You are advised to frequently review the posted class syllabus for your section of the course to ensure that you have not forgotten any important course requirements and to view the class schedule of online reading assignments, online learning events, project deadlines, and exam dates.
How to learn in this course:
An "average" student should expect to spend as much time studying course material outside of class as the course meets each week. Students are encouraged to employ a combination of the following learning methods:
Attend each full class meeting to observe classroom demonstrations and participate in discussions of course content.
Read the online textbook related to the content being studied before the class meeting in which that content is covered. Instructions for accessing the online textbook list entitled "Gibson_CGS1060_Books" can be found on the web page about using the IRSC SkillPort® server.
Do each [SkillPort] Learning Event associated with the content being studied until you score 70% or better on the online test related to that event. These learning events and their tests may be repeated as often as necessary to earn the required score.
Practice using the software associated with the content being studied until you develop proficiency using it. One way to determine proficiency is to define simple projects for yourself and then see if you can accomplish them.
Employ the tutorial "Demo" and "Training" resources related to the topics being covered in the current chapter(s) each week. Links to these sites can be found on the course home page.
Remember that the objective of the events is to gain knowledge and experience. It is
not to simply get through them as quickly as possible. They are not steps without a purpose.
Don't forget to pause and consider what you've learned periodically.
You might discover that the computers in our classrooms and labs are configured differently
than other computers that you use to practice. The college has disabled some features
that are likely to cause problems for students. Therefore, you may find that some of the
exercises suggested in the online textbook or learning events do not work on college computers.
Whenever a learning event instructs you to print something, don't. Let's save some trees.
Read about the process of printing, but instead of clicking on the OK button
when instructed to print, click on the Cancel button instead.
If you are still in the middle of a learning event when a class session is over, make a note
(where you can find it easily) of what learning event your were using. Then log out of [SkillPort].
Practice:
It is important that you practice using the same brand and version of the software that we study in class, as your tests will be based on that software. However, you do not have to acquire any software for your personal computer to participate in this course. Your choice of which software you have installed on your computer will determine how much of the course work you will be able to do at home. You will be able to do some (perhaps most) of your course work in class or outside of class in one of the college computer labs (such as the one in A-114 on the Vero Beach campus). All of our labs have the same software that is installed in our classroom. How much work you complete in the classroom will depend on how quickly you work and learn the course content.
When practicing or working on a project, be careful to save your work on your own storage media
rather than on a college computer.
Storage locations such as the My Documents folder are on Fixed Disk (C:) on the
college computer and are likely to be written over by other students during other class sessions.
If you do save your file to folder on a college computer, remember to copy them to your own media
before you leave class. If you do not have any media with you, try using a free Web-based email
service (such as Gmail® or Hotmail®) to send a copy of your work to yourself. If you need
to attach more than one file to an email, then you should copy them into a
compressed ("zipped") archive and attach it instead.
Don't forget to switch-off the monitor screen of your computer system when you are done.
It does not turn off automatically with the processor.
Assigned Class Projects:
Class projects are listed and accessible from any of the following: the , the course home page, or the Course Schedule
section of your course syllabus.
You are expected to have developed proficiency using course software prior to attempting each project
by doing the assigned reading and online learning events on the
[IRSC SkillPort® server].
See the course projects page for instructions related to submitting
class projects.
Course Assessments:
Course assessments (exams) are delivered in the classroom using the . Assessments administered on campus must be taken using a college computer. Student computers and software may not be used for assessments administered on campus.
Students must know their usernames and passwords to take each assessment
and should have successfully logged into the server at least once before taking the first assessment.
Assessment results are typically posted the following day. Students can check their scores at any time by selecting the assessment again in the . Contact your instructor to review the assessment questions and your responses.