Parts of a URL

This assignment will review your understanding URLs and their constituent parts.

Answer self-study questions 2-4 at the end of our URL topic module.

Print out your answers to turn in.

Link to topic module.

Revise a short document

You recently completed an assignment in which you answered a question about Michael Wesch's views on education.

You can think of the database you contributed to as a collaboratively authored document.

Let's revisit the database to make it something we can all be proud of -- something we can send to Michael Wesch. To do that, pick a partner or two and revise your entries using the tips from our topic module on writing short documents (and any other things you can think of).

Update the database and turn in a printout of your revised answer.

Link to topic module
Link to topic module

Fair use of copyrighted material

The purpose of this assignment is to test your understanding of criteria for fair use of copyrighted material.

Using your own words, list the four fair use criteria.

Then pick one and give an example of a case in which you think it would be fair to incorporate copyrighted material.

Print your answer to turn in and post it on your blog.


Link to topic module

Play with image layers

The purpose of this assignment is to become familiar with the idea of multi-layer images and to be comfortable creating them.

Use Paint.Net to create an image with text labels positioned over a background image like the example shown below. You can use any background image, but place at least three labels on it.

When you are finished, print the Paint.net levels window to turn in.

Then merge all the layers of your image down to flatten it.

Upload the image to your blog and print the blog post showing the image to turn in.

Link to topic module

Transparency

Combine these two images, placing the green circle inside the red circle. You can center the green circle by eye, but be sure to make its background transparent so the entire red circle is visible. (Right click on the images to get copies).

Print the final result to turn in.

Also write and turn in a short explanation of the steps you took to create the final image.

Link to topic module

Play with Twitter

Create a Twitter account and start following me and several of your classmates. Make sure your classmates are also following you, then print out the pages showing your followers and the people following you to turn in.

Once you and your classmates have your accounts and are following each other, post some tweets and be sure they get them.

Once you see how Twitter is working, post a question regarding our class. When you receive a question from someone else, reply with an answer. Print the conversation to turn in.

Next, look through my past tweets and find one that interests you and retweet it. Print out one of the retweeted posts you receive and turn it in.

Find someone outside our class who interests you and follow them. Post a tweet saying who you are following and why. That tweet should also contain the hashtag #cis275. Print a copy of your hashtag tweet to turn in and note the time and date that you posted it.

Link to topic module

Google Hangout

This assignment will familiarize you with Google Hangouts and give you a taste of remote collaboration.

Arrange to hang out with some classmates at a pre-arranged time. Choose one person to initiate the hangout and invite the other participants. He or she will need everyone's Google Plus name or their email address. Be sure the initiator has a computer with a camera and microphone.

Better yet, take turns initiating hangouts.

If you do not have a computer with a camera, you can participate over the phone. In that case, the person initiating the hangout will need your phone number -- you can participate using audio only.

When everyone is in the hangout, print a screen shot to turn in with everyone's name on it.

Use this time to play around -- see what all the options are.

After you have played around and feel comfortable, the group should discuss and decide upon a good way we could use hangouts in class. Work together on this to write a single short document explaining what you would have the class do and outlining the way it would work. Try to do this online, without meeting face-to-face to work on your idea and write-up.

Print your recommendation to turn in with the names of each group member on it.

Topic module

Peter Norvig's talk on his Stanford AI class MOOC

The purpose of this assignment is to test your understanding of Norvig's talk and to illustrate different types of questions that can be answered in different ways.

Answer the following questions:

1. How many students enrolled in Peter Norvig’s MOOC on artificial intelligence? How many nations were represented?
2. Peter Norvig taught a course at Stanford, but he is a part time teacher. What is his full-time job?
3. Why does Norvig think that a student’s peers make better tutors than professors?
4. What might be the implications of MOOCs for the California State University system?

Print your answers and turn them in.

Link to topic module

Collaboration project

We will put together short answers to the question "how does your personal life or university budget cuts affect your studies?"

Record at least one answer to this question and upload it to our shared class directory at:

     FTP server name: sws.csudh.edu
     Username: cis275 (do not precede it with \toronet).
     (I emailed the password)

When you have uploaded your file, add a link to it by completing this form.

You can see what you and others have submitted here.

Collaboration project

People are often able to break a task down and collaborate using the Internet.  We have put together a list of recommended classes that could be of value to other students and we saw an example of a collection of reviews of Twitter tools created by a class at Drake University.

What can we do as a class that would be of use to others at CSUDH or in the world?

Describe your idea for a class collaboration project along with a short sales pitch and post it on this wiki page: http://collaborationproposals.wikispaces.com/.

Also, print a copy of your proposal to turn in.

We will vote to choose the best one, then do it. The winner and runner up will get extra credit.

Link to topic module