RCC Fall 2009 CIS/CAT-76B Dreamweaver
The college's policy on academic honesty as spelled out in the Student Handbook's "standards of student conduct" will be strictly enforced in this class. Although you should familiarize yourself with this policy in the student handbook, I will break it down for you here in terms of how it relates to this class. You must do your own independent work on all assignments! Two or more people turning in "identically flawed" work or work that is "similar beyond a reasonable doubt" violates this policy and will result in 0 scores for ALL involved, regardless of who actually did the work. Any attempt to submit someone else's work as if it were your own, even if they are not in this class, is a clear violation of this policy. This doesn't mean you cannot give or receive help -- it means that help should be in the form of examples or explanations. Help should not be given or received in the form of files or parts of files that directly apply to the problem being solved. In particular, if you are giving help, make sure the person you are helping understands the issues involved in the problem -- give them explanations and an example that is similar to the problem they are working on. If you are receiving help, ask for an example and make sure you are getting the explanations you need so that you can solve the next problem you encounter. If someone is asking for your solution because they are going to be late with an assignment, remember that you would be jeopardizing your own integrity and standing in the class by doing so, and remind them that the lateness policy in this class is lenient enough that they can still take the time to understand the issues and do it themselves at their own pace without losing a lot of points. In doing so they will learn a lot more, both about Dreamweaver and about making responsible decisions in their lives. Note that this policy also pertains to exams. Any attempt to obtain answers from others or to make use of materials not allowed for an exam is a clear violation as well and will result in 0 scores. In addition to 0 scores for assignments and exams, your violation may be reported to the Dean of Instruction for possible further disciplinary action as deemed appropriate. Take this policy seriously, and know that I do too -- it is there to protect the integrity of the grading system that all students, faculty, colleges, and, ultimately employers rely on as a fair measure of achievement.
Note that our book covers Dreamweaver CS4 and that is the version of Dreamweaver that you are responsible for on exams and assignments. Our lab and classroom will have Dreamweaver CS4 installed. Older versions of the software will not be compatible with our textbook's tutorials and are not recommended.
The minimum computer system requirements for a Windows or Mac machine to be able to successfully install and run Dreamweaver CS4 can be found on the Adobe web site. If you don't have access to a computer that can successfully run Dreamweaver CS4 for the whole semester, or otherwise find yourself wanting to use Dreamweaver on campus, or want to take advantage of the ability to print 15 pages a day free of charge, then you should use our CIS computer lab (MLK-219). You are given 18 hours of free usage in this lab by virtue of being active in this class.
Each assignment has a set of files that you will need to have on your own disk in order to properly complete the Web sites. For example, there may be some HTML and/or text and/or graphics files that have already been prepared for you to be included in part of the assignment. The CD that comes with the textbook contains these files in a folder called "exercise_files".
Within this "exercise files" folder you will find the files are organized into folders named after the chapters of the book in which the files are needed (for example "chap_03", "chap_04", etc.) Within each of these folders you will see all of the files (and subfolders of files) that are needed for that chapter's exercises. The book will instruct you to open these files from within Dreamweaver as needed. But you should not work with this CD directly. Copy the files from the CD to a local working drive (flash drive or the desktop, for example) and open them from there. Note that you cannot fit these files on a floppy disk.
Note that these textbook files are also available in the classroom or in the MLK-219 lab. There should be a shortcut to the "I:" drive on the desktop of any of these computers. On this drive, you should find a folder with your instructor's name on it "smcleod" and, within it, another folder for the CIS-76B class. Within that folder, there should be a subfolder for "Textbook Exercise Files". There you will find the book's folders and files you need.
Note that when you copy files from a CD, sometimes the files will still be flagged as "Read-Only", preventing you from making any changes to them. Since you may need to make some changes to some of them, before you start each exercise, you use Windows Explorer or MyComputer to select the relevant folder, then select all files (or subfolders) within that folder (Ctrl-A in Windows Explorer), right-click on one of them, and choose "Properties". Then turn off the checkbox for "Read-Only". Then you can use these files properly. The screen shot below shows the setting after it has been checked off for some files (not the same folder or files we'll be using though). After completing this procedure you can use and change these files!
If you are asked in assignments to turn in printscreen printouts of your web page as it displays in the browser and you don't know how to do this, read on (the images shown above are the result of printscreens). It is always recommended that you obtain these printouts from a color printer (especially for those assignments involving color and graphics), but it is not an absolute requirement. If you don't know how to create a printscreen printout, these directions will help. When you have your page completed and it is displaying in the browser the way you want it (according to the guidelines of that assignment) then you are ready to create your printscreen. Your browser window should be maximized and the resolution set appropriately to 1024x768, or whatever resolution better fits the content of the page and the assignment requirements (to set the screen resolution in Windows XP, right-click the desktop and choose properties, then from the "settings" tab, you should be able to adjust the screen area dimensions). From this point, here are the directions.
Web pages and Web sites by their very nature are made up of many separate files. You need to make back-ups of all of your work files whenever you complete a session of work. This is standard, expected behavior for anyone who does Web development, and it is expected of you in this course. As such, losing a disk, accidental deletion of files, or having a file or a disk go bad will not be an acceptable excuse for lateness of any assignment. Be aware that files used for one assignment in this course may end up being used as a beginning point for further work on a later assignment, so you need to be able to organize and maintain your files throughout the semester. If you need help to further your file management skills so you can organize and make back-ups of your work, talk to your instructor as soon as possible and he will provide you with the necessary information.
In general, it is a bad idea to turn in work before it is completed. It is always better to take the extra time to complete it properly and turn it in a little late if necessary. The points you lose for incomplete work is almost always much more than for late work. But feel free to ask the instructor if you are unsure about your particular situation. But be clear on this: I grade work only once, so when you turn something in for grading, you should be sure that what you are turning in represents your best effort because you are not going to have another chance to redo it and turn it back in for me to regrade it and get points back. The only exception to this rule is if what you have turned in is so far away from what I asked for that I cannot reasonably grade it at all -- in which case I will indicate that on the top sheet and you can turn it back in when it is complete and it will be graded only once when you resubmit it with points deducted for the lateness at that point (as if you are turning it in then for the first time). So always carefully reread the instructions before turning something in to avoid turning in the wrong stuff.
Assignments that are being turned in early or late should be turned in to the RCC Riverside campus computer lab (MLK-219) and given to the lab instructor behind the desk to time-stamp and leave in my file cabinet folder. Always ask for this time stamp and watch them to make sure that it gets stamped and left in the file cabinet. That protects you so that you don't lose any extra points for lateness by waiting a few days until our class meets again. And if you are not going to be able to make it to class on a date that an assignment is due, it is your responsibility to make sure you turn it in early, in the lab with a time-stamp, rather than late. Of course you are always free to work ahead of the class and turn in assignments early!
Assignments involve Dreamweaver work on Web pages and require specific printouts to be turned in. For each assignment, you are asked to staple together these specific printouts in a certain order and turn them in. As indicated above, you should not turn in an assignment until it is complete with all the required printouts (unless it is the end of the semester, in which case you should turn in whatever you have.) The lateness policy is very reasonable and it encourages you to complete your work as soon as you can but does not penalize you severely for a little lateness. Note however that this policy pertains only to assignments, not to class exercises (which are not accepted late at all) and not to the final project (which has more severe lateness penalties).
The specific point deductions will always be taken according to these guidelines below.