Course Description:

This course is designed as an introduction to the Internet as a communication and research/reference tool. The class will cover an introduction to the network; essential terms and technologies; research methods and techniques; issues and policies; and key reference sites. All material for the course will be found on the Internet itself.

Objectives:
Upon completion of the course, students will:

• understand the basic technology, potential and impact of the Internet
• understand and be able to discuss ethical and political issues surrounding the development of the "information superhighway"
• be able to navigate rapidly and effectively around the Internet
• be able to efficiently and effectively conduct research through the Internet
• be familiar with citation styles for Internet resources
• be able to utilize a variety of tools to communicate on the Internet

Course Format:

Students will use the Internet to access lectures, required readings, required discussion sessions, and present the final project. Online office hours will be kept by the instructor using the AOL Instant Messenger with the logon "BurksO2".

Assignments:

• COM 333 Discussion Board -- Student participation in weekly discussions and assignments will be presented on the course WebBoard.   MULTIPLE WEEKLY POSTINGS REQUIRED

• Site Reviews -- Review ten web sites that deal with the area or topic you have chosen for your final project.  Follow this hyperlink to an example of an excellent submission. DUE July  3

• Research Plan -- Develop a brief research process report describing HOW you will conduct online research on a topic of your choice (to be posted to the class WebBoard). Follow this hyperlink to an example of an excellent submission.  DUE July 6

• Vocabulary Assignment (due by end of term) -- Technology Glossary -- Complete the brief glossary assignment.  DUE July 28

• Final Project Research Report --A research term paper on a topic of your choice that uses Internet resources as the primary sources of information -- must be complete and posted on the course WebBoard.  Follow this hyperlink to an example of an excellent submission. DUE July 28

Grading:

Final grades will be determined in the following manner:
 

Instructor:

Class Schedule:

DUE DATE:

June 8 (Thursday) - Introduction to the Internet

Lecture One: Introduction to Online Class and a Brief Internet Primer
Student Information Form (Mail to Burks)

WebBoard Lecture One Discussion Question

Get the Most Out of Your IE or Communicator

Ray Schroeder's Home Page
Burks Oakley's Home Page
Brief History of Internet

How the Internet Works

Microsoft Intro to Internet
Browser Timeline
NUA Internet Surveys

How Many People Are Online -- NUA Surveys

Georgia Tech Semi-Annual Survey of Web Users

 

June 12 (Monday) - Introduction to Internet, Part 2

Lecture Two: Email, the Cornerstone of Internet Communication

WebBoard Lecture Two Discussion Question

Beginner's Guide to Effective E-mail

Liszt -- List of Listservers

Top Level Domains

Internet Address Finder

InfoSpace -- another address search site

Guide to Basic Emoticons

Netiquette
More Smilies, Netiquette, and Online Acronyms

 

 June 15 (Thursday) - Internet history and functionality -- Finding your way around the Internet: One

Lecture Three: Finding Your Way, Part one --  History, Indexes, Crawlers and Hotlists

WebBoard Lecture Three Discussion Question

History of the Internet
Hobbes Internet Timeline
UC Berkeley Library Tutorial on Search Strategies
Searching, Sleuthing and Sifting
Yahoo
AltaVista
Raging
HotBot

 

June 19 (Monday) - Internet history and functionality -- Finding your way around the Internet: Two

Lecture Four: Finding your Way, Part two -- Meta-engines and Strategies

WebBoard Lecture Four Discussion Question

Search Engine Watch

C|Net Review of Popular Crawlers
Researching Businesses and Companies through the Internet
Net Secrets
Academic Info Gateway
Comprehensive Search Engine Index
Mining Company
MetaCrawler
Dogpile
Ixquick

 

June 22 (Thursday) - Evaluating the Quality of Information on Web Sites

Lecture Five: Evaluating the Quality of Information on Internet Sites

WebBoard Lecture Five Discussion Question

Internet Detective Tutorial on Evaluating Internet Resources

Evaluating the Validity of Internet Resources

Site Review Form -- email to Burks by July 3  (this is for the online resources you will use in writing your research paper)

 

June 26 (Monday) - Using the Internet to Search Print Publications

Lecture Six: Searching for Books, Journals and Other Periodicals through the Net

WebBoard Lecture Six Discussion Question

Brooken's Library Bridge
The ETEXT Archives
Project Gutenberg
The English Server at Carnegie-Mellon
The Electronic Text Center at University of Viginia

 

June 29 (Thursday) - Electronic Discussion Boards

Lecture Seven:  Usenet -- Electronic Bulletin Boards

WebBoard Lecture Seven Discussion Question

DejaNews -- Usenet Web Site

People-Talk

Yahoo Message Boards

Liszt Usenet Read-Only Site

Sample Soap Opera Discussion Board Site

 

July 3 (Monday) - Real-time Communication on the Web

Review of ten web sites due this week

Lecture Eight: Live Communication on the Internet (text, audio, video)

WebBoard Lecture Eight Discussion Question

NetMeeting
AOL Instant Messenger
ICQ
IRC Web Site
Teen Chat Site (Canada)
Yahoo chat rooms
Glossary Assignment (due by end of term)
ILC Glossary of Internet Terms
NetLingo -- Online Dictionary
IRC FAQs

 

July 6 (Thursday) - Intellectual Property Rights

Research Plans due in this week's WebBoard discussion
Lecture Nine: Online Copyright and Citing the Internet
WebBoard Lecture Nine Discussion Question
University of Texas Copyright on Web Summary
Fair Use Harbor
Ten Big Myths About Copyright and more
Crash Course in Copyright
Fair Use Standards
How to Cite the Internet
Electronic Frontier Foundation (rights on the Internet)

July 10 (Monday) - Internet in K-12 Education

LectureTen: Internet in Elementary and Secondary Education

WebBoard Lecture Ten Discussion Question

Web 66

Ray Schroeder's Teacher Resource Page

July 13 (Thursday) - Internet in High Education

Lecture Eleven: Internet in Higher Education

WebBoard Lecture Ten Discussion Question

Online Higher Education Notebook

University of Illinois Online

California Virtual University

Illinois Virtual Campus

Jones International University

July 17 (Monday) - How Web Pages Work

Lecture Twelve:  Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML)
WebBoard Lecture Twelve Discussion Question
C|Net HTML Basics
Rent-Free Web Space
Intro to HTML from CWR (on-line tutorial)
An Introduction to XML
Introduction to SMIL

July 20 (Thursday) - Effective Web Pages

Lecture Thirteen:  What Makes an Effective Web Page
WebBoard Lecture Thirteen Discussion Question
Yale Web Stylebook
Style Guides Online

July 24 (Monday) - Ethics on the Internet

Lecture Fourteen: Ethics on the Internet
WebBoard Lecture Fourteen Discussion Question
CyberEthicsWeb Clearinghouse for Web and Engineering Ethics
The Hacker Ethic -- an Alternative View
Ten Commandments for Computer Ethics
Ethics on the Internet -- SF State Student Project
Electronic Frontier Foundation -- try search term "ethics"

July 27 (Thursday) - Future of the Internet -- Information Superhighway

Lecture Fifteen:  Future of the Internet -- Advent of the Superhighway
WebBoard Lecture Fifteen Discussion Question
Bill Gates' View of the Future
Ananova Reporter/Intelligent Agent
Bots and Intelligent Agents
Internet2
Internet2 Presentations

July 28 (Friday) - Presentation of Final Research Reports

Peer Evaluations of Class Papers
Class Evaluations