Course Web page: http://faculty.elgin.edu/mpelczarski
Name: Mark Pelczarski
Phone: (847) 214-7498
Office: ICT-124
Campus E-mail: mpelczarski@elgin.edu
Office/Lab hours, Fall 2010:
Monday 4:00-6:00pm
Tuesday 12:45-2:00pm
Wednesday 12:45-6:00pm
Thursday 12:45-2:15pm
Class Hours:
Self-paced, online. See the section below about
Schedule and Due Dates.
Recommended Text:
Visual Design for the Modern Web, Penny McIntire,
New Riders Press, ISBN 0-321-51538-2
Optional book for search engine optimization:
Get to the Top on Google, David Viney
Brealey Publishing, ISBN 1-857-88502-3
Software:
You will need a web browser (such as Internet Explorer,
Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Opera),
an FTP client program (such as Filezilla),
and a text editor (such as Notepad or Notepad++). These are all free for
download on the Internet and links are given on the course home page.
This course encourages you to spend most of your time surfing around the web and playing with other computer applications. It's all about "design". As we discuss aspects of design we want you to take a critical look around the Internet and at various computer applications and analyze whether sites and applications are well-designed or poorly designed. For those that leave something to be desired, we want you to think about exactly what you would do to make improvements.
We hope these analyses will give you an awareness of good design vs. bad design as you later create your own websites and computer applications, or if you find yourself tasked with improving on someone else's previous work.
The five assignments are all of a "scavenger hunt" nature, as you find example websites and applications that are good or bad examples of the subject at hand. You will write short critiques where you will tell what is good or bad about the website or application, and for those things that are done poorly what specifically you would do to make improvements if it were your responsibility.
Your critiques will be expected to be short and concise. They should be written in clear and proper English as if you were addressing a business client. Observations and recommended improvements should be very specific. Recommendations such as "improve the layout" are too vague. Tell EXACTLY what you would do to improve the layout. Illustrations may be used to convey some of your recommendations.
Similarly, an observation such as "good use of color" is inadequate. WHY do you consider it a good use of color? Give a concise reason or two, based on the principles you learned.
Your assignments will all be submitted as web pages on your personal class website, with links to the websites or applications about which you are writing. Since it is assumed that you've had or are enrolled in CIS 148 (Web Page Markup Language), this will give you extra practice with creating and posting web pages.
1. Appearance
2. Organization and Navigation
3. Interaction
4. Feedback
5. Mobile Device Interfaces
This is a "self-paced" course, with conditions. You must keep a minimum pace as described below to pass the course and avoid being dropped. But you may also work through the course as quickly as you are able. If you want, you can probably go through the entire course in just a couple of devoted weekends.
Assignments are due by Thursday at noon of the week of class specified below.
| Assignment | Week due | Date for Fall 2010 |
| 1 | 4 | September 16 |
| 2 | 7 | October 7 |
| 3 | 10 | October 28 |
| 4 | 13 | November 18 |
| 5 | 16 | December 9 |
You may complete the assignments as early as you are able. Just send me an e-mail each time you complete an assignment and I will usually check it within a day or two. You do not have to wait for me before starting (and perhaps completing) the next assignment.
The only variance for the due dates is if you register for the course after the beginning of the semester. You will be allowed a proportional amount of time to catch up to the schedule, but you will still be expected to finish the final assignment by the date listed. For example, if someone registers for the course with just 7 weeks left in the semester, they will be expected to keep a pace of one assignment per week.
To allow adequate time for grading and corrections, late assignments will not be accepted in the last three weeks of the semester.
Your grade will be based on satisfactory completion of each of the assignments in a timely manner, and the quality of work represented by those assignments. A checklist is provided for each assignment. On-time completion of all checklist items for all assignments is the minimum requirement for a grade of B or better. A's are earned with exemplary work.