Fire Drill
Schedule

• Fire Chief's Comments
• Firehouse Tasks
• Hot Topics This Week: RLO/SCORM
• Drills
• 1-Alarm Drill: RLO/SCORM
• 2-Alarm Drill: Web Sites
• 3-Alarm Drill: Storyboarding
• Chief's Inspection List
• Fire Marshal Badge Skills
• Future Drills

Welcome to your twelfth week of firefighting at Firehouse 6287.

We have only 4 short weeks left and lots still to learn.  The main thing we will be focusing on in these last few weeks with regards to skill development will be web site design and development.  I think many of you have been looking forward to this all semester so I hope you are able to spend some quality time during this last month to build your skills in this domain. Please read the instructions regarding your web site assignment very carefully.

This assignment is worth a considerable amount of points.  Do NOT wait until the last minute to work on this. Do NOT wait until the last minute to try to ftp your site.  Those who do not have their site up and ready for viewing and grading on the due date WILL lose points.  Previous feedback I have heard from other students who took this course was that the most frustrating thing about building a  web site had very little to do with building the site and a whole lot to do with the ftp process.  Well, I believe that you are all quite familiar with ftp due to previous drills so I hope that aspect of it will be less frustrating so the web site development experience can be more rewarding.  Those of you who are still experiencing difficulties with ftp and figuring out your url should use that knowledge when considering when you should begin working on getting things ftped and asking for help as needed.  I would suggest at least one week before the due date.

Recent conferences I have attended are full of sessions related to Reusable Learning Objects and SCORM (pronounced scorum).  This topic is somewhat new and has only made its entrance into IT in the last 2-3 years or so.  This makes it very HOT!  However, it also makes less material about it available via the web and other avenues.  Of course, having fewer web resources may also be a blessing. 

The hot topic this week will begin our turn to look at some of the really hot topics in IT.  While the many topics we have already discussed are hot - they have been around for many years but have been developed more completely as years have gone by and technology has progressed.  The next few topics are ones that are somewhat in their infancy.  This does not mean that they were non-existent, but they may have been developed within other fields, such as business, military, training, and management.  With the advancement of technology, many of these field have merged with Instructional Technology to form new ideas and applications around old issues. For those of you in the military or in corporate settings, these topics are sure to be hot and ones you will want to know about.  Within the K-12 arena, these topics have not really made it yet.  However, this does not mean they may not be useful to you for some good holiday chitchat at all those parties you might go to.

My goals for you this week are to:

• describe reusable learning objects and their use
• identify and describe SCORM
• storyboard your web site
• begin building your web site

Each week this section will provide you with any necessary material that will be essential for you completing assignments as well as keeping abreast of any schedule changes.

Task #1:
Download version 7.2 of Netscape if you do not have it so that you will be ready to begin building your web site next week. If you have an earlier version of Netscape then you can continue to use it as long as it is a version that has Netscape Composer with it.  Composer is the web page building tool that comes with Navigator which is the web browser. (Notes: During the installation of version 7.2, you will be prompted for the "type of setup you prefer". At the prompt, select either "recommended" or "full". You will also be prompted to install additional components [Desktop Weather and Sun Java]. You do not need to install these components to use Composer. To remove the components from the setup, remove the corresponding checkmark.)

NOTE: If you want to use another tool for creating your web page then you may do so. However, please do not expect us to be able to help you troubleshoot every potential program.  In addition, the UWF student web server does not support FrontPage extensions which means that if you use FrontPage, some of the things you create may not work once you FTP your files to the server.

• Check the FAQ Page to see if your question has already been answered.
• Email Chief Curda.
• Email EMT Kelly.
• Email the firehouse crew and see if another firefighter knows the answer.

To the hot topic for this week (Page 2)