Please Note: This syllabus will remain tentative and subject to change until the end of the first week of classes on Sunday, September 25, 2005. |
Instructor
Timothy Ellis, Ph.D. Address: |
Syllabus Contents | |
Class Location and Format
Online, independent study |
Catalog Description
Recent advances and future trends in learning technology and educational computing are examined. Innovations in teacher and student workstation technology are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on an examination of audio/video and computer-based tools currently in use in schools and training centers. Special attention is given to CD-ROM technology and laser disk technology. Guidelines for selection and implementation of multimedia projects are presented.
Required Textbook TOP
Vaughan, T. (2004). Multimedia: Making it Work, 6th Edition. New York: McGraw Hill Technology Education.
ISBN: 0-07-223000-2
Required Software TOP
The student is expected to have access to two different programs that can be used to author a multimedia product. The programs include Macromedia Director or Authorware, Asymetrix Toolbook, Microsoft PowerPoint or even an html editor such as Dreamweaver. Demo packages of many of these authoring systems are available on the CD that accompanies the course text. In addition to the authoring software, the student will need access to editing programs for graphics, sounds, video, and animation. Several serviceable programs are available as freeware or shareware.
Exit Competencies TOP
By the end of the course, the student will be able to:
- Plan, develop, and document a professional-grade multimedia product that can be used to educate, sell, or inform.
- Identify and analyze the technological impediments to multimedia production and distribution.
- Identify and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of multimedia-enhanced educational products.
- Evaluate and critique multimedia productions.
- Analyze the current status of multimedia production and distribution systems and predict future advances and implementations.
Outline of Course Requirements TOP
The student will be responsible for mastering the following material by the end of the term through a combination of lectures, textbook, projects, and independent research.
- What is and is not multimedia
- Planning a multimedia product
- The multimedia team
- Planning process and tools
- Documentation
- Developing multimedia
- Hardware suite
- Software suite
- Creating and editing media elements
- Sounds
- Videos
- Animations
- Graphics
- Interactivity
- Authoring multimedia
- Authoring systems
- Paradigms used for authoring
- Distributing multimedia products
- Considerations when distributing via CD
- Considerations when distributing via the World Wide Web
- Distributing via a network
- Examining media elements: text
- Characters and fonts
- Layout and placement
- Examining media elements: colors
- Producing colors
- Effective use of color
- Examining media elements: sounds
- Analog vs. digital
- Digitizing sounds
- Synthesizing sounds
- Selecting the correct sound format
- Examining media elements: videos
- Analog vs. digital
- Codecs and compression
- Streaming video
- Selecting the correct video format
- Examining media elements: graphics
- Bitmapped vs. vector
- Pictures vs. graphics
- Compression algorithms
- Strengths and weaknesses of popular graphic file formats (i.e. gif, jpg, png, bmp, tif, etc.)
- Selecting the correct graphic format
- Examining media elements: interactivity
- Linear, hierarchical, and webbed flow
- Virtual reality and simulations
Assignments TOP
There are three assignments that contain four types of learning experiences used in this course: discussion forum contributions, technical briefs, media-enhanced tutorials , and a final exam. A description of each type of learning experience follows. The assignment schedule provides specific due dates and other requirements for the three assignments.
Final Exam
Assignment Schedule
TOP
Note: All assignments are due no later than 11:55 pm, Eastern Daylight
Time on the date indicated
Assignment 1: Introduction to Multimedia, Discrete Media (9/19/025 - 10/16/05)
Assignment 2: Continuous Media (10/17/05 - 11/13/05)
Assignment 3: Producing Multimedia (11/14/05 - 12/9/05)
Grading Criteria TOP
A ......................….. 93 - 100 points
A- ........................…90 - 92 points
B+ ........................... 88 - 89 points
B .........................… 83 - 87 points
B- ............................ 80 - 82 points
C+ ........................... 78 - 79 points
C ........................…. 73 - 77 points
C- ………………… 70 - 72 points
F ...................……... fewer than 70 points
Incompletes WILL NOT be given except under circumstances of extreme hardship. Please refer to the SCIS student handbook for details on the Incomplete policy.
Class/Course Rules TOP
The preponderance of the learning that you will experience in this course will be through a learning-by-doing process. This process has been widely accepted in the adult education literature as preferable to the more traditional, classroom-bound, didactic lecture format. Research has shown that most of us 'older learners' seem to do better when we are actively involved in the process.
The learning-by-doing process does, however, require time. The student must retrieve, experiment with, analyze, and assimilate a great deal of information in order to meet the learning objectives for the course. The retrieval, experimentation, analysis, and assimilation can only be done over the course of time. There truly is no way to cram that process into an 'all-nighter'.
The assignments in this course are designed to direct you to the important concepts inherent in this subject matter. The schedule of due dates is designed to offer the pacing necessary for you to be able to actually retrieve, experiment with, analyze, and assimilate these concepts. The schedule does, in fact, set the environment in which the learning-by-doing process can occur.
Timeliness of submissions is an essential ingredient in the learning necessary for successful completion of this course. I do understand that you all must balance accomplishing academic requirements with family and work responsibilities. You have, however, made a commitment to pursuing this academic endeavor, and can not successfully do so if you do not allocate appropriate time to the process. All work is due by 5:00 pm Fort Lauderdale (Eastern) time on the day indicated in the assignment schedule. I normally download all assignmnets in the morning of the Monday following the due date. Any work submitted by the time I download the assignments for evaluation will be accepted as a timely submission; no work will be accepted after the time I download the assignments from ESET. Work submitted late will not be evaluated and will receive a grade of zero (0).
Incompletes are granted only under circumstances of extreme hardship. Please see the SCIS incomplete policy.
School and University Policies and Procedures: TOP
Students must comply with the policies published in the school’s Graduate
Catalog and the NSU Student Handbook, some of which are included or referenced
below. The catalog is at http://www.scis.nova.edu/NSS/pdf_documents/Catalog.pdf.
The handbook is at http://www.nova.edu/cwis/studentaffairs/forms/ustudenthandbook.pdf
Academic Integrity TOPFor the university-wide policy on academic standards, see the section Code of Student Conduct and Academic Responsibility in the NSU Student Handbook. Also see the section Student Misconduct in the GSCIS catalog. Each student is responsible for maintaining academic integrity and intellectual honesty in his or her academic work. It is the policy of the school that each student must:
- Submit his or her own work, not that of another person
- Not falsify data or records (including admission materials)
- Not engage in cheating (e.g., giving or receiving help during examinations; acquiring and/or transmitting test questions prior to an examination; and using unauthorized materials, such as notes, during an examination)
- Not receive or give aid on assigned work that requires independent effort
- Properly credit the words or ideas of others according to accepted standards for professional publications (see Crediting the Words or Ideas of Others)
- Not use term paper writing services or consult such services for the purpose of obtaining assistance in the preparation of materials to be submitted in courses or for theses or dissertations
- Not commit plagiarism (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (1996) defines plagiarism as “stealing or passing off ideas or words of another as one’s own” and “the use of a created production without crediting the source.”) (see Crediting the Words or Ideas of Others below)
Crediting the Words or Ideas of Others
When using the exact words of another, quotation marks must be used for short quotations (fewer than 40 words), and block quotation style must be used for longer quotations. In either case, a proper citation must also be provided. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition, (2001, pp. 117 and 292) contains standards and examples on quotation methods.
When paraphrasing (summarizing, or rewriting) the words or ideas of another, a proper citation must be provided. (The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001) contains standards and examples of citation methods (pp. 207–214) and reference lists (pp. 215–281)). The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1993) defines paraphrase:
An expression in other words, usually fuller and clearer, of the sense of a written or spoken passage or text…Express the meaning (of a word, phrase, passage, or work) in other words, usually with the object of clarification…
Changing word order, deleting words, or substituting synonyms is not acceptable paraphrasing—it is plagiarism, even when properly cited. Rather than make changes of this nature, the source should be quoted as written.
Original Work
Assignments, exams, projects, papers, theses, dissertations, etc., must be the original work of the student. Original work may include the thoughts and words of another author but such thoughts or words must be identified utilizing quotation marks or indentation and must properly identify the source. At all times, students are expected to comply with the school’s accepted citation practice and policy.
Work is not original when it has been submitted previously by the author or by anyone else for academic credit. Work is not original when it has been copied or partially copied from any other source, including another student, unless such copying is acknowledged by the person submitting the work for the credit at the time the work is being submitted, or unless copying, sharing, or joint authorship is an express part of the assignment. Exams and tests are original work when no unauthorized aid is given, received, or used before or during the course of the examination, reexamination, and/or remediation.
Course Deliverable Contents TOP
- All written work should conform to the SCIS Writing Policy .
- The instructor reserves the right to reduce grades for spelling, grammar, and/or syntax errors as well as unclear meaning.
- APA form and style guidelines should be followed.
- The tone of writing within documents must be scholarly in nature and language.
- References where appropriate are expected in all written work submitted for this course.
Submission instructions TOP
Work must be submitted in the manner detailed for the specific type of assignment in the assignments section. If you have difficulty submitting work through either the ESET system or the Student Forums, contact the SCIS technical support center.
Writing Skills TOP
Each student must demonstrate proficiency in the use of the English language in all work submitted for this course. Grammatical errors, spelling errors, and writing that does not express ideas clearly will affect your grade. The professor will not provide remedial help concerning writing problems.
Disabilities and ADA TOP
NSU complies with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). The university’s detailed policy on disabilities is contained in the NSU Student Handbook. Student requests for accommodation based on ADA will be considered on an individual basis. Each student with a disability should discuss his or her needs with the GSCIS disability service representative, Candy Fish (call 954-262-2034, or email fishc@nova.edu) before the commencement of classes if possible.
Communication by Email TOP
Students must use their NSU email accounts when sending email to faculty and staff and must clearly identify their names and other appropriate information, e.g., course or program. When communicating with students via email, faculty and staff members will send mail only to NSU email accounts using NSU-recognized usernames. Students who forward their NSU-generated email to other email accounts do so at their own risk. GSCIS uses various course management tools that use private internal email systems. Students enrolled in courses using these tools should check both the private internal email system and NSU’s regular email system. NSU offers students web-based email access. Students are encouraged to check their NSU email account daily.
The Temporary Grade of Incomplete TOPThe temporary grade of Incomplete (I) will be granted only in cases of extreme hardship. Students do not have a right to an incomplete, which may be granted only when there is evidence of just cause. A student desiring an incomplete must submit a written appeal to the course professor at least two weeks prior to the end of the term. In the appeal, the student must: (1) provide a rationale; (2) demonstrate that he/she has been making a sincere effort to complete the assignments during the term; and (3) explain how all the possibilities to complete the assignments on time have been exhausted. Should the course professor agree, an incomplete contract will be prepared by the student and signed by both student and professor. The incomplete contract must contain a description of the work to be completed and a timetable. The completion period should be the shortest possible. In no case may the completion date extend beyond 30 days from the last day of the term for master’s courses or beyond 60 days from the last day of the term for doctoral courses. The incomplete contract will accompany the submission of the professor’s final grade roster to the program office. The program office will monitor each incomplete contract. If a change-of-grade form is not submitted by the scheduled completion date, the grade will be changed automatically from I to F. No student may graduate with an I on his or her record.
Grade Policy Regarding Withdrawals TOP
Course withdrawal requests must be submitted to the program office in writing by the student. Requests for withdrawal must be received by the program office by the calendar midpoint of the course (see dates in the academic calendar in the catalog and program brochures or at: http://www.scis.nova.edu/NSS/pdf_documents/AcadCal.pdf). Withdrawals sent by email must be sent from the student’s assigned NSU email account. Requests for withdrawal received after 11:59 p.m. EST on the withdrawal deadline date will not be accepted. Failure to attend class or participate in course activities will not automatically drop or withdraw a student from the class or the university. Students who have not withdrawn by the withdrawal deadline will receive letter grades that reflect their performance in the course. When a withdrawal request is approved, the transcript will show a grade of W (Withdrawn) for the course. Students with four withdrawals will be dismissed from the program. Depending on the date of withdrawal, the student may be eligible for a partial refund (see the appropriate catalog section Refund Policy Regarding Withdrawals).
Acceptable Use of Computing Resources TOP
Students must comply with the university’s Policy on Acceptable Use of Computing Resources (see NSU Student Handbook).
Academic Progress, Grade Requirements, and Academic Standing TOP
Students must be familiar with the school’s policy which is contained in its catalog.
Student Research Involving Human Subjects TOP
Students must be familiar with the university’s policy (see paragraph in catalog).