Ross 420 Classroom

The Ross 420 Computer Classroom contains 15 iMac and two MacPro computers configured for multimedia applications as well as standard desktop publishing and writing programs. In our course, we will be using the following Adobe CS3 applications:

InDesign
Acrobat Professional
Photoshop

Web resources for these applications are included under the "Tools" section of this site. We will also be exploring trial versions of other applications throughout the semester.

Alternate Work Spaces

Except for Thursday evenings, the Ross 420 classroom will be open most nights and during much of the day in Spring '08. If your schedule doesn't coincide with open times on the printed schedule beside the classroom door, you will find that most of the above applications can also be found in various computer labs on campus, including the Ross 115 Windows classroom and the Ross 137 Macintosh classroom. Consult the IT Computer Labs Database for information on when these classrooms are open.

In addition, our department maintains two separate multimedia editing suites—Ross 424 and Ross 426—which can be reserved by all LAS students for private use during the semester. To reserve a session, consult the English Department's online reservation system, where you can also check out digital still cameras for your various publication projects.

And of course, if you can afford it, you can purchase most of the Adobe applications at a fairly reduced academic rate from the campus bookstore.

Submitting Assignments

Because print files contain much higher resolution images than web files, the files themselves tend to be much larger in size. So first of all, you need some type of medium capable of transferring your files to and from the classroom computers and your home machine. Your options are these:

USB Flash Disk - tiny key-like device capable of moving large media files. You can buy a 4 GB drive for about $30.
FireWire Drive - external hard drive with larger storage capacity and faster transfer rates. As you would expect, they cost more than USB disks; a 40-GB mobile drive costs between $80 and $120.
CDRW - these rewriteable CDs allow you use the CD tray in most campus computers to copy files. Very cheap solution, but there are some compability issues with these disks between various machines and applications.
Network Drive - AIT now provides 1 GB of digital storage space to all students on its public network server. This private storage space can be accessed in most computer labs on campus, allowing you to move files back and forth between the server and the classroom computers with drag-and-drop ease. Hi-speed access from off campus, however, requires some doing.

Assignment Submissions

Once you've transferred your file to a classroom computer and you're ready to submit it, you'll do so through the Novell network system used to support all English writing classes. This system can be access by using the "Go => Connect to server" item in the Macintosh main menu. Use the following information to log into the server site:

Username: x442a

Password: x

In addition to letting you submit files, the Novell system also contains several folders where I will be storing larger digital files that cannot fit on the ISU public server, discussed below.

File Downloads

Throughout the semester, I will be providing you with various digital files that you will use in class exercises or are made available for general knowledge. These files are located in a download folder on the public Iowa State server at this address:

http://honeyl.public.iastate.edu/442/downloads/

I'll provide the username and password for this folder during our first week of class.

If you have any questions about our classroom configuration or you experience any problems during the semester, please let me know.