William M. Pegram
Home | Courses | Web Design | Office Software | Client-Side Scripting | Server-Side Scripting | About MeRevised: January 9, 2006
Northern Virginia Community College - Annandale Campus
ITE 170 - Multimedia Software, Spring 2006 (3 credits)
Section 1N: M 1:30-4:20, CT230
Instructor: Dr. William M. Pegram, wpegram@nvcc.eduWeb Site for Class: www.billpegram.com
Course Description:
The emphasis of the course will be a hands-on introduction to Flash MX. Additional topics will be covered as time permits. Because this is the first time this course has been taught at Annandale and the first time I have taught this course, how much material we will be able to cover is somewhat uncertain but my expectation is that we will get through the entire text plus do some additional material. In choosing additional material, I will consider the background and interests of the enrolled students, while trying to maximize overlap with IT 213 at GMU (ITE 170 transfers as IT 213) but minimizing overlap with other web design courses at NVCC, primarily Web Design I (ITD 110) and Web Design II (ITD 210).
Software:
You will need access to Flash outside of the classroom. Here are some alternatives:
- Some of the computers in the open lab on the first floor of the CT building have Flash MX, which is the version of Flash in the classroom and is the version addressed by the text.
- The text comes with a CD that has a 30 day free trial of Flash MX as well as Dreamweaver MX and Fireworks MX. If you bought the text used and it didn't come with a CD, I can provide you a copy of the CD.
- There is a 30 day free download of the current versions of Flash - Flash 8 Professional and Flash 8 Basic (a subset of Flash 8 Professional) - at www.macromedia.com These versions succeeded Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX 2004 Professional, which were the successors to Flash MX. You may be able to use at least one of these on the same machine after the 30 day trial on Flash MX expires and you can certainly do it on another machine..
- Purchase of software - Because you are students, you are eligible to purchase Flash 8 Professional for academic use at greatly reduced prices, either as part of Studio 8 (contains Dreamweaver 8, Fireworks 8, Flash Professional 8, Contribute 3, and FlashPaper 2) or Flash 8 Professional by tself. For example, you can purchase Studio 8 for $287 from www.campustech.com or $238.65 for just Flash 8 Professional (there is no academic price for Flash 8 Basic). www.sprysoft.com is another source of software at educational prices. Given this small difference in price, the purchase of the studio would be preferred except in unusual cases. You will need to supply them with an academic ID.
Storage Media
Initially, you will want to bring a floppy disk to class so that you can save your work and for exams. If you forget to bring a disk, you can save your work to the c drive and then send an email to yourself with the file as an attachment. Later in the term, you may find having more capacity useful (e.g. a CD or thumb nail drive)
Homework
For most assignments, I will want the work submitted on a labelled floppy disk. However, if you are going to miss class, you can email me and include the file(s) as attachments. In some cases, I may ask you to transfer the files to your website.
Attendance:
If you miss class, please check the class website for any changes to the schedule, including new assignments. When class is cancelled due to inclement weather or instructor absence, assignments will be pushed back to the next class date. In cases of instructor absence, I will send an email to all students, so checking it before coming to class is always a good idea, although I haven't had such an unscheduled absence in 5 years.
Office Hour Schedule:
Before and after class.Communication with Instructor:
In addition to office hours, most class periods will have time for one-on-one questions with the instructor. Asking questions in this way is generally more efficient than email.
Texts:
Flash MX Hands-On Training by Kymberlee Weil, ISBN ISBN 0-321-11272-5, published by lynda.com/books and Peachpit Press, 2003.. This book is available in the Annandale bookstore in both new and used form. We will be doing a lot of exercises in the book together in class (and perhaps as homework) so you should buy the book.
Required Email Address
I will email you at the email address on my class list which is your VCCS email address unless you specify a different address in Nova Connect. If you do not check this address frequently, I would recommend you set it up for automatic forwarding to an email address you do check more frequently. During the first class, I will show you how to specify a different address in Nova Connect and to specify a forwarding address. Please remember to include your full name in all emails to me.
Grading Policy:
Your grade will be a function of 2 quizzes (30%), a final (25%.), homework (25%), and a final project (20%). Students may choose however to be graded solely on the basis of quizzes (40%), the final (33.33%), and the final project (26.67%). Homework grades tend to be somewhat higher than exam grades in my courses and doing homework in my courses is a good preparation for exams, so I do not recommend this option to most students. I will compute your grade with and without homework, and use the better of the two.
Assignments
Assignments will receive a 10% grade penalty for each class period they are late. Assignments that are more than 1 class period late, will either not be accepted (if I have discussed the solution) or will receive an additional 10% off for each additional class period late.
Academic Integrity
In general, students are expected to follow the Information Technology Student/Policy Ethics Agreement as posted in computer areas and academic integrity standards as set down in the Student Handbook. Let me provide more specific guidance however:
Students are encouraged to help each other out; it is a large class which limits my ability to help each student during the class period and I'm not a Flash expert. However, on work that is graded, there are restrictions on helping other students: On homework assignments and projects, students may ask for and receive some assistance from others, unless otherwise directed by the instructor. Yet those helping a student should avoid "doing the work" for the student. No assistance is permitted on exams and quizzes.
Dropping and Withdrawal from the Class:
Sunday, January 22 is the last day to drop the class and get a tuition refunds (use NovaConnect). Thursday, March 16 is the last day to withdraw or to change to audit. (It is also the first day of March Madness, for college basketball fans.) Practically all of the people who get an F as a final grade from me are those that stopped coming to class and doing the work but didn't withdraw by this second deadline, even sometimes after email and telephone reminders.
Learning Environment
NVCC is a place for learning and growing. You should feel safe and comfortable anywhere on this campus. In order to meet this objective, you should: a) let your instructor, his/her supervisor, the Dean of Students or Provost know if any unsafe, unwelcome or uncomfortable situation arises that interferes with the learning process; (b) inform the instructor within the first two weeks of classes if you have special needs or a disability that may affect your performance in this course.
Fire/Emergency Evacuation Procedures
Students should familiarize themselves with both the primary and secondary routes that are to be used, in case you need to evacuate the building, as well as other evacuation procedures to be followed.