CPE9005 Web development - Semester 1 , 2008

Caulfield

• Des Casey

Prerequisites

No specific units, just entry into any master's degree of the faculty

Relationships

CPE9005 is a postgradute unit available to all postgraduate students in the Faculty, where their degree rules permit.

Unit leader

Lecturer(s) :

This unit is offered in flexible mode. Students learn from the purpose designed website which contains learning materials including audio lectures, exercises, quizzes, personal note taking. There are also on-campus and online real time help sessions.

Task based learning is used: students have only one deadline: the end of the semester, by which time they need to have completed the 9 tasks. Tasks are corrected progressively as they are submitted.

The content is not presented as weekly topics, but as a specific task, and then associated learning materials that need to be mastered in order to complete the task.

There are also learning quizzes and sub-tasks to help progress to the major task.

Communication, participation and feedback

Monash aims to provide a learning environment in which students receive a range of ongoing feedback throughout their studies. You will receive feedback on your work and progress in this unit. This may take the form of group feedback, individual feedback, peer feedback, self-comparison, verbal and written feedback, discussions (on line and in class) as well as more formal feedback related to assignment marks and grades. You are encouraged to draw on a variety of feedback to enhance your learning.

It is essential that you take action immediately if you realise that you have a problem that is affecting your study. Semesters are short, so we can help you best if you let us know as soon as problems arise. Regardless of whether the problem is related directly to your progress in the unit, if it is likely to interfere with your progress you should discuss it with your lecturer or a Community Service counsellor as soon as possible.

Unit Schedule

Week	Topic	Key dates
1	Introduction to networks. The structure of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Servers and browsers. Navigating the web. Information retrieval. Mark up language.Structure of a HTML document. Text formatting.Ordered and unordered lists.	n/a
2	Links to other documents. Absolute and relative URLs. Links to other parts of a document. Embedding links to email, news, ftp. Web pages and graphics. Internet image formats. Working with images. Clickable images and image maps.	n/a
3	Other graphics formats. Sourcing image. Creating vector graphics and bitmap images. Animated GIFs. Elements of tables. Alignment. Table and cell size. Row and column spanning. Nested tables. Applications for tables.	n/a
4	Style sheets. Basic syntax. Properties for backgrounds and boxes. Properties for lists and text. Inheritance. Contextual selectors. Cascading. Classes. Layers	n/a
Mid semester break
5	Concept of frames. Use of the Frameset container. Use of the Frame tag. Targeted frames.	n/a
6	Some general features of web page writing. Some categories of web pages. Common conventions. Designing pages for multiple screen resolutions. Introduction to graphic design. Working with colour. Typography. Visual elements.Laying out a page.	n/a
7	Browser plug-ins. Audio: files and formats. Video: files and formats.	n/a
8	Forms: elements, formatting and design. Processing forms. An introduction to Javascript. An introduction to Java applets.	n/a
9	Introduction to Wireless. WAP 2.0 and XHTML-MP. Syntax of XHTML-MP	n/a
10	WAP style sheets, accommodating user agents. Organisational framework. Grouping content and activities. Using hierarchies. Case study: building a hierarchy. User tasks.Page types. The design specification	n/a
11	What is XML? Writing XML elements. Schemas: Document Type Definitions. DTDs: defining elements and attributes. DTDs: entities. Well-formed XML documents. DTDs: building valid documents.	n/a
12	XML documents and CSSs	n/a
13	Revision.	n/a

Prescribed text(s) and readings

None

Recommended text(s) and readings

Castro, Elizabeth. HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS, Peachpit Press; Berkeley CA, 5 edition, 2003

Required software and/or hardware

The following software can be downloaded from the unit web site. This software is also available in designated laboratories

 Firefox. Browser

Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 6.0 or later. Browser for viewing web pages.

40tude HTML Editor

Top Style Lite Editor

Install Zip.

XML Writer Version 2

Microsoft XML Component (MSXML 4).

WS-ftp.

Openwave Phone Emulator (Version 7.0).

Software may be:

• downloaded from http://walkabout.netcomp.monash.edu.au
• purchased at academic price at good software retailers

Equipment and consumables required or provided

Students may use the facilities available in the computing labs. Information about computer use for students is available from the ITS Student Resource Guide in the Monash University Handbook. You will need to allocate up to 8 hours per week for use of a computer.

Study resources

Study resources we will provide for your study are:

The CPE9005 website, http://walkabout.infotech.monash.edu.au/walkabout/FIT1011 where lecture materials, audio lectures, tutorial exercises, assignment specifications, sample exam and supplementary materials are posted.

Library access

The Monash University Library site contains details about borrowing rights and catalogue searching. To learn more about the library and the various resources available, please go to http://www.lib.monash.edu.au.  Be sure to obtain a copy of the Library Guide, and if necessary, the instructions for remote access from the library website.

Monash University Studies Online (MUSO)

All unit and lecture materials are available through MUSO (Monash University Studies Online). Blackboard is the primary application used to deliver your unit resources. Some units will be piloted in Moodle.

You can access MUSO and Blackboard via the portal (http://my.monash.edu.au).

Click on the Study and enrolment tab, then Blackboard under the MUSO learning systems.

In order for your Blackboard unit(s) to function correctly, your computer needs to be correctly configured.

For example :

• Blackboard supported browser
• Supported Java runtime environment

For more information, please visit

http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/downloadables-student.html

You can contact the MUSO Support by: Phone: (+61 3) 9903 1268

For further contact information including operational hours, please visit

http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/contact.html

Further information can be obtained from the MUSO support site:

http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/index.html

If your unit is piloted in Moodle, you will see a link from your Blackboard unit to Moodle at http://moodle.med.monash.edu.au.
From the Faculty of Information Technology category, click on the link for your unit.

Unit assessment policy

To pass this unit, a student must obtain :

• 40% or more in the unit's examination and
• 40% or more in the unit's non-examination assessment
   and
• an overall unit mark of 50% or more

If a student does not achieve 40% or more in the unit examination or the unit non-examination assessment then a mark of no greater than 44-N will be recorded for the unit.

Assignment tasks

• Assignment Task

  Title : Practical assignments

  Description :

  This unit uses task based learning. The practical assignments take the form of nine  tasks, completed in the course of the unit. These tasks take the place of the conventional large assignments.

  Each task typically requires the student to complete or modify a small web application, and publish it to the web.

  Weighting : 41%

  Criteria for assessment :

  Each task comes with a detailed assessment spreadsheet showing the criteria for assessment. Criteria include the completion of the details web site specifications.

  Due date : End of semester

  Remarks ( optional - leave blank for none ) :

  This unit gives students flexibility with their time. Students may submit tasks at any time throughout the smester. Tasks are corrected at a number of published task correction points. Students gain tak feedback though correction sheets and at on campus or online help sessions

• Assignment Task

  Title : Unit exercises

  Description :

  Students complete unit exercises in the form of nine timed online quizzes during the semester, each of 10 questions. Quizzes test the material learned in nine of the tasks.

  Weighting : 9% of final mark

  Criteria for assessment :

  Quizzes are multiple choice: right or wrong

  Due date : Students can take at any time during the semester

  Remarks ( optional - leave blank for none ) :

  Like the tasks themselves, the attached quizzes may be taken at any time throughout the semester.  These are computer corrected and results given to students as they finish the quiz

Examinations

• Examination

  Weighting : 50%

  Length : 3 hours

  Type ( open/closed book ) : Closed book

Assignment submission

Assignments will be submitted by ftp to the student server. The due date is the date by which the submission must be received. Quizzes and exercises are submitted through the Walkabout web site.

Due dates and extensions

The due dates for the submission of assignments are given in the previous section. Please make every effort to submit work by the due dates. It is your responsibility to structure your study program around assignment deadlines, family, work and other commitments. Factors such as normal work pressures, vacations, etc. are seldom regarded as appropriate reasons for granting extensions. Students are advised to NOT assume that granting of an extension is a matter of course.

The only deadline for submitted work is the end of the semester. If you students wish to apply for an extension, then the procedure given on the unit website needs to be followed.

Late assignment

Late submission of tasks are not accepted for correction, and zero marks are awarded accordingly. The only exception to this is in the case of illness or other serious cause. In any such cases, proper third party documentation (e.g. a doctor's certificate) would have to be supplied. Where a doctor's certificate is supplied, then an extension may be allowed for time specified on the doctor's certificate.

Return dates

Students can expect assignments to be returned within two weeks of the submission date or after receipt, whichever is later.

Assessment for the unit as a whole is in accordance with the provisions of the Monash University Education Policy at http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/assessment/

Task assessment spread sheets will be completed and placed in the student's directory on the student server. Students are notified of a corrected task by email and SMS message.

The task assessment spreadsheet contains information on plagiarism, and the student declaration that all submitted work is the student's own.

Plagiarism, cheating and collusion

Plagiarism and cheating are regarded as very serious offences. In cases where cheating  has been confirmed, students have been severely penalised, from losing all marks for an assignment, to facing disciplinary action at the Faculty level. While we would wish that all our students adhere to sound ethical conduct and honesty, I will ask you to acquaint yourself with Student Rights and Responsibilities (http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/about/committees-groups/facboard/policies/studrights.html) and the Faculty regulations that apply to students detected cheating as these will be applied in all detected cases.

In this University, cheating means seeking to obtain an unfair advantage in any examination or any other written or practical work to be submitted or completed by a student for assessment. It includes the use, or attempted use, of any means to gain an unfair advantage for any assessable work in the unit, where the means is contrary to the instructions for such work. 

When you submit an individual assessment item, such as a program, a report, an essay, assignment or other piece of work, under your name you are understood to be stating that this is your own work. If a submission is identical with, or similar to, someone else's work, an assumption of cheating may arise. If you are planning on working with another student, it is acceptable to undertake research together, and discuss problems, but it is not acceptable to jointly develop or share solutions unless this is specified by your lecturer. 

Intentionally providing students with your solutions to assignments is classified as "assisting to cheat" and students who do this may be subject to disciplinary action. You should take reasonable care that your solution is not accidentally or deliberately obtained by other students. For example, do not leave copies of your work in progress on the hard drives of shared computers, and do not show your work to other students. If you believe this may have happened, please be sure to contact your lecturer as soon as possible.

Cheating also includes taking into an examination any material contrary to the regulations, including any bilingual dictionary, whether or not with the intention of using it to obtain an advantage.

Plagiarism involves the false representation of another person's ideas, or findings, as your own by either copying material or paraphrasing without citing sources. It is both professional and ethical to reference clearly the ideas and information that you have used from another writer. If the source is not identified, then you have plagiarised work of the other author. Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty that is insulting to the reader and grossly unfair to your student colleagues.

Register of counselling about plagiarism

The university requires faculties to keep a simple and confidential register to record counselling to students about plagiarism (e.g. warnings). The register is accessible to Associate Deans Teaching (or nominees) and, where requested, students concerned have access to their own details in the register. The register is to serve as a record of counselling about the nature of plagiarism, not as a record of allegations; and no provision of appeals in relation to the register is necessary or applicable.

Non-discriminatory language

The Faculty of Information Technology is committed to the use of non-discriminatory language in all forms of communication. Discriminatory language is that which refers in abusive terms to gender, race, age, sexual orientation, citizenship or nationality, ethnic or language background, physical or mental ability, or political or religious views, or which stereotypes groups in an adverse manner. This is not meant to preclude or inhibit legitimate academic debate on any issue; however, the language used in such debate should be non-discriminatory and sensitive to these matters. It is important to avoid the use of discriminatory language in your communications and written work. The most common form of discriminatory language in academic work tends to be in the area of gender inclusiveness. You are, therefore, requested to check for this and to ensure your work and communications are non-discriminatory in all respects.

Students with disabilities

Students with disabilities that may disadvantage them in assessment should seek advice from one of the following before completing assessment tasks and examinations:

• Faculty of Information Technology Student Service staff, and / or
• your Unit Coordinator, or
• Disabilities Liaison Unit

Deferred assessment and special consideration

Deferred assessment (not to be confused with an extension for submission of an assignment) may be granted in cases of extenuating personal circumstances such as serious personal illness or bereavement. Information and forms for Special Consideration and deferred assessment applications are available at http://www.monash.edu.au/exams/special-consideration.html. Contact the Faculty's Student Services staff at your campus for further information and advice.