Richard G Baldwin (512) 223-4758, NRG Room 4238, Baldwin@DickBaldwin.com, http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/

ITSE1356 Introduction to XML

This material applies to classroom sections and Distance Learning sections taught by Professor Baldwin.

Instructions for Downloading and Submitting Assignments

Fall 2014

Revised: 06/07/14

The official web page for this course is ITSE1356.htm


General

This document may be modified as the semester progresses in order to incorporate new instructions or clarify existing instructions. Therefore, you should review the instructions periodically and then immediately before submitting each assignment to confirm that you are in compliance.

Failure to comply with the instructions usually results in a failing grade for the assignment, often zero.

The assignments for this course are take-home assignments. You may use any reference material that you have available. However, you are instructed not to obtain assistance from anyone.

Downloading Assignment Files

Assignments are posted in Blackboard. There is a zip file associated with each assignment that you can download from Blackboard. The zip files have names like Asg01.zip, Asg02.zip ... Asg12.zip.

(Note that the first four assignments will not be visible until you have taken and have scored at least 80-percent on Test00. See Online Orientation.)

Format of Downloadable Zip File

Each of the zip files contains an assignment specification document (Asg01.htm for example) and any other files that you may need to complete the assignment.

Each assignment requires that you successfully solve one problem involving XML, XSL, DTD, JSON, or a combination of the four.

Extract the contents of the zip file into an empty folder. Then open the AsgXX.htm file in your browser to view the specifications for the assignment.

Special Instructions Regarding the Submission of Assignments

You may submit each assignment up to two times before the deadline shown in the syllabus. Your highest score among the two scores for each assignment will be used to compute your final grade.

Your name

Your name is required one or more times in the solution file for every assignment. The assignment specifications will indicate where your name must appear. If there is any confusion as to where your name must appear, please discuss this with me at least one week prior to the assignment deadline. (If your name does not appear, I will assume that the material that you submitted does not constitute your own work and you will not get credit for the assignment.)

Your name in the zip file

Include your name in the name of the zip file that you submit to help me avoid getting your zip file mixed up with another student's zip file when I retrieve them from Blackboard. A suitable example file name is:

Asg01_baldwin.zip

No partial credit

I will score your assignments in the manner explained in the assignment document.

Each assignment will be graded either right or wrong. Partial credit will not be given for assignment solutions that fail to fully conform with these instructions and with the assignment specifications. If one of your assignments doesn't conform, don't bother submitting it.

Recommended Study Procedures

You should study all of the ITSE1356 material in my online EBook titled Introduction to XML. You should also study the following material in the textbook:

Submitting Your Assignment

Submit your assignment using the Blackboard Assignment feature.

After you submit the assignment, select the assignment again from the Assignments menu item. You should see text similar to "Review Submission History." You should see a hyperlink to the zip file that you submitted earlier in that section. Click that link to download the file.

Open the zip file and confirm that it is the correct file for the assignment that you intended to submit. If you discover that you submitted the wrong file, contact me immediately so that we can arrange for you to resubmit the correct file. Otherwise, your assignment will be scored using the file that you submitted. Note that if you attempt to contact me at the last minute to help you correct such an error, it may be too late. In that case, your assignment will be scored using the file that you submitted.

If I am unable to successfully unzip the file that you submitted, or if it contains the wrong material, you will not get credit for the assignment.

Failure to Meet the Submission Deadline

The submission deadline for each assignment is provided in the Syllabus each semester. In most cases, the assignment will expire and disappear from Blackboard when the deadline passes.

The penalty for failing to meet the submission deadline is simply that you won't get credit for the assignment.

Before you ask, let me tell you that a temporary Blackboard outage, business travel, problems at work, extreme work pressures, divorce, depression, receipt of a "Dear John letter", automobile repairs, flat tires, computer problems, power failures, total eclipses, extremely high outside temperatures, high pollen count, broken lawnmowers, the Super Bowl Schedule, and other assorted and interesting circumstances are not valid excuses for failing to meet the submission deadline. About the only excuse that I might be willing to accept would be something on the order of extended hospitalization or extended serious illness on the part of you or an immediate member of your family. If your excuse is not on that order of magnitude, I really don't want to hear it.

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File: ITSE1356AsgInstructions.htm