C226 Fall 2021

Class policies

Our course: Format / Work / Equipment / Resources / Communication

The classroom(s): Courtesy / Attendance / Mask requirement

Academics: Learning vs. grades / Self evaluation / Academic integrity / Sexual misconduct / Deadlines / Incompletes / Special needs

Our course

1. Format

C226 will feature lectures on Tuesdays and Thursdays in RTV room 251, beginning at 11:30AM and ending at 12:45PM. You will also have a lab session each week, in room 003 (in the basement) of Franklin Hall. Your lab will meet on Thursday or Friday, and will have 18 students. Labs will be hands-on — you will learn and practice the skills you will need to employ to complete the project work in C226.

All work in C226 will be organized into weekly modules, which will include assignments, handouts and, on occasion, links to instructional videos.

Associated with each Tuesday lecture, there will be a Participation assignment. Some of the these will require only sentence or two from you, but others will be feature worksheets, surveys or creative exercises. You will produce something creative for each Friday lab and submit this work to Canvas. See the Grades section below for more information.

I encourage you to think about C226 as a theory-and-practice course. The lectures will give you ideas about visual communication and show you examples you can use as models for your own creative work. With tutorials and creative exercises — and ultimately your major projects — you will put those ideas into practice with cameras and industry-standard computer software. A series of handouts and videos will help you master the technical skills necessary to do these assignments.

2. Work

There are no exams in C226. Lectures and creative exercises, along with tutorials, will prepare you for four major graded assignments, which are hands-on projects: a Picture Story, a Magazine Design , a Video and finally, a published Website. The Picture Story and Video, which will be based on your original stories, are worth 20 percent each of your final grade, and the two design projects are worth ten each; together, therefore, projects make up three-fifths your final average.

The remaining 40 percent will be determined from the following:

• Weekly quizzes will be on Canvas, and will open on Thursday after our lecture. The quiz will cover that week's lecture material, and will remain open for 24 hours. There will be 15 quizzes, 14 of them graded, but we will drop your three lowest scores. There are no makeups for missed quizzes, and I will not re-open a quiz once it closes.
• Twenty percent of your grade will be based on your level of participation in lectures and labs.
  • Tuesday and Thursday participation will be based on an activity during the lecture, usually due during the lecture session. A few longer assignments will be worksheets that you will use to analyze professional work in each unit. These are due at 11:59PM on Fridays, and you’ll complete them outside of class.
  • Friday participation is lab work. You will complete that work while you are in your lab on Thursday or Friday, but should you need more time, or if you are unable to attend your lab, you will have until Friday at 11:59PM to complete and submit lab assignments.
  • You may submit lab work late for half credit if you miss the deadline.
  • Several videos for lab assignments were prepared for online versions of C226, and those videos will be made available to you via the Kaltura Media Gallery on Canvas. These cover specific skills in software, including Photosshop, InDesign and Premiere, as well as coding in HTML and CSS. are also step-by-step handouts for any tutorials.

  3. Equipment

  Hardware: The School will provide all the equipment you need to do the assignments. You may sign out digital cameras and tripods from the equipment checkout in Franklin Hall. You must first reserve your equipment at
  https://mschoolcheckout.indiana.edu/. Checkout will be open Monday through Friday from 9AM until 5PM. Checkouts are for 24 hours; if you check out a camera on Friday, it will be due for return on Monday morning.

  You are permitted to check out only equipment related to classes you are taking; in C226 this means the Canon 80D cameras, which we will use for photography and video, and tripods. If you prefer to use your own equipment, you may do so — as long as your equipment is of similar (or better) quality (i.e., not iPhones).

  We will work extensively on computers during labs, and you will need computers for all your projects. Franklin Hall’s Media Lab offers Macintosh computers with the latest software. (Be aware, however, that some software may not be available at other campus locations.)

  (Optional): Consider an external drive to store and transport your work. This could become especially important during the Video unit. Video files tend to be quite large.

  I recommend a 1 or 2 Terabyte drive. While this has far more storage space than you will need for this class, you will find such a device very useful in other classes, especially if you plan to produce other visual work such as photography and video. You can buy such a drive for about $50. A 5TB drive can be had for just over $100.

  Software: We will be making use of several creative software applications this semester, including:

  • Adobe Bridge
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Premiere
  • Adobe InDesign
  • Atom (for editing HTML and CSS code)

  The Adobe applications listed above are all available to you free as long as you are an IU student. Using them on your own machine requires you to install Adobe Creative Cloud.

  

  Adobe programs

  The latest Adobe Creative Cloud software is available as a FREE download via
  adobe.iu.edu

  Your IU log-in will give you access to (almost) all of Adobe’s CC programs — almost three dozen in all, including InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere and Bridge, which we will use in this class, as well as Illustrator, After Effects, Audition and more.

  For more information on Creative Cloud at IU, go to kb.iu.edu/d/bdfy.

  For instructions on downloading and installing Adobe Creative Cloud, go to kb.iu.edu/d/bffs.

  4. Resources

  There is no textbook for C226. Support materials, including assignments, handouts, lecture videos and slide PDFs, course material, etc. are all available on Canvas.

  

  LinkedIn Learning

  This resource, formerly lynda.com, is a peerless resource for learning software. As an IU student, you have *FREE* access to thousands of LinkedIn Learning’s tutorial videos, which can teach you virtually anything under the sun related to software skills for C226 — and far beyond.

  You can access LinkedInLearning through one.iu. Go to: LinkedIn Learning at one.iu
  … and click the “Start” button. You will be directed to the CAS log-in — and you’ll have to authenticate through Duo.

  5. Communication

  Visit Canvas regularly to get lecture and lab notes, check your grades, etc. We will use Canvas to provide you with course material for some of the lab exercises and essays. To access Canvas:
  canvas.iu.edu

  Two-Step Login (Duo) is now required for all IU students.

  If you need to set up Duo, get started at:
  twostep.iu.edu

  Learn more about recommended devices at:
  kb.iu.edu/d/anfl

  For help resources, see:
  kb.iu.edu/d/aluu

  Outside of class, we will communicate primarily through Canvas and e-mail, so check your e-mail regularly.

  In the classroom(s)

  6. Courtesy/respect

  Begin to develop your professionalism now:

  • If you arrive after class has started, please enter quietly and sit near the back.
  • Generally, you will not be given credit for attending class if you leave in the middle of a lecture. But if you absolutely need to leave before class is over, please let your AI know ahead of time, and sit next to the aisle so you can leave without disrupting the lecture.
  • Do not bring food or drink into the classroom.
  • Please turn off your cell phone and refrain from texting during class.
  • The use of laptop computers or similar devices is not allowed in C226.
  • Please treat the School’s cameras and computers with care.
  • I expect we’ll generate lively discussions during class sessions. When that happens, please respect your classmates. Feel encouraged to disagree with ideas or question facts, but please don’t exhibit animosity or rudeness to classmates or instructors.

  7. Attendance

  Standard practice for C226 has been to require attendance, and to deduct points — and even fail — students who miss an excessive number of classes. Some absences can be excused — either due to illness, family reasons, religious observations or your attendance at an IU-sanctioned event — and would thus not be counted as “missed classes.”

  In the present situation, however, we need to make adjustments to the attendance policy in C226. Please do not come to class if you think you might be ill or are exhibiting any symptoms associated with Covid-19. If you have symptoms, please be tested for Covid as soon as possible. Because of this, you will not be penalized for having to miss a class this semester.

  You should nevertheless plan on attending all C226 lecture and lab sessions. Each session will involve Participation points, a vital part of your grade, and our activities are important to teaching you the necessary skills to successfully complete the major projects. If you have to occasionally miss a session, or if you are feeling ill, be sure to review lecture slide PDFs (on Canvas) to stay up-to-date. You can complete any missed lab work even if you did not attend that lab. Please make sure that you are keeping your instructors aware of any situations that are preventing you from attending either the labs or the lectures.

  8. Mask Requirement

  This semester, we will be returning to in-person instruction across the IU campus. While this is something to celebrate, and the university’s vaccination rate is high — 85 percent — the COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, is not over. In the interest of preventing the spread of the virus, IU requires that all students, faculty and staff wear masks indoors. This is a short-term requirement, and I will adjust our C226 policy based on the university-wide guidelines, should they change.

  As of now, you must wear a mask to attend classes in RTV or Franklin Hall, especially as seating limits mean you will usually have another person sitting on either side of you. Please be respectful of this requirement.

  • If a student is present in class without a mask, I will ask the student to put a mask on immediately or leave the class.
  • If a student comes to class a second time without a mask, the student’s final grade will be reduced by one letter (e.g., from an A to a B, for instance), and I will report the student to the Office of Student Conduct of the Division of Student Affairs.
  • If Student Conduct receives three cumulative reports from any combination of instructors or staff members that a student is not complying with the requirements of masking and physical distancing, the student will be summarily suspended from the university for the semester.

  Academics

  9. Learning vs. grades

  Learning and grades do not always coincide. Learning is a life-long process, and you alone are responsible for your own education. In courses such as C226 that involve creative work, grades can be counterproductive to learning. Students who are overly concerned with grades typically play it safe and give the teacher what they think he or she wants. Real learning, the kind that will stay with you long after a course ends, requires you to take risks — and make mistakes.

  In C226, when you are faced with a choice between playing it safe for a grade and experimenting—with the possibility that you will make a mistake you can learn from—take the risk! Choose what will contribute to your long-term learning, not what you think might enhance your grade.

  Grades are a hollow reward compared to the satisfaction of learning something that’s fun, challenging and meaningful. They are also an imperfect attempt to quantify judgments about quality.

  I will do my best to correlate grading to your learning, but you may not feel the match is perfect. Please remember I am grading your work—not you. Moreover, at this stage of your education, your process is more important than any product you generate. Use the feedback to improve your process of telling visual stories.

  Nonetheless, you have a legitimate right to be concerned about your grade in C226, and you are always welcome to discuss it with me. If grades are important to you, the best way to get a good grade is to invest significant time, effort and care on your assignments, essays and quizzes—in other words, to master the course’s knowledge and skills. The surest way to get a poor grade is to knock out your assignments at the last minute.

  10. Self evaluation

  Self reflection is one of the best ways to improve rapidly in any endeavor. For each major projects, I will ask you to write a short essay evaluating your product and learning process. This relates directly to the ACEJMC competency that says you should be able to “evaluate your own work … critically.”

  I will give you the space to make mistakes without being punished by a grade — if you demonstrate you are trying and if you tell me in your self-analysis essay how you learned from your mistakes.

  11. Academic integrity

  Regarding academic integrity, use basic common sense, but all assignments must be your own work. You determine the topics for your projects, you operate the camera, you perform the software editing. All of the images and footage in your projects must be work you have performed for this class (with the exception of certain allowed background material, such as old family photos for the Video project).

  In addition, please make sure you are taking quizzes and completing participation worksheets yourself rather than sharing or answers or accepting answers from others.

  If academic dishonesty occurs, I will follow the IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct, located at this URL:
  studentcode.iu.edu/

  Academic misconduct is defined as any activity that tends to undermine the academic integrity of the institution. Violations include: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, interference, violation of course rules and facilitating academic dishonesty. When you submit an assignment with your name on it, you are signifying that the work contained therein is yours, unless otherwise cited or referenced. Any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged. All suspected violations of the Code will be reported to the Dean of Students and handled according to University policies. Sanctions for academic misconduct may include a failing grade on the assignment, reduction in your final course grade, and a failing grade in the course, among other possibilities. If you are unsure about the expectations for completing an assignment or taking a test or exam, be sure to seek clarification beforehand.

  12. Sexual misconduct

  As your instructor, one of my responsibilities is to create a positive learning environment for all students. Title IX and IU’s Sexual Misconduct Policy prohibit sexual misconduct in any form, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, and dating and domestic violence. If you have experienced sexual misconduct, or know someone who has, the University can help.

  If you are seeking help and would like to speak to someone confidentially, you can make an appointment with:

  • The Sexual Assault Crisis Services (SACS) at (812) 855-8900 (counseling services)
  • Confidential Victim Advocates (CVA) at (812) 856-2469 (advocacy and advice services)
  • IU Health Center at (812) 855-4011 (health and medical services)

  It is also important that you know that Title IX and University policy require me to share any information brought to my attention about potential sexual misconduct, with the campus Deputy Title IX Coordinator or IU’s Title IX Coordinator. In that event, those individuals will work to ensure that appropriate measures are taken and resources are made available. Protecting student privacy is of utmost concern, and information will only be shared with those that need to know to ensure the University can respond and assist.

  I encourage you to visit stopsexualviolence.iu.edu to learn more.

  13. Deadlines

  Deadlines are important, but we are aware that university life demands you juggle many competing priorities, especially given the many potential chalenges of an online class. I have added deadlines for all the Participation assignments, but you can submit lab work after deadline for half credit for up to one week. Participation assignments will not be accepted after one week from the stated deadline.

  Your first three projects may be submitted up to ten calendar days late, at a penalty of 10 points per day. These projects will not be accepted more than ten days late, as the score will have reached zero at that time. The one exception to this is the final Website assigment, which must be turned in during Finals Week.

  If you are having problems meeting a deadline, we want to help you get back on track, but please let us know as early as possible — before, not after, the deadline. Negotiating with supervisors is an important professional skill. Start building it in C226.

  14. Incompletes

  A course grade of incomplete will be permitted only for serious illness documented by a physician. A timetable for completing the course work must be negotiated before the incomplete is granted.

  For more on IUB’s policy regarding incompletes:
  www.iusb.edu/registrar/incomplete.php

  15. Special needs

  If you have a learning disability, a physical disadvantage or other special needs, please discuss them with me early in the semester. I want to work with you to accommodate your situation and help you succeed in C226.

  The Office of Disability Services for Students is dedicated to ensuring that students with disabilities have the tools, support services, and resources that allow equal access and reasonable accommodations to be successful at Indiana University Bloomington.

  For more information, please call 812.855.7578 or email iubdss@indiana.edu to schedule an appointment or for further assistance.