Fall 99 NCLC-249-Internet Literacy, Section 001

NCLC 249 - Internet Literacy - Fall 99
Section 001
This is not the current course syllabus. See the current syllabus.

***This syllabus is designed to be read online to link to important course components.***
**New Century College at George Mason University**
Professor Virginia Montecino	Day-by-day Schedule
Email me at: montecin@gmu.edu	Required texts
Office hrs: 2:30 - 3:30 pm, Mon. or by appt.	Participation expectations
Course Description and Goals	Class discussion
Major Assignments and due dates	Honor Code and Plagiarism Statement
Disability Support Services

Course Resources

Experiential Learning Projects:	NCLC Listservs	Copyright-Internet	Web Design Principles	Research Guides
I. Non-profit Web site OR	Prof M's Resources	Citing Internet Sources Library Research	Web Design Considerations	Web Site Evaluation Evaluate non Web sources
II. Technology Service	How-to Guides	Cyberculture Resources	Student Course Web Page	Townhall \| Instructions
Center for Service and Leadership	Using Search Engines	STAR	Student Web Page Guidelines	WS_FTP \| WS-FTP set up

NCLC 249 - Internet Literacy - Section 001

Professor Virginia Montecino
Email: montecin@gmu.edu
Office hours: 2:30 - 3:30 pm, Mon. or by appt.
Class meeting times: Monday 4:30-7:10 pm
Location: JC 311and Robinson A 106

Teaching Assistants:
Keith W Graffius kgraffiu@gmu.edu,
Service Learning, Johnson Center Room 240H

Kavitha R. Viswanathan krviswan@osf1.gmu.edu

Course Description and goals:
This is a 4 credit New Century College course with an experiential learning component, for which you and your group members will perform a technology outreach (ie., design or redesign a Web site, teach Internet skills, perform Internet research) community service for a non-profit organization. You will meet with the organization members and submit a proposal. You are expected to contribute 45 hours of time outside of class to fulfill the one (1) credit experiential learning component. The work load will be commensurate with the number of hours. The sharing of talent, knowledge, ideas, and questions is an important element of a community of learners, so active participation is required in the class and with your group members. You will be expected to assume the role of mentor to your class members as you share your talents. You will assume the role of teachers when you investigate and report on some breakthrough Internet technology. I expect you to learn from your class members.

Your work will be submitted by publishing it on your Student Course Web Page. There may be some components which, because of privacy issues, may be turned in via a different medium.

The subject of study is various aspects of the Internet - Web publishing, evaluating Web sources, investigating virtual communities, exploring e-commerce, becoming knowledgeable about copyright and the Internet. You will also learn more about your chosen discipline through Web research. A significant amount of class discussion will be on the Web. We will try out various electronic programs for our class work.

Course goals:

become knowlegeable about the social, political, legal, ethical, commercial and psychological aspects of the Internet
learn how to research, analyze, and critique Web resources
understand and observe copyright laws
createWeb pages using HTML code and some advanced concepts, such as working with HTML editing programs and ".gif" and ".jpg" graphics files).
engage in and critique communication on a variety of computer-mediated communication mediums
gain real world work experience through the experiential /service learning component of the course - using your technology skills to provide some technology service (create or redesign Web site, do Internet research, teach Internet skills, etc.) for a non-profit organization.
further develop your collaborative work skills and teach each other
compose well written compositions for a variety of audiences and purposes
articulate how your learning experiences in this course relate to the New Century College Competencies.

Required Texts: Holeton, Richard, Composing cyberspace : identity, community, and knowledge in the electronic age, Boston : McGraw-Hill, 1998; Service Learning Handbook (Pick up in course materials copy center). Since this is an Internet Literacy class, appropriately, many of our readings will be on the Internet, including Cyberculture Resources (http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/cyber-resources.htm).

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Participation:
You will be assigned to groups and are expected to work with group members on group projects and help each other as you are learning new technology skills. If a student does not actively participate in the group projects, that student's individual project grade may be downgraded accordingly. You will evaluate each other's group performance at the end of the semester, using this form. Participation in in-class and electronic class discussion is included in your participation grade. You are expected to come to class having read the material for the class and have ready any course work due for that class. (Always bring your coursework on a disk when you come to class.) You are expected to have your work posted by the due dates. If you have them posted on time, you may have an opportunity to revise some of your projects, based on peer response and my comments. If the finished products are not posted on time, you will not get the opportunity to revise, and will just get a grade. I feel no obligation to accept or respond to work turned in late. Quality of work, not just completing it, determines the grade you earn.

Class discussion: We will engage in in-class and online discussion. Come prepared for discussions by keeping up with the readings and the assignments. Some of our discussion, synchronous and asynchronous will take place online on WebCt (http://webct.gmu.edu:8900/webct/public/show_courses) and Townhall (http://townhall.gmu.edu) See instructions for registering for and using Townhall and WebCT . I invite you to point out readings in the texts and on-line that you would like us to discuss in Web CT.

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Major Assignments and Due Dates:
* You will be simultaneously working on different stages of various assignments.
Assignments - 90 % , Participation - 10% (total) of grade	Percent	Due Date
1. Student Course Web Page/Portfolio (includes design, use of graphics, user-friendliness, organization, comprehensiveness, all completed assignments.) Review copyright and plagiarism guidelines	10%	components have various due dates
2. Report on Virtual Community/Cyberculture	15%	9/ 27
3. Report on the Evaluation of Web Resources	15%	10/ 18
4. Report on an Internet topic (social, political, legal, ethical, educational, commercial, technical and psychological aspects of the Internet)	15%	draft 11/08 final 11/15
5. Experiential Learning Group Project - non-profit Web site OR technology outreach
(Your group should pick OPTION A OR B ( Parts I and II) , AND Parts III AND IV.)
OPTION A \|
I. Proposal for Non-profit Web Site	5%	10/13
II. Assignment for Non-Profit Web Site	20%	11/22
OR	OR	OR
OPTION B
I. Proposal for Technology Service	5%	10/13
II. Assignment for Technology Service	20%	11/22
AND
Reports on Experiential/Service Learning Project
III. Individiual report on EL project	5%	11/29
IV. Group report on EL project	5%	12/06
Also fill out your "Student Evaluation of Service Learning" form to turn in to the Center for Service and Leadership.
Participation	10%
Total points possible	100%

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All work must be the student's own effort, in accordance with the GMU honor code and copyright rules.
Give credit to group members when you collaborate on projects. See guidelines on how to avoid plagiarism .

Class Schedule - subject to change, if necessary, to achieve learning objectives. The readings should be read before the class meeting in which they are listed.

Wk 1 - 8/30 - week 1: First day of classes - Technology Survey. Course overview and review of assignments. Explanation of assignment one : Report on Virtual Community/Cyberculture- . Registering for WebCT, our Web-based meeting place. What is the Internet, anyway? (email, ftp, create public_html directory, web page (basic) using html, intro to Mason systems.)

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Check out these guidelines to protect your best interests in the world of online publishing. Your Web page should contain links to your email, and the course Web site. We will discuss appropriate additions to your Web page. This Web page should be a new one created for this assignment even if you already have a web page. See How to Create Your Own Home Page at GMU using HTML, Web Page Guidelines Also see Questions to Consider When Creating a Web Page . Post online at your gmu account.

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Wk 2 - 9/13 - Work on course Web page. [Last day to drop with no tuition liability.] Explanation of Experiential Learning Project and Proposal ( Post report on Web on Nov.22). Web page design (audience, purpose, format. graphics); web editors, upload files using ftp. Engage in online chats about virtual communities. Overview of some of the issues surrounding the Internet? What are some of the socio-political aspects of the Web? What is a cyberculture? What are the markers of a culture? How do we examine a culture? What does being Internet literate mean? Read:Composing Cyberspace, by Holeton, Chapter 4, "Virtual Community " (pp. 149 - 186 only), and "Introducing Cyberculture" at Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies (http://otal.umd.edu/~rccs/) . Meet with Service Learning Representative re: Experiential Learning Group Projects.

Wk 3 - 9/20 - Explanation of Assignment #3 - Evaluate Web sites (due Oct 18). Online discussions of readings--bulletin board, develop collaborative projects. Using search engines. Read in Composing Cyberspace, Holeton, "Selected Web Sites, " pp 300 - 310; Familiarize yourself with the "Cyberspace Glossary" Holeton, pp. 435 - 442 .). Visit "The History of Computing."

Wk 4 - 9/27 - Cyberculture/Vitual Community report due. Explanation of Assignment #4 - Report on Internet Topic - due 11/08. Online discussion--live chat about possible topics. Selection of topics (social, political, legal, ethical, educational, commercial, technical and psychological aspects of the Internet). Read in Composing Cyberspace, Holeton, "Who Owns Digital Works?, " pp 343 - 349). Work on web pages.

[10/01 - Last day to drop without dean's permission - by 5 pm]

back to top Wk 5 - 10/04 - Group report on progress of Experiential learning project. Peer feedback and suggestions on EL projects. Peer response to proposals to polish them before they are presented to the clients. Read in Composing Cyberspace, Holeton, "The Digital Difference, " pp 407-413; "Computers, Thinking, and Schools in the "'New World Economic Order'," pp. 415 - 426)

[ Columbus Day recess 10/11- 10/12 - (Note: Monday classes and labs meet on Wed.) ]

Wk 6 - 10/13 (Wed.) - Proposals for Experiential Learning Project due. Peer response and "tweaking and polishing " of Web site evaluation reports.

Wk 7 - 10/18 - Meet in 311 JC. Evaluate Web sites assignment - due . Group workshops on experiential/service learning projects.

Wk 8 - 10/25 - bulletin board chat between all 3 sections of 249--asynchronous--discuss materials/issues brought up in readings

Wk 9 - 11/01 - Meet in 311 JC. Work on Internet Report project.

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[ Incomplete Work from Spring 98 must be submitted to instructor 10/29 ]

Wk 10 - 11/08 - MEET IN ROBINSON A, 106 Assign # 4 - Internet Report project draft due. Class reviews of Internet reports.

Wk 11 - 11/15 - Meet in 311 JC. Revisions of Assign # 4 - Internet Report projects due . Regroup, reassess, finalize service learning projects.

Wk 12 - 11/22 - Meet in 311 JC. Class Reviews of Internet Report Projects.

Wk 13 - 11/25 - 11/28 - Thanksgiving Recess

Wk 14 - 11/29 - Meet in 311 JC Townhall class meeting. Finalize individual and group reports on EL project. Also fill out your "Student Evaluation of Service Learning" form to turn in to the Center for Service and Leadership.

Wk 15 - 12/06 - Meet in 311 JC Turn in individual and group reports for Experiential Learning project - for my eyes only. Group Presentation of Experiential Learning Project to the class.

Final Exam - MEET IN ROBINSON A, 106 Rob A, rm 106. Wed 12/13 4:30p.m.-7:15p.m.

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