GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: MPS-JOURNALISM Wednesdays, 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. | Fall 2015
- Instructor: Jeremy Bowers
- E-mail: jeremyjbowers@gmail.com
- Mobile phone: 727-667-0510
- Location: Downtown campus, Mac lab (C226).
- Office hours: By appointment.
Merely using the web and digital tools is no longer enough for today's media professionals. Journalists and communicators need to have a practical understanding of how websites and applications work. This class does not aim to make you a professional coder or require any previous web development experience. We want you to come away with enough coding skills that you can effectively collaborate with web developers and continue learning on your own.
You will learn about web development by diving into Git, Python, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. There will be readings and guest speakers, but the major basis for instruction will be hands-on learning activities. You'll learn how web developers work by identifying a project, breaking that project down into features and then building those features. By the end of the class, you won't just have a functional website; you'll be comfortable with the best practices of good development teams.
By the end of the semester, you should be able to:
- Understand the fundamental concepts and technologies underpinning modern web development.
- Use lean UX and agile product development methodologies.
- Develop, deploy and maintain a model-view-controller-based Web application.
- Learn how to learn and use technical documentation and to be self-supporting.
- Effectively communicate technical ideas to non-technical people and non-technical ideas to technical people.
There is no required text for this course. Instead, I will assign readings throughout the semester. You will be expected to read materials before class, as there will be simple quizzes and some topical discussion. I expect you to post any questions to the class’s GitHub project as an issue and flag it appropriately so it can be resolved in advance or discussed in class.
You should have access to a computer, preferably a laptop, where you can install some free software tools. We'll do this together on the second week of class, so don’t feel like you need to be familiar with anything in advance.
As outlined by the university, missing more than two classes will result in a final grade reduction of one level by itself, beyond any other consequences for missed work. For example, if you miss three classes and make up all of the work, an A will still be converted to an A-.
Absences beyond the initial two will result in further reduction of the final grade. If you are absent for four or more classes, you cannot possibly expect to meet the course objectives and will thus be unlikely to receive a passing grade.
If you have to miss a class session, let me know as soon as possible. Many assignments cannot be completed late because they are indications of your progress. If you are going to miss a class and let me know in advance, we can attempt to reformat your milestones to avoid penalizing your absence unnecessarily.
Respect: You should treat your classmates with respect. I’ll expect this both in your verbal communication with them but also in your non-verbal communication. This means: Pay attention and be empathetic.
Participation: Classes are long. We’ll have breaks for you to rest, but I expect you to be attentive while we’re in session. This means: If we’re having discussion, you’re participating. If we’re working on our projects, you’re writing code or brainstorming. Also: Park your phone and messaging apps. I won’t be talking for long stretches often, I promise. If I am talking, it’s probably important.
Late work: In some cases, I will allow you to make up work. In most cases, we’ll move a milestone and reassign or cut features to make your end-of-class deadline. But some of our assignments cannot be recreated if you miss scrum or if you miss both classes in a two-week cycle. Keep this in mind if you’re considering missing a class.
This class will feature four different categories of assignments.
Weekly quizzes: Each quiz will consist of 5 to 10 multiple-choice questions concerning the main themes of your weekly readings. They will not be tricky. If you’ve done the reading, you will not have any trouble. Up to two of these may be made up without penalty if you happen to miss one. You must contact me for details.
Weekly scrum summaries: Each week, students will prepare a short summary about their progress in the class for the previous week. These summaries will follow a simple format: What you did last week, what you failed to do last week, what you will be doing this week and what is preventing you from doing things. These summaries should be about 15 seconds long and will be delivered verbally to the group in our weekly scrum. High grades will be given for reports combining brevity, accuracy and completeness. Low grades will be given for reports that are lengthy, inaccurate and/or incomplete. This is not expected to be difficult, and you’ll do just fine. Progress summaries may not be made up if you miss our weekly scrum, which takes place in the first 15 minutes of each class.
Bi-weekly progress assessments: Much of the class will be concerned with hands-on work on your project. Every two weeks, I will assess your project’s progress against the milestones you have created. High grades will be assigned for following good developer hygiene (which we will discuss), well-documented features and steady progress. Low grades will be assigned for code that is not hygienic, poorly documented documented features and/or inconsistent progress. We’ll be doing a lot of discussion about your progress and there will be many opportunities to improve your progress before an assessment. These may be moved if you will be missing class but may not be made up if you fail to move it in advance or if you move it into the next two-week period. You must contact me for details.
Final project: You’ll be defining a project, breaking it down into sets of features and milestones and then building that project in Python, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. All the while, you’ll be committing your code to a version control system with Git. This grade represents the ultimate evaluation of your project rather than merely the sum of your weekly progress reports. High grades will be given to projects that are well defined, projects that have appropriately-sized feature groups and milestones, projects that work, and projects that are deployed to the public Internet. Low grades will be give to projects that are poorly defined, projects that include too many or too few features, projects that have improperly defined milestones, projects that do not work and/or are not deployed to the public internet. I will begin evaluating final projects on the last day of class and I will finish evaluating them at the end of class. I will not evaluate a project after 10:30 PM on the last class day.
Each of the four assignment types will represent 25% of your final grade.
| Assignment type | Percentage of grade |
|---|---|
| Average of 14 weekly quizzes | 25% of your final grade |
| Average of 14 weekly scrum summaries | 25% of your final grade |
| Average of 6 bi-weekly progress assessments | 25% of your final grade |
| Total score out of 100 for final project | 25% of your final grade |
Graduate course grades include A, A-, B+, B, B-, C and F. There are no grades of C+, C- or D.
| Letter grade | Score range |
|---|---|
| A | 100.00 – 93.00 |
| A- | 92.99 – 90.00 |
| B+ | 89.99 – 88.00 |
| B | 87.99 – 83.00 |
| B- | 82.99 – 80.00 |
| C | 79.99 – 70.00 |
| F | 69.99 – 0.00 |
This class is designed to operate transparently. I will provide you with multiple warnings during the semester if you are trending toward a failing grade.
Georgetown offers a variety of support system that can be accessed on main campus or at the downtown location:
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MPS Writing Resource Program 202-687-4246 http://writingcenter.georgetown.edu/
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Academic Resource Center 202-687-8354 | arc@georgetown.edu http://ldss.georgetown.edu/
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Counseling and Psychiatric Services 202-687-6985 http://caps.georgetown.edu/
If you have documented disabilities, you have the right to specific accommodations that do not fundamentally alter the nature of the course. You should contact the Academic Resource Center at 202-687-8354 or arc@georgetown.edu or visit their Web site at http://ldss.georgetown.edu/index.cfm before the start of classes to allow time to review the documentation and make recommendations for appropriate accommodations. If accommodations are recommended, you will be given a letter from ARC to share with me.
You are personally responsible for completing this process officially and in a timely manner. Neither accommodations nor exceptions to policies can be permitted if you have not completed this process in advance.
All students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic and personal integrity in pursuit of their education at Georgetown. Academic dishonesty in any form is a serious offense, and students found in violation are subject to academic penalties that include, but are not limited to, failure of the course, termination from the program, and revocation of degrees already conferred.
All students are held to the Honor Code. The Honor Code pledge follows:
In the pursuit of the high ideals and rigorous standards of academic life, I commit myself to respect and uphold the Georgetown University Honor System: To be honest in any academic endeavor, and To conduct myself honorably, as a responsible member of the Georgetown community, as we live and work together.
Stealing someone else’s work is a terminal offense in journalism, and it will wreck your career in academia, too. You are expected to work with integrity and honesty in all assignments.
The Georgetown University Honor System defines plagiarism as "the act of passing off as one’s own the ideas or writings of another." More guidance is available through the Gervase Programs at http://gervaseprograms.georgetown.edu/honor/system/53377.html. If you have any doubts about plagiarism, paraphrasing or the need to credit, see http://www.plagiarism.org for more information.
The syllabus may change to accommodate discussion of emerging topics. Additionally, the schedules of guest speakers may require some shifting of the agenda. I will make every effort to provide as much advance notice as possible for any alterations.