Syllabus
Programming Languages for Education
EME 6930 PLE: Flash
| Prerequisites | Course Description | Course Requirements |
| Registration | Evaluation | Schedule | Policies | Login |

Note:

You can take this course even if you have already taken other sections of EME6930 such as Hyperscripting and Web Programming.

This course meets the programming requirements of the M.Ed. and Ph.D. in Instructional Technology, and it can be applied to any two of the three following three Graduate Certificates in Instructional Technology: Distance Education, Web Design, or Multimedia Design.



PREREQUISITES

Classroom

There is no permit required for taking the course in the classroom. However, because programming is different from other activities involved with designing instructional with technology, it is suggested that you review prerequisites and the implementation method to assure that you will have the skills and the time available in order to be successful with learning to program with an object oriented programming language.

  • Adobe CS3, CS4, or CS5 Flash Professional. Special academic pricing is available at the USF computer store. Please talk with Bill Rose. If you work for USF, you have access to Adobe Flash CS4 and CS5 on a computer owned by USF. All students can access the Adobe CS4 and CS5 Master Collection from home using the USF Application Portal at http://apps.usf.edu/ However, using this portal is more complicated and takes additional time
  • Moderate Information Communication Technology (ICT) literacy skills
    • Operating system and Internet skills (e.g., downloading and saving files from the Internet; using Save As to change file formats; uploading files to a server; sharing files in Content Collection of Blackboard; compressing and extracting files and folders; sharing information through e-mail attachments; and installing programs on your computer)
    • Office Suite (word processing and presentation creation)
    • Graphics software (manipulating graphics by cropping, changing their size and resolution, and rotating their orientation; using drawing tools and fills in a graphics program to create simple shapes)
  • Basic HTML skills
  • Time for daily engagement in activities. Please understand that, learning a programming language is like learning a foreign language. You will need the time to be immersed in daily activities. Learning to program is very difficult, if you only have time on the weekends to devote to course work. Please consider your course load and other responsibilities during the semester.

 

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COURSE DESCRIPTION

EME6930 Programming Languages in Education (PLE) Flash is an introductory course that uses the Flash authoring environment and ActionScript 3.0, an Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) Language, to develop interactive and multi-media applications that can be used for instruction and the collection and manipulation of educational data.

This course, which is offered by the Instructional Technology program in the College of Education, is focused on using ActionScript3.0 to program interactive educational applications based on best practices for interactive multi-media instructional design. There is only one set of requirements and expectations for all students in the course.

This course can be counted toward two out of three possible Graduate Certificates** in Instructional Technology (Distance Education, Web Design, or Multimedia Design), the PLE requirement for the Ph.D. and M.Ed. degree programs, or an elective for Instructional Technology Ed.S. degree programs. If Web Programming I is used to meet the PLE requirement, then EME6930 PLE: Flash can count as an elective for the Ph.D. and M.Ed. degree programs. Check with the instructor or your academic advisor if you have any questions.

Note: **If you are want to earn a graduate certificate as a certificate student, then you must apply for each certificate before you complete the last course for the certificate. Certificates must be completed in five years. However, if are enrolled in a graduate degree program in Instructional Technology at USF, then you can apply for graduate certificates at any time before you graduate, and the five year requirement does not apply to you.

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Course Materials

Adobe CS3 Flash Professional, Adobe CS4 Flash Professional, or Adobe CS5 Flash Professional; all textbooks are available on the DVD or the Adobe web site. You can obtain a student license for this from the USF computer store. Please ask for Bill Rose. You can also use the USF Application Portal athttp://apps.usf.edu/ to use Adobe CS4 and CS5 Master Collection for free from home. If you choose to use the USF Applications Portal, then please assure that you can access it.

Optional Books that have been recommended by previous students:

  • Adobe Creative Team (2011). Adobe Flash Professional CS5: Classroom in a Book.
  • Adobe Creative Team (2011). Actionscript 3.0 for Flash Professional CS5: Classroom in a Book.
  • Braunstein, R. (2010). Action Script 3.0 Bible, (2nd Ed.). Wiley. http://www.actionscriptbible.com/index.html
  • Moock, C. (2007). Essential Actionscript 3.0. Adobe Developer Library.
  • Richardson, D. & Milbourne, P. (2009). Foundation ActionScript 3 for Flash and Flex. New York: Springer-Verlag. http://www.friendsofed.com

Course Goals

Students will:

Course Objectives

Students will:

  1. Use rubrics to evaluate interactive multi-media instructional applications.
  2. Identify strategies and procedures for using high level programming languages to implement instruction and to collect & manipulate educational data.
  3. Describe the general purposes of programming languages and how programs are designed.
  4. Design interactive instructional applications based on the best practices recommended by recognized experts in instructional design and technology-based instructional design or published in peer reviewed journal articles in the field of instructional technology and instructional design
  5. Operate an event-driven, high level language in a GUI (graphical user interface) operating environment
  6. Describe and use ActionScript 3.0 statements
  7. Describe and use ActionScript 3.0 functions and operators.
  8. Describe and use ActionScript 3.0 objects, event handlers, and methods
  9. Describe and use ActionScript 3.0 variables and data types
  10. Manipulate numeric and string data
  11. Use arrays to store, retrieve, and manipulate large amounts of data
  12. Describe and use ActionScript 3.0 for decision-making
  13. Describe and use iteration and repetition with ActionScript 3.0
  14. Employ and control multimedia with ActionScript 3.0
  15. Use ActionScript3.0 to store and retrieve information in a "Flash" cookie
  16. Describe and apply procedures to "debug" ActionScript 3.0 programs
  17. Use comment statements in your ActionScript3.0 to describe the procedures and syntax used
  18. Publish applications developed with ActionScript3.0 to the web
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REGISTRATION

You can register for this course as a degree-seeking student, a non-degree, or graduate certificate seeking student**.  In other words, if you are taking the course for recertification, you might not be in a "formal" degree program.  In that case, you can register as a non-degree seeking student.  Visit the USF Registrar's page and click on Non-Degree Student Admission.  If, at a later date, you decide to enter a degree program, you will be able to use two of the courses that you took as a non-degree seeker.

Note: **If you register as a certificate student you will be assessed an additional fee per credit. Please see the description of fees for graduate certificates in Instructional Technology http://www.coedu.usf.edu/it/curriculum/certs/

 

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EVALUATION

Your course grade will be based on the following criteria.

Class Activities (60%) -- The class activities are anchored to problem-based instruction. There are a series of nine activities. Each of these activities contains one or more evaluation products to be completed by the student. All assignments must be submitted by the due date in order to obtain any credit. You will have opportunities to revise your grades by responding to feedback provided, if you turned in the original assignment on time.

Quiz Assessments (10%) -- Ten quizzes will review programming concepts each week. The highest score earned for each quiz will be recorded; unlimited attempts for engaging in quizzes.

Final Exam (15%) -- A final exam created from the questions in the test bank for all of the quizzes will be administered face-to-face during exam week.

Final Prototype Project (15%) -- In order to obtain an A in this course, there is an additional final prototype project with written proposal paper. An acceptable project is a sophisticated and integrated instructional application that demonstrates your ability to use the ActionScript3.0 programming language, which you learned during this course, in complex ways. It is important to plan this application early so that you can utilize the programs that you write for your assignments in the the programs that you will use in your project. In order to receive any credit for this project, the paper must be submitted on-time, the project must be pre-approved, and the final prototype must work without error. Please see previous projects of students in the IT Flash Showcase.

Please see policies below for withdrawal from the course and incomplete grade.

    Grade
    %
    A
    90-100
    B
    80-89
    C
    70-79
    D
    60-70
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TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Tentative Schedule of Activities
Activities/ Projects Programming Concepts
Best Practices for Designing Interactive Multimedia Educational Applications ActionScript 3.0 Programming Language - Modularity with Classes and Inheritance; Objects, Properties, Instances, Methods
Flash Interface, Timeline, Frames, Graphics, Libraries, and Navigation Symbols, SimpleButtons, Events, EventListeners, Functions, Conditionals
Animation and Learner Control
 Object Variables, Methods, MovieClips, Accessing MovieClips inside of MovieClips
Interactivity and Learner Engagement Display Objects, Sprites, Loops, Creating MovieClip Classes
Text, Components, Data Collection, and Feedback Declaring Object Variables, String Variables, Transferring Information, Importing Classes, Formatting Text, Embedding Fonts
Slide Shows and Data Display Arrays, Multi-dimensional Arrays, Data Components, External Files, and XML
Quizzes, Randomization, and Timers
 Private and Public Variables and Functions, Passing Parameters
Using Multimedia in Complex Applications
 Loaders, Contexts, Sound, Video, Images, SWF, URL, PDF, Multiple External Files
Field Tests and Formative Review  
Culminating Activities  

 

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USF GRADUATE SCHOOL POLICIES

Mandatory First Day Attendance: USF requires that all students attend the first day of class. Students who do not attend the first day may be dropped from the class. Their seats may be taken by other students, or they may need to reregister and pay the late fee. Distance-learning students must log into Blackboard and begin an activity to designate their intention to remain in the course.

ADA Statement: Students in need of academic accommodations for a disability may consult with the office of Students with Disabilities Services to arrange appropriate accommodations. Students are required to give reasonable notice prior to requesting an accommodation. Contact SDS at 974-4309 or http://www.sds.usf.edu

USF Policy on Religious Observances: Students who anticipate the necessity of being absent from class due to the observation of a major religious observance must provide notice of the date(s) to the instructor, in writing, by the second class meeting.

Academic Integrity: Consequences for academic dishonesty will depend on the seriousness of the offense and may include receipt of an “F” with a numerical value of zero on the item submitted, and the “F” shall be used to determine the final course grade.   It is the option of the instructor to assign the student a grade of F or FF (the latter indicating dishonesty) in the course.

Plagiarism is defined as "literary theft" and consists of the unattributed quotation of the exact words of a published text or the unattributed borrowing of original ideas by paraphrase from a published text. On written papers for which the student employs information gathered from books, articles, or oral sources, each direct quotation, as well as ideas and facts that are not generally known to the public-at-large, must be attributed to its author by means of the appropriate citation procedure. Citations may be made in footnotes or within the body of the text. Plagiarism also consists of passing off as one's own, segments or the total of another person's work. The Fraud of Plagiarism tutorial is located at http://www.cte.usf.edu/plagiarism/plag.html.

Detection of Plagiarism: Blackboard includes an automated plagiarism detection service that allows instructors to submit student assignments to be checked for plagiarism. I reserve the right to 1) request that assignments be submitted to me as electronic files and 2) electronically submit assignments to the plagiarism deletion tool.

In order to comply with federal (FERPA) and state privacy laws, you (students) are not required to include personal identifying information such as your name, SSN, and/or U# in the body of the work (text) or use such information in the file naming convention prior to submitting. Please follow carefully your instructor’s instructions regarding what identifying information to include. Your submission will be placed in the course grade center in your account that can be accessed by the instructor.


Withdrawal from Course: If you decide to drop this course, please be sure to officially withdraw -- otherwise you will receive a grade (probably an F) for the course. Remember, there is no grade forgiveness at the graduate level. Please see the USF Graduate School's policy for Dropping Courses and use their form.


Incomplete Grade: No incomplete grades will be awarded without extenuating, documented circumstances, such as death in the family or extended illness. If you request an Incomplete you will be assigned the grade that you have currently earned, which will be updated when you complete the requirements of the course. If you do not update this grade within the specified time period, you will automatically be assigned this grade. If you believe that there is a possibility that you may not be able to complete the requirements and your current grade is not acceptable, then you should officially withdraw from the course. Please see the USF Graduate School's policy for Incomplete Grades and use their form.

Emergency Procedures: In the event of an emergency, it may be necessary for USF to suspend normal operations. During this time, USF may opt to continue delivery of instruction through methods that include but are not limited to: Blackboard, Elluminate, Skype, and email messaging and/or an alternate schedule. It's the responsibility of the student to monitor Blackboard site for each class for course specific communication, and the main USF, College, and department websites, emails, and MoBull messages for important general information.

 

LOGIN PROCEDURE

You will access the course materials and submit assignments via the USF Blackboard Portal. It is ESSENTIAL that you obtain access to Blackboard (which requires a USFCard).  The USFCard identifies you as a University of South Florida student. Distance learning students can use their USFCard to check out materials from the USF Library; to acquire a USF e-mail address; to gain entry to USF athletic events and campus recreation facilities; to gain student discounts to movie theaters and restaurants; and much more.

To obtain a USF Card and a NetID (http://www.it.usf.edu/services/netid) follow these steps immediately.

  1. Obtain a USF Card (information at http://it.usf.edu/services/usfcard/faqs)
    Or, if you are a distance learning student, use the online form at https://secure.touchnet.com/C20235_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=26&CATID=495
  2. Activate you NetID https://netid.usf.edu/una/
  3. Use your NetID to sign into MyUSF and Blackboard (Click on the Courses tab after you sign in)

Every newly enrolled USF student receives an official USF e-mail account that ends with "mail.usf.edu." You can access this account when you log into Blackboard on the Welcome page of the Learn.USF tab. Click on the Google e-mail icon in the top right panel. If you don't see this panel, then click on the Add Module button at the top of the page and then select the check box for

.

Every official USF correspondence to students will be sent to that account.

If you regularly use a different account, you can set up e-mail forwarding on your USF e-mail account. The following link will send you to a tutorial on how to set this up. Once you set it up you will not have to do this again, unless you want to change the account to which you are forwarding your USF mail.

  1. Log into Blackboard
  2. Click on the Google e-mail icon
  3. Log in with your USF netID
  4. Select Settings at the top of the page
  5. Select Forwarding and POP/IMAP at the top of the page
  6. Select the radio button for Forward a copy of incoming mail to and type in the address of the account you want your e-mail forwarded

If you have questions about the course, feel free to contact your instructor.

 

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