Tuesday, December 1, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Classes

There were two classes this morning.

All but one group got the project in, in plenty of time. Projects can be viewed from the blog list.

Monday, November 30, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps

A number of students came and went, because they were using Wix.com and it doesn't work in C162.

There were a few other students.

Group J submitted their site.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

CMOD6001 Week 11 Class 2 & 3

This morning's AM class did not go ahead because I had an appointment elsewhere.

We met in the IT building from 1500-1630. Each game was played.

That concludes this module.

Good luck with your exams.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

CMOD6001 Project Demonstrations

Don't forget that all students must attend the project meeting on Thursday from 15-17. We will meet downstairs in the IT building.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 11 Class 3 B

Students seemed to be working on other stuff.

Some students had something to show me.

BBADM3 Project Deadline

I said the websites were due on Monday 1 December. 1 December is, in fact, Tuesday.

But there's no harm in handing it up early too.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Strike Day

I was up at 0545 making coffee for the troops, but the person who was
supposed to collect it was way late so I could have had a lie in. The
coffee making went on until about 11, when the TUI ran out of paper
cups. So I threw what was left down the sink and cleaned up.

My picket shift was from 1400 for 2 hours. It wasn't as busy as I
thought it would be, and not nearly as busy as it should have been. I
was disappointed to learn that the President of CIT went to work. I
can't imagine he hac anything so important, but I suspect he imagines
that his work is very important. Perhaps he was making a point. If so,
I'm curious to know what it was. I saw a few cars drive in and a few
people go in on foot. Since everything was pretty much closed, I can't
imagine what they were doing. Perhpas they too were making a point.

I thought we should have been out in Melbourne Rd where passing
traffic could have seen us. It was after all just a publicity stunt. I
didn't listen to the radio to hear how the whole thing was playing out.

All in all I don't think it was a huge success, which is why I voted
no to it in the first place.

It'll be interesting to see what happens next week.

Colin Manning, Dept. of Computing
Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

Monday, November 23, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 11 Class 2 & 3A

More students in class than this morning.

Some groups are still working on their template. That would put them a bit behind schedule.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 11 Class 1B

Everyone was busy, busy, busy. Except me really.

I will be out

I will be out on
Thursday 26 Nov AM
Monday 30 Nov AM
Wednesday 02 Nov AM

BBADM3 Web Apps Project Documentation

There is no separate documentation required to be submitted with the project. The group blog is the documentation.

You might want to include
- The final site map. That way I won't miss anything
- Details of the template you used. If you customised it a lot, I can assess that.
- Any non-obvious features that I might otherwise miss

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 11 Class 1A

Quiet class. Very few students in.

Students seems to need to work on something else. Databases I think.

No problem with that. There were no complete groups in class.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

CIT has water

As far as I know CIT has water. So business as usual.

Colin

Colin Manning, Dept. of Computing
Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

Friday, November 20, 2009

Strike on Tuesday 24 November

Just in case you haven't heard the Bishopstown campus will be closed on Tuesday due to a strike.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Message from the Registrar

Dear Student,

You will be aware of certain commercial events which are being organised on next Thursday November 26th. These events have the potential to cause major disruption to our neighbours here in Bishopstown, seriously damage the reputation and public perception of Cork Institute of Technology and in particular the reputation of our graduates and you our students.

A successful charity-based seasonal event which ran well for a number of years was cancelled last year by the Institute following the events of 2007. Unfortunately commercial interests have sought once again to exploit you our students for their own commercial gain. We would urge you, in your own best interests, not to support the events of November 26th next.

The Institute has already received quite a number of representations from the Garda Síochána, Residents Associations, City Councillors and private residents in the Bishopstown area regarding the upcoming events on November 26th. There has also been a high level of media interest in what may or may not happen on this date.

The CIT position on this matter is quite clear. Thursday November 26th is a normal college day in CIT. All class timetables will run as normal in terms of lectures, practical and workshop sessions, laboratories etc. Any Continuous Assessment scheduled for the day will continue as normal and will not be rescheduled. Friday November 27th is also a normal college day here in CIT.

You are advised that the Institute will invoke disciplinary procedures, as appropriate, where individual students have been found to have brought the Institute into disrepute. In particular, you are asked to note that, by Regulation:

Students must not engage in any behaviour which may constitute inconvenience or nuisance to any person(s) within or outside the Institute.
The Institute has power to discipline any student deemed to have been guilty of misconduct, and has power to expel a student deemed to have been guilty of grave misconduct.


Apart from these sanctions which the Institute will apply, persons convicted of Public Order offences cause serious damage to their future career prospects and may disqualify themselves from overseas visas.

CIT, through the efforts of staff and students alike, has consistently developed its profile as a leading Higher Education institution in terms of academic achievement, success in the sporting world and the national and international achievements of our graduates. The Institute will not allow this reputation to be undone by commercial exploitation of our students. Neither will we allow the rights of our neighbours here in Bishopstown, to live free of nuisance and intimidation, to be put at risk by any unacceptable behaviour which could be associated with this Institution.

Dr. Barry O’Connor
Registrar and Vice President for Academic Affairs 19/11/’09

CMOD6001 Week 10 Class 1

Aweful weather this morning.

Group Plugintheceiling
Still need to do up clues and the rules.


Team AlphaBeta
Clues done, just need to format and print.

Team Actimel
Nearly there.

Team Untitled
Just need to print clues and make the box.

Team WarnerBros2
Nearly there. Just need to print cards.


I brought some paper products.

No more CIT classes today. There's nothing more to discuss about the project. Just get them done.

Next Thursday we will play the games. Student must attend next Thursdays classes.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

BBADM3 Project Deadline

The project is due before noon on Monday 01 December.

Students using an online CMS should e-mail the URL to colin.manning@cit.ie before the deadline.

Students using Publisher or coding by hand should give Colin a copy of the SITE on a CD, DVD, or memory stick. The 0900 and 1000 classes are probably the best places to do that.

Students may be asked to make themselves available during the week to talk me through the project and to demonstrate that each member of the group did work of equal value. For simplicity I hope to use the timetables classes for that.

The default setting is that each member of the group will get an equal mark. A request by any one member of the group for individual marks, will result in individual marks for all. Where the group blog clearly demonstrates who did what, and I am satisfied that each group member did an equal amount of work, I will probably not need to meet the group. If the group blog does not make this clear, I may need to meet the group. Or I might just get a notion. In any event I will give the group some notice.

Colin

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 10 Class 4A

Quite day today.

Only Group F was in.
This group's site map changed a lot since I saw it last. It was better before. That needs to be pinned down fairly quickly. Changing the structure at the last minute can be very time consuming.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 10 Class 4B

Students worked on their projects.

Most of the groups in class today seems to be still trying to sort out a template to work from. That's a bit worrying. But I suppose if the content is all ready to go, that shouldn't be a big deal.

BBADM3 Web Apps HTML Results

I have updated the results. I have used the same slightly bonkers numbering scheme as before.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 10 Class 3B

We used this class time to let students view their scripts for the HTML exam. This took a bit longer than anticipated because students who didn't let me know in advance just turned up.

We did identify a mistake in the correcting of Question 1. So some students will go up by 5 or 10 marks. NO ONE will have their mark reduced.

I hope to have the new marks up on the web by the end of the day.

I am not in the slightest bit embarrassed that I made a mistake. Although I try to be perfect, I find the best approach is to be as open and transparent as possible, so that when I do make mistakes others can identify them.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 10 Class 2B

Group O
Blog address changed.
Look and feel organized. Wix working well for this group. Content nearly ready to go. Optimistic and on schedule.

Group D
Working away in wix. Still experimenting with designs. Need to make sure the look and feel is consistent. Try to avoid too many bells and whistles. Try to make the navigation straightforward. Everyone working in parallel. Looks like fun.



Group Style
Still working on the design. Need to get a move on.
I gave a bit of Photoshop help.



Group P?
Using wix. Struggling a bit.

Group Ralley
Group is disappointed with the way publisher lays things out. Going to give wix a try. I recommend they spend a few hours in it and then commit to one or the other.
Content is all written.

Group F
Wasted a bit of time on design. Still haven't settled on a design.
Need to get that sorted soon.

Monday, November 16, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 10 Class 3A

Group M
Two members did a runner. Other two gave up.

Group H
Working on a custom template.

Group R
Decided on Movie Review site.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 10 Class 2A

Students worked on their sites.

Group M 4/4 present
Still working on site map. [behind schedule]

Group H 3/3 present
Sorting out which template to go with

Group R 3/3 present
Still figuring out what the site is going to be about. [way behind schedule]

CMOD6001 Site Visit

It looks like the site visit will go ahead after all. Details soon.

CMOD6001 Project Deadline

Final finished product is due on Monday 23 November at noon. Deliver to Colin in IT2.1.

CMOD6001 Week 10 DNET Lab

I gave out boxes to be used for the project. I would prefer if students could fit their game into these boxes. Hopefully I will catch the DCOM half of the class on their way out of Maths.

Students seems to be working on other things (mostly Alice). No problem with that I suppose. They are all big boys now.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 10 Class 1 B

We looked the different wasy to publish a website. We didn't go into the details of UNIX and FTP because my voice gve out.

Students worked on their projects. They seem to be making progress although a few need to make some decisions and go with them.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 10 Class 1 A

We looked at files are transferred to web servers and we went on a whirlwind tour of UNIX and FTP.

The web server we were going to use wasn't working so we didn't actually do an FTP.

I attempted to do some work on the project but students didn't seem interested. Something about a database assignment.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Submissions - Still waiting on some essays

According to my records I have not yet received essays from

7633
5753
7042
2041
6070

This information is based on a cross check of the list I have for students. If you are not on the list, because you didn't to the HTML exam, for example, I might have missed you.

The next deadline is noon on Friday 13 November. If you e-mail me your essay to colin.manning@cit.ie and it is received before then, the standard late penalty if 10% will apply. If your essay is received after that time the standard penalty of 20% will apply.

There will be no further reminders.

CMOD6001 Week 09 Class 2

I gave a handout on common mistakes in writing in English. In remaining weeks we will discuss writing skills a bit.

We discussed the project a little

We finsihed up at 1650

CMOD6001

No lab this afternoon.

CMOD6001 Week 09 Class 1

I met with the groups

Team Actimel 3/4 present
One the way. Needs to prioritize the ending summary for the host. That will keep the clues on target.


Team Untitled 4/4
Nearly there


Team Warner Bros 1/2
Needs to prioritize the ending summary for the host. That will keep the clues on target. Otherwsie nearly there, I think. I haven't seen much.

Team Alpha Beta 1/4
Hopeing to get loads done today if the rest iof the team comes in. Summary done and submitted. Well on course methinks.


We wrapped up at 0940. Bold I know. But it was an extra hot extra strong coffee type of morning.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 4 B

I was late because I went to the wrong place again. You'd think I'd know my timetable by Week 9!

Some students have expressed interest in using www.wix.com to build their sites. Like webnode.com, this doesn't work in the labs, so if there are problems I won't be able to help out. However students are free to use an online CMS if they wish, as long as they are aware of the risks they are taking.

Students worked on their sites

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 4 A

Only 6 students were present.

We evacuated for a fir alarm. After the all clear no one returned. Given yesterday's display of dedication, I am not surprised.

BBADM3 HTML Exam Scripts

If, having seen the marking scheme for the HTML exam, you would like to see your own script please e-mail me with either SCRIPT A or SCRIPT B in the message header.

I want to know the group you are in so I can arrange a suitable time.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 3B

Met with 1 more group

Suggested to all students that they go Publisher and find candidate templates.

Group T
Reconsider re-naming page 6
Otherwise seems fine

Group O
Need to think hard about categories. some overlap
{Student took notes. so less info here}

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 2B

I met with each group to discuss their projects

Group D
Who is the target audience? students 15-29
Web2.0 stuff not practical to do. maybe find a free plug-in service
Think harder about the categories
Does Publisher do sub-headings well?
Plenty to go away and think about

Group P
Working on a new idea.

Group F
A make up tile retailer
Site map seems fine. Two way to get the same info is usually consdiered bad practice, but in this case it's fine.
Does wall tiles belong in Product Catalog
Maybe re-name Products Catalogue
Think about the order of the headings
Does Publisher do sub-pages well?
Think about where price info will go. How will it be updated. There is no database
Some people may be looking for particular brands. Think about brands
The group is well on the way


Group H
Will probably be an interesting site.
Think hard about the structure

Monday, November 9, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 3 A

I asked students to work on a few things in Publisher just to jog their memories about how it works.

2 did. 3 continued looking at celebrity gossip sites. 1 read something else.

I went out to the toilet at 10 past. When I came back everyone was gone. I adjusted the attendance records and left.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 2 A

Met with groups to discuss project

Group M
Only 2 students were present.
Minutes need to be more detailed.
Page names need to mean something.
Think about men/women
Maybe do makeover page
Lots to think about


Group K
2 group members present
Minutes need to be more detailed.
Topical things can be a lot of work. Weekly updates is asking a lot.
I think this group needs to go back to the drawing board.

Group R
2 members present
Minutes need to be more detailed.
Site might be a bit small and there's not much scope for showing off skills. I'm worried there's not enough in the topic to make a good site.
It could work but I'm worried. At least have another think.

BBADM3 Site Maps

I had a look at student site maps today. I'm glad I asked for these to be posted because for the first time I have a clear picture about what students are doing for their projects. Information has been fairly scarce on the group blogs up to this point. Some groups need a tighter focus for the project.

Some useful questions to ask are:
Who is this site aimed at? What does this site have that others don't? What is the point of this site?

Each page should have a name. page 1 is not a good name. If you can't think of 1 or 2 words that sum up the page, then it might be a indication that more focus is needed.

Some projects don't strike me as being suitable. I am not going to insist anyone change their plans. I only give advice. I don't make people take it.

If you are revising your plans, leave old blog posts intact and post the revised versions. Web Site Design is a process, and there are marks going for working through the process.

CMOD6001 Week 09 DNET Lab

I met with each group to get a progress report.

Team Untitled 4/4
Writing up conclusion.

Team Alpha Beta 3/4
Conclusion done. Had too few clues. Adding more clues. Adding more
details.

Colin Manning, Dept. of Computing
Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

BBADM3 Web Apps HTML Exam Marking Scheme

The marking scheme I used for the HTML exam is now available.
{Small typo "!00" should be "100"}

I want to recheck the scripts. I expect to do that today. After that students will be able to view their scripts if they want.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 1 B

We looked at compression and video compression in particular. I discussed the cost/quality trade off in lossy compression.

We looked at how graphics degrade poorly when heavily compressed in JPEG.


I outlined the format for the rest of the semester. 1 of the 4 clases per week will be a lecture. For at least 2 of the other classes students will work on their projects.

I told students to let me know if they need classes in Publisher. The general feeling was that that was unecessary. We will see how we go and revisit the question later.

I offered classes in Photoshop. Students have already done the basics, so there might be no need. There didn't seem to be much support for looking at it in more detail for the craic. That's understandable, I suppose, since anything not essential to the project is probably an extravagance at this stage.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 1 A

I talked about compression. I discussed cost/quality trade offs for images and we looked at video compression in detail.

Only 7 students were in class. And only 3 were paying attention.

I outlined the format for the rest of the semester. 1 of the 4 clases per week will be a lecture. For at least 2 of the other classes students will work on their projects.

Friday, November 6, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Submissions

This is a list of accounts created that do not have any submissions associated with them. I am publishing it just in case some students did not complete the submission process, but think they did.

Ahern, Marian
Dillon, Lisa
howie, laura
Lorcan D., Mc Cormac
Murray, lindsay
Nunan, Michelle

I have not checked for duplicate accounts. That may be another explanation.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Missing Results

Some students' results are not on the list. I don't know why, but that suggests there might be some error on my part.

There appear to be as many results as one might expect so it's not a simple matter of just missing a huge chunk. I don't have access to the results just now, but it looks like I have not used the last 4 digits, but rather the first four of the last five. So R00012345 shows up as 1234 rather than 2345.

I will check that and leave a note here. However, I think it would only add to the confusion were I to fix the mistake.

CMOD6001 Week 08 Class 2

Students work in their groups on the project. I sat in on the meetings.

Next milestone: The Plot with all the clues. Due Noon Wed 11 Nov.

PDFs preferred.

CMOD6001 Week 08 DNET Lab

Someone was squatting in our lab, so students went to the canteen to do some project work.

CMOD6001 Week 08 Class 1

I met with each of the groups to get a progress report.

Group plug in the ceiling 2/4 members
Characters and plot done
Police report. Autopsy.
Just need to break clues up into a game

Team Actimel 3/4 members
Characters and plot done. Just need to do a small bit more tightening
up.
Just need to distribute clues into a game.


Team Alpha Beta 1/4 present
Characters and back stories done. Working on distributing clues.
Sounds like this group needs more more clues.


Team untitled 3/4
Characters and back stories done. Plot not finished yet. Probably need
to get moving.

Team ???????
Police report done. Characters done. Still working on the plot. Looks
like a 1 man group at this stage. I don't know if this group is going
to succeed. I think this group is broken.

I talked about how the structure might work.


At 0935 there was time for each group to hold another meeting.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 08 Class 4B

We looked at checksums. Most students paid no attention to me what so ever.

Some tried out their PPSNs and banknotes.

BBADM3 Web Apps Group Blogs

Students should check that the list of blogs contains a link to their group blog. They should also check that it is visible to the whole world and not just the contributors.

If you have a fantastic site map done by Friday, but have neglected to tell me where I can find it, the world will be considered late.

A number of students have yet to join a group.

BBADM3 Web Apps Essay Submissions

So far I have some submissions from
Flynn, Caitriona
O Connor, Barra
O Connor, Barra
Patricia E., O Brien
Michelle C., Murray
osborne, michael
rossiter, isabel
Aisling M., Carey
O Sullivan, Siobhan
O'Connor, Stephen
O'Leary, Julie
Ryan, Darragh
Murphy, Amanda
O Sullivan, Joan

Many more students have registered than have submitted. Don't forget to scroll down on the turnitin page and actually click submit.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Assignment 1 Results

The results for Assignment 1 are now online. They are sorted by the last 4 digits of student ID number.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 08 Class 4 A

We looked at user input validation and check digits. Students checked the check digits of their PPS numbers and some money. Nobody had a credit card :-(

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 08 Class 3 B

We looked at web hosting and domain names.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 08 Class 2 B

We we moved to C150 with no notice. I could not access my netwrok drive from there, so the plan for the class changed a bit.

Students uploaded drafs of their essays to turnitin just to check it was working and to get a feel for the plagiarism detection algorithm.

We discussed the project.

Monday, November 2, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps SITE MAP

Site map is due by noon on Friday 6 Nov. Site map should be posted to the group blog.

Standard CIT late policy applies.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 08 Class 2 & 3 A

We looked at web hosting and domain name registration.

Students went to different websites to compare prices.

I helped students with turnitin issues.

Project using Publisher vs. hand

We had a long discussion about plagiarism. Some students are just not hearing me.

BBADM3 Web Apps Project

I have put some thought into how best to execute the end of semester project. We have not found a web based CSM that is reliable enough for our purposes. DreamWeaver requires a more detailed understanding of HTML and CSS than most students have. So students have 2 options.

Microsoft Publisher: Students are free to use Publisher if they wish. Publisher is easy to use and provides templates that students can use. The main drawback is that pages look like they were made with published and it may be difficult to make the site do exactly what you want. Customizing the sites may prove difficult. Also if something goes wrong with Publisher there is not a lot I, nor anyone else, will be able to do about it.

Code by hand: Students will be provided with a template for a very basic site. They can customize the HTML and CSS to suit their own needs.


Students who chose to use Publisher should look at the template anyway, because it would be a very good learning exercise.

CMOD6001 Week 08 Lab DNET

Only 4 students were in class. That was 2 half groups.

I asked the groups to work on the plot, but one group said it was already done by they didn't have a copy.

Students might want to start using Google Docs. That way they can all have access to the work all the time.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 08 Class 1B

We looked at CSS

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 08 Class 1A

We looked at CSS.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

BBADM Web Apps Week 07 Class 4 B

We discussed the essays briefly. Some students uploaded drafts to turnitin.com just to check that it worked. At the end of class those students were curious to see their similarity score so I showed them.


We looked at some tips for web site design taken from Steve Krug's excellent book "Don't make me think".

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

CMOD6001 Thursday's classes are canceled

I will be away on Thursday.

BBADM3 Web Apps Essay Titles

Only 21 students have so far submitted an essay topic for approval. Students should check that the list of essays below is accurate.

Students who have not yet chosen a essay title are now very far behind schedule. The essay assignments for these students is as follows.

Students with surnames from A to H: RFID and Privacy
Students with surnames from I to O: Online Collaboration Tools
Students with surnames from P to Z: Monetizing Music in the Digital Age

Students who submit papers that are at variance from the topics they have chosen or were assigned will be zero marks.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 07 Class 4 A

We looked at some tips for web site design taken from Steve Krug's excellent book "Don't make me think".

BBADM3 Project Groups

Hi Guys

One of the things I wanted to sort out this morning was the project
groups and blogs. With your help we can still get this done today.

Please
Form a project group
Start a group blog
Email me the full names of all the people on the group and the URL of
the blog

If you are having problems with the group blog please email me and I
will try to track you down in the last 5 mins of a lab class today.
Unless you are in the group that has a second class today , in which
case we can sort it out after that class.

Thanks

Colin M

Colin Manning, Dept. of Computing
Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

Monday, October 26, 2009

No class Tuesday morning

I have to go to a funeral Tuesday morning. I should be in for the
later class.

Sorry about the short notice

Colin M

Colin Manning, Dept. of Computing
Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

Friday, October 23, 2009

New Office! Yippee!

I got word of my new office this week. It will be a bit cramped for three people but I will be glad to be out of the prefab after 10 years. Imagine an actual office indoors. An office in a building with plumbing and everything. With kind kind of extravagance it's no wonder the country is bankrupt.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

CMOD6001 Week 06 Class 2

Only 6 students in class.

I gave out some sample games I downloaded from the web and passed them out. Students met in one group and shared ideas.

CMOD6001 Week 06 Lab DCOM

There were only three students in class and none of them were in the same group. So there wasn't a lot of point in assigning group work.

I left at 1535.

CMOD6001 Week 06 Class 1

A member of each group to summarized what stage they were at.

Team Aplha Beta 2/4
Is going back to square 1. Theywere making cludo.

There's a plug in the ceiling 3/4
All chartacer set out. Plot and scenario orgainzed. Just need to start writing.

Team Acitmel 2/4
Have characters organised and connections between them.

Warner Bros CSI 1/3
Characters organized. Only one team member in class today. Doesn't seem to have been much progress in the past few weeks.

Team Untitled 4/4
Characters organized.

There was no point in setting group tasks when so many people were missing.

I gave out some projects from last year to see if they could give students some ideas.

By noon next Thursday groups should have
Invitations for the guests including character and costume suggestions.
Inital police report (or whatever) with information about the victim.
see nightofmystery.com for ideas of the kind of quality

These should be-mailed to Colin as PDFs. This is worth 10%.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps CMS Group Exercise

Learning Outcome 5. Compare and contrast a number of Content Management Systems (CMS).

I am asking each group to contrast and compare 3 free web based content management systems. A table outlining the main features and a brief explanation of any non-obvious features would probably be the way to go. We are interested only in the free features. However if any site has an especially interesting paid feature, it would be worth a separate mention.

The group should also sign up for one CMS, rate it for ease of use, and write a short review.

The results of the investigation should be posted to the group blog.

By the next class Groups and Group Blogs should be in place.

Use this exercise a a test run for your group processes.

Friday is a CIT holiday

Just in case you didn't know. Enjoy the loong weekend.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 06 Class 4B

We talk about different web technologies and tools and how they all fit together.

notes: web-technology.pdf (ignore last slide)


webnode.com didn't work

I asked students to google "free online CMS" and sign up for a few systems and compare them.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

CMOD6001 Assignment 1 Results

I will make the results of assignment 1 available soon. I was very disappointed with them. The task was not difficult and there were 10 easy marks up for grabs.

A number of students failed to take on board the comments I left on their blogs that could have resulted in them getting higher marks. Up to noon on Monday 8/10 marks were still available. Now this assignment is worth nothing.

Students who did not do well in this assignment should have a long hard think about what they are playing at, and should make a decision about whether or not they are in or out.

A number of students took it seriously and got good marks. Well done.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 06 Class 4A

We talked about the various different web technologies and tools and how they all fit together. It was a lot to tackle in one class, but we will revisit some of it in more detail later.

webnode.com didn't work in C162. Maybe it needs Java. I must look into it.

notes: web-technology.pdf (ignore last slide)

BBADM3 Web Apps ESSAY TITLES

I have moved these here for convenience


  • Marketing in Social Networks - Michelle Murray

  • Social networking in the Business World - Tara Carroll, Teresa Casey

  • Using YouTube for Business - Isabel Rossiter

  • Online Collaboration Tools

  • Blogging for Business - Siobhan O Sullivan, Amanda Murphy

  • Podcasting - Barra O Connor, Darragh Ryan

  • Video Streaming - Laura Hickey, Caitriona Flynn

  • Open Source Software for Business - Joan O Sullivan

  • Wikis

  • Prediction Markets - Tanya Hogan, Karina Walsh

  • Business 2.0

  • Managing Reputation Online - Julie O'Leary

  • Understanding Google AdSense - Patricia O'Brien, Colin Kearney

  • Wiki Business

  • Business Opportunities using Location Based Services - Micheal Osborne

  • RFID and Privacy

  • Improving your Google Ranking - Stephen O'Connor

  • Cybersquatting

  • Privacy Guidelines for Small Business - Caitriona Wrynn

  • Digital Terresterial TV (business slant)

  • Internet Crime - Aisling Carey, Deidre Lucey

  • Blogola

  • Business Models for Monetizing the Newspaper Industry

  • Online Advertising - Caitriona Flynn, Marian Ahern, David Barrett

BBADM3 Web Apps Week Project

I met with the class rep over lunch. She persuaded me that I should be a bit more flexible with the group sizes and so I will.

She also explained that students are uncomfortable with uncertainty and are worried. So I have put a specification for the project online. We will work though this in class.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 06 Class 3B

Class was cut short so we didn't get much done.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 06 Class 2B

Collaboration tools
wikis
edited something on wikipedia
edited the home and away wiki
looked at google documents
talked about cloud computing

Monday, October 19, 2009

Yippee! I got my iPhone back.

Now I just have to wait for it to be un-blacklisted and I can once again be permanently tethered to the web.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 06 - Class 2 & 3A

Very poor attendance

Collaboration tools
wikis
edited something on wikipedia
edited the home and away wiki
looked at google documents
talked about cloud computing

CMOD6001 Week 06 - Lab DNET

There was not a single complete team in attendance. So there wasn't much point is setting team work, nor tying to develop the projects more.

I met with (some of) Team Aplha Beta. They had the complete wrong end of the stick and thought they were making a board game.

I met with (some of) Team Unknown. They are on their way, but so far it doesn't sound very exciting.

No one was interested in doing work related to this module so I left at 1248.

Students would want to start taking this module seriously fairly soon and get their act together. It is not easy to repeat this module, so failing it might result in a year longer at college.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 06 Class 1B

We had an exam.

A number of students who should have been in the 0900 class turned up to do the exam at 1000. No problem with that.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 06 Class 1A

We had an exam.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Electives

I'm not teaching any electives this semester, but I thought this might be useful to students. The mad rush is on to register for electives for THIS semester. The system does actually allow you to register for Semester 2 electives also. But there's no rush with that just yet. make sure if you are registering for Semester 1 that you do not register for Semester 2 by mistake.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Someone took my iPhone from IT2.2

I don't want to use the word stole, because I suppose they could just be keeping it safe until they figure out who it belongs to. But if you wanted to find the owner of a phone you probably wouldn't power it off.

O2 tells me that it cannot now be used. But the kind of people who hang out in CIT computer labs are clever enough to figure out a way, I imagine, to use it as an iPod at least.

It will cost me about EUR600 to replace it and I can't afford that.

I'm actually very sad. It's not that my phone is gone. It's that a computing student stole it. I like being naive. I like thinking that all CIT students are nice decent people.

And I really really need my phone these next few days.

CMOD6001 Week 05 Class 2

We did a group communication exercise (zoom)

CMOD6001 Week 05 DCOM Lab

I asked students to check the entires in the list of blogs to make sure that they are complete and correct.

I showed students how to use Google Documents to preprare and share documents. It is idea for shared project work.

Mid-semester review

It's the end of week 5 and so it feels like the half-way point of the semester, even though it's not. So it seems like a good time to reflect on how the semester has been going, how I have been performing, and how the classes have been going.

I think I have been a bit grumpy this semester. I have been less tolerant of students than I have been in the past. I'm not sure if that is actually a good thing or a bad thing.


I was a bit put out that my teaching assignments changed around so much at the start of the semester. At one point I was teaching CMOD6001 to DNET/DCOM, ITS, and COM. In the end I ended up teaching only DNET/DCOM. I actually I think I was lucky to get the best of the three groups. But over the years I put a lot of effort into this module and it was disappointing to have my hours reduced.

For CMOD6001 this semester I have reduced the workload for students. I used to require them to do a presentation and an essay. Presentation skills and writing skills are very useful things that students will need later in their college and work careers. They will be huge factors in students' future successes. However in the past some students did not take these assignment seriously and failed the module as a result. It has become clear to me however that failure has consequences, not just for students, but for the lecturer that fails them. So I have essentially dumbed down this module. This semester I am even giving 10% for just turning up. Interestingly I have found that just as many good students rise to the challenge of a difficult module, so weak students drop down to the level of easy modules. I would not be surprised if the failure rate for this module is largely unchanged as a result.

I was neither surprised nor disappointed that the COMP6023 Web Publishing did not run this semester. It was offered last year and I think most of the students that wanted to do it, did it then. I was frustrated that my HoD did not take my advice and offer some other elective in place of this one. I was very keen to run the Computing Ethics module that I have been developing. I was also worried that my HoD seems to believe that the lack of interest this module is due to the fact that I was teaching it, and that students are avoiding my classes where possible. I'd be happy to take the Pepsi Challenge any day and subject myself to market forces with some decent elective modules that I'd like to develop and teach.

My web Application module business studies is going well. I have found it interesting how people from different disciplines do things in a different way and I haven't adapted as well as I should have. It has been an education. The bulk of the students are smart, keen, and interested. I didn't have much of a plan going into this module, but I am glad now because I would have had to tear it up. Next week's exam will tell a lot. I think overall it will be a success, and if the chance comes up I think I'd like to teach it again.

CMOD6001 Week 05 Class 1

I talked about how to give presentations.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 05 Class 4 B

Students were a bit late because they were in the wrong room. That happens me a lot too.

We looked at nested lists.

I distributed DVDs to anyone who wanted one.

Students worked on the sample exam.

I gave out a handout on plagiarism and explained that copying and pasting any part of the essays is not acceptable. I hope people know I am serious.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Class canceled Monday 30 November

I will not be in on the morning of 30 November. Afternoon classes should run as normal.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 05 Class 4 A

I gave out a handout on plagiarism.

We looked at how to properly nest a list.

We discussed plagiarism.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 05 Class 3B

We discussed how Google make money. Some student are already using AdSense for their blogs. I cannot believe how much money they are making. When other students saw how easy it was to make money, they all wanted to sign up.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 05 Class 2B

I started to talk about how Google makes its money but I found the class was a little bit distracted, so we took a short break and started again.

When I came back we discussed the technical problems students are having accessing the online class. I had not understood until then that there was a genuine problem with access to those notes. If I do not have a technical fix for that by tomorrow's 1000 class, we will have to consider postponing the exam on Monday.

We got no actual work done in this class

Monday, October 12, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Wiki Experiment

In order to allow students to experience wikis first had I have set up a Home & Away Wiki. Student are encouraged to correct mistakes in they find (it is not sent in Austria) and to add to the page. The object of the experiment is to see how the content is created and amended over time. You do not need to register or log in to make changes to the page.

Go to http://homeandaway.wikidot.com/home-and-away-main-page. You are then free to edit the page as you wish. To avoid conflicts no two people may edit the page at exactly the same time. So once you begin editing the page is locked for 15 minutes.

Changes are anonymous. But if in the comments section you leave something that identifies you (e.g. your initials) you might win a prize.

BBADM3 Web Apps Exam

The Web Apps short exam will be on Monday morning 19 October.

BBADM3 Web Apps - Week 05 Class 2A & 3A

I find that some students are having a difficult time concentrating in class. Please try to work on that.

We discussed how Google makes money from advertising and some of the privacy issues with Google. (For more on privacy students should visit the website of the Data Protection Commissioner and the Commissioner's YouTube Channel has some interesting movies.

I tried to show students data from Google Analytics but there is no Flash installed in the lab. I showed students some examples of AdSense statistics and the level of detail provided. Students signed up for AdAsense for their blogs.

notes: google.pdf

BBADM3 Web Apps - Movies play in back row of C162

If you are having difficulty playing the the online classes at home, you can play them on the machines in the back row of C162 (and possibly some others)

DMOD6001 Week 05 DNET Lab

I asked students to get into their project groups and work on the list of characters.

I discussed some ways to structure the game.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 05 Class 1 B

I gave out a sample exam for students to do. I offerred to correct it for any students that wanted feedback.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 05 Class 1 A

I gave students a sample HTML exam to do in class. I offered to correct it for anyone who wanted feedback. Nobody did it.

We went over lists and tables again, but didn't do nested lists. Details of how nested lists work are in the online class. I got the feeling that most students had not yet bothered with the online classes.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

CMOD6001 Week 04 Class 2

We discussed plagarism and did an exercise on it.

CMOD6001Week 04 COM Lab

Students organixed their blogs. I'm annoyed that it is taking so log for students to get organized. A task that should have taken an hour is taking weeks.

Some students are needlessly losing marks every week.

CMOD6001 DCOM/DNET Week 04 - Class 1

I was a bit annoyed because students had not completed the group tasks I set for them last week. If the approach of students does not change I will micro-manage the development of the group projects and set many mini deadlines. This will make it more difficult students to pass.

I asked groups to meet and provide me with the following
1. Group name
2. List of group members
3. Game Scenario
4. Rules for the group
5. Group blog URL


Team Actimel's scenario is a medievel themed zoo. Girls plus one is undecided. Alpha Beta is still brainstorming. Team Untitles is using a theatre. Team CSI doesn't have a scenario.



Some rule's teams decided on
1 meeting per week.
If you miss three consecutive mneetings there will be punishment. Failure to do the punishment will result in expulsion from the team and asses tothe team blog cut off.
Evicted member can rejoin group if they come up with a team song.
Every member must do fair share of work.
Missing 4 meetings results in eviction.
Meeting quorum is 2. Quorum is 3.
Minutes must be recorded.
Tasks that go 2 meetings beyond due date are reassigned.


I helped students set up group blogs.

Each group should e-mail me the URL for the group blog.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

CMOD6001 Assignment 1

I was disappointed with both the quantity and quality of the submissions for Assignment 1. A lot of students did not get it in on time. If these students submit before next deadline (Monday at noon) the standard 10% penalty will be applied.

Some students who submitted on time might be better off if they re-submitted. Even with the 10% late penalty they could come out better off. This assignment required student to go find out about the various technologies required for their job. The example I went through in class made that clear. It was not enough to just plug terms into Google and copy and paste the results. Students must use their own words for assignment submissions.

Students who are re-submitting should make a new blog entry and leave the previous entry intact.

Some students did very well and I am please by that.

BBADM3 Web Apps ASSESSMENT

The short question exam will be held during Week 06. More details to follow.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 04 Class 4 B

We looked at lists and tables in HTML.

We discussed the exam briefly.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Report - ASSESSMENT ESSAY

Assessment 2 for this module is outlined in the module descriptor as:

Written Report - A report on current business Web applications - 4 - 25% - week 8

Learning Outcome 4 is
Explain the business benefits of a range of Web technologies.

This leaves a lot of scope for interesting reports. Students are free to propose report titles of their own, however they must be approved in advance. Once you have chosen a topic e-mail it to Colin for approval. Students without an approved topic by 21 October will be randomly assigned one. Reports should be at least 3000 words.

The report is due before noon on Friday 6 November 2009. Students are very welcome to submit drafts for comment in advance of this. Papers must be submitted to turnitin.com using Class ID 2932306. Enrollment password was given in class. (Hint: Hawaii)

Here is a list of possible topics I have thought of so far:

I have moved these to a more recent post for easier access

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 04 Class 4 A

I asked students to make HTML versions of their CVs.

Few did.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 04 Class 3 B

Students asked for the class off to attend the careers fair. Seems like a good idea.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 04 Class 2 B

I talked about blogs.

Notes

Monday, October 5, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 04 Class 2 & 3 A

I showed students where to find the online HTML classes. Students will need a thorough understanding of HTML if they are to successfully complete the project.

Although I was able to play the online classes on my machine, students were unable to do so. This is a problem.

We did a quick revision of HTML and looked at lists and tables. Students should follow up these topics using the online notes.

slides www1, www2, www3

BBADM3 Web Apps HTML Notes

I have placed some HTML notes online. Students should use these to learn the HTML required in order to successfully complete the project. (Students need not concern themselves with JavaScript code)

These online classes should play in Windows Media Player, in QuickTime, and in iTunes. They have been coded to play on iPods without any further encoding.

Interested student my learn even more HTML by taking more online classes via the iTunes Music Store. Inthe iTunes Music Store search for "Colin Manning".

CMOD6001 Week 04 - Lab DNET

Some students have still formed groups so the group exercise for todays calss was postponed.

Students should have formed groups of four by the end of the day.

One member from each group should e-mail me the name of their group, the URL for the group blog, and the names of the group members.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 04 Class 1B

I completely forgot about this class and it was 1035 before I turned up. I am still a bit confused.

Some students had already left so we didn't do any thing new.

BBADM3 Web Apps Exam

The course schedule specifies that there is to be an exam in Week 04 worth 15%. However given the slight disruption we experienced, I think it is a bit soon just yet. I will give at least one week's notice of this exam.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 04 Class 1 A

I gave a talk on blogs and social software notes

Students worked on their blogs and figured out how to add labels.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

CMOD6001 DCOM/DNET Week 03 - Class 2

I gave out details of the project. Students formed groups and had their first brainstorming session.

By next Thursday groups should have:

  • a group name

  • a group blog

  • minutes from today's meeting

  • a scenario for the game (medievel castle / space ship / casino / underwater city /...)

CMOD6001 Week 03 - Lab DCOM

Students worked on the job & modules assignment.

CMOD6001 DCOM/DNET Week 03 - Class 1


Job exercise is due on Monday at noon. Students should check that they are correctly entered in my list of blogs.

I recommened a good book for study skills.

Class was a bit empty so we waiting until 0915 to make a start.

Handout 6. Students discussed this is groups. It sounded like students took this exercise seriously. There was some disucssion groups of the Lisbon 2 Treaty. But that's no harm either.

0920 Handout 29. Students discussed this is groups. Students took this serioulsy.

0945 Handouts 75 & 76. Students worked on these and then discussed them a bit.

0955 I spoke very briefly about the assessment plan.

Handout 63

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 03 Class 4 B

Students continued to work on their blogs.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 03 Class 4 A

Students continued to work on thier blogs.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 03 HOMEWORK

Find out about RSS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU
http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/intro/
http://www.mnot.net/rss/tutorial/#DC

News organizations were among the earliest adopters of RSS. Add an RSS news feed from one of the major news sites (BBC, Sky, CNN, RTE) to your blog roll. Many news organizations offer specific feeds for sport, politics, business, and the like.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 03 - Class 2 & 3 B

Students worked on their blogs. I asked students to add classmates to their blogroll and add one other blog.

Students asked me to conduct an election for class rep. Only one candidate was nominated.

Monday, September 28, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps - Week 03 Class 2 & 3 A

Students continued work on their blogs.

I asked students to make a blogroll, add their friends' blogs, and add at least one other blog of interest.

BBADMIN3 Web Apps Week 03 - Class 1 B

Each student set up a blog on blogger.

CMOD6001 Week 03 - Lab DNET

We started at 12.15 because Colin was a bit confused about where he was supposed to be.

Students worked on getting the bulk of their job exercise done and dusted.

Handouts: 6, 63 (for later use)

BBADMIN3 Web Apps Week 03 - Class 1 A

I got assigned this module at short notice so I wasn't very well prepared.

I introduced myself, but there were actually very few student in class to meet.

Each student started a blog at blogger.com. Students will be expected to make at least one blog entry per week. The entry can be about anything.

Friday, September 25, 2009

CMOD6001 COM1 Week 02 - Class 02

Students discussed their job description assignments in small groups.

I talked briefly about the Learning Resource Centre.

I reminded students that they must make a blog entry every week.

Handouts 4 & 5. Students discussed parts that they fely most applied to them. We wrapped up at 0945 because no one was prepared to discuss anything.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

CMOD6001 Week 02 - Lab DCOM

Each student set up a blog at blogger.com

CMOD6001 DCOM/DNET Week 02 - Class 2

For the first part of the class students worked in groups on their job assignments and outlined to other members of their group what they have figured out so far.

I explained about the Learning resource Centre. Details on request.

Handouts 4 & 5. Students read the handouts and each didentified one thing that they felt applied most to them.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

CMOD6001 DCOM/DNET Week 02 - Class 1

We played RizLa with name tags so students could get to know each others names.

Monday, September 21, 2009

CMOD6001 Week 02 Lab ITS

Each student set up a blog. Many students did this last week already, but some came to CIT class for the first time today.

CMOD6001 COM1 Week 02 - Class 1

Class was canceled at 1317. Only half of the class turned up, but the plan for today was a group exercise that required the whole class to be present. Those students that were present had their attendance recorded as present, all other student were marked absent.

CMOD6001 Week 02 - Lab DNET

Each student set up a blog at blogger.com

CMOD6001 COM1 Week 02 - Lab A

Each student set up a blog at blogger

CMOD6001 Attendance

10%/60% of the project mark will go for attendance. Students are expected to attend every class. The grade for attendance will be calculated as follows. If A is the percentage of classes a student attends then the grade will be (A - 45)*2. Up to a maximum of 100%. If a student attends 60% of the classes the grade for attendance will be 30%. A 95% attendance rate is sufficient to get a 100% grade.

This grade forms part of the project mark.

CMOD6001 Blogs

Each student is expected to make at least one serious blog entry per week. 10% of the final grade for this module will go for the personal blog. The blog mark will be calculated as follows: If the number of weeks an entry is made is W then the mark is (w-5)*20, up to a maximum of 100% and a minimum of 0%. For example 5 weeks is worth zero. 6 weeks is worth 20%. 8 weeks 60%. The quality and size of the entries may be considered also. Entries that are too short might not count. But students who take this exercise serioulsy should not have any problems

This grade forms part of the project mark.

A list of the blogs is at http://mcom.cit.ie/staff/computing/cmanning/com2009-blogs.html

CMOD6001 COM1 Week 02 - Lab B

Each student set up a blog at blogger.com. Students should e-mail the URL of their blogs to Colin.

Friday, September 18, 2009

CMOD6001

Talked about Erasmus and RPL.

Worked through example job spec for Assignment 1

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Bad Opening Week

This week was not a great start to the semester. Things were all over the shop. [Insert whinge]. This was probably a week when I really needed blog entries to keep clear in my head what I did with which class. But with fractions of classes having fractions of their classes I think I will just start afresh next week.

Some notes though
CMOD6001 DNET/DCOM gave hello talk. explained Erasmus. gave out assignment 1
CMOD6001 COM gave hello talk.
CMOD6001 ITS set up student blogs

COMP6026 Don't even know if this is going to run. Had 2 students and now only 1 by the look of things

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Web Publishing Exam Friday

The Web Publishing Exam will be on Friday 4 September at 1400.

It will be a closed book, written exam. It is worth 30% of the overall mark.

Location: check back later

Thursday, August 13, 2009

SOFT6008 Assessments Due Friday

Just a reminder that the assessments are due tomorrow. The standard CIT late policy applies. It it's late 10% is subtracted (e.g. 55-10 = 45). If it's more than 1 week late 20% is subtracted (e.g. 55-20 = 35).

The penalty is the same for being 1 day late or 6 days late.

More than 2 weeks late gets zero.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Learning Support Centre

The learning support centre is open over the summer. It offers free help with maths and programming.

http://learningsupport.cit.ie

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

BCCAD

On my way to the CCAD degree show last Friday I walked past the now empty Beamish & Crawford brewery. I had an interesting thought. The brewery would make a wonderful new home for the art college. Heineken might be interested in turning the bad news story of the closure into a good news story. And it would continue the history of patronage. Afterall the Crawford in Crawford College of Art & Design is the same one as in Beamish & Crawford.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Met with External Examiners

I met with external examiners earlier in the week. I was very impressed with how thorough they were, despite have lots to get though and things being a bit disorganized. Over the years I have become accustomed to external examiners being interested only in my passing as many students as possible. They have usually only been interested in students' marks and have rarely taken an interest in their actual work. I have for a number of years now considered external examiners to be an important part of the conspiracy of mediocrity that pervades higher education in Ireland.

This year the externs wanted access to all of the students' work, and if that wasn't practical, at least, representative samples. I was quite embarrassed because I wasn't prepared for this. I was able to put my hand on anything the externs wanted to see, but I should really have at it available for them to browse at their leisure. As usual they were interested in students that were hovering around the threshold of passing or not. In the past this was invariably because they felt that anyone within an ass's roar of 35% should be looked at again, and I would find myself having to defend each fail mark. I have to confess that slowly over time I became accustomed to just dragging those extremely weak student across the finish line in order to save myself the hassle.

This year it was clear that I had set the standard too low. I was attempting to pass students that I knew didn't really deserve it. The good thing is, that I was caught red handed. This was embarrassing, but the best outcome none the less. It's good to know that in the future when I try to uphold the minimum standard there will be some stake holders there to support my efforts, rather than undermine them. Overall this has been an annus horribilis for standards and academic integrity at CIT. For the first time in months I am guardedly optimistic.

Next year I think I will give the external examiners access to student work as the semester goes along. This will save time, but it might also allow me to get some useful feedback more quickly.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Study in China Summer Camp 2009 - FREE!

2009 Summer Camp Programme for Ireland
Study in China 2009 Summer Camp Programme is a two-week programme in Shanghai. It is jointly organized by UCC Confucius Institute, Irish Institute of Chinese Studies (UCC) and Shanghai University and sponsored by the Headquarters of Confucius Institute (Hanban). It provides an opportunity for non-Chinese students in Irish higher education institutions to visit China and to learn its language and culture.
Application Requirements
The programme is open to all full-time non-Chinese undergraduates and post graduates registered at Irish Higher Institutions.
Applicants should meet the following requirements:
(1) Non-Chinese nationality
(2) Interest in Chinese culture and language
(3) Academic courses and career aspirations that will be benefit from this programme
(4) Enthusiastic, sociable and well suited to group activities for the programme.
Programme arrangement:
(1) Duration 23rd August - 5th September 2009
(2) Number of participants: 60 funded places
(3) Content of study:
(a) Chinese Language (Mandarin), Calligraphy, Martial Arts, Chinese Cultural and History, China Economic and Business, aspects of China from both traditional and modern perspectives through courses, lectures, visits and learning hands-on experiences
(b) Visits to regional cities in China
(c) Discussion with young Chinese people
(d) Stay on Shanghai University campus.
The cost of the programme in China will be covered by UCC Confucius Institute and Shanghai University including accommodation, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and fees for summer camp courses. Participants will be responsible for their costs of visa fees, international flights, travel insurance and any other costs not related to the official programme of the Summer Camp.
For application forms or enquiries, please contact:
UCC Confucius Institute
327, O’Rahilly Building
University College Cork
College Road, Cork
Application Deadline: 30th June 2009

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

COMP6023 Paper

Q. Just wondering how many words(minimum) for the essay??

A. 2500

Thursday, May 14, 2009

COMP6023

Q. How many pages for minimum web project by my own?

A. 60 Pages

Exams / repeats / Good Luck / Etc

Compy of e-mail sent to all COMP6023 students today:

Hi Guys

If you are doing exams this semester I hope they go well for you.

If you are on placement I hope you are having fun. Try to make the most of it and take on as much responsibility as you can.

Some of you are finishing up very soon. Good Luck with that.

If you are back again next semester remember that someone will be asking you about your choices for free choice modules soon.

If you are repeating Web Publishing this Autumn please check the blog for updates. In particular you should check that I have your essay and web project title. You still have a few days to come up with an essay title after which time I will assign you one. I will probably do the same with the group projects. If you have group and topic preferences you need to be expressing them soon.

The blog address is http://colinmcit.blogspot.com. You can click on the WPUB label to see only the relevant entries.

Good Luck

Colin M

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

COMP6023 Group Project Specification

Build a website.

The site must
  • have at least 60 pages
  • be in more than one language (one of which must be English)


Assessment
This module was primarily about the Structure Plane and Skeleton Plane. Students should pay particular attention to navigation and organization.

Don't Make Me Think!

Students are fee to use any web development tools they chose (DreamWeaver etc., MS Word). They are not required to code the pages by hand.

Please feel free to e-mail Colin for clarification. I will post replies to this entry so that all students have all the same information.

COMP6023 Essays

These are the essay assignments I have so far. I will update this entry when I get more information from students.

Students who take too long about choosing a topic might find I've picked one for them.

ESSAYS
* Dermot M - Podcasting
RECEIVED: Steve Po - Is TV Dead?
RECEIVED (1 WEEK LATE): Steve Pa - Video Podcasting
Becky Y - Joomla vs. Magento
* X L - Streaming Video
RECEIVED: P F - (Technical Approaches to) Multi-Lingual Web Sites
RECEIVED: Dade O - Intranet
RECEIVED: Darragh P - Internet Crime
RECEIVED: Florence K - Podcasting
* Jessee B - Cyber Squatting
RECEIVED: Neil B - Cyber Squatting
* Wallace K - Localization


* These students did not suggest a topic so I chose them (04 June)

LAST UPDATED 21AUG 1220

COMP6023 Group Projects

Here are the project assignments I have so far. Students who wait too long before deciding on a project will might get up getting one chosen for them.

WEBSITES
RECEIVED: Steve Po - Cork Restaurant Guide http://www.corkrestaurantguide.net
Becky Y - Online Shop with Megneto e-commerce
X L - Cork Shopping Guide
RECEIVED LATE2: P F & Wallace K- Guide to Kilkenny http://www.web-source.ie/wallace/
RECEIVED: Dade O & Neil B - Guide to Dublin (please send more details) http://www.dublinvenues.biz
RECEIVED: Darragh P - Cork for Kids http://www.cork4kids.webs.com


* Florence K, Stephen Pa, Jesse B, Dermot M - Irish Stamps

* These students had their group and project assigned for them because they did not suggest anything themselves.

RECEIVED (1 WEEK LATE): Florence K - Irish Stamps www.irishstamp.info


I will update this entry as I get more information from students.

I recommend that students keep a blog of their progress and send me the URL. But this is not a requirement, just good advice.

LAST UPDATED: 19AUG 2315

Friday, May 8, 2009

Week 13 Classes

I do not plan to have any classes in week 13. HOWEVER if anyone wants to meet me let me know and I'd be happy to meet up either during scheduled class time or some other time.

Good luck with any exams you might be doing for other modules.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

SOFT6007

We will not be having any more classes.

However if you'd like to meet me to go though anything we can meet up. Just send me an e-mail.

Students interested in taking their web skill further should spend some time getting to grips with CSS. That's the key.

SOFT6008 is a follow on module that deals mostly with JavaScript. I hope to see you in that module some day.

SOFT6008

Luis Jose gace a lab on OS Commerce

SOFT6007 ITS

I wasn't in the lab today

Thursday, April 30, 2009

SOFT6008 45, 46, 47

Monday 4 May is a public holiday.

SOFT6007 45, 46, 47

Monday 4 May is a public holiday.

SOFT6007 44

Few students came to class. But that's not a big surprise given that the deadline for all the assessments has passed.

I helped out some students who missed the deadline due to various issues. Although in my opinion the main issue was lack of attendance in class throughout the year.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

SOFT6007 ITM 11

gary Couse delivered this class.

Students were instructed to take the following online classes during the lab.


ISWD20.mov
ISWD20.pdf
ISWD21c.mp4

SOFT6008 44

Not a lot happened. Some student swere still working on their assignments. Most are finished.

Monday, April 27, 2009

SOFT6007 EVCOM 12

We had an in-class JavaScript exam.

SOFT6008 42 & 43

Luis Jose gave an interesting talk on localization, game publishing, and online selling.

SOFT6007 DCOM1 Web Dev 42 & 43

We had an in-class open-book JavaScript assessment.

From the look on stduents' faces, it didn't go terribly well.

SOFT6007 ITS

{Tuesday}

Colin may arrive late to Tuesday's lab. There's a slight chance he won't come at all.

Students should take the following online classes during the lab.


ISWD20.mov
ISWD20.pdf
ISWD21c.mp4

Free Web Hosting

www.100webspace.com works

SOFT6008 41

Students worked on their assignments.

URL submission deadline extended to 1200 tomorrow (Tuesday)

Test your money code with 3.88

SOFT6007 DCOM1 Web Dev 41

Students worked on their websites. These are due on Wednesday.

I modified the spec slightly to accomodate YouTube. See blog entry for 30/03/2009

Thursday, April 23, 2009

SOFT6007 40

Students worked on Assignment 2.

SOFT6007 Assessment 2 Extension

Both Geocities/Yahoo and Google have stopped offering free web hosting. This means that students who have not yet signed up for space at Geocities cannot no now do so. These students will have to host their sites elsewhere.

In order to give everyone more time I am extending the deadline by 2 days to noon on Wednesday 29 April. This should give students the extra time they need to come up with a plan B.

If you find a free hosting site that you think might be useful to other students in the class please e-mail Colin the details or leave them as a comment on this entry.

COMP6023 Group Projects

Philomena F is looking for people to form a group. Some other students are looking too.

Colin M

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

SOFT6008 40

Of the three students that showed up, two worked on their assignments.

SOFT6007 ITM 10

The handfull of students that showed up worked on their assignment for tomorrow.

SOFT6007 EVCOM 11

{Monday night}

We discussed Assessment 2 and Assessment 3.

Assignment 2 is due at noon on Monday 27 April. Students should e-mail Colin the URL for their site before then.

Assessment 3 will take place in class on Monday 27 April. Students will be asked to write the code for a specified JavaScript program. Students will be permitted to use paper and online resources. But they will not be permitted to communicate with each other.

Monday, April 20, 2009

SOFT6008 38 & 39

Students worked on their assignments.

SOFT6007 DCOM WebDev 38 & 39

I gave out copies of Rob Miller's CSS notes (notes10)

Students worked on their assignment.

SOFT6008 37

Students worked on their exercises

SOFT6007 DCOM1 Web Dev 37

We started a little late because some bits were missing off the lecturer's machine.

We discussed Assignment 2.
Assignment 2 is due at noon on Monday 27 April 2009. Students should send the URL for their website before the deadline.
Students must write all code by hand. Students may not use code generators.


We looked at how to upload websites to the internet so that everyone can see them.

We discussed Assignment 3.
This will be a JavaScript webpage. The page will be written in the lab class on Monday 27 April 2009 at 1400. The exam will be open book so students will be able to notes and web references. However I reocmmend students just stick to the notes. Students will not be permitted to communcate with each other.

I looked at students' sites. Some students are a little bit behind schedule.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

SOFT6007 DCOM Web Dev 36

Some students resisted the tempation of the lovely sunshine outside and came to class to work on their exercises.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Check Digit Test Cases

Here are some data to use as test cases for the check digit exercises.

IE-PPSN


These numbers are valid in theory
5313197L
1234567T
1234567t
0000000W
0000071w

ES-DNI


These are valid numbers
03457393-X
03405999-K
70240341-C
70259948-P

If these test cases give you trouble read the small print on the ParseInt box!.

I have noticed that in real life Spaniards tend to insert separators between groups of digits to make the DNI number easier to read and it is common to put a dash before the letter (as above). To accommodate this your code should strip out all useless characters from the input before looking at it more closely.

Ensure that your code insists on the correct length
007-X is not valid. But 00000000-X is.

Euro Banknotes



Just take some from your wallet. There are fewer than 26 countries that issue Euro banknotes some some letters never appear at the start of a serial number. Accounting for this would require some very inelegant code. We can't have inelegant code!

Be sure to check some serial numbers that have a zero immediately after the letter. If that gives you trouble ParseInt may be to blame.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

SOFT6008

Students worked on the various assignments.

Students should send Colin a URL with links to each of the assigments when they are done.

SOFT6007 (ITM) 09

Students worked on Lab No.7 (from Rob)

FontTester.com

FontTester.com is a useful site for showing the effects of different fonts and settings.

Easter Break

This is the last week before the Easter break. Classes will resume on Monday 20 April.

Monday, March 30, 2009

XHTML 1.0 Compliance

You need to include certain headers in your xhtml documents if you want them to be fully compliant.

you can compy and paste these headers from this sample page.

Update: 27/04/2009
The code used by YouTube to embed videos in your page is not XHTML1.0 compliant. You may, if your really want to, include YouTube videos in your site without penalty. HOWEVER, your code must be otherwise XHTML1.0 compliant. It might be hard for you to enure that it is compliant, because the YouTube code might cause confusion. But if you are prepared to accept the risk, you may do so. My advice is to avoid the risk and leave the videos out.

SOFT6007 EVCOM 10

We spent some time discussing registration issues. Some students who thought they were registered were not.

We discussed the specification for assignment 2.

We looked at Cascading Style Sheets.

notes:
www4n.pdf

SOFT6008 34 & 35

Students continued with their assignments

SOFT6007 DCOM WebDev 34 & 35

We discussed the specification for Assignment 2.

We looked at cascading Style Sheets.

Notes:
www4n.pdf

SOFT6007 Assignment 2 Specification

This assignment is designed to ensure that students have the minimum level of xhtml required to pass the module, while affording excellent students an opportunity to demonstrate their levels of skill.

Assignment
Build a multi-page website for a band using xhtml and CSS. Students may choose any real or fictitious band.

Requirements
The website must
• Be a minimum of 5 pages. The pages should be linked together.
• Include a navigation bar using either an image map or rollovers. Rollovers are better
• Be written in fully compliant xhtml. Use a validator to check it.
• Must use CSS for text formatting. Consider the font tag banned. Your body tag should have nothing else in it.

Copyright
• Students may use text and image that are not their own.
• Student may not use HTML nor CSS that is not entirely their own work.
• Student may not use code generation tools.

SOFT6008 33

Students worked away on the assignments.

We will do some new stuff after the easter break.

We added
Irish PPSNs
Spanish DNI numbers and
Euro banknotes
to the list of required assignments.

There will be no new required assignments. So that gives students an opportunity to get this module done and dusted over the break.

SOFT6007 DCOM Web Dev 33

Students took online class No. 14 JavsScript III. That's as much JavaScript as we are going to do.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

SOFT6007 DCOM Web Dev 32

Students continued with the rollover exercise using the smaple images.

Students that were finished worked on a rollover of their own.

No news on Assignment 2 just yet. I need to co-ordinate with the lecturers teaching the other instances of this module.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Business as Usual next Monday

The proposed strike on Monday 30 March has been canceled / postponed. So we will have classes as usual.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

SOFT6008 32

Students worked away on the various exercises.

SOFT6007 (ITM) 08

[No lab last week. 17 March Public Holiday]

We looked at Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

Notes:
www4n.pdf Beware: There are a few obvious typos

Monday, March 23, 2009

SOFT6007 EVCOM 09

We looked at javascript rollovers. Students made a simple rollover with just one images, and then a navigation bar with image slices in a table.


Images:
casadelgringo-left-bottom.jpg
casadelgringo-left-bottom-over.jpg
casadelgringo-left-middle.jpg
casadelgringo-left-middle-over.jpg
casadelgringo-left-top.jpg
casadelgringo-left-top-over.jpg
casadelgringo-right.jpg
casadelgringo-right-over.jpg

Class fisnised early (2020) because someone locked one of the two main fire exits.

SOFT6008 30 & 31

Students worked on the game assignment (mostly)

Apple JavaScript Coding Guide

The Apple JavaScript Coding Guide may proove a useful reference for students.

http://developer.apple.com/safari/library/documentation/ScriptingAutomation/Conceptual/JSCodingGuide/JSCodingGuide.pdf

SOFT6007 30 & 31

Students worked on getting rollovers to work and learned that JavaScript is very fussy.

Students worked on a navigation bar using 4 (x2) images stuck together in a table.

Images:
casadelgringo-left-bottom.jpg
casadelgringo-left-bottom-over.jpg
casadelgringo-left-middle.jpg
casadelgringo-left-middle-over.jpg
casadelgringo-left-top.jpg
casadelgringo-left-top-over.jpg
casadelgringo-right.jpg
casadelgringo-right-over.jpg

SOFT6008 29

We looked at check digits for user input validation. I found the whole thing so exciting that I kept going until 1220. The students were too interested polite to say anything.

SOFT6007 DCOM Web Dev 29

The projector in B217 was unreadable, so we abandonned that room and found an empty class somewhere else. Students should check next week's timetable in case we are lucky enough to make the move permanent.

We looked at some more JavaScript (case statement, arithmetic operators) and saw how to do a rollover.

Slides
JS01
JS02

Thursday, March 19, 2009

SOFT6007-DCOM Web Dev 28

Students continued working on the JavaScript exercises.

We will move on next week.

Monday, March 16, 2009

SOFT6007 EVCOM 08

JavaScript

js01a.ppt

SOFT6008 26 & 27

Exercises

SOFT6007 DCOM1 Web Dev 26 & 27

Students worked on their JavaScript exercises.

SOFT6007 CA1 Results

The results of the first assessment are now available online. The last 4 digits of the student ID number provides an index in to the result.

40% was for the nested list and 60% for the image map.

This assessment was worth 20% overall.

I was disappointed by these results. It suggests that students are too used to working in copy & paste mode and are not keeping enough information in their heads. The student solutions for the nested list suggest that students do not fully grasp the structure of HTML documents.

SOFT6008 List of Exercises

Here is a list of exercises we've done so far. Each student must complete each of these. I will come looking for them.

  • Time based image (eiffel tower)

  • Rollover/li>
  • Mobile phone bills (with visualization)

  • Money counter

  • Visual exchange rate

  • Cookies

  • UCLOO

SOFT6008 25

We discussed the specification for UCLOO.

UCLOO
Player starts with 100 CIT Pesos.

Player bets a stake on the oucome of 2 random cards.
A pair (e.g. Ace of Hearts and Ace of Spades) pays 3 times the stake. (e.g. player has 80 pesos. bets 10 pesos. wins. gets 30 pesos back. Now player has 100 pesos.)
A perfect pair (e.g. King of Spades and King of Spades) pays 12 times the stake.

There are 4 suits. You can use Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs or Southern European suits or you can be creative.

There are 3 cards per suit (Jack, Queen, King, for exmaple).

That means there are only 12 different cards in total.

SOFT6007 DECOM1 Web Dev 25

We started our look at JavaScript

Thursday, March 12, 2009

SOFT6007-DCOM1 Web Dev 24

Students were asked to make a colour chart in HTML with 30 colours. The chart should also display the HEX colour code.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

SOFT6008 24

I missed the latest timetable change, and so turned up to class one hour late. Sorry about that guys. We're not having a great week.

Watch the timetable next week. Because I was told it was moving back again.

SOFT6008 22 & 23

{Monday 09 March 2009}

Colin wasn't feeling well so these two lab classes were cancelled.

SOFT6007-ITM LAb 06

Students worked on their frames exercise.

SOFT6007-EVCOM 07

We had an in-class assessment.

No student stayed to continue class afterwards so we called it a night early.

Monday, March 9, 2009

SOFT6007 DCOM Web Dev 22 & 23

We looked at the CMYK and RGB color systems and the RRGGBB system for HTML.

{Colin wasn't feeling well so he left at 1540}

SOFT6008 21

Nothing special today. Students worked away on the various exercises. Some students have a lot of catching up to do.