Feedback from employers and former students has led to the inclusion of several hands-on exercises as part of MD253. While this class is not a programming class, you will complete some assignments involving coding. The exercises are meant to provide students with a hands-on introduction to several critical technologies discussed in class. These exercises should provide insight beyond class discussions, allow those motivated students to experiment further to develop technical skills, and give students a stronger understanding of the issues involved in leveraging these tools for competitive advantage. Hands-on exercises may involve developing a web site, working with the JavaScript programming language, exploring virtual communities, and investigating web sites.
Most assignments are to be completed individually, however some are group assignments.
The goal of hands-on exercises is to provide you with a limited introduction to some very important tools and to have you experiment with some interesting web sites, not to provide a deep, technical immersion. Most of the technologies used in the exercise are significantly complex such that each could support a class on its own. Most exercises are graded as completed or not completed , and incomplete exercises will negatively impact a student's final grade. Some labs may require significant work on your own - it is strongly advised that you begin exercises in advance so that you can ask questions ahead of time if you get in trouble. Details on the deliverables for each exercise are offered in the readings list.