My name is Tom Brady, the course developer, and I’d like to talk about some important topics related to taking this course online. I’ll discuss how to get into the course and what to do after you get there. I hope you enjoy this way of learning. Many have come this way before you and the feedback has been very positive. The biggest problem is usually the amount of time a student puts into the course. If you are taking this course on the campus you need to be putting at least three hours of class room time and about double that amount in non-classroom time. That’s about nine hours a week as a minimum. Online only students need to budget nine hours of homework time per week. If you think you can do this course by committing less time than that you probably won’t be successful. This type of class requires personal discipline in order to keep up with the assignments and reading. Waiting until the last minute to start working on an assignment will be incredibly frustrating for you. In programming you find that sometimes you just "hit the wall" and need help to progress. If you try to do your assignment that's due at midnight starting at 10pm you will not be successful. The best strategy is for you to set aside certain hours each week to work on the course materiel. Short times periods many times a week is the best strategy rather than trying to do a "all day Saturday" death march. If you commit to this class you will be successful.
The knowledge you will gain from this course will allow you understand the basics of computer programming. You will learn to write programs using two different types of tools and have your programs run in different environments. You might being saying to yourself, "I don't want to be a programmer!" Well, this course is actually developed for non-programmers. The first programming class for programming students is the first C++ class CPT 232. This class is more about problem solving in a structured way. No matter what type of information technology professional you want to be you will be presented with problems. Understanding and using a structured way of solving problems will be a useful tool to you during your entire career. You are here because you want to some day be a computer professional and make a lot of money so, you should be striving to finish this class with an A! I’ll do my part in helping you, now you must do your part to get off to a good start.
We have students with diverse backgrounds in this class. Some have already written computer programs while most others have no experience at all. I would hope that the more experienced students would assist the least experienced students because it really enhances the learning of all the students. Regardless, you will be learning the tools to create computer programs to solve specific problems.
I hope that you will use each other to help you through the course. The discussion board is the perfect tool for this. If you have a question, or don’t understand a concept or assignment, ask the class by posting your question to the bulletin board. If you have the question, probably dozens of other students have the same question so please don’t be shy to ask. If you already know everything about programming then you should look at the postings and share your expertise with the rest of the class. The discussion board should be the best part of this course. I will do my part by sharing information and posting my movie reviews since I see just about every movie that comes out. Feel free to use the discussion board to share non course related materiel since that motivates students to log on often to see what’s new.
WARNING!!!! I encourage students to help each other but you need to be careful. Never give another student your problem statement, flow chart or code files to look at. When you do that the temptation to turn in those files as their own becomes too great and that's considered cheating. When I get two files that are almost identical then both students receive a zero for that assignment and could cause both student to given an F in the class. So, be careful and do not share files with anyone but me.
Contact information:
Name: Tom Brady (call me Tom!)
Office: Bldg 200 (Business Technology building), Room 132
Phone: (843) 574-6084
Email: Tom Brady
Emergency email: tom.brady@tridenttech.edu
Just because you are a virtual student doesn’t mean you can’t call me or come by for a visit. In fact, I encourage you to do so. I even keep a bowl of candy in my office so students who are dragging because of low blood sugar can come by, elevate their sugar level,
and find a quiet oasis in the middle of the hustle bustle of campus life. Feel free to stop by and say hi anytime.
There are links to videos on the home page of this course that shows you how use all the course tools. I highly recommend you view those videos if this is the first time you are taking an online or mixed mode course.
Log on often
Be sure to log on as often as you can, as I’m still developing some of the content, and improving the stuff that is available. So keep checking back often! I’ll post messages on the discussion board when I add something significant or make any significant changes to the site. You may also see some changes in the form of new links on the opening pages.
Schedule
The course content page has a link to all the assignments and tutorials. It also has the schedule for you to keep track of what you should be doing. Be sure that you follow that schedule because if you fall behind in this class it is difficult to catch up. I try to remind you via email and the discussion board when specific assignments are due but ultimately it is your responsibility to keep track of assignment and test due dates.
Course content
I recommend you examine all the links early on to see what’s available. Everything you need to be successful is contained on the course content page where you found the link to this page.
I recommend you set up a strict schedule to organize your study for this class, then stick to that schedule. You will most definitely need to dedicate quite a bit of time in reading the text, doing the lab books and then reading my discussions in your effort to make heads or tails of each topic. Make a schedule and stick to it! If you get behind, you’ll find that this class, like no other, is very difficult to catch up in—so don’t let it happen!
Primary email will be through D2L email within our course but please feel free
to email me via my.tridenttech.edu or
tom.brady@tridenttech.edu or, if you need immediate help give me a call at
574-6084.
Homework assignments
All assignments are listed in the online schedule. To turn in your assignments, go to the drop box area of the website. You will see the link to the drop box on the navigation on the home page. All assignments will be uploaded to the "drop box" section of website. Please name the attached file in such a way as to indicate exactly what it is and your last name.
If for some reason you have trouble with the drop box functions, let me know early, before the first assignment is due!
Late assignments and tests will be handled as follows: your grade on the assignment will be reduced 10% for every 3 days (72 hours) that the assignment is late. The time of receipt will be the time stamped by D2L when it was uploaded. If you have any problems uploading the assignment, email or call me and leave a message prior to the assignment due date & time.
Discussion board
The discussion board is a way for the whole class to communicate together. When you post there everyone can see it. Be sure not to post assignments other than the bio or web page assignments to the discussion board, they must be uploaded to drop box.
Questions
If you have any questions of a general nature, you can either send email or post a question on the discussion board. I’ll respond to the discussion board question publicly so that all can see the response. Everyone can answer questions on the discussion board so feel free to chime in if you know the answer. There are a lot of questions like "when is assignment 3 due" or "where do we submit our assignments" and those are easily answered by fellow students. If a student has a problem with an assignment try not to just give the answer but help them understand what they might be doing wrong (remember, never share your files). If it’s something of a personal nature, of course, feel free to send me email and I’ll respond privately.
Exam procedures
All testing is done online. Your tests will be very similar to the assignments so be sure you work through the lessons, then do the assignments both of those prepare you for the tests.
Grades
All of your grades are available to you in the "grades" section of the website.
Critique
That’s you of me. What I mean is that I need your (constructive) feedback on what I can do to improve the site itself. Any suggestions for improved navigation, what would aid you in your study, etc, are heartily encouraged. You will be notified during the semester via your my.tridenttech.edu email account of where to go on the Internet to give your feedback about this class. This is called the SECI (student evaluation of course and instructor. I encourage you to send back a response so we can improve this course in the future. The check off numbers aren't as important as the comments you type that are postive about the things you liked and the negative for things that you wish we would improve. I welcome both types of comments.
Well, I hope you enjoy the course and this is a start to a successful academic career
leading to a great job and a bright future!
Keep a positive spirit about it and good luck along the way. If there’s anything I can do to help, I’m only a phone call or an email away!