Notas:
- One important aspect of the experience set-up was its
rules. They must be simple enough not to frighten
students and provide a clear path of how to react to the
class. The basic rules are the following:
- each student must deliver individual practical
assignments and maybe request to attend a final exam
using his computer.
- all the relevant information is communicated just in the
class WebPages; each student must confirm everyday the
information in the official Information System homepage.
- each student is the sole responsible for maintaining his
notebook working and solves any problem that arises in
order to fill deadlines and assignments (he can use
another notebook to replace his).
- these rules are presented in the presentation day as the
Information System homepage.
- all the marks obtained in assignments as all the
information about the class is given just by their
publication in the Information System homepage.
- any student can help another, using his notebook and the
network or some computer tool but all the references to
other contributions must be referenced in the students
work.
- These six rules give the basis to the class operation,
turning the notebook a necessary tool and make the
browsing of the Information System homepage a everyday
need. Note that the notebook must be at classroom to use
and the browsing must be done in the classroom but also
outside, somewhere at University or at home, via an
Internet Service Provider.
- One of the key goals is to introduce to students a
computer tool that provides them with a clear set of
functionality that can be used for dealing with
information and its representation; something they
understand and feel good using.
- For that purposes students are introduced to Web
navigation and helped on the basic preparation of their
notebooks to get connected to the network, to use a
browser and a mail reader. They are also introduced to
what is hypertext and how to built simple HTML pages to
publish. After that, students are introduced to Windows
chat and to an IRC program. This has been accomplish in
the first five weeks (with 4 hours/week it gives a total
of 20 hours to introduce the basics).
