CMGT 538 Syllabus (order of subjects may be changed)
➢ Week 1 – January 12th:
Course Overview / Language Overview
Presentation: None
Guest speaker: Bri Holt, Engrade
➢ Week 2 – January 19th:
Basic HTML / CSS
Presentation: RSS Feeds. Google Reader / Feedburner / select 1 RSS product – Desdemona
Current events: Jen / Danielle
Guest speaker: Curt Smith, Musician
➢ Week 3 – January 26th:
History of the Web
Presentation: Web based analytics. Site Meter / Google Analytics / Webmaster tools – Danielle
Current events: Desdemona
Guest speaker: Chris Yates, DELL
➢ Week 4 – February 2nd:
Brainstorming / Planning
Presentation: FTP Clients. Filezilla / FireFTP (Firefox Plugins) – Erika / Charles
Current events: Sasha
Guest speaker: Christina Yoon, Yelp
➢ Week 5 – February 9th:
Hiring a team
Presentation: Outsourcing technology builds. Odesk / Craigslist / Rent-a-coder – John/ Kabir
Current events: Ben / Trang
Guest speaker: Scott Cohen, Redtie
➢Week 6 – February 16th:
Collaboration / history of online communities
Presentation: Project collaboration tools, Google Docs / Basecamp / Sharepoint / Zoho – Gareth / Trang
Current events: Kabir / Heather
Guest speaker: None
➢ Week 7 – February 23rd:
Backend – CMS / Server, etc.
Presentation: Software as a Service. Salesforce / eTapestry – Heather
Current events: Scott
Guest speaker: Robert Moore, RJMetrics (ecommerce analytics)
➢ Week 8 – March 2nd:
Frontend UI / Navigation / Streaming (video / audio)
Presentation: Crowd Sourcing. 99Designs / Deviantart.com / CrowdSpring – Evan / Sasha
Current events: Rebecca
Guest speaker: None
➢ Week 9 – March 9th:
API’s / Content
Presentation: Audience measurement. ComScore, Neilson, Quantcast, Compete, Alexa – Scott
Current events: Evan / Charles
Guest speaker: None
➢ Week 10 – March 16th:
Spring Break (no class)
➢ Week 11 – March 23rd:
Search Engine Optimization
Presentation: SEO tools: Select 5 to present on – Brigette
Current events: Tammy
Guest speaker: None
➢ Week 12 – March 30th:
Traffic / User Acquisition (besides SEO)
Presentation: CPM / PPC /CPA Advertising / Publishing – AdBrite / Stumbleupon / Commission Junction – Rebecca
Current events: Jon / Erika
Guest speaker: Jim McCarthy, Goldstar
➢ Week 13 – April 6th:
Business Models
Presentation: PPC Advertising / Publishing. Google Adsense / Adwords – Tammie
Current events:
Guest speaker:
➢ Week 14 – April 13th:
Mobile Overview
Presentation: Twitter tools. CoTweet / Bit.ly / 3 other Twitter Apps – Jen / Ben
Current events: Brigette / Gareth
Guest speaker: Raanan Bar-Cohen, WordPress
➢ Week 15 – April 20th / Week 16 – April 27th:
Final Paper Presentations
Speaker order: Shasha, Charles, Heather, Ben, Scott, Jen, Tam, Evan, Erika, Jon, Holt, Kabir, Trang, Rebecca, Gareth, Desdemona, Brigette
Course review
No presentation / guest speaker
➢ Week 17 – May 4th:
Final exam
Peer Presentations (15%)
- Each week a student (or team) will present on a web service that is related to this class.
- Presentations and follow up discussion will last approximately 20-30 minutes.
- Presentations should give the other students a complete overview of the service.
- Students will sign up for presentation dates / subjects during week 1.
- Students must email a draft of presentation by Monday, 12:00pm for review
- Students must email a final presentation by Wednesday, 3pm in an online format / PPT or Keynote file, along with a PDF copy that is under 7MB
Homework / Readings / Quizzes (20%)
- Readings / Projects will be assigned one week before class.
- Required weekly reading includes the following blogs:
TechCrunch http://www.techcrunch.com
Mashable http://www.mashable.com
Final Paper and Presentation (25%)
- Students may choose their own subjects, preferably to be aligned with their personal interests – that includes a deep dive into one or more subjects discussed in class.
- Must have subject approval by week 10.
- Presentations to class will be 10 minutes firm, with a brief class Q&A afterwards.
- Opening slide should be on what class subjects will be discussed.
- After presentation, students will submit a PDF version of the presentation, along with a Title and Paragraph summary for inclusion on the class website.
- Papers will be 8-12 pages, using APA citations.
- Students will sign up for presentation dates / subjects during week 1.
Class Participation (25%)
- Show up, pay attention and participate.
- Use your computer for class related subjects only.
- Engage with class speakers.
Final Exam (15%)
- Designed to summarize class.
