Learning Support Centre

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

http://learningsupport.cit.ie

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.

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.

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

Email: z.yang@ucc.ie

Application Deadline: 30^th June 2009

COMP6023 Paper

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

A. 2500

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

SOFT6007 EVCOM 12

We had an in-class JavaScript exam.