The World Wide Web: Digital Awareness

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The World Wide Web: Digital Awareness

Fall 2002 - September 9, 2002 to December 18, 2002

Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays - 2:10 PM – 3:25 PM - Room B-015

Computer Lab – CC103

Website Access:

(Then, click the WebCT link and login)

(Other option:

Instructor:Dr. Gloria Edwards

Office: (609) 652-4636; Room E-216c (2nd floor of the Library)

E-Mail:

Office Hours: Mon. & Wed. 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM; also by appointment

Course Description: The World Wide Web is more than a database of information for those seeking wisdom, knowledge and information OR a playground for disseminating your opinion on whatever. It is a phenomenal technology that has exposed millions to the true power of on-demand communications – or is it? This course facilitates an awareness of issues relevant to knowledge, meaning, wealth, control, exclusion, and their impact on various societies.

Goals and Objectives: This course is a Freshman Seminar. Its purpose is to assist incoming freshman in developing and demonstrating the communicative skills of speaking, listening, writing, and reading in a class small enough to allow the full expression of these capabilities as well as to allow ample individualized attention. In addition to the communication skills, students will develop their capacities for critical judgment, including reasoning and appreciation. Freshman Seminars serve as a foundation in preparing you for a college experience that encourages analytical thinking and inquiry based upon the subject matter, in this case – The World Wide Web: Digital Awareness. During the semester you will have numerous opportunities to develop and demonstrate these skills as you:

1. explore the World Wide Web for information and statistics on global WWW access, use and cost.
2. investigate the information and statistics in one of the contexts provided by the instructor.
3. question the validity of the information presented to confirm your understanding of who gets to use the WWW, who does not, and why,
4. work with your team to present one digital awareness story, via a variety of media formats, from the perspective of digital high, digital lie or digital divide,
5. adhere to principles of academic integrity as part of your digital awareness journey by refraining from stealing information from the WWW, which constitutes academic dishonesty,
6. make attitude adjustments to cope with the diversity of perspectives and instructional methods,
7. expand your technology skills through varied and consistent use of the WWW and basic software applications, and
8. complete a 20-hour in-service project that allows you to contribute some aspect of your technology expertise towards closing the digital divide gap.

POLICIES

Attendance: This is NOT a distance-learning course. You are expected to attend each Monday, Wednesday and Friday class. It is your choice whether or not to adhere to this policy. Failure to do so, however, will severely impact your grade. Because unavoidable circumstances do occur, two absences will be allowed during the semester. USE THEM WISELY! You will be penalized 10 points for being absent effective with the third absence and through your sixth absence. Beginning with your seventh absence, every increment of three absences will result in your final grade being lowered by an entire grade. Emergency situations (serious illnesses, death in the family, etc.) will be addressed in cooperation with the Office of the Dean of Students.

Lateness and Early Departures: You are expected to be in your seats ready to begin class at exactly 2:10 PM. Class ends at exactly 3:25 PM. You will be held accountable for timely arrival and departure. A door closing, loud footsteps that compete with an instructor’s voice, stepping over students who are trying to listen or write, and/or asking questions that have already been asked and answered are all very annoying. Late arrivals AND early departures will cost you five points for each five minute increment or part thereof up to a maximum of 10 minutes, which equals a penalty of 10 points. If you are more than 10 minutes late or depart early from class by more than 10 minutes, you are considered absent irrespective of your late arrival and/or early departure and will be penalized accordingly.

Submission of Work: Excluding unforeseen circumstances, if you don’t have time to do your work right the first time, it will be literally impossible to find time to redo it and also keep up with current assignments. Even a little procrastination can be your worse enemy, whereas the smallest effort towards the use of good time management strategies will reap rewards every time. Conceptually, each assignment builds upon preceding ones, so that being late with one will in all probability delay your work on subsequent assignments and cause a domino effect in lost points. If you need help managing your time and/or monitoring your assignment deadlines, please visit the Time Management for University Students website located at or see the instructor.

With this in mind, ALL submitted assignments unless specifically requested otherwise, are to be typed. Additionally, such work is expected to be of the quality appropriate to college students irrespective of class rank. Significant penalty points will be applied for sloppy, illegible, careless, thoughtless, and/or “thrown together at the last minute” work. Manage your time accordingly and take the time to proofread your assignments to make sure they are relatively free of typographical and/or grammatical errors.

As you prepare to submit your assignments, please make sure that your name is on your paper. When multiple sheets of any one assignment are submitted, they cannot be submitted loose, paper-clipped, or dog-eared. They must be stapled together securely. Do not submit assignments within a plastic sheet or 3-hole folder, nor add a cover sheet to assignments unless specifically requested to do so. The instructor reserves the right to apply penalty points AND/OR return, ungraded, any and all work that does not meet these standards. Expect a minimum of five penalty points for each occurrence of the above if you choose to ignore these baseline standards. Additionally, assignments returned ungraded will receive zero (0) points with the option of resubmitting the assignment correctly, however, resubmitted assignments will be considered late and penalized accordingly. Instructions will be covered in class regarding the correct procedures for submitting your assignments electronically when requested as part of the class assignment.

Assignments submitted on time will normally be reviewed, initialed by the instructor, and returned approximately 1 week following submission. Assignments submitted late will normally be reviewed, initialed by the instructor, and returned approximately 2 weeks after submission. Scores will be posted in WebCT and available for viewing via the World Wide Web. All returned assignments are to be retained by you until your final grade has been received from the Registrar. Since returned assignments will serve as evidence of your performance, all grade discrepancies must be resolved no later than 1 week following the 1-2 week timeframe specified above. If for some reason your assignment is not returned to you initialed and graded within the 1-2 week timeframe, you MUST speak to the instructor immediately following such timeframe.

Late Submission of Assignments: A late assignment is defined as one, which was not received by the established deadline. Unless specified otherwise, assignments are due on the established deadline no later than the beginning of class. Assignments submitted late will be penalized 20% of the total possible points for each partial and/or each full week of lateness until the assignment is submitted. Additionally, all late assignments must contain a typed, formal statement on 8 1/2" by 11" paper. The statement must acknowledge that the assignment is being submitted late. It should also specify the exact date the assignment was due and the exact date that the assignment was actually submitted. Submission of late assignments must be made in person. Even if all possible points have been lost due to extreme lateness, assignments must still be submitted. If any outstanding assignments are not submitted by the last class session of the semester, your final grade will be reduced by one full grade for each missing assignment even if the assignment upon submission is worth zero points.

One assignment AKA the trump card, however, will be accepted as late from each student during the semester with no penalty as long as it is submitted no later than one week past the established due date AND as long as the one week deadline does not exceed the last formal day of class. You are still required to include a typed, formal statement on 8 1/2" by 11" paper, however; in this case you also request that the assignment be graded without penalty.

NOTE: These statements are the responsibility of the student and are not retroactive once an assignment has been submitted. Please understand that the penalty for submitting a late assignment should not significantly affect your grade unless you habitually submit late assignments. Carefully weigh a situation and make a quality decision as to when it is to your advantage to submit an assignment late. In most cases, the 20% penalty is far less than the loss of points incurred for submitting an unacceptable assignment thrown together at the last minute just to make the deadline.

Time Commitment: Successful completion of the course will require that at a minimum you invest as many preparatory/study hours outside of class as are scheduled to be spent in class. This equals approximately 4 hours of study/preparatory time each week (56 hours for the semester). You will also need access to a computer in order to complete portions of the class assignments. Computer Services (652-4340) provides access to numerous computer labs across campus that are open until 10 PM weeknights, including the Lakeside Center Micro Lab, which is open seven days a week, 24 hours each day excluding legal and/or campus holidays. Please make use of this service as necessary. If you have private access to a computer, you are free to use your computer to complete portions of the assignments making sure the software standard(s) is met. If you do not have access to a computer outside of class/lab time, it is your responsibility to make time to come on campus and use the computer facilities and/or make alternate arrangements.

Organizational Responsibilities:A number of handouts will be distributed throughout the semester. Please use a 1 1/2” to 2" three-ring loose-leaf binder with 5-7 dividers to organize your class materials. Your readings are on-line. Print and place them in your binder for reading, annotation, and study. Everything that is available online need not be printed as some activities must take place online via interactive Websites. The instructor will help you make decisions as to what must be printed.

Special Needs: I am very sensitive to the needs of students who are physically challenged and/or have learning challenges. Special services are available for students with disabilities. If you have a documented learning disability on file at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey that requires academic adjustments, please make an appointment with me to discuss your needs as soon as possible so that accommodations can be made for you. All information will be kept confidential. Please let us help make your learning experience at Stockton an enjoyable and successful one. If you believe you have a learning disability or challenge, but it is not documented, please see me so that I can point you towards the appropriate services.

Academic Integrity: All students should aspire to high standards of academic honesty. This class encourages collaboration and the exchange of ideas. However, students are expected to do original work, to do their own work except for group assignments, and to properly reference sources when using information from authors/others. All work submitted in fulfillment of class assignments is expected to be the work of the student(s) who submit(s) it. Please be advised that, “cheating, plagiarism, or knowingly furnishing false information to the College are acts of dishonesty” and constitute misconduct, which cannot and will not be tolerated. Students violating the general standards of conduct are subject to administrative action or disciplinary penalties. As such, the first offense for violating this ruling relevant to this course will result in an automatic failure grade for the assignment. The second offense will result in an automatic failure grade for the course and referral to the Office of the Dean of Students for further action.

Attitude: You are expected to exhibit an attitude of respect and civility towards your fellow classmates and your instructors while on the Stockton campus. Your behavior contributes to your character and as a student, you represent this institution. Take pride in yourself and your college and refrain from any behavior, whether verbal language and/or body language, that could tarnish the reputation of either.

ASSIGNMENTS/PROJECTS.

Class Participation: This is a freshman seminar course and on going, in-class and on-line participation is expected. A sufficient number of points have been allocated to class participation. Those who demonstrate that the merits of sharing knowledge and expertise is important, and that the use of inquiry as a means of clarification and understanding contributes to learning will be compensated with points equivalent to their contributions. If you are absent and therefore unable to participate when in-class participation points are available, you automatically forfeit those points due to non-participation. A total of 22 class participation sessions will take place during the semester. The lowest two will be dropped, however, to hopefully alleviate anxiety when one or two unavoidable absences occur.

Five-Minute Papers: Reading assignments are an important component most course on campus. It is therefore important that you adjust to the rigors of college reading and devote consistent quality time to this activity. Writing assignments, called 5-Minute Papers, will take place every Monday beginning September 16th to allow you to demonstrate this commitment. If you are absent and therefore unable to participate in the 5-Minute Paper assignments, you automatically forfeit those points. A total of 12 class participation sessions will take place during the semester. The lowest two will be dropped, however, to hopefully alleviate anxiety when one or two unavoidable absences occur.

In-Service Project: The proof in demonstrating what you know is your ability to teach or share it with others. Share your technology expertise with individuals who have few if any opportunities to learn about the World Wide Web. Or get involved doing Internet research with local organizations in close proximity to Stockton that need your help. Only 20 hours of your time will be required during the semester and this time has been factored into the amount of time you must devote to the course outside the classroom. Four lab sessions will take place as part of the class instruction that will get you up to speed surfing the Web, searching the Web, researching the Web, and helping others to do the same. Placement will be made during the first week of the course and a final paper of your experience will be required. Guidelines for the paper will be provided during the first half of the semester.

World Wide Web Assignments: There will be four very specific WWW assignments as part of your digital awareness journey. Each coincides with computer lab instruction and classroom demonstrations that take place during the semester. These assignments force you into unorganized cyberspace and require you to strategically maneuver through the maze of information on the WWW to find what you want. Finding what you really want, however, requires critical thinking and analytical foresight. Of the four assignments, the lowest one will be dropped to alleviate anxiety if you are inadvertently absence.

Team Project and Presentation: The ability to work as a team is an important 21st century skill that should not be taken lightly. Working on a team helps to build your interpersonal skills and forces you to see situations from perspectives other than your own. Being part of a team helps you build skills of persuasion, compromise, negotiation and tact. It is not necessary to like those you work with, but it is important that you learn to work with problematical people as well as those who are easy to get along with. Six separate teams will be established to investigate the digital divide from a global perspective. What you discover must be formally presented to the class inclusive of handouts. The entire class will define the criteria for the presentation.

Plagiarism Paper: Educators are concerned about the growth of plagiarism amongst students. Some even point the accusing finger towards the phenomenal impact of the Internet and the World Wide Web. What is plagiarism and why are students doing it? Is the World Wide Web and recent technologies the problem or are there other factors that contribute to this problem? What’s the real penalty for plagiarism? Write a paper on the subject from a student’s perspective and proves your point from resources available via the World Wide Web. Specifics regarding the paper will be discussed in class.