🌎 Overview
NMIX 4010E / 6010E: Web Development
Summer 2024
Class time: Asynchronous
Location: Anywhere you can take your laptop with reliable wifi! 🏝
Instructor: Tyler Mazurek
- Contact: DM on Slack / tylermazurek@uga.edu
- Office Hours: Monday 11A–1P, Thursday 11A–1P, and by appointment. All office hours will be conducted via Zoom. Students should reach out via Slack to connect for office hours.
Teaching Assistant: Reagan Brode
- Contact: DM on Slack
- Office Hours: Tuesday 4:30P–6:30P and Wednesday 11A–1P. All office hours will be conducted via Zoom. Students should reach out via Slack to connect for office hours.
Prerequisites
Students must either have completed or be concurrently enrolled in NMIX 2010. Students must also have applied to the New Media Institute. Class is offered by POD only.
There is no prerequisite for Emerging Media Masters students.
Description
Design, develop, and code interactive web products that function effectively across multiple platforms through an introduction to front-end web development. No prior coding experience is needed.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the semester, you’ll be able to:
- Learn foundational web development skills.
- Gain an understanding of foundational web development topics and languages as dictated by industry trends.
- Purchase and configure domain names and web hosting.
- Create websites by hand with HTML and CSS.
- Design responsive websites with front-end frameworks like Bootstrap.
- Develop complex extensible sites powered by a content management system (CMS) like WordPress.
- Develop a professional portfolio showcasing accomplishments and skillsets.
Topical Outline
- Hello world
- HTML & CSS
- Bootstrap
- WordPress
Instructor Philosophy
More than being here to help you learn the subject material, I’m here to help you learn how to learn. I think the things we’re talking about in class are incredibly cool, exciting, and worthy of your time, thought, and energy. Hopefully, when you finish the class, you’ll have developed a really solid working knowledge of the field and know where and how to further your own knowledge and expertise.
We’re going to have a lot of fun, but I also expect you to work hard. Work hard at the assignments, sure, but more than that, work hard at understanding the stuff we’re talking about, why it matters, and what you can do with it—that’s what really matters.
Class Culture
While our first lesson will walk through many of the attitudes and practices each of you, individually, will need to cultivate to succeed in this class, it’s also worth taking some time to talk about what we all should expect from each other.
In short, we’ll work to cultivate an atmosphere of curiosity, fun, and professionalism. That means that you can expect me to:
- Create an atmosphere of curiosity and inclusion where everyone feels welcome to bring their authentic selves to class
- Communicate a clear direction for the course as a whole and each class gathering, activity, and assignment
- Work diligently to make all assignments and activities of this class worthwhile
Similarly, I expect each of you to approach each component of the class with an open mind, a diligent work ethic, and respect for your peers and instructors. How? We’ll get into the particulars throughout the rest of the syllabus. 😉
📚 Texts and tools
Course Site
All required course materials are available at nmi.cool/webdev.
Class Expenses
You’ll also need $45 to purchase a domain name and hosting at Reclaim Hosting.
FreeCodeCamp
You’ll need to create an account at Free Code Camp to complete and track regular exercises for the course.
Slack
Checking Slack regularly is required for the course, so students are required to install the Slack app on their phones and their desktops. (Slack provides excellent options for fine-tuning notifications to help ensure a healthy work-life balance.)
The NMI uses Slack for all communication, from courses to events to requirements to everything in between. Students must join the NMI workspace (bit.ly/uganmi) and appropriate channels each semester, before the end of drop/add. You’ll need to check Slack on a regular basis, so be sure to install the Slack app on both your mobile device and computer.
NMI-Wide Channels
All NMI students must be in the following channels:
- #update
- #jopps
Program Channels
Students should join all channels that relate to their specific NMI affiliations.
Slack Tip: To add a channel, hover over “Channels” in the sidebar, select the plus icon, and then browse through channels.
- New Media Certificate: #certificate
- Emerging Media Double Dawgs: #doubledawgs
- Emerging Media Masters: #em
- TEDxUGA Student Council: #tedxuga
- NMIXperts: #xperts
Course Channels
For this course, you are required to join #4010e-6010e.
If you’ve never used Slack before, you can find a good overview of it here. 1
**After you’ve joined the class Slack, use only Slack—not email—to contact me.**
ELC
ELC will be used only to view your grades.
Summary
- This site contains all course readings/videos
- Set aside $45 to cover registering your domain name and hosting
- You’ll do daily work at FreeCodeCamp
- Slack will be our course communication hub
- ELC will be used only for posting grades
📓 Assignments + grading
Free Code Camp (FCC) Assignments (15 points)
Completed throughout the semester, these assignments form the foundation of our technical learning. (Assignment page)
Project 1: Artisanal Hand-crafted Small-batch Locally-sourced Bespoke Website (15 points)
You’ll lovingly craft your first site by hand using the HTML & CSS skills you’ve learned so far. (Project page)
Project 2: Bootstrap Triptych (15 points)
You’ll take three separate passes on the same page to gain a deeper understanding of how to leverage Bootstrap to create beautiful responsive websites. (Project page)
Project 3: WordPress Variety Pack (15 points)
Create a WordPress shop using the WooCommerce plugin to explore the wide variety of things you can do with the powerful, popular CMS. (Project page)
NMI Dossier (15 points)
Create your NMI Dossier and build its first page—the one for this class! (Assignment page)
Final Project (25 points)
Choose from a menu of ambitious projects—or propose your own!—to show off all the skills you’ve gained in this class. (Project page)
Summary (100 points total)
| Free Code Camp Assignments | 15 |
| Project One: Artisanal Hand-crafted Small-batch Locally-sourced Bespoke Website | 15 |
| Project Two: Bootstrap Triptych | 15 |
| Project Three: WordPress Variety Pack | 15 |
| NMI Dossier | 15 |
| Final Project | 25 |
| Total | 100 |
Grading scale
| 95-100 | A |
| 90-94.99 | A- |
| 87-89.99 | B+ |
| 83-86.99 | B |
| 80-82.99 | B- |
| 77-79.99 | C+ |
| 73-76.99 | C |
| 70-72.99 | C- |
| 60-69.99 | D |
| 59.99 and below | F |
🗓 Schedule
You can find an outline of the entire class by visiting https://nmi.cool/webdev/summer-schedule-2024.
On the above webpage, you’ll find a list of readings and activities for each day.
💁♀️ Policies
Attendance and participation
Since we are asynchronous, there is no attendance policy besides keeping on track with the schedule. However…
As with much in life, you’ll get out of this class what you put into it. Make sure you take time to engage with all of the material, utilize Slack to chat with your classmates, and ask questions when you get stuck!
Make-up work
You are expected to complete and turn in your work by the due date. After the due date and time have passed (even 1 minute), students lose half credit. They have until the last day of class to turn in any makeup work. Half credit will be deducted, and the assignments will be graded accordingly.
Late work will not be accepted after the last day of class (July 31).
Email / Direct Messages
As I’ve already mentioned, we’re using Slack as the sole tool for our class communication. So, instead of emailing me, direct message me via Slack.
So that I can most quickly help those in need of assistance, take the following steps before messaging me:
- Check the syllabus, eLC, previous Slack conversations, the class site, etc. to see if the answer’s posted there
- Spend 5-15 minutes (but not any more time than that) trying to solve the problem on your own (via Google, asking a classmate, etc.)
- Ask yourself if the question might be one other students are having, and if so, post it to our class channel on Slack
If you do all of those and still have a question just for me, then by all means direct message me! I’ll respond to your questions as quickly as possible, but please allow a reasonable amount of time (generally under 24 hours; 2 business days max) for a response.
NOTE: Please DM both me and Reagan together when you have an assignment-related question. This is the best way to get a timely response.
Slack allows for communication to be informal and fun, which is great! But, don’t forget to communicate professionally, even while having fun.
Office Hours
In addition to being available through Slack and Zoom throughout the week, I’ll also hold open office hours. You’re always welcome to come by and see me with any questions or concerns or even just to say hi.
I’ll have my Slack notifications on during regular business hours and will respond as quickly as possible. If you have a personal or grade-related question you may direct it to me, but otherwise please DM me and Reagan in a message together.
Access policy
If you have a disability and require accommodations, please send me a message on Slack or make an appointment during office hours. If you plan to request accommodations for a disability, visit the Disability Resource Center website or call 706-542-8719.
Service animals in class
Students who train or use service animals should be aware of UGA policy. More info is available here.
Non-discrimination policy
I do not engage in or tolerate discrimination or harassment on the basis of race/ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex/gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, or veteran status. In addition, I do not discriminate on the basis of class, income, or political views. If there is something I can do to make the class more hospitable, please let me know.
Honor Code and Academic Honesty
UGA Student Honor Code: “I will be academically honest in all of my academic work and will not tolerate academic dishonesty of others.” A Culture of Honesty, the University’s policy and procedures for handling cases of suspected dishonesty, can be found at www.uga.edu/ovpi. Every course syllabus should include the instructor’s expectations related to academic integrity.
Students are expected to adhere to all elements set forth in the University Honor Code and the Academic Honesty Policy. Failure to adhere to these may result in grade sanctions and/or dismissal from New Media Institute Academic Programs.
Read the entire policy online, but the short story is: don’t cheat—the punishments for violations of the Academic Honesty Policy are severe. You are expected to do your own work and to report individuals who do not do their own work. As nearly all of the class materials and assignments are online, you may find the temptation to cheat (cheating includes unauthorized sharing of class materials, using unauthorized sources during assessments, and more—seriously, read this now to get a full sense of what all constitutes academic dishonesty) even greater than usual. Resist that temptation. Questions related to course assignments and the academic honesty policy should be directed to the instructor.
New Media Institute Policies
New Media Institute students are responsible for knowing and abiding by all NMI policies. You agreed to these policies upon applying to NMIX courses and will be held accountable for following them. For a refresher on these policies, visit nmi.cool/nmc.
NMI Dossier
Throughout your academic journey, you’ll create many things you want to show off to the world. Through your NMI classes, you’ll develop and build on the skills to create a digital dossier to do so.
In this course, you are required to submit the following Dossier requirement(s):
- A Case Study
- A Professional Portfolio
Details and requirements for the NMI Dossier can be found at the links below:
Dossier Details
Dossier Details: nmi.cool/portfolio
Dossier Submission: nmi.cool/dossier
Note: Links do not need to be resubmitted or updated URLs are up-to-date and functional. If your information needs to be updated, please resubmit the form.
Earning both the certificate and masters? Oh, you overachiever you! Check out both dossier details above.
Slack
The NMI uses Slack for all communication, from courses to events to requirements to everything in between. Students must join the NMI workspace (bit.ly/uganmi) and appropriate channels each semester, before the end of drop/add. You’ll need to check Slack on a regular basis, so be sure to install the Slack app on both your mobile device and computer.
NMI-Wide Channels
All NMI students must be in the following channels:
- #update
- #jopps
Program Channels
Students should join all channels that relate to their specific NMI affiliations.
Slack Tip: To add a channel, hover over “Channels” in the sidebar, select the plus icon, and then browse through channels.
- New Media Certificate: #certificate
- Emerging Media Double Dawgs: #doubledawgs
- Emerging Media Masters (residential): #em
- TEDxUGA Student Council: #tedxuga
- NMIXperts: #xperts
Course Channels
For this course, you are required to join #4010e-6010e.
NMI Social Media
In addition to Slack, the NMI loves to be social. Follow our socials to stay in the know!
• Follow the NMI and join the New Media Institute Job Board on LinkedIn
• Like the New Media Institute on Facebook
• Follow @nmiuga on Twitter
• Follow @nmiuga on Instagram
🌮 TACO (Technology and Accessory Check Out)
Introducing the Technology and Accessory Check Out (or TACO). New Media Certificate students may check out iMacs, MacBooks, cameras, microphones, and more. To make your request, visit nmi.cool/taco.
Resource Webpage
For more information about Advising, accessing the TACO, meeting with our Xperts, making room reservations, and more visit nmi.cool/resources.
Student Services
As a student at the University of Georgia, you have access to a wide variety of services to help you succeed. Click here to view a description of services along with links and contact information if you wish to learn more about these topics. Of course, you’re also welcome to talk with me if I can help in any way, too.
UGA Well-Being Resources
UGA Well-being Resources promotes student success by cultivating a culture that supports a more active, healthy, and engaged student community.
Anyone needing assistance is encouraged to contact Student Care & Outreach (SCO) in the Division of Student Affairs at 706-542-8479 or visit sco.uga.edu. Student Care & Outreach helps students navigate difficult circumstances by connecting them with the most appropriate resources or services. They also administer the Embark@UGA program which supports students experiencing, or who have experienced, homelessness, foster care, or housing insecurity.
UGA provides both clinical and non-clinical options to support student well-being and mental health, at any time, any place. Whether on campus or studying from home or abroad, UGA Well-being Resources are here to help.
- Well-being Resources: well-being.uga.edu
- Student Care and Outreach: sco.uga.edu
- University Health Center: healthcenter.uga.edu
- Counseling and Psychiatric Services: caps.uga.edu or CAPS 24/7 crisis support at 706-542-2273
- Health Promotion/ Fontaine Center: healthpromotion.uga.edu
- Disability Resource Center and Testing Services drc.uga.edu
Additional information, including free digital well-being resources, can be accessed through the UGA app or by visiting https://well-being.uga.edu.
Counseling and psychiatric services (CAPS)
College can be stressful. Life has difficult stretches. If you need help, get it. CAPS provides short-term individual counseling, group counseling, couples counseling, crisis intervention, psychiatric evaluation and medication monitoring, and psychological testing, and makes referrals to campus and community resources when appropriate.
Emergency Preparedness
Verify that your emergency contact information is correct at ugaalert.uga.edu and add 706-542-0111 as “UGAAlert” in your contacts. We will discuss emergency exit routes on the first day of class.
- If the fire alarm sounds, we will evacuate the building and reassemble outside of the Journalism building on Sanford Drive to make sure that everyone exited safely. Quickly move away from the entrances so as not to hinder first responders.
- If there is a tornado warning, we will move to the first floor and account for everyone.
- In the event of a medical emergency, I will ask one of you to meet EMS responders and bring them to our classroom.
If you have concerns about other emergencies or if you have special circumstances that I need to know about in case of an emergency, please speak to us after class.
Changes to Course Syllabus
The course syllabus is a general plan; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary.
(And if you’re a real nerd like me, you can read this post that mirrors some of my thinking on how we’ll use Slack.)↩