LIBR 240-12
Information Technology Tools and Applications
Spring 2015 Greensheet

Amonty Parsons
E-mail
Office hours: Virtual, by appointment via Canvas messaging or email.

LMS

Canvas Information: Courses will be available beginning January 22nd, 12:01am PST unless you are taking an intensive or a one unit or two unit class that starts on a different day. In that case the class will open at 12:01am PST on the first day that the class meets.

You will be enrolled into the Canvas site automatically.

Course Description

In this class you will get hands-on experience with information technology tools and applications while learning to design and build websites. You will learn how to:

• Publish documents and other files by uploading them to a web server
• Prepare text, images, sound, and videos for web display
• Enhance the usability, accessibility, and cross-cultural readiness of web content
• Build interfaces for navigating small collections of web content
• Harness markup document hierarchy to selectively manipulate page elements
• Use web-based tools to collaborate on projects and share resources
• Incorporate interactive forms and other dynamic elements into web pages

Course Requirements

Before Class Starts
No previous experience with web development is required, but it would be a good idea to review our student learning outcomes and do a quick bit of investigation into any acronyms/technologies you've never heard of. Before we begin, you should have a rough idea about the specific skills we'll build and how you might use them at work.

Also before we begin, please thoroughly review our school’s hardware, software, anti-malware, and skill requirements for incoming students:

• Home Computing Requirements
• Software Requirements
• Antivirus and Anti-Spyware Software
• Technology Literacy Requirements

Please be sure you review and understand the above requirements before class.

Motivation and Time Commitment
LIBR 240 can be very tough, even compared to other graduate courses. It will require amounts of motivation, mindfulness, detail-orientation, problem-solving, and autonomy that have perhaps never been asked of you in college thus far.

The difficulty of this class can create a huge demand on time for some students; expect to spend a lot of time on each unit. Each unit builds directly on the previous, so a high level of presence is needed for you to keep up and perform successfully.

Time expenditure resembling that of a part-time job is not uncommon in LIBR 240.

Readings, Materials, and Self-Reliance
Sufficient readings and materials to successfully complete your assignments will always be made available to you in each unit. Some students find it helpful to supplement these materials with additional help or with investigation on the web.

I will be available to guide you and to help answer your questions, but you will be expected to have a high degree of self-reliance when it comes to your learning--remember that you are training to be an expert information seeker by trade.

Learning how to be self-reliant with technology is a huge part of this class.

Assignment Calendar

Calendar is tentative; subject to change with fair notice.

Assignments must be submitted by 11:59 pm PT on the day they are due.

Grading

Points will be deducted for late work (up to 2pts per day late; later than 5 days will not be accepted).

Assignments tend to build directly upon the previous; students are strongly advised not to skip any work.

I may offer extra credit opportunities to the class at my discretion.

Software & Technology Requirements

Additional Software
During the semester you will be asked to install additional software tools beyond what our school requires. These additional tools are necessary to complete our course assignments. All software that I require for this class will be free. I make a fair attempt to recommend software that is safe, stable, and compatible with all major home computing platforms (i.e., Linux/Mac/PC).

Things I will ask you to install on your system include:

• FileZilla (FTP client)
• GIMP (image editor)
• jEdit (text editor)
• Firefox (Web browser)
• Web Developer Toolbar (Firefox extension)
• etc. (the major tools are above, but I may ask you to install others as well)

You can install these programs now, or wait until they are required for an assignment.

I will assume that you know how to install and configure software and do not promise to help with that. The scope of this class does not cover basic computer use (see our school's Technology Literacy Requirements). I will help guide you on how to use these programs to complete your assignments once you have installed them on your system.

Cloud Computing & Password Management
As part of your assignment requirements, you will use a variety of web-based applications in addition to our Canvas course. This will involve managing a variety of user accounts... and their respective passwords. You need to have a safe and reliable method of managing this stuff--exactly what method you use is up to you.

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Course Workload Expectations

Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will spend, for each unit of credit, a minimum of forty-five hours over the length of the course (normally 3 hours per unit per week with 1 of the hours used for lecture) for instruction or preparation/studying or course related activities including but not limited to internships, labs, clinical practica. Other course structures will have equivalent workload expectations as described in the syllabus.

Instructional time may include but is not limited to:
Working on posted modules or lessons prepared by the instructor; discussion forum interactions with the instructor and/or other students; making presentations and getting feedback from the instructor; attending office hours or other synchronous sessions with the instructor.

Student time outside of class:
In any seven-day period, a student is expected to be academically engaged through submitting an academic assignment; taking an exam or an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction; building websites, blogs, databases, social media presentations; attending a study group;contributing to an academic online discussion; writing papers; reading articles; conducting research; engaging in small group work.

Course Prerequisites

LIBR 200, LIBR 202, LIBR 204. 

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Understand the client-server relationship and how to work with a UNIX server.
2. Identify the difference between client- and server-side Web programming languages.
3. Develop conceptual and practical strategies for presenting information on the Web.
4. Create content in XHTML and HTML5 formats.
5. Design interfaces using CSS.
6. Present information on the Web with a consideration for usability, accessibility, and cultural issues.
7. Work with Web 2.0 technologies such as RSS, blogs, wikis, collaborative writing tools, and digital storytelling tools.
8. Examine some simple JavaScript programs.
9. Incorporate interactive forms onto a Web page using a simple PHP program.
10. Build an XML file and access it via an XSLT stylesheet.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

LIBR 240 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

• Duckett, J. (2011). HTML and CSS: Design and build websites. John Wiley & Sons. Available through Amazon: 1118008189

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Grading Scale

The standard SJSU School of Information Grading Scale is utilized for all iSchool courses:

In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:

• C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
• B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work;
  For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA) — INFO 200, INFO 202, INFO 204 — the iSchool requires that students earn a B in the course. If the grade is less than B (B- or lower) after the first attempt you will be placed on administrative probation.  You must repeat the class the following semester. If -on the second attempt- you do not pass the class with a grade of B or better (not B- but B) you will be disqualified.
  
• A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.

Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

University Policies

General Expectations, Rights and Responsibilities of the Student

As members of the academic community, students accept both the rights and responsibilities incumbent upon all members of the institution. Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with SJSU's policies and practices pertaining to the procedures to follow if and when questions or concerns about a class arises. See University Policy S90-5 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S90-5.pdf. More detailed information on a variety of related topics is available in the SJSU catalog at http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/catalog/departments/LIS.html. In general, it is recommended that students begin by seeking clarification or discussing concerns with their instructor. If such conversation is not possible, or if it does not serve to address the issue, it is recommended that the student contact the Department Chair as a next step.

Dropping and Adding

Students are responsible for understanding the policies and procedures about add/drop, grade forgiveness, etc. Refer to the current semester's Catalog Policies section at http://info.sjsu.edu/static/catalog/policies.html. Add/drop deadlines can be found on the current academic year calendars document on the Academic Calendars webpage at http://www.sjsu.edu/provost/services/academic_calendars/. The Late Drop Policy is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/aars/policies/latedrops/policy/. Students should be aware of the current deadlines and penalties for dropping classes.

Information about the latest changes and news is available at the Advising Hub at http://www.sjsu.edu/advising/.

Consent for Recording of Class and Public Sharing of Instructor Material

University Policy S12-7, http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S12-7.pdf, requires students to obtain instructor's permission to record the course and the following items to be included in the syllabus:

• "Common courtesy and professional behavior dictate that you notify someone when you are recording him/her. You must obtain the instructor's permission to make audio or video recordings in this class. Such permission allows the recordings to be used for your private, study purposes only. The recordings are the intellectual property of the instructor; you have not been given any rights to reproduce or distribute the material."
  • It is suggested that the syllabus include the instructor's process for granting permission, whether in writing or orally and whether for the whole semester or on a class by class basis.
  • In classes where active participation of students or guests may be on the recording, permission of those students or guests should be obtained as well.
• "Course material developed by the instructor is the intellectual property of the instructor and cannot be shared publicly without his/her approval. You may not publicly share or upload instructor generated material for this course such as exam questions, lecture notes, or homework solutions without instructor consent."

Academic integrity

Your commitment, as a student, to learning is evidenced by your enrollment at San Jose State University. The University Academic Integrity Policy F15-7 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/F15-7.pdf requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The Student Conduct and Ethical Development website is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/studentconduct/.

Campus Policy in Compliance with the American Disabilities Act

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, or if you need to make special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible, or see me during office hours. Presidential Directive 97-03 at http://www.sjsu.edu/president/docs/directives/PD_1997-03.pdf requires that students with disabilities requesting accommodations must register with the Accessible Education Center (AEC) at http://www.sjsu.edu/aec to establish a record of their disability.

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