GOALS BCT 400

Course Reader as Community Service

BACKGROUND

Sometimes you want to give colleagues a list of Internet sites. You can write the site addresses in a list and give them copies, but there's a better way. We call it a COURSE READER. See What is a course reader? A PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Price.

You can hand someone a disk that has active links to the Internet. For teachers, this is particularly helpful. If you want, you can put your list on the Internet and let the students and/or friends download it, as you did the list of readings for this class.

For this class you will develop a COURSE READER that consists of links to topics; this will be a Course Reader for an area school teacher. Your course reader will be given to one or more teachers for use as a resource for their teaching activities. This is a good example of sharing your knowledge and skills as a Community Service. Here's an example of a Course Reader for on Natural Disasters. This is the kind of COURSE READER we want you to prepare for your activity. Below is a list of topics. You are to make your COURSE READER for one of these topics; be sure to read the grading criteria for the particular items that are to be included.

COURSE READER TOPICS

NOTE: You are to select your individual Course Reader topic but be sure to get it approved by the Professor before you begin.

LIST OF TECH TOPICS FOR COLLEGE AGED STUDENTS:

How to use an overhead projector
How to use a filmstrip projector
All about digital cameras
Digital cameras and classroom projects
Tips for buying a personal laminator
The types of scan converters
DVD: what it is and how it works
CD ROMS: How they are made
Visual Presenters including BARCO and ELMO
Multimedia: Examples from My Field
Steps in setting up an old fashioned slide projector
About Audio Formats....
Types of earphones for use with your computer
What is Napster and how does it work?
What is MP3 and how does it work?
What are language translators and how do they work?
How are Audio Cassettes made?
What is the difference between analog and digital?
What is JAVA?
What is MPEG and for what is it used?
What is a web cam? How do you use it?
What is shareware and where do you find it?
What is DVD and how does it work?
AOL's AOL@school program http://school.aol.com
Children's Online Privacy Act (1998)
web radio (what is it? how does it work?)
KidPix basics
Thinkquest (what is is? examples)

LIST OF TECH TOPICS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS:

Anything on scripting and/or producting a radio program for/by middle school students
technology projects (non-computer)for math and science
computer curriculum for middle grades
middle school computer activities
web radio in schools
Kids and email (ideas/projects)

If you have some other topic that is not on the list, send an email to your professor..

For this assignment, send an email to your assignment mailbox (goals400@bamaed.ua.edu) for GOALS 400 listing the topic you have selected. You will get an email back with the approval or other suggestions.
You will receive 5 points when it is approved (Assignment 7)

Your Course Reader is going to have categories within the list, as seen in the examples. The precise nature of the categories will be determined by what is on your list. If you are not sure, confer with the Professor. Your Course Reader should have the links and brief description like that shown in the Natural Disasters Course Reader. Don't forget to look at the SAMPLES included, too.

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS: Assignment 8

As you find sites on the Internet that you will think you might want in your course reader, you are going to BOOKMARK them. From there you are going to make your COURSE READER for this course. Here's how you will make it. See the later sections of these instructions about the specific contents.

IF USING COMPOSER, here are the instructions:

Write the titles of your categories in Composer leaving room between them.
Open Netscape and look for sites. When a site is found, use copy to copy the address.
Switch to Composer, place the cursor where you want the link to be and click on the Link button.
Type a title name on the first box, and then right click the mouse on the second box and select paste. This will copy the Internet address to the link.
Click on OK. This will put a link on Composer with the title you wrote in the step above.
Write a short description after the link to explain what the link is all about.
Continue doing this process until you have all the requiered links.
When all is done, format the page so it looks professional and easy to read.
Make sure to save your course reader.

Important:

When you are saving ALL your files (sounds, webpages, images, etc.), DO NOT USE SPACES OR SYMBOLS IN YOUR FILENAMES. Get used to use inly lowercase letters, that way you keep consistent with all filenames. Many ISPs, including BAMA, are case sensitive, so there is a difference between uppercase and lowercase letters. If you use spaces your files will NOT come up when viewed online. A similar thing happens if the computer is trying to look for a name that has a different latter case, those files will not appear. BE CONSISTENT: NO SPACES, USE ONLY LOWERCASE.

IF USING NETSCAPE 4.0 or above, here are the instructions:

Within your bookmark file, you can set up folders. You do this by going to COMMUNICATOR and selecting BOOKMARK.
Then go to EDIT BOOKMARK.
You will set up a folder for the course reader. Name the folder, such as Adolescent Psychology Course Reader, Adaptive Technology Course Reader, or whatever topic you want to use.
Then you can put your bookmarked sites for this course reader in that folder. You do this by dragging the sites around within BOOKMARK. You can copy and have them in two places within your bookmarks, if you wish.
Once you get your sites in the folder like you want them, you will go back to the COMMUNICATOR window, click on BOOKMARKS.
Then go to EDIT BOOKMARKS and select SAVE AS. You will name your file something you recognize as your course reader; for example, health.htm or sped.htm. DO NOT LEAVE IT NAMED BOOKMARK.HTM as it will overwrite what you have already as bookmarks.
Go back to Netscape, go to FILE then OPEN PAGE.
Select the file, whatever you named it, and it will open up under Netscape. You can see the links.
With your file open, go to FILE and select EDIT PAGE.
NOW… to edit out the bookmarks that you DON'T want in your course reader but that are on your new list, you just delete the ones you do not want.
When you have finished, do FILE SAVE.

Important:

IF USING NETSCAPE 3.0 or below, here are the instructions.

Within your bookmark file, you can set up folders. You do this by going to WINDOW and selecting BOOKMARK. Then go to ITEM and select INSERT FOLDER.
You will set up a folder for the course reader. Name the folder, such as Adolescent Psychology Course Reader, Adaptive Technology Course Reader, or whatever topic you want to use.
Then you can put your bookmarked sites for this course reader in that folder. You do this by dragging the sites around within BOOKMARK. You can copy and have them in two places within your bookmarks, if you wish.
Once you get your sites in the BOOKMARK folder like you want them, you will go back to the NETSCAPE window, click on BOOKMARKS, then go to SAVE AS. You will name your file something you recognize as your course reader; for example, health.htm or sped.htm. DO NOT LEAVE IT NAMED BOOKMARK.HTM as it will overwrite what you have already as bookmarks.
Go back to Netscape, go to FILE then OPEN FILE. Select the file, whatever you named it, and it will open up under Netscape. You can see the links.
Minimize the netscape screen, with your file open.
NOW… to edit out the bookmarks that you DON'T want in your course reader but that are on your new list, you will open up your word processing package (such as WORD), then go to FILE and do OPEN FILE and open the same file, but this time it will be within your word processing package, not under Netscape.
Next…. With it open under Word Processing, you will see all of the HTML code on the screen. Find the term TITLE up near the top of the screen. There you will see the current title for your file, which is probably your name and the word bookmarks. You want to replace your name and the word bookmarks with whatever you are calling your course reader. For this class, I put AIL 600 Spring 1998 Course Reader. You can put Adaptive Technology Course Reader, XXU 312 course reader, anything you wish.
You will also see something that says <H1>. Typically it will contain the same title (e.g. Barrie's bookmarks or whatever the original bookmark title was). Change this, too, to match whatever you put in the TITLE.
Now… you are ready to look carefully down the listing of the bookmarks. Delete any that you don't want on your final course reader. In other words, you will delete all except the folder you set up for your bookmarks for this activity.
When you are finished deleting what you don't want on your reader, do FILE SAVE, then FILE CLOSE.
Now you can open NETSCAPE BACK UP, click on reload, and you will see your changes, the final course reader. You can make copies of this on floppies to give to people. They can use it by opening Netscape, going to FILE and doing OPEN FILE, selecting your course reader from where you have it saved, and then use the links live on the Internet.

Important:

When you are saving ALL your files (sounds, webpages, images, etc.), DO NOT USE SPACES OR SYMBOLS IN YOUR FILENAMES. Get used to using lowercase letters, that way you keep consistent with all filenames. Many ISPs, including BAMA, are case sensitive, so there is a difference between uppercase and lowercase letters. If you use spaces your files will NOT come up when viewed online. A similar thing happens if the computer is trying to look for a name that has a different latter case, those files will not appear. BE CONSISTENT: NO SPACES, USE ONLY LOWERCASE.

CONTENT OF READER

You need to have at least the following:

Eight categories of links
Each category with at least 5 links
Each link with a short description of the site

TURNING IN YOUR COURSE READER:

PUBLISHING YOUR COURSE READER ON THE NET: You will upload your course reader to your BAMA account (if you are on campus) or to you own ISP account. This course reader is, then, 'published' on your own web site.

SENDING THE ASSIGNMENT EMAIL: You will send an email to your assignment mailbox of 400 with the Course Reader as an attachment. goals400@bamaed.ua.edu
You will ALSO give, in the body of the email, the URL where you published your course reader.

In the SUBJECT you will put BCT 400 Course Reader File.

In the BODY be sure to put your name and SSN, and the address where your course reader can be seen on the web.

GRADING CRITERIA

COURSE READER	POINT VALUE
8 categories of links, each with at least 5 links within each category, related to your profession, for a total of at least 40 links THESE MUST BE RELATED TO YOUR SELECTED TOPIC!	8 points
Appropriate and accurate descriptions included for each link	40 points
Proper Heading: Course Reader for ____ (topic)___	1 point
Links are appropriate for topic	3points
Categories make sense for topic	2 points
Submitted properly by email as attachment	1 point
Uploaded to the Web and works	15 points
TOTAL POINTS	70 points