Revised: January 26, 2022
Northern Virginia Community College
The schedule page contains the week-by-week material; the schedule page will be continually updated during the semester.
ITE 270 - 001L, Advanced Multimedia Development, Spring 2022 - TTh11:10am-12:30pm via Zoom - no meetings in a classroom
Web Site for Class: www.billpegram.com
Course Content
Web content management systems (CMS) are the focus of this course, in particular WordPress and Drupal. Although the prerequisite listed for this course is ITE 170, ITD 110 provides as good, or better, preparation for this course. ITE 270 was first taught at NVCC in summer 2021 (by Zoom, by Judy Miller). I attended all sessions of that course and taught small portions of it. Spring 2022 is the first time I have taught this course.
There will be no instruction or use of animation, image or video editing software such as Animate, Photoshop, or Premiere Pro. If you want additional study of these, you might consider ART 130 and 230, courses offered by NVCC Workforce Development (https://www.nvcc.edu/workforce/), or possibly ITE 270 at another VCCS school.
Transfer
For questions about how IT courses transfer, visit www.transfervirginia.org or email iet@nvcc.edu
Grading
20% midterm, 25% final, 25% project, 30% exercises.
Software
All software for this course will be free to students. In the first part of the course, we will be installing WordPress on our computers in a couple ways so you will need the privileges to do the install -- this should not be a problem unless you are using a computer provided by your employer. Later we will be be hosting our WordPress and Drupal sites on Pantheon and perhaps another web host.
Hardware/OS Requirements
NVCC established minimum computer requirements for students in May 2020 - https://www.nvcc.edu/admissions/_files/Student-Computer-Specifications.pdf.
Textbooks
Required: WordPress the missing manual, Third Edition by Matthew MacDonald, O'Reilly, 2020, ISBN 978-1-492-07416-8; https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/wordpress-the-missing/9781492074151/ provides a free trial for the book (10 days, I believe). We will do at least 300 pages in this book. For an introduction to web content systems, we will use Chapters 1-4 of Web Content Management by Deane Barker. This is available online through the NVCC library by searching for Web Content Management Barker. For Drupal, we will use the Drupal User Guide at https://www.drupal.org/docs/user_guide/en/index.html.
Office Hours
Office hours will be held on Zoom on Fridays and immediately after class on Thursdays. Email me in advance if you wish to meet on Friday.
Communication with Students
For general class announcements and messages to individual students, I will use Canvas so make sure Canvas is set up so you see these promptly. Similarly, I suggest using Canvas to send me a message. If you email me at wpegram@nvcc.edu, please remember to include your name and class; this is not necessary when using Canvas since Canvas supplies this information.
Academic Integrity
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.
Unless specifically stated in the assignment, students may work together to complete an assignment. However my experience is that students who turn in essentially identical work on an assignment tend not to do well on subsequent tests either because they have not learned the material or are too reliant on another person.
No assistance is permitted on exams and quizzes and you must have your webcam on during these times so that I may monitor you. The college policy on student conduct is found at www.nvcc.edu/students/handbook/conduct.html. You will be asked to submit your student ID or equivalent ID in Canvas to take exams.
Cheating on a test will result in a grade of 0 on the test. Cheating on a subsequent test will result in a grade of F for the course. Cheating may be reported to the Division Dean and the Annandale Judicial Affairs Officer.
Dropping and Withdrawal from the Class:
Thursday, February 3 is the last day to drop a 15 week class and get a tuition refund (use NovaConnect) or to switch to audit (which requires my signature). Saturday, March 26 is the last day to withdraw without grade penalty in a 15 week course. The award of W after the last day to withdraw REQUIRES official documentation and the Dean's signature which is very difficult to get..
Covid-19
Although all sessions of this class will be via Zoom, you should be aware of the following.
See https://www.nvcc.edu/safe-campus/index.html
- As stated there, face coverings are required for all for spring inside NVCC buildings, regardless of your vaccination status. If you forget yours, they are available at NVCC Parking offices.
- NVCC Students can receive $250 upon proof of vaccination. Beginning January 18, 2022, they can receive $75 upon proof of a booster. Students who show their vaccination card at a NOVA Parking Office will receive the funds on their NOVA Card.
Student Success Tips
- Attend the Zoom sessions. Because this is the first time I have taught this course, it is much better if we work through this together rather than you watching a Zoom session after the fact.
- Don't procrastinate - If you are having a problem, fix it or email me. Do the homework on time and definitely before the tests. If you need help, ask.
- Pay attention to the dates to drop and withdraw from the class.
- As long as you attend class once (at the scheduled time, not through watching a Zoom recording later), I will not drop you from the class. If you do poorly on the midterm, you need to decide whether to withdraw from the class before the deadline or to continue in the class. If you continue in the class, you need to continue to "come to class", to do homework and to take the final, otherwise you will likely fail the course.