Grading Notes, Week 1

With the schedule that we have - Monday through Sunday - I'm realizing I likely won't get most grading done until the Friday-Sunday after assignments were due the previous Sunday.  We have the week ending Sunday at midnight, so I probably won't start grading things until I have the time later that week, which will often be the weekend.  So, with Week 1 assignments having been due last Sunday night, I got to those assignments this weekend.

I've graded the Orientation Project and the Personal Website Project assignments, and those grades are now posted in the gradebook in the Angel System.

Several notes.

Remember, the items included in the Orientation Project are listed at the bottom of several of the Week 1 modules, including the Technology Orientation.  When I recorded your grade, I added a note/comment noting which of those items you did not accomplish by the given deadline (which was extended to today since that's when I graded this assignment.

Your grade for the Personal Website Project assignment is not final.  I used this grading scale for that project:

• 35pts : Creating your website
• 10pts : Defining the layout for your site (+25pts possible if loaded a custom template)
• 15pts : Added Class Announcements RSS feed to your blog
• 15pts : Added Course Blog RSS feed to your blog
• 10pts : Added Course Discussion RSS feed to your blog
•   5pts : Added Tech News RSS feed to your blog
•   5pts : Added Favorite Links (five) to your blog
•   5pts : Added Another gadget of your choice to your blog

I understand we've had some technical issues with the RSS feeds; that's why your grade for this assignment is not final.  Your personal webspace should continue to be a work in progress; continue working on it throughout the semester.  If there's elements of the page (links or images) that are aligned strangely or seem to be taking up a lot of space, continue to experiment with the layout of your space.  Make it useful for you.  That includes continuing to try to add the RSS feeds to it.

Finally, the quizzes are open until the end of April.  Here's the rub though.  Until you attempt a quiz and have at least one score for it, it will be excluded from your grade calculation.  If you do not attempt a quiz, it will be assigned a zero when the quiz closes.  Since that is on April 30, if you have 10 quizzes you haven't done all semester long, you will have 10 zeros added - all at once - to your grade calculation on April 30; so, if you do not do the quizzes, your daily category average may look fine and rosy all semester, and then suddenly become a nasty, stinky grade on April 30 when all of the quizzes close.  Don't let that sneak up on or happen to you.

Week 3 Plan

We have three modules on the Course Assignments page for Week 3.

• Information Security Awareness 
• Word Chapter 6
• Personal Computer Use Profile  

There are not any time sensitive assignments this week.  HOWEVER, I do want to emphasize the importance of posting these in the correct space.  The Information Security Awareness and Personal Computer Use Profile modules ask you to respond to questions with a post to your PLE (personal webspace you created in Week 1 in the Web Page module).  If you need a little help on how to add a new post to your blog, this video and this help file may be useful.

In the modules, I mentioned posting examples of the Information Security Awareness blog entry and the Personal Computing Profile blog entry.  I have those available on the sample blog - here and here.  You can use those as a guide, but your answers are unique and specific to you.

Assignments this week that will be included in your grade (with category and due dates noted):

• Daily. Blog post on Information Security Awareness.  Due no later than February 7 @ 11:59pm.
• Daily. Personal Computing Profile. Due no later than February 7 @ 11:59pm. 
• Daily. Technology in Action Chapter 7 Quiz.
• Daily. Word Project 6A.  Due no later than February 7 @ 11:59pm.
  
• Daily. Word Project 6B.  Due no later than February 7 @ 11:59pm.
  
• Project. You will have a single project grade for MS Word that is the combination of all the MyITLab assignments you complete.  Word Project 6A and 6B are the third and fourth assignments within that grade.

Week 2 Plan

We have three modules on the Course Assignments page for Week 2.

• Get Started in myITLab 
• Computer Literacy & Computers in Society 
• Word Chapter 5

There are several time sensitive assignments this week.

• Start working on the Get Started in myITLab as soon as possible; this will give you time to work through any technical issues you may have before you need to complete the work for Word Chapter 5.  I will not accept emails etc at the end of the week that say, "I can't get Word Chapter 5 done because MyITLab isn't working on my computer."  You have a week to work through those issues and get Chapter 5 done.
• In the Computer Literacy module, the First Impressions item AND the Computer Applications in Society items both require you to get work done earlier in the week (no later than Wednesday AM).  Don't wait until the end of the week to begin participating, discussing, posting etc.

Assignments this week that will be included in your grade (with category and due dates noted):

• Project. Combined participation in: (a) First Impressions . . . What does it mean to be computer literate? (b) What is computer literacy? (c) Computer Applications in Society.  Should participate throughout the week. 
  
• Daily. Technology in Action Chapter 1 Quiz.  Should ideally be completed by January 31, but remember, all quizzes can be completed multiple times through April 30.
  
• Daily. Word Project 5A.  Due January 31 @ 11:59pm.
  
• Daily. Word Project 5B.  Due January 31 @ 11:59pm.
  
• Project. You will have a single project grade for MS Word that is the combination of all the MyITLab assignments you complete.  Word Project 5A and 5B are the first two assignments within that grade.
  

Finishing Up Week 1

A couple of quick notes as we finish up Week 1.

First, when I post the assignments for the week, the expectation is that you'll begin working on those assignments earlier in the week; in some instances, there will be requirements that you begin working earlier in the week - particularly for class discussions. I absolutely understand life happens and that you may not always be able to get to class materials at the beginning of the week; however, that should not be "the plan." Do not plan to complete class work at the end of the week or only on the weekend. You'll have to find time during the week to get things done.

Second, I'll be working to get grades posted for Week 1; my goal for posting grades in this class is to review everything at the end of the week and get grades posted immediately so you know how you're doing in the class. However, like everyone else, I have a lot of demands on my time and may not always be able to do that. So, the trade off for you is this. If I'm slow to review your work and get grades posted, you get extra time to get the work done; if I take extra time in getting my job done, you get extra time to get yours done. I will always post a due date with projects; that's the earliest I'll plan to start reviewing the work. The hardline due date though is when I start reviewing the work; so, if a grade hasn't been posted for an assignment, you still have time to get it done. Until I review the class' work for an assignment, there's no real reason for you to not be able to turn it in; after I've reviewed an assignment, it takes a lot of extra time and effort on my part to go back and review work turned in late, so I'll typically not want to do that. There are two notable exceptions to that approach to turning in work late. You may not participate in class discussions late or after the fact, regardless of how long it takes me to review the work; for group discussions to be meaningful, everyone needs to participate during the discussion, not after. Also, the automated MyITLab assignments (like the Chapter 5 assignments for this week); are tracked automatically by MyITLab, so those will never be graded late.

Finally, to know if I've "received" your website assignment, take a look at the Class Community page; if you see your name and your webspace listed, I was able to access your website assignment correctly.

-cmd

Community Page & Timing

Several quick notes.

When I receive the web address of your website you created for the website assignment, I add it to the "Community" page. That page will have a quick view of everyone's blog; that basically allows you to "look around class" and "see" your classmates. And, by using the blogs and the comment features, it's relatively easy to communicate. You can access the Community page from the tab at the top of the course blog OR simply use this link: http://www.netvibes.com/cmduke#Class_People

Continue to work with your blog after you initially get it set up; you will be using that space as your own workspace through the course. Some assignments will have you post a response to your blog; you'll even have the opportunity to look around the class and see how your classmates are working with the same assignments. Your blog is your own personal course home; if you have been able to add the RSS feeds from the course site and Twitter, you can even see the posts I make here in your own blog space.

Finally, it's VERY critical that you pay particular attention to the workflow and how to work with this class in the Technology and Course orientations. Throughout the semester, you'll need to check on the course and participate in activities throughout the week; you won't always be able to wait until Friday to start getting everything done. When we have group discussions (one of which is next week), you will be expected to participate in the conversation throughout the week and not just once or twice at the end of the week.

Again, if you need help, let me know. I'm relatively easy to find. And, if you want to know what I'm doing.... try http://www.twitter.com/cmduke - that's my personal twitter account.

-cmd

Problems with Website Assignment?

If you're having problems with getting the RSS feeds added to your personal learning space, do what you can at the moment but don't stress about having to have it done. There's a technical issue with that part of Blogger.com.

Several of you have commented that you've had problems with this. A classmate researched and discovered that it may be an issue with Blogger (appreciate the assist!).

I confirmed that it may be a problem as well. To find more information, I searched the Blogger Support Forums for "Feed Gadget" and found this thread of discussion.

I'm extremely reasonable when we run into issues like this; when looking at the website assignment (noted on this page), don't worry about steps 5, 6, 7 and 9 at the moment. Focus on the rest of it.

-cmd

Come on in... Find a "seat"

Nearing end of Day 1 and hoping that everyone's finding everything they need to get started successfully; if you haven't gotten started on the Course Orientation and Technology Orientation - and many of you haven't yet, as far as I can tell - be sure to go back one post to the Welcome to Class! entry that describes the things you need to accomplish this week.

To this point, 7 have contacted me via a personal communication tool (6 via email, 1 on Facebook), and 8 have gotten logged into the Google Group for discussions, with only 4 posting the required "I'm here" message. Need everyone to "come on in and find a seat."

By end of tomorrow (Wednesday), you should have completed the Course Orientation and Technology Orientation, and you should be looking at a solid start on the Website & Personal Learning Environment module.

Again, if you're looking at this and needing help as to what to do, contact me. All the information you need to do that is in the Technology Orientation. And, if you have any questions about assignments or anything I post here, you could also post a comment to any one of these posts (use the comment link just below, if you're signed into Google).

-cmd

Welcome to Class!

Welcome to ITSC 1401 (8W002) Introduction to Computers for Spring 2010.

To get started in the course successfully this week, I have four modules for you to complete.

A quick side note. When you start looking at these, do NOT get overwhelmed. There's not as much work to do as there is information; many online classes just give you a list of links to click on without explaining what you're supposed to do with each link; they leave you to just figure out what you're supposed to do. I work hard to make sure you know exactly what you're supposed to do (if you read the information ;-)

You can get to the four modules for this week by clicking on the light blue Assignments tab at the top of this page. That will take you to this webpage http://sites.google.com/site/cyfair1401/Home From there, you will quickly see the list of modules organized by week. Of course, we're concerned at the moment with January 19-24, Week 1. (This class is going to use web sites and tools besides just the online learning system (Angel/Blackboard). You'll learn more about that in the Technology Orientation).

You can also use the links below. I recommend completing them in the following order and by the listed time. At the very latest, everything must be completed by Sunday mid-day.

1. Course Orientation by Wednesday late evening.
   
2. Technology Orientation by Wednesday late evening.
   
3. Website & Personal Learning Environment by Friday late evening.
   
4. Personal Introduction by Saturday late evening.
   

I'll let you get to work on those. If you have any questions, the Course Orientation module gives you information on how to get in touch with me. Of course, if you've noticed it in the sidebar to the right >> you can also try the Google Voice Call Widget to call me. You may reach voice mail; I'm still experimenting with the tool.