Cardinal Stritch University 

College of Education  

Department of Instructional Technology 

CEd 533u: How The Web Works 

Greendale Middle School – AMEC-AA-0024 

Summit Elementary (Oconomowoc) – AAMEC-AA0023 

Instructor: John Sklar, M.S. - 3 Credits –Spring, 2008 

 
Instructor Information

 

Instructor:               John Sklar, B.S, M.S. 

Phone:                    Home:(262) 512-0373 Cell: (262) 227-3805 Campus: (414) 410-4116 (department secretary) 

Note:                      The best way to reach me is via email,  

Email:                     jmsklar@stritch.edu 

Web:                      http://faculty.stritch.edu/jmsklar 

Office Hours:           Before and after class and by appointment. 

Meeting Times:       Greendale: May 14, 21, 28; June 4, 11, 18 - 5:00 - 9:00 PM

                              Oconomowoc: May 13, 20, 27; June 17, 24; July 1 - 5:15 - 9:15 PM  

                                

 

Introduction

It is assumed that, before entering this body of coursework, each of the students has reliable Internet access on a regular basis, as well as a functional e-mail address.

Since this is a program in the field of educational technology, we endeavor to have students use examples of that technology throughout the program. To that end, much of the communication in this class will be e-mail and Web-based.

The students are expected to contribute regular postings through an Internet communication assistant, i.e., using a course management tool, responding to questions regarding readings, class discussions, study tasks, etc. This is the principal out-of-class interactive vehicle used by the students. The instructor monitors it. It replaces the more traditional reading log/journal ,

Every effort will be made to accommodate the divergent needs and backgrounds of the students in the class. Please feel free to discuss with the instructor any problems, concerns, special situations, etc., which may arise in working through the course material and assignments.

Course Description

This course examines the origins, history and evolution of the Internet and World Wide Web.  Students develop skills in page design concepts, simple html, including the basic use of Javascript and Java applets.  Students also investigate page production tools, development of web-based content, content management systems, on-line web applications and curricular examples.  3 graduate credits.

Program Outcomes

• Be competent practitioners, able to apply educational and technology-related research, the psychology of learning, and instructional design principles in creating an action research plan which connects current research to practice. 
• Be effective problem solvers, able to integrate technology into curricula effectively in a culturally diverse and pluralistic society.  
• Be competent practitioners, able to use technology and take a leadership role in its implementation.   
• Be able to identify the dynamics of change when the restructuring of curriculum takes place. 

The program outcomes are tied to Standards 4, 5, 7, & 10 of the Wisconsin Standards for Teacher Development and Licensure:

• The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies, including the use of technology to encourage children’s development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills. 
• The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation. 
• The teacher organizes and plans systematic instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, pupils, the community, and curriculum goals. 
• The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger community to support pupil learning and well being and who acts with integrity, fairness and in an ethical manner. 

The program outcomes are also tied to Standards 2, 3, & 4 of the Wisconsin Standards for Administrator Development and Licensure:

• The administrator leads by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared by the school community. 
• The administrator manages by advocating, nurturing and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to pupil learning and staff professional growth. 
• The administrator ensures management of the organization, operations, finances, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment. 

Measurable Course Objectives

Course Objective 1:

Students will understand and be able to explain the origins, history and evolution of the Internet and World Wide Web.   

Assessment:   

Students will participate in creation of a specific presentation for the class describing an aspect of web history or application  

Criteria: 

Presentation will be evaluated using presentation rubric. 

Course Objective 2:

The student will understand and be able to explain page source code and how web pages are interpreted by web browsers. 

Assessment:   

Students will participate in class discussion and create three web documents using html and scripting languages. These web documents will be designed, created and mounted on the web meeting requirements set forth in class. 

Criteria: 

The documents will be evaluated according to a page evaluation rubric covering both design and technical aspects of the pages. 

Course Objective 3:

The student will understand and be able to explain the basics of Internet Protocol including IP addresses and Domain Name Service 

Assessment:   

Students will participate in class discussion and take a written examination covering this material.   

Criteria: 

Students will score at least 80% on the written examination. 

Course Objective 4:

The student will examine web based content delivery systems and be able to identify and explain their purpose, advantages and disadvantages. 

Assessment:   

Research a content delivery system and write a report critiquing it.   

Criteria: 

The report will be evaluated according to a report rubric.    

Methods of Assessment

Assignments/Assessments	Type	Weight
Presentation Project (2 - 10% each)	Individual/Group	20%
Web documents (2 web pages 20% each)	Individual	40%
Written/oral presentation on content delivery systems	Individual	10%
Midterm Examination	Individual	5%
Final Project (Web pages)	Individual	25%
		100%

Grading Policies and Guidelines

Percentage Guidelines

93-100%	A	91-92%	A-	88-90%	B+	85-87%	B
82-84%	B-	78-81%	C+	75-77%	C	70-74%	C-
68-69%	D+	66-67%	D	64-65%	D-	Lower than 64%	F

Projects and Assignments, Grade Definitions:

1.  91-100 on objective tasks. Work generally must be very complete, accurate, show evidence of significant synthesis, effort and application of knowledge, professional in appearance, neatly presented, well organized and submitted on time.

2. 82-90 on objective tasks. Work generally must be complete, accurate, show evidence of synthesis, effort and application of knowledge, neatly presented, well-organized and submitted on time.

3. 70-81 on objective tasks. Work generally must be nearly complete, reasonable accurate, show at least some evidence of synthesis, effort and application of knowledge, less attention to presentation, appearance and organization. Submitting high quality work late will earn a lower grade.

4. 64-69 on objective tasks. Work missing and/or failing to meet assignment specifications, shows little evidence of synthesis, effort or application of knowledge, little attention to presentation, appearance and organization. Submitting high quality work late will earn a lower grade.

 

6. 63 and Below. Work missing and/or failing to meet assignment specifications, shows no evidence of synthesis, effort or application of knowledge, no attention to presentation, appearance and organization.

Optional Text and Other Resources

A basic book on HTML such as: Castro, Elizabeth, HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide, 6th Edition       (Paperback), PeachPit Press, ISBN: ISBN-10: 0-321-43084-0 ; Copyright 2007

Additional Requirements:

•  CD-RW disks or portable “flash” drives for saving class files.

•  A Stritch email account. This must be active immediately.  Ucompass Educator login and password – http://educator.stritch.edu

• Access to blogs and wikis

General Course Expectations

•  Attendance, promptness, and participation are expected. If not followed, a penalty will be assessed. I expect regular attendance and plan to present material in class that is not necessarily from the same perspective as our text. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed. I suggest getting the phone number of at least one of your classmates. Students are expected to have read the text before coming to class. There will be no makeup for class activities. If you must miss a class or assignment, please see your instructor so that you can mutually arrive at a make-up schedule.

•   Assignment due dates should be taken seriously. Late assignments will be assessed a penalty. No assignments will be accepted more than one week late without prior approval of the instructor. Late assignments and/or missing a class will be cause to lower your grade. Students are responsible to make arrangements with their instructor to make up missing work promptly.

•  All work is to be in the student’s own words representing the student’s ideas unless specifically noted. All written work is expected to be word-processed and of graduate quality, including details of spelling, punctuation, and format.

• Demonstrated understanding of course content

• APA, 5th edition style should be used for documentation of references. Information about the APA style is available at: http://library.stritch.edu/

• As of fall 2003: No grade lower than a B- will be counted towards the Masters program.

College of Education Policy on Attendance

Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory: Students participating in a Masters program in the College of Education are expected to attend all scheduled classes and meetings. The following apply to all enrolled students:

• Promptness: Prompt arrival at each class is critical because of the limited time available to conduct in-class activities during the course. Instructors may take actions they deem appropriate if consistent tardiness is observed. Please emphasize this will all instructors. (Coaching responsibilities are not acceptable excuses.)

•  One Absence: Class:  Any absence from a scheduled class requires that the student notify the instructor. You must contact the instructor before class so that arrangements may be made to make up the missed work. The student is required to make up all "missed" work as determined by the instructor, by the next class meeting. Assignments due on a missed class must be emailed to the instructor by the class time to receive full credit. Missed labs and class activities must be made up within 1 week of the absence for credit, missed class materials and assignments will be emailed to you when you contact the instructor.

•  Two Absences: Class: If a second absence occurs, the student has to option of officially withdrawing from the course. Subsequent failure to withdraw will result in a grade of "F" for the course, and the student must later enroll and pay for the course. Students may not request an "incomplete" grade at this time.

•  For purposes of this policy, "class" is defined as the scheduled instructional time with the instructor: The Program Chair will recommend a student repeat the class if a student misses more than one class. An appeal of this decision will be directed to the Program Chair. The decision will be documented and filed in the Instructional Technology Office.

College of Education Policy on Late or Missing Assignments

o        All original course assignments and additional assignments described above should be completed within the course time limits. Work that is submitted after the course has been completed is subject to the provision of the policies and procedures relating to incompletes.

University Policies

Statement of Academic Integrity

Inherent in the mission of Cardinal Stritch University is the strong belief in the principle of academic integrity. Student's actions reflect their moral character and, by extension, to University's reputation. Therefore, all students are expected to recognize and to abide by the policy on academic integrity found in the student handbook.

Cheating and plagiarism will be treated on an individual basis. Any use of another person’s work or ideas must be documented. See academic integrity policy in student handbook.

Cardinal Stritch University wishes to positively affirm the intent of the Americans with Disability Act. Any person enrolling in this course who may require alternative instructional and/or evaluative procedures due to a disability should feel free to discuss these needs with the instructors so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

Statement of Compliance with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Cardinal Stritch University and this instructor wish to positively affirm the intent of the American Disability Act. Any person enrolling in this course who may require alternative instructional and/or evaluative procedures due to a disability should feel free to discuss these needs with the instructors so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

Bibliography

Various books and websites will be cited during the course. In addition. The nature of these readings will be tailored to meet the needs and interests of the group as a whole, and will reflect current research and/or issues as they develop over the timeline of the course.

Sequence of Classes, Topics and/or Content*

*(This tentative schedule is subject to change based on student needs and interests.)

Please note that this outline is subject to change based on the depth of interest and discussion that develops around each topic. Please bring this outline to each class in order to keep up with any changes that may occur.

Class 1	Course survey – Introduction.  Syllabus   Use available web as resources.  Origin, history, evolution of the Internet and Web. – PowerPoint   Build, edit and mount (or save) your first web page. Assignment #1a – Team activity completed and presented class 2.      Team activity: Review HTML documents. Create some more web pages with pictures and other features. Mount these if possible. Practice edititng and troubleshooting HTML code. Assignment #1a - presentation might be HTML, PowerPoint or whatever you want. (Google Docs?) Assignment 3 – Team activity: Student will look at current CMS systems, create a report to hand in, and present in class.
Class 2	Present assignment #1a  Web page architecture and construction, source code.  How browsers render web pages from source code  a.       What is xhtml, xml etc  Basic html and mounting.   Assignments 2a – work on and mount during this class.      Team Activity:     For next week, with your study teams: Do an internet search on “What makes a good website?” Create a presentation that is about 5-8 minutes long that explains the rules or things that make a website great. You may present using PowerPoint, Webpage or your favorite presentation method. Put them on media or online so that we can show them on the instructor’s machine. Please bring a single page executive summary of your presentation so that other students can review them on paper.  Assignment 3 – Team activity: Student will look at current CMS systems, create a report to hand in, and present in class.
Class 3	Presentations (What makes a good website) – in class.  Discussion: What makes a good website? Are there rules we should consider?  More than basics of html including links, graphics, formatting.   Prepare for Mid-Term    Team activity: Assignment #1b Students in pairs or threes will find and critique three websites. At least one good one and one bad one. Present orally in class.   Assignment 3 – Team activity: Student will look at current CMS systems, create a report to hand in, and present in class.
Class 4	Midterm Exam.  style sheets, use of scripts and applets  Assignment 2b – work on and mount during this class.    Principles of page design, creating web pages and sites with helper software.   How the Internet and Web really work, Internet Protocol, domains, domain names, Domain Name Service (DNS),IP addresses, Internet Protocol
Class 5	Present CMS reports. (See assignment sheet) Web based applications, course-management systems   Applets and JavaScript in WebPages. Writing, adopting and appropriating said features.   Web Resources for education, management, communications and information.   Project work time
Class 6	Sharing of web projects.  Discussion: How does web 2.0 change the web landscape for educators and business. What's left to write. or... Why use a web page when a Blog will do?

 

Assignments and projects

Assignment 1 (Course Objective 1): 10%

1. Students, working in study teams will create short, three to five minute, presentations on the two or three most important ways they have seen internet access change education and the society in general during the past few years. Speculate on what other important changes might be around the corner. Presentation should be PowerPoint and oral. 

2. Critique three websites. At least one good, one bad and the other at groups choice. What makes the site good/bad or useful. Brief presentation PowerPoint with a peek at the websites 

Criteria: 

Presentation will be evaluated using presentation rubric. 

 

Assignment 2 (Course Objective 2): 40% (20% each)

1. Students will create mount and modify a simple web page using an editor, ftp software and a browser. This web page will contain simple elements such as text, graphics, links and lists.  

2. Students will create mount and modify a more complex set of web pages containing JavaScript, tables and links to other pages in the same directory. This page will be mounted and evaluated by the instructor twice. The second assessment is to assess the modification part of the assignment. 

Criteria: 

The documents will be evaluated according to a page evaluation rubric covering both design and technical aspects of the pages. 

Assignment 3 (Course Objective 4):10%

Each team will look at content management systems and discuss the features, usability, requirements and price. This comparison can be done with reviews, product websites or product demonstrations. Teams will create a report describing their systems and selecting a favored system.

Reports should be presented to class with an executive summary for each class participant. Please fully cite all resources used.  

 

Criteria: 

The report will be evaluated according to a report rubric.    

Final Project: 25%

Students will create and mount a set of web pages that presents class material that would be used as part of a lesson plan or administrative task in their school or workplace. This project should contain most elements used in class and other elements that the student wishes to use. (Students may begin to work on this project at any time. If you plan a site that does not present a lesson, please discuss it with your instructor prior to beginning the project.) 

 

Websites of Interest:

My Personal Website:  http://home.wi.rr.com/johnsklar

My Blog:     http://johnsklarsoffice.blogspot.com

My Stritch Site:    http://faculty.stritch.edu/jmsklar

Educator: http://educator.stritch.edu/

Class Website: http://faculty.stritch.edu/jmsklar/533/