The Course
This unit provides students with the knowledge and skills to confidently and competently use and maintain a personal computer. Tasks using common software in areas such as visual organisation, Internet search, graphics, animation and website creation are designed to instruct students in appropriate procedures, techniques and conventions in order to create, store, retrieve and present information to meet the needs of an intended audience. Students develop skills in the phases of Investigating, Designing, Producing and Evaluating.
The overriding theme for the semester's work will be the creation of a website based on a novelist, a musical instrument or a sport (NOT a club or competition).
Areas of Study
- File management
- Site layout and design
- Website creation in Dreamweaver 8
- Graphic editing in Photoshop CS3
- Animation in Flash
- Theory of Computers and their use
File Management
McKinnon conventions regarding Headers, Footers and File Management
Site Layout and Design
Prepare a Site design in Inspiration, considering what pages will be required, their filenames, their content outline and the navigation links required. Also decide where the compulsory items need to go. Consider different layout options for headings, navigation links, content and images.
Website Creation
Use Dreamweaver to create basic pages for the site and link them. Learn how to create and format tables, images, text etc. Learn about the conventions for preparing pages for website uploading to an ISP. Prepare the site for regular uploading to the Intranet so that the viability of the site can be checked.
Graphic Editing in Photoshop
Learn about making selections and using Layers in Photoshop CS3 and have the opportunity for further investigation. Prepare a graphical heading for the website and publish.
Animation in Flash
Create an animation in Flash to enhance the website.
Theory
The theoretical side of computers and their use is covered with homework tasks - approximately one per week.
| Handed out | Topic | Due in |
| 23 July (S)/24 July (R) | HW#1 - The Information System | 1 August |
| 8 August | HW#2 - Input Devices | 22 August |
| 22 August | HW#3 - Storage | 29 August |
| 5 September | HW#4 - Processing | 12 September |
| 12 September | HW#5 - Output Devices | 19 September |
| 31 October | HW#6 - Software | 7 November |