objectively as you can. Ranting and raving will not work and may lead the instructor to remind you about the rules of etiquette, or ...... well, I think you are intelligent enough to get the point, right?

Also, be sure to use spell check. I know it may not seem fair or right, but if your e-mail message contains errors, people will judge you negatively. Remember, it may be their first encounter with you, so it is your only chance to make a first impression. So, spell check your writing if you are a bad speller, and spell check your writing if you are a good speller. The best spellers are the ones who make the most obvious spelling errors because they think they don't need to use spell check. Use a word processing program to spell check your writing if your e-mail or messaging programs do not have it, then copy and paste the corrected writing into the text of a message.

Click here for some more useful information about Netiquette.