Assignments
Assignment categories:
- Technology Assignments (three)
- Discussion Leader (presentation/in-class discussion)
- Student WordPress Site
- Term Project (group or individual)
- Participation
Technology Assignments
Assignment 1
Identify five different websites that will form the basis of much of your analysis this quarter. There should be one from each of these genres. At least two of the sites should be based upon or incorporate WordPress for a blog.
- an e-commerce web site (must have online ordering)
- a government web site
- a media web site
- an entertainment web site (such as for a movie)
- a non-profit web site
Include the following information for each site:
- Site name and URL
- Site description
- Audience (your deduction)
- Business/Site Goals (your deduction)
- Technologies used (your deduction)
- Homepage screenshot
On the course website, create a blog post for each of the five websites. Categorize the post as “websites.” Copy the URL of the blog post.
Navigate to the summary page and add your web sites to the appropriate sections. Keep these alphabetical by first letter of site name, such as “Washington Post” or “Avatar” or “EFF”. Link the site name to your blog post.
Due 9 am Wednesday 14 April (week 3)
Graded on completeness; late assignments not accepted.
Total points: 100
Assignment 2
Pick one genre for in-depth aesthetic analysis. Use the site that you selected as well as three sites from other students. What are the similarities in visual design in these four websites? What are the differences? How effective is the visual design? Give evidence for your judgment.
On the course blog, create a page or post for this assignment. Analyze each website; link your page to the summary page, Web Site Genre Analysis : Aesthetics.
Due 9 am Tuesday, 4 May (Week 6)
Graded on completeness, quality of analysis; late assignments not accepted.
Total points: 100
Assignment 3
This, the final assignment, substitutes for a final exam. In this essay, you should reflect upon what you have learned in the course; give examples (evidence!); illustrate how your thinking changed or detail other “ah-ha” moments. How will you apply this learning? 600-800 words.
Due, via Collect-It, 9 am Wednesday, 9 June (Week 11 – Finals Week)
Graded on quality of insight and analysis, grammar, spelling, general professionalism; late assignments not accepted.
Total points: 100
Discussion Leader
Each student will research and lead discussion on a web-related technology. Tech list, sign up in week 1 class. Discussion begins week four (4) – 18 April. Short (5-10 minutes) explanation of the technology, how used, why important. If PPT used, please post to Slideshare.net. Summary post on the course blog would be great as resource and note-reference.
- Sunday 18 April : 1-5 : LAMP (Linux [Danielle], Apache [Janna], MySQL [Kathy], PHP [Helen]) & CSS [Leslie]
- Wed 28 April : 6-8 : XML [Nazgul], Javascript [Pam], AJAX [Madeline], FTP [Marc]
- Wed 12 May : 9-11 : RSS [Jody], HTML5 [Stephen], Cookies (State Management) [Elise]
- Wed 19 May : 12-13 : API [Elizabeth], Amazon [Holly], Cloud Computing [Nicole], Semantic Web [Sarah]
- Wed 26 May : 14-15 : Google Webmaster Tools [Scott], GoogleAdSense [Toni]
Student WordPress Site
Each student will install WordPress on a web server. Students will select a theme, install it and modify its CSS. Students will select and install widgets. The final site will be graded based on aesthetics, usability, social network integration and creativity. The site does not have to contain content; this exercise is so that all students experience the technology.
Term Project (group or individual)
Students will produce a prototype web site using WordPress as a content management system. Individuals might design a portfolio site, for example, or a group might redesign an existing web site. The prototype must contain content. The prototype will be graded based on aesthetics, usability, social network integration and creativity. The site can be hosted at WordPress.com or any other web server. Deliverables to include a project plan (group project plan builds upon the strategy documents created in prior MCDM classes), a prototype and a plan of work (conversion of existing site to new design as well as work-flow).
Participation
Half (100 points) of the participation grade awarded based on weekly (weeks 1-10, week 1 is 31 March – 6 April) posts to course web site; posts should be relevant to course topics (design, usability, technologies). The other half (100 points) is based on in-class participation.
[...] Assignments [...]
[...] Individual WordPress sites: by 9 am next Wed, a blog post with current status and plan for remainder of the quarter. Remember, you don’t have to include actual content. * List, describe and link the plugins you’ve found and the functionality you’d like that you haven’t yet incorporated. * Provide a link to your design template. * Next week, we’ll tweak the CSS of your design templates in a lab. [...]
[...] Student WordPress Site [...]
[...] From the “assignments page“ [...]
[...] From the “assignments page“ [...]
[...] Student WordPress Site [...]