Our expectations of Networking students fall into
4 categories:
Participation Points:
You will be graded on how well you stay on task in this class. There will be some
times when one group of students is working on a lab and there is no specific assignment for the rest; but you might be reading curriculum online, doing a search for a network topic, or working on a worksheet. Since the time is not
structured, you may be tempted to chill. Avoid that urge- your grade depends upon it.
Acceptable Internet Use:
You
will be required to follow the Park Center acceptable use policy for computers and the
Internet in this class. These computers are for school work only.
If you need to write an email to a friend, surf for punk bands, or
buy online... get a computer at home!! There is nothing wrong with
these activities, they are just not what these computers were
purchased for. If you violate this policy, you will lose
participation points. If you repeatedly misuse the computers, you
will be removed from the class.
Group Work:
Some labs and activities involve group work; students discussing networking topics or brainstorming network design. Sometimes your grade will be a "group grade". Sometimes your grade will be individual.
Homework Reading Online:
Depending on your reading speed and need to reread material, there will be situations where you will be required to read online curriculum outside of class time. This curriculum may be the Cisco Academy material, this website, or other networking websites. I recognize that not everyone in this class has an Internet connection at home. Our class schedule has all of the reading assignments listed in italicized blue. You will be expected to keep ahead of these reading assignments. If you do not have an Internet connection at home, it will be more important that you plan ahead to make sure you do not fall behind. This room is available every morning at 6:55 am for student use. That would give you a half hour of reading before classes begin. After school, the media center computers are open until 3 pm. This room will be available after school most nites for varying degrees of time. All public libraries have Internet access now. You will be given some class time to read, but you will certainly have some homework reading. Plan ahead!
Home Networking Project:
You will be asked to complete one major project in here. You will be asked to design a homenetwork for your home. It will be a paper project that will be turned in the last day of class. The parameters of the project will be introduced to you early in the trimester. You will be given no classtime for this project, but of course Rholl is available to answer questions. You may complete this project individually or in pairs. If you choose to do it individually, you will be expected to do as thorough of a job as a partnership might. You will not be "given a break" because you worked alone. The advantage of working in pairs is the brainstorming and sharing of tasks. The advantage of working alone is that you don't need to depend on someone else and it is easier to schedule homework time. Your choice!
Class Schedule