COT-204: Using Windows (OnLine)
Spring, 2006

---

Number of Credits:  3

Transferability of Course within Nevada:  Transfers as a general elective.

Linkage of course to educational program mission and outcomes:  This course is one of the degree requirements for the AAS in one of three degrees in Computer Technology.  Upon completion of this course students will have a skill set necessary for further study in computer technology.

Course Objectives:

·          To develop the skills necessary to comfortably operate in the Windows XP environment.

·          To develop the understanding to apply these skills in various new situations.

Important Stuff:

Official Title:  COT-204: Using Windows (Online)

Call Number:  19273     Sect.: W01
                     Credits: 3

Note: Regardless of what the schedule says, this class actually begins Monday, January. 23, 2006 .  Any student who has not sent me an e-mail by that date will be dropped from the class without further communication. The message should contain your name, phone number, a short assessment of your computer skills, the name of your Internet browser, and the name of your primary word processor if you have one.

Instructor: Bonnie York
Office:  Sage Hall; Room:  Faculty 5, Fallon Campus
Phone: (775) 423-7565, Ext. 2255 (office)         FAX: (775) 423-8029
(775) 423-6181 (home)

WNCC-Fallon
160 Campus Way
Fallon, NV 89406

My email address is: bonnie@wncc.edu

Division Chair: Jack Andersen 445-4270

Class Description:

Windows has become a ubiquitous, almost essential, part of the personal computing world.  Depending upon whom you choose to believe, Windows, in one variant or another, is the current operating system for up to 96% of the new PC's being sold, and regardless of what we think of it, Windows or one of it's derivatives is likely to be the operating system of the computer that sits on our desk for the foreseeable future.

In this class, we will investigate the Windows operating system, look at what makes it tick and how to make it do what we want it to do.  We'll dig deeply into disk and folder structure and organization, play with graphics, find that term paper or letter you lost last year, install and remove software and hardware, and even look at disk maintenance and what you can do to protect your machine from the "Web Uglies."

Note: If you are new to online classes at WNCC, please, please, PLEASE take the time to check out our: Web Orientation. That may help you determine whether or not a Web class is for you. Take some time to look at the information it contains. It might save you a lot of heartache and unhappiness down the road. In particular, check out the browser verification page.

General Information: Credits: 3
Class Time:

Class begins on Monday, January 23. This is not a self paced class. Information on how to access the class will be sent to all students on or before that date. Students should expect to spend a minimum of between 7 and 10 hrs. per week working on the class material, depending upon their current level of computer skills.  All lessons are due at 8:00 pm on the date listed for that tutorial in the syllabus.  Should you finish an assignment early, you may submit the work and begin the next lesson so that you can get ahead of the game.  You may work as quickly as you like, and finish early, you just can't finish late. In any online course, the most vital issues are to develop a sense of accomplishment and to maintain the determination to complete the course.  If you get behind in your work, you can become discouraged.  When this happens it becomes very easy to give up on the whole undertaking, therefore, late work will be assessed a minimum 10% penalty.   Assignments over 10 days late will not be accepted.  Please note that it is the students responsibility to notify both the school and the instructor of their intent to drop the class.

This class will require a proctored mid-term and a proctored final.  Tutorials #1-5 must be completed to take the midterm, and Tutorials #6-11 (as assigned) must be complete to take the final.  In order to insure that academic standards for a transferable course are maintained, you will be required to take the mid-term and the final exam in the presence of an approved proctor.  The most common scenario would be to take both exams at one of the three main campuses of WNCC.  If that is not possible, arrangements will be made that will allow you to complete the tests at an alternative site.  The exams may be taken early, but the midterm must be completed by 8:00 pm, Thursday, March 16, 2006, and the final must be completed by 8:00 pm, Thursday, May 18, 2006.  Proctored ID's are required for all exams! In addition, there will be a series of required Office Hours.  Participation in these sessions is considered an important part of the class, and students who cannot attend office hours will be required to do an alternative assignment.  See below for details.

 

2005 Service Pack 2 Update   Textbook:	Your text for the course is: New Perspectives on Microsoft Windows XP: Comprehensive,  2005 Service Pack 2 Update, by Parsons/Oja/Carey/Ruffolo, ISBN 0-619-26818-2, ©2006. It is available at the Carson Campus bookstore and the Fallon Campus bookstore.  Make certain that you get the version that says Windows XP and matches the picture on this page!  A quick phone call to the bookstore at: 887-3034 to check on price and availability is advised.

The Student Must Have:

• A computer with Microsoft Windows XP installed and operating.
• The knowledge and skills to e-mail the instructor and get to the class web page. This is needed to begin class.  If you can do this, we'll get you home from there!
• A verified web browser.  Please Note: You will need an up-to-date browser installed on your machine to take the class. WebCT now "verifies" browser versions for compatibility, and if you do not have a verified browser you will have a problem accessing the course. Please visit WebCT Browser Tuneup to see if your browser is verified and has all the required plug-ins installed. Your browser may be updated from links at that site.  This class does not teach you how to set up your Internet software; it teaches how to use Windows XP. If you cannot access your class from home or work, you will have to use a WNCC computer lab.
• An active Internet account with a user (or login) name and an active email account, both provided either by your Internet service provider or WNCC. Because you have registered at WNCC you automatically were issued an e-mail address.  The student must maintain an active Internet account and email address throughout the semester. It is the student's responsibility to notify the instructor should the status of the account change during the semester (address change, change in provider, etc.).
• Two to four blank floppy disks.  Most of what we do will be floppy based.  If you goof something up, you don't want it to be your system or your hard drive.  You could use other means of external storage rather than floppy (CD or Flash drive).

What to Expect:

It takes a special student to succeed at online learning.  You must be focused and self disciplined.  These classes are not, in any way, easier or less work than taking the same course on-campus.  In fact, you will complete the exact same assignments as those students attending in person.  The standard rule of thumb is that for every credit the class is worth, you will spend a minimum of three hours working on the class.  Depending upon your current level of computer expertise, that's a fairly accurate assessment.  Some assignments will take you longer, some not as long.  You need to be aware of this, and allow adequate time to complete your work. In short, you need to take more responsibility for your own learning.

Probably the most important piece of advice passed on from previous students is to read for detail, but adapt as necessary!  All effort has been made to clear up as much confusion as possible in the instructor prepared portions of the lessons, but questions will arise.  When that happens, post them on the class Bulletin Board!  Also, since we are dealing with a constantly changing medium (the WWW), and the technology sometimes doesn't work (that's just the nature of the beast), you need to "roll with the punches", so to speak, and use your best judgment when up against a deadline.

Lessons:
All assignments will either be available on the class web page or emailed to you. Note: The instructor reserves the right to modify the syllabus and assignments at any time. The web page address and login information will be sent to you prior to the start of class. As you look at the assignments, clicking in the window you wish to print and then clicking the browser's "Print" button will give you a hard copy of the lesson. Please note that we will not be doing all the Tutorial Assignments at the end of each chapter, but feel free to try them on your own.  If you run into problems, drop me a line.

 

Course Assessment:
This course is offered as a graded class, A through F and W for withdrawal. As it now stands, there are roughly 1145 points possible, including 100 points for Office Hours and 135 points for the quizzes.  This is subject to change. Grades will be based on the following scale:

 

 

• The tutorials are progressive and should be completed in order. 
• Review assignments should be submitted only when all work for the tutorial is finished. In other words, you will submit all of the assignments for a tutorial together, not one at a time.

Course Assignments

At the present time, the points available break down as follows.  Please note that this is subject to change as the need arises.

Quizzes:

Each tutorial will include an online quiz.  They are automatically scored and the results returned to you immediately.  They are timed (15 minutes).  The quizzes will consist of multiple choice and T/F questions.  Each quiz may be taken twice.  Only the highest score will be used for each quiz.  A practice quiz will be provided with five tries so that you can become familiar with the process before you have to take a quiz for a recorded score.

Office Hours:

Experience has shown that student success in online classes can be increased dramatically through group contact, even though all students are not present at the same physical location.  This is traditionally accomplished through a dedicated 'chat room' where students gather to discuss problems, share solutions (within reason, of course!), and generally, just get to know one another.  Accordingly, Office Hours are a graded portion of the class, comprising approximately 10% of your total point score (100 pts.).  In other words, about one letter grade.

It is understood that no matter when Office Hours are held, not everyone can make it online at the same time.  In fact, to require that would negate a major reason many students opt for online classes.  To alleviate that problem, the following steps will be taken:

• A number of Office Hour sessions will be held during the semester, including review sessions for both the midterm and the final.  You should plan to attend at least 4 sessions.
• Times and dates for Office Hours will be posted on the Class Calendar, available through the Class Home Page.   The chat client is part of the WebCT program, so there's nothing to download and install.  Just "Click-n-Go!"
• Twenty-five points will be awarded for each Office Hour session.  Students may qualify for these points by attending and participating for at least half the session, or by completing an alternative assignment (i.e.: short paper, questions, etc.) based on topics discussed during the session.  The assignment, along with the session logs, will be posted for review, accessible through the Class Home Page on WebCT.  These Office Hour assignments will be e-mailed to the instructor before the next Office Hour session.
• The times and days for Office Hours will vary throughout the semester.  It is not expected that you make every session.  That's why we have the alternative assignments.  It is expected, however, that you will make an effort to show up at least once and contribute to the group.  Actually, it's a lot of fun!  We are usually not limited to any particular topic, but talk about almost anything that might be of interest.

Getting Started:

MESSAGE ME IMMEDIATELY!! Nothing happens until we make contact.

1.        Register for the class.

2.        Get your book.

3.        Have your Internet access installed and ready. Know your user and/or login name.

4.        Visit Web Orientation . There may be a quiz  ;>)  !!

 

 

 

 

COT-204: Using Windows (OnLine)

Course Syllabus and Due Dates

Spring, 2006

Note: This is subject to modification at any time!

Standard Disclaimer

This class is a 'work in progress!  As such, the instructor reserves the right to change anything he or she wants, whenever he or she wants, for whatever reason he or she sees fit.  Don't let that scare you!  My tendency has always been to 'over plan' my courses.  This usually results in assignments being modified, requirements changed, things like that, but normally to your benefit.  You will be notified as early as possible of any changes.  Should you, at any time, have a question about your grade, the assignments you've completed, etc., call me!  Like anyone else I make mistakes, and you shouldn't be held responsible for them.  They're mine. 

Western Nevada Community College, 160 Campus Way, Fallon, NV  89406 (775) 423-7565, ext. 2255

Back to Top

Click to return to WNCC Home Page

Send comments/suggestions to: bonnie@wncc.edu