View the forum for updates and announcements. View my blog for the same!
Hello, welcome to COIN 65 Using Cascading Style Sheets for Design. I'm Greg McIlhiney, your instructor this quarter. This document is designed to provide you with an overview of the structure and physical elements of the course... the materials you will be reading/viewing/doing/accessing this quarter.
This is a long document so you may want to print this document for later reference.
First, let me say that this is a new course in terms of on-line delivery. Sandi Watkins and I co-taught the COIN 65 class for the first time last quarter in a face-to-face format. We are happy with our "first effort". However, please realize that for this on-line class, much of the materials you will be viewing this quarter are newly created for this on-line course.
We assume that if there are any issues or problems with the materials presented, or questions you have in general, you will contact me or post these questions in our forum. We will cover communication in depth later at the end of this document.
The Different Sites (URLs)for this Course
There are three different URLs or locations you will be accessing this quarter for this class. They are summarized here and I will explain each in more depth below:
- The COIN 65 Site which you are now viewing.
Since you are reading this page I am assuming you have already located this site (smile). This is the site which contains all of the instructional materials for this course. - The ETUDES on-line classroom - This site is where you will turn in assignments, receive feedback, and obtain grades for your submitted work. ETUDES also contains the on-line forum we can all use to communicate with each other.
- Your Web Server Accounts - Each of you will be provided an account on the CTIS web server. This location is where you will upload your completed assignments. We will go to your site and view your work and then provide a grade and any feedback inside the ETUDES classroom.
Since you are taking this class I am assuming that you all feel comfortable with creating web sites and managing different locations/sites/URLs in your browser(s). You will have to create bookmarks to each of the referenced sites as you will be interacting with all three sites on a regular basis.
The Coin 65 Site
This site is the point of delivery for all of your course materials and the first place that you should go to each Wednesday morning at 10:00 AM... the delivery date for weekly materials. Each of the navigation links at the top and bottom of the pages is discussed in this section:
- The Schedule link - This is your starting point for each week!
The schedule is a table which has one row dedicated to each week summarizing the tasks for each specific week. The documents are meant to be read in the order listed.
Each begins with a Weekly Guide. The guide should be the first document you read each week. It summarizes the weekly activities and provides links to individual documents detailing reading/tasks/assignments/etc.
Be aware that this is not a self-paced course. The materials for any given week will be made available on Wednesday mornings at about 10:00 AM. - The Blog link - The blog is the main page of my personal site. I use this to
communicate important time-sensitive news and information, as well as updates,
reminders, job postings, etc.
It is a good idea to read this occasionally but I will also post critical announcements in the class forum which is detailed below under communication. - The ETUDES link - ETUDES is an on-line Content Management System (CMS) which administers this on-line course. This is covered in a separate section below.
- The Syllabus link - This is of course the official syllabus for this course. Please read this as it details the requirements for the course as well as the required textbooks... this is the official contract between you and me as to the specifications for successful completion of the course.
- The Class Sites link - This page has a listing for every student enrolled in
the class. At this point only your name is listed. As we enter weeks 2 and 3 your
name will become a live link to your web space on our CTIS web server. The link
will point to where you have uploaded your assignments and I will click this
link to get to your assignments.
More on this in week 2. At this point your accounts/sites have not yet been created.
And if you do not see your name listed, do not worry. This table was created before the quarter started and I will augment it with those of you who have late-added the course. By the end of the 2nd week this table will be complete. - The Resources link - A page of useful links and resources relating to HTML, CSS and this course. This page is constantly being updated. If you know of a useful resource, please inform the other students in the class by posting the link in the forum. We will then probably add it to this resource page.
Remember that the coin65site is password protected with these settings, which you need to write down:
Username: css_design Password: c0in65
These are both lower-case characters and that is zero in the password.
The ETUDES On-line Classroom
The ETUDES link - ETUDES is an on-line Content Management System (CMS). This
link is to a completely different URL which you also need to bookmark.
ETUDES will be used to administer this course. It is here where you will submit
assignments, receive your grade and feedback for assignments and access the on-line
forum which is the main communication vehicle for this course.
The exact URL to the ETUDES classroom is:
http://fh.etudes.fhda.edu/etudes.cgi?request,logframe!cs_id,1122336503!
Go to the ETUDES classroom - this opens in a new tab or window.
Specific instructions will be provided in the lecture and assignment documents in later
weeks as to exactly what you have do inside ETUDES. You do not need these details at
this time.
At this point you can log-in to the the ETUDES classroom, take a look around and explore.
- Go to the URL above, you will be presented with a log-in screen.
- Your User ID is your last name + the last 4 digits of your social security numbers, in
lowercase characters.
If your last name is smith and your social security number is 123-45-6789, then your login will be:
smith6789 - DO NOT enter a password the first time you log-in!
The system will then ask you for a password to use for subsequent log-in sessions. After this point you will have to provide your User ID and the password you assign to yourself. I can reset this if you are having problems, let me know.
Your krypton.fhda.edu Account
The CTIS Division at Foothill College maintains a web server. Each of you will have an account on this web server which will be used to upload your completed labs and homework exercises. For those of you who have previously taken an on-line class at Foothill, you probably know this drill (grin).
Student accounts are not normally generated and ready to access until the second week of the quarter. In the week 2 materials we will give you instructions for accessing and uploading your work... at that time.
Communication in this Course
There are several methods of communication in this class which are detailed in this section:
The ETUDES Forum - The on-line forum can be accessed in two different ways:
- In the COIN 65 site, there is a navigational link to the Forum.
Clicking this will take you directly to the independent on-line forum. The URL to the forum for this quarter is:
http://forums.etudes.fhda.edu/cgi-bin/foothill/COIN65WATKINS/dcboard.cgi
Go to the forum now - opens in a new window or tab.
The forum is the primary communication tool for this class. If you have questions about a lecture, assignment, or a question about HTML or CSS in general, this question should be posted to the forum.
Let's put it this way... if you have a question then it is likely that other students in the class have exactly the same question. Posting in the forum is the life and personality of the class. All classes benefit from interaction among students, and between students and the instructor. The more active you and I are in participating in the forum... well, this just makes the class better for us all. - The on-line forum can also be accessed by logging into ETUDES and then clicking the "Forum" button on the left side menu. Whether you access the forum through ETUDES or going to it directly as described above, that is up to you.
- Inside the ETUDES classroom is a menu item named "Messages". Clicking this will allow you to send me a personal message. I will read that message the next time I log-in to ETUDES. If I reply, you will be notified the next time you log-in to ETUDES.
- E-mail Communication - You can of course send me e-mail messages... but here
are a few things to keep in mind when doing so:
If the message is personal then e-mail messages are appropriate. E-mail me directly and we will discuss your personal issue.
However, if the message is asking a general question about a lecture/assignment/course, then please ask this in the forum. I reserve the right to post your email queries to the forum if it is general and will benefit other students in the class... that is the purpose of the forum after all... A discussion among students in the class for issues which are common to students in the class... we all learn from it... do not be intimidated, only the students in this class can access this forum.
If you do send me e-mail, then you __MUST__ include COIN65 in either the subject of the message or at the top of the body of your message!!!
I emphasize this strongly! I get LOTS of e-mail, much of which is spam. I have a number of e-mail filters in place to deal with spam. If you do not include the class name and number, it is VERY possible I will never see your message. My filters may flag it as junk and I will never see it.
If you make your subject meaningful and descriptive, AND you include either COIN or CAST in the subject, I will get your message.
AND... at the start of the quarter I do not yet know which students are in which classes... I often teach up to 6 different classes per quarter. So providing me your class number helps me organize, sort, file, and respond to your messages... Again, this is a requirement if you send me e-mail (smiling, but serious).
Whoa, I realize that this was a lot of reading and detail. However, I am hoping that it is worthwhile in that it helps you in the long run to traverse the many different URLs you will be visiting and save you time.
What to do next?
The first thing to do in a normal week is to browse the Weekly Schedule which is the main page of the support site and which details the major topics/links for the week.
Each week the schedule has a listing at the top for the On-line Guide for that specific week. This document concisely documents the tasks for the week and explains the rationale for these tasks... this is your next step now!