Assignments and Evaluation
- Class Contribution (10 marks)
- Usability by example assignments (50 marks, group)
- Written reports (5 in total, 8 marks each)
- In-class presentations (2 in total, 5 marks each)
- Website design and construction project (40 marks, individual)
All assignments must be professional in appearance. Spelling, grammar and overall professionalism will be considered in the grading process in addition to other aspects of the assignments. Extensions will only be granted in special situations in advance of an assignment's due date. Late assignments will be assessed a penalty of 10% of the assignment value per day (i.e., if the assignment value is 30 marks the late penalty is 3 marks per day). Some late assignments will not be accepted (e.g., usability by example assignments).
Grades are calculated in accordance with the SLIS Grading Procedure:
Grades reflect professional judgements of student achievement made by
instructors. These judgements are based on a combination of absolute
achievement and relative performance in class. The instructor should
mark in terms of raw scores, rank the assignments in order of merit,
and with due attention to the verbal descriptions of the various
grades, assign an appropriate final letter grade.
Class Contribution
This represents individual contribution for the benefit of the entire class, and is intended to encourage all students to actively participate in the learning process. This includes (but is not limited to): class discussion, small-group interaction, preparatory reading, attendance, attitude, providing additional resources, etc. Comments, criticism, and questions are expected to be relevant to the topic, to reflect preparatory reading on the topic, and are expected to be respectful of other students and the instructor. Anticipated absence from class must be communicated to the instructor prior to the class. At the end of the course, you will be given the opportunity to submit a brief self-assessment of class contribution which will be considered when assigning your class contribution marks.
Usability by example
This group assignment is designed to help enhance your understanding of major
topics of this course through examples and collaborative learning.
Before class, you will first do the preparatory readings, and summarize
key points from the readings. You as a group will then apply what you have learned
from the readings to the evaluation of two websites, and present your work as a web page using the HTML and CSS techniques you
have learned as part of this course. In class, you will present your work and enhance your learning
through class discussion.
Details of the assignment will be explained in class. This assignment relates to course objectives #1 to #4.
Website design and construction
This assignment provides an opportunity to develop your individual web
design and implementation skills. You will create a small website for a
library or information service of an organization of your choice based
either on a real organization, or on a hypothetical one that could
reasonably exist in the world. You will first identify the purpose of
the website and contextual issues and constraints, analyze its target
audience, and design an information architecture for the website. You
will then put your design skills to work by creating a prototype of the
site's main pages by hand-coding HTML and CSS (i.e., not using
Dreamweaver or other web design software).
Details of the assignment will be explained in class. This assignment relates to course objectives #1, #2, and #4.
