Attendance
Classes missed will affect your final participation grade. However, TWO classes may be missed without a large effect on your final grade. Save these for genuine emergencies. Your final course grade will drop one full letter grade for each additional class missed, i.e. If you miss 3 classes and the grade earned is a “B” it will drop to a “C”.
Students who are casual about taking absences should not expect leniency when an absence is truly needed. Documented serious illness with a doctor’s note and family emergencies are the only excused absences. Students with documented serious medical problems or learning disabilities should consult with me at the beginning of the quarter.
Arrive on time and plan to be in class for the full three hours. To be counted in attendance, you must be present for the entire class. You are expected to be present for the work times as well as the presentations. Asynchronous arrivals or departures disrupt the flow of the class. Attendance at all critiques is mandatory–even if your own project is not complete.
Absences will affect grades. Too much class time missed makes it difficult to complete the necessary requirements of the course, since lectures, critiques, computer lab sessions, and demonstrations are impossible to make-up or recapture. It is the student’s responsibility to insure that he/she is accounted present by signing in.
Tardiness
All students must be consistently on time for class. Likewise students who disappear during class time, leave class early, or extend break time, will be accounted tardy. If you are tardy it will affect your final participation grade and for every 3 tardies they will be counted as an official absence.
Deadlines
Please view deadlines as a critical professional responsibility. Late work is accepted only until the next course session and will be dropped one full letter grade. Work will not be accepted any later than the next course session after the due date and will result in a zero for that project. No exceptions. Students must arrive at class with their projects fully prepared and ready to be critiqued or turned in.
Unfinished work and work not turned in at the designated time is considered late and will be reduced by a partial letter grade the day of the critique. Also, even if your work is finished on time and you are not present for critique with an unexcused absence, your grade will be reduced a partial letter grade.
Technical Difficulties & Service Failure
Technical difficulties, hardware/software problems, printer problems and network failure are never an acceptable excuse for not meeting a deadline. Students are challenged to acquire the life skill of working in advance of deadlines and backing up work. Students should always backup their work to the cloud or a flash drive. Never work directly from the (U) Drive or your flash drive, because it is much slower and can cause problems. Work on the desktop and remember to save to your flash drive when you are finished.
Technical Instruction
With the extreme amount of technical possibilities, limited class time, and problems that always seem to occur with technology, I may not be able to answer all of your specific technical problems immediately. I will of course do my best to help everyone, but I expect you to explore the technical problems on your own using the provided links and required reference books and each other. This is a great opportunity for collaboration and an essential part of learning how to survive in website creation after you enter the design field.You will be learning how to learn, how to problem solve.
Asset Creation
Assets are photos, illustrations, icons, images, sound, video or any other media element which is incorporated into a project.
Every element must be original or completely copyright-free. Don’t just go find some stock images and put them on your website and leave them exactly as you found them. Make it your own original element. That goes for sound and video as well. If it is copyright-free and you use it – still make it your own.
It is a win-win situation for everyone if you as a designer create original work. It is a much better portfolio piece when you create everything and no explanations are needed to differentiate your skill-set from someone else’s.
Critiques
Each project will be presented and critiqued with oral and/or written peer comment. Think of both presentation and critique in the professional environment. Imagine that you are presenting your project to a client, creative team members or a prospective employer.
Professionalism & Courtesy
As designers-in-training you are expected to conduct yourself in a professional manner. Poor classroom behavior will affect your final participation grade. This aspect is comprised of conduct, participation, and preparedness. All work is expected to be presented and discussed professionally. Plagiarism, cheating, or any academic dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be reported.
Computer Lab Use
Use of the computer labs is a privilege. Users must not download software updates or trial versions. Users must not engage in illegal activities such as sharing of music or software. Equipment must not be used to copy, replicate, or in any way violate trademark, license, or copyright. If in doubt, ask. Computers and software must not be used for commercial purposes.
