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Archives for 2016

by on 12/07/2016

Last Day!

This is the post for the Wednesday, December 7, 2016 class meeting.

last-class-yayCourse Evaluation Redux

Please, please, please fill out the Student Perceptions of Teaching (SPOT) survey for this course. I do not see the feedback until after grades are submitted, and your comments are anonymous.

The feedback helps the department make important decisions about teaching methods, course content, and faculty promotion. Written comments help me decide what to keep or change the next time I teach the course.

Here’s the current response rate, which is the only info I have access to right now. Will your class have the highest number of responses?

Course Response Rate
2:30 Section 60.00% (16/25)
4:00 Section 73.91% (17/23)

 

Complete a Survey for Extra Credit

After I explain some changes to the course in the future, please complete this Exit Survey. Your answers will not effect your grade in the course, beyond the verification that you completed the survey. After you finish the survey, complete the Exit Survey Extra Credit Quiz in Canvas. The extra credit quiz will drop the remaining lowest grade on a participation artifact with 100.

Save Your Participation Artifact Grade Information

You will propose the grade you deserve for your participation in the course in your final exam. Remember that the current Participation Artifacts category will change to be worth 0% of your grade at midnight (See details).

Be sure to print the grade distribution information that shows the calculation for your Participation Artifacts TODAY so that you will have that information when you work on your Final.

Fixing the Home Icon in Your Menu

I finally figured out why the little Home icon was not showing up. We’ll go over the details for those of you who want to make it work (or add it back) in the Fixing the Home Icon slideshow.

Course Calendar

Day Date What’s Due?
W Dec 7 End of the grace period for Major Projects.
H Dec 8 SPOT Surveys due.
W Dec 14 Final Exam due by 7 PM. No grace period.
Filed Under: Class Notes, Uncategorized
by on 12/05/2016

Another Day for Writing Groups

This is the post for the Monday, December 5, 2016 class meeting.

Course Evaluationevil-plotting-raccoon-meme-generator-course-evaluation-day-finally-i-have-my-revenge

Please fill out the Student Perceptions of Teaching (SPOT) survey for this course. I do not see the feedback until after grades are submitted, and your comments are anonymous.

The feedback helps the department make important decisions about teaching methods, course content, and faculty promotion. Written comments help me decide what to keep or change the next time I teach the course.

Here’s the current response rate, which is the only info I have access to right now. Will your class have the highest number of responses?

Course Response Rate
2:30 Section 52.00% (13/25)
4:00 Section 39.13% (9/23)

 

Working with Your Writing Group

Work as usual in your groups. For today’s class, use the 12/05 Work Summary in Canvas. Please use details and specifics in your summary.

If you need help, remember that there are links to cheat sheets and other help documents in the right sidebar. You can also find help in the "Where to Find Help" table in the post from 11/09.

Course Calendar

Day Date What’s Due?
W Nov 30 Major Projects due. SPOT Surveys due.
W Dec 7 End of the grace period for Major Projects.
W Dec 14 Final Exam due by 7 PM. No grace period.
Filed Under: Class Notes
by on 11/30/2016

Major Projects Due Date

This is the post for the Wednesday, November 30, 2016 class meeting.

duedatedogWorking with Your Writing Group

Work as usual in your groups. For today’s class, use the 11/30 Work Summary in Canvas. Please use details and specifics in your summary.

If you need help, remember that there are links to cheat sheets and other help documents in the right sidebar. You can also find help in the "Where to Find Help" table in the post from 11/09.

Course Calendar

Day Date What’s Due?
W Nov 30 Major Projects due.
W Dec 7 End of the grace period for Major Projects.
W Dec 14 Final Exam due by 7 PM. No grace period.
Filed Under: Class Notes
by on 11/28/2016

Sharing Drafts

This is the post for the Monday, November 28, 2016 class meeting.

Revision Plans/Progress Reports

Cat, hiding under some papers, with the caption, 404 Not FoundThe point of the Revision Plan activity was for everyone to assess progress PRIOR to break. Several of you have written, however, to indicate that you didn’t realize that the assignment would close on the 18th.

To be fair to everyone, I have reopened the Revision Plan quiz in Canvas. Naturally completing it at this point is not as good for your course participation as completing it on time (but it’s better than not completing it at all). The quiz closes at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, November 29. There will be no further extensions.

Working with Your Writing Group

Work as usual in your groups. For today’s class, use the 11/28 Work Summary in Canvas. Please use details and specifics in your summary.

In addition to the usual updates, I would like each group to suggest what you would like to do with our remaining three class sessions.

If you need help, remember that there are links to cheat sheets and other help documents in the right sidebar. You can also find help in the "Where to Find Help" table in the post from 11/09.

Course Calendar

Day Date What’s Due?
M Nov 28 Share drafts of your work in class with your group.
TU Nov 29 End of grace period for DJ #12.
W Nov 30 Major Projects due.
W Dec 7 End of the grace period for Major Projects.
W Dec 14 Final Exam due by 7 PM. No grace period.
Filed Under: Class Notes
by on 11/16/2016

Drafts and Revision Plans

This is the post for the Wednesday, November 16, 2016 class meeting.

Cat in a turkey costume, wih the caption, Happy Thanksgiving!Design Presentations

Presenters: remember to add your document to the Design Presentation Assignment in Canvas.

Working with Your Writing Group

Work as usual in your groups. For today’s class, use the 11/16 Work Summary in Canvas. Please use details and specifics in your summary.

If you work during break, remember that there are links to cheat sheets and other help documents in the right sidebar. You can also find help in the "Where to Find Help" table in the post from 11/09.

Adding a Favicon

Use these instructions to add a favicon (or favorite icon), which is the small icon that appears on a tab in your browser, as shown in this example image:

Screenshot showing favicons

  1. Go to the http://faviconit.com/ website and follow the instructions to create and download the icon image.
  2. Add the icon image named favicon.ico to your GitHub repository by placing it in the your-username.github.io/project-name folder.
  3. Edit the HTML files for each of your pages to add this code between the <head> and </head> elements of the page: <link rel="icon" href="favicon.ico">
    (If you have used subfolders, you may need to modify the path.)
  4. Commit and sync your files. Your favicon should appear if your browser supports the option. You may need to close and restart your browser.

Revision Plans (Progress Reports)

A revision plan, as explained on pp. 116-118 of Writer/Designer, explains the things you will work on based on the feedback you have received. Because many of you are still working on drafts of your project, I have modified the revision plan assignment to make it more of a progress report.

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Consider the feedback that you received from your group on your drafts.
  2. Review the rubric, and note places where you still need to work to meet your goals.
  3. Consider the work that you still need to do to complete your projects.
  4. Think also about ways to improve your work. Even if your project seems done to you, you should think about what you can do to make it even better. Note that your effort throughout the project matters so find ways to use the remaining time on the project to improve your work.
  5. Based on your reflection, answer the questions in the Revision Plan quiz in Canvas.
  6. If desired, copy your to-do list out into a word processing document so that you can access it outside Canvas as you work.

Homework Calendar

Day Date What’s Due?
W Nov 16 Share drafts of your work in class with your group.
F Nov 18
TH Nov 24 TurkeyThanksgiving!!!turkey
M Nov 28 Share drafts of your work in class with your group.
TU Nov 29 End of grace period for DJ #12.
W Nov 30 Major Projects due.
W Dec 7 End of the grace period for Major Projects.
W Dec 14 Final Exam due by 7 PM. No grace period.
Filed Under: Class Notes
by on 11/14/2016

Expectations for the Major Projects

This is the post for the Monday, November 14, 2016 class meeting.

Business cat with newspaper, and the caption, I should look at the rubricDesign Presentations

Presenters: remember to add your document to the Design Presentation Assignment in Canvas.

Major Projects Rubric

Most of you are working to the last moment on your major projects, which means that there will be little time for revision if something goes wrong.

The way that the syllabus and assignments pages explain your grade, the major projects earn an all or nothing grade. As the syllabus explains, “When Pass/Fail grades are used, a Pass grade is equivalent to an 85. Fail grades are entered as a zero, with no credit for the work.”

I do not want someone to fail the course because there are a few errors in the major projects however. As a result, I will use a rubric to evaluate your projects, following this guideline:

If you earn an 85 on the rubric, you Pass the Major projects, and get full credit for the Major Projects grade.

Otherwise, if you earn lower than an 85 on the rubric,
you get whatever amount the rubric shows for the Major Projects grade.

For example, if you earn an 80 on the Major Projects, you will get an 80 for that 70% of your course grade.

Participation Grades

You will propose the grade you should receive for the participation portion of your course grade in your final exam. To support your proposal, you can use the information in your Participation Log, your class attendance, and the various activities that you completed during the term (like the Multimodal Dig or certificates for Lynda.com).

The course grades in Canvas are not accurate. The numbers listed for the Participation Artifacts will switch to be worth 0% of your grade after the last day of classes. All of the information for the Participation Artifacts will still be available in Canvas, but they will no longer contribute to your course grade.

The final exam will be listed as worth 15% in Canvas after the last day of classes. I will read the proposal that you make in your final, and assign a grade based on how realistic and convincing you are as well as how well written your proposal is.

To be realistic, you need to look at your participation as a teacher would. For instance, everyone misses a class or two, but if you have missed a number of classes, you are not doing A work on the participation portion of your grade.

Working with Your Writing Group

Work as usual in your groups. For today’s class, use the 11/14 Work Summary in Canvas. Please use details and specifics in your summary.

Homework Calendar

Day Date What’s Due?
M Nov 14 DJ #12 (the last one) due. End of grace period for DJ #11.
W Nov 16 Share drafts of your work in class with your group.
F Nov 18
TH Nov 24 TurkeyThanksgiving!!!turkey
M Nov 28 Share drafts of your work in class with your group.
TU Nov 29 End of grace period for DJ #12.
W Nov 30 Major Projects due.
W Dec 7 End of the grace period for Major Projects.
W Dec 14 Final Exam due by 7 PM.
Filed Under: Class Notes
by on 11/09/2016

Index of Resources

Photo of a sad cat with the caption, I can haz help plz?This is the post for the Wednesday, November 9, 2016 class meeting.

Design Presentations

  • 2:30 Class: Ellen
  • 4:00 Class: Emily

Presenters: remember to add your document to the Design Presentation Assignment in Canvas.

Extra Credit for Read-In Participation

Sign up for and participate in the American Indian and Indigenous Read-In (You may need to login with your VT email). Turn in evidence of your participation in the Extra Credit: American Indian & Indigenous Read-in assignment in Canvas.

Design Choices Matter

As you work on your projects, review the Ten Design Tips on the website. Everything that you have been noticing about things like contrast, use of space, and color choices in your Design Journals applies to your website and videos as well.

Think about things like contrast and space in audio recordings too. You need to ensure that there is enough contrast between background sounds and the main content, for example. In terms of space, consider your use of silence and sounds in the foreground and background as you work.

Where to Find Help

If you need to Go here for help
Add images to your webpages Slide 12-13 of Adding to GitHub Pages Slides
Add the Target Attribute (fix where links open) HTML/CSS Help Slides
Change the colors of the text on your website Get the color names at CSS Colors
Embed a SoundCloud audio recording Slide 16 of Adding to GitHub Pages Slides
Embed a YouTube video Slide 15 of Adding to GitHub Pages Slides
Find help for Atom Learn Atom: The Basics on Lynda.com
Find help for Audacity (audio recordings) Major Project Resources
Find help for editing images Major Project Resources
Find help for making videos Major Project Resources
Learn about absolute vs. relative links (when links don’t work) HTML/CSS Help Slides
Log into Lynda.com VT.EDU Login
Set up Github Desktop or Atom Beginning HTML Slides
Set up a template for your website GitHub Pages and Templates Slides
Set up your username.github.io site Setting Up GitHub Pages Slides
Sign up for Github Beginning HTML Slides
Turn in Lynda.com or FreeCodeCamp info Lynda.com certificates & FreeCodeCamp Profiles
Use special characters (like ¥ or π) Slide 17 of Adding to GitHub Pages Slides
Work on storyboards and mockups Mockups and Storyboards page
Write your script Script Resources

 
Working with Your Writing Group

Work as usual in your groups. For today’s class, use the 11/9 Work Summary in Canvas. Please use details and specifics in your summary.

Not Very Helpful Summary: "Everyone was here and we talked about our projects."

Much Better Summary: "Everyone was here. Randy Orton talked about his video on snakes as role models. He’s gathered a lot of still images, but he still needs to finish up the script. He had some questions for the group on how to build interest without boring everyone. Dolph Ziggler had a lot of stuff that he wanted to show off, but for the sake of time, we had him share only his audio recording, which he wanted some advice on. Finally, we tried to build some consensus about the characteristics of a good website. Goldberg and Brock Lesnar have different opinions, but at the end of our meeting, we all felt like our projects were heading towards good characteristics."

Homework & Reviewing the Calendar

Day Date What’s Due?
W Nov 9  
F Nov 11 All Lynda.com certificates & FreeCodeCamp Profiles are due.
M Nov 14 DJ #12 (the last one) due. End of grace period for DJ #11.
W Nov 16 Share drafts of your work in class with your group.
F Nov 18
TH Nov 24 TurkeyThanksgiving!!!turkey
M Nov 28 Share drafts of your work in class with your group.
TU Nov 29 End of grace period for DJ #12.
W Nov 30 Major Projects due.
W Dec 7 End of the grace period for Major Projects.
W Dec 14 Final Exam due by 7 PM.
Filed Under: Class Notes
by on 11/07/2016

HTML/CSS Help

This is the post for the Monday, November 7, 2016 class meeting.

Picture of Link with the caption, Link, Y U No Work?Design Presentations

  • 2:30 Class: Thomas
  • 4:00 Class: Erin

Presenters: remember to add your document to the Design Presentation Assignment in Canvas.

HTML/CSS Help

We’ll use the HTML/CSS Help Slides to go over these things:

  • The Target Attribute
  • Absolute vs. Relative Links

Working with Your Writing Group

Work as usual in your groups. For today’s class, use the 11/7 Work Summary in Canvas.

Homework & Reviewing the Calendar

Day Date What’s Due?
M Nov 7 DJ #11 due. End of grace period for DJ #10.
W Nov 9  
F Nov 11 All Lynda.com certificates & FreeCodeCamp Profiles are due.
M Nov 14 DJ #12 (the last one) due. End of grace period for DJ #11.
W Nov 16 Share drafts of your work in class with your group.
F Nov 18
TH Nov 24 TurkeyThanksgiving!!!turkey
M Nov 28 Share drafts of your work in class with your group.
TU Nov 29 End of grace period for DJ #12.
W Nov 30 Major Projects due.
W Dec 7 End of the grace period for Major Projects.
W Dec 14 Final Exam due by 7 PM.
Filed Under: Class Notes
by on 11/02/2016

Questions about Websites

This is the post for the Wednesday, November 2, 2016 class meeting.

Snapes on a PlaneDesign Presentations

  • 2:30 Class: Alison and Hannah
  • 4:00 Class: Maddy and Alex

Presenters: remember to add your document to the Design Presentation Assignment in Canvas.

Questions about Your Website Project

Post whatever questions you have in the Spreadsheet for your class:

Slideshows

Working with Your Writing Group

Every class session from now on, you should be ready to work in your writing group or independently. You can also have mini-conferences with me, to ask about a question you have or to get help with something that isn’t working. We’ll use the system where you write your names on the board so that you don’t have to stand in line.

If you have a rough version of a project that you want feedback on, post it in your Working Project Portfolio, and be sure to tell me what you want me to look for or pay attention to.

Your group will turn in a work summary for each session. For today’s class, use the 11/2 Work Summary in Canvas.

Homework & Reviewing the Calendar

Day Date What’s Due?
M Nov 7 DJ #11 due. End of grace period for DJ #10.
W Nov 9  
F Nov 11 All Lynda.com certificates & FreeCodeCamp Profiles are due.
M Nov 14 DJ #12 (the last one) due. End of grace period for DJ #11.
W Nov 16 Share drafts of your work in class with your group.
F Nov 18
TH Nov 24 TurkeyThanksgiving!!!turkey
M Nov 28 Share drafts of your work in class with your group.
TU Nov 29 End of grace period for DJ #12.
W Nov 30 Major Projects due.
W Dec 7 End of the grace period for Major Projects.
W Dec 14 Final Exam due by 7 PM.
Filed Under: Class Notes
by on 10/31/2016

Templates for GitHub Pages

This is the post for the Monday, October 31, 2016 class meeting.

Sad white cat with witch's hat, with the caption, Forgot to spell checkDesign Presentations

  • 2:30 Class: Kathryn and Nicholas
  • 4:00 Class: none scheduled

Presenters: remember to add your document to the Design Presentation Assignment in Canvas.

Using Templates with GitHub Pages

You can use a template to set up your website. Most templates allow you to make some changes to the look of the pages, like changing the colors. You can make changes by editing the stylesheet file(s), but be sure to have a backup in case something goes wrong. You can add images as well, but be sure to add a credit for the photographer.

We will work through the activities in the GitHub Pages and Templates Slides, and discuss these templates:

Advanced Average Basic

 

Homework

  • For Wednesday, 11/2, you need to

    • Post whatever questions you have in the Questions about Your Website Project Spreadsheet for your class. I’ll use your questions to organize what we go over as a whole class on Wednesday.
    • Be ready to check in and work with your Writing Group.

  • For Monday, 11/7, you need to

    • Complete Design Journal #11.
       
Filed Under: Class Notes