ONLINE MARKETING, INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE AND SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Online Marketing, Information Architecture, and Search Engine Optimization offers a brief introduction into the history and strategies of online and direct marketing; discussing the fundamentals of marketing, advertising, online business and ecommerce; evaluating online media, properties, audience/ circulation, and affiliations/ relationships; optimizing information architectures and document structures; and teaching how to improve search engine rankings, maximize site traffic, and attract targeted traffic.

The course will explore the general system architecture and anatomy of search engines, including crawling, indexing, and searching. Students will learn about information retrieval, search engine generations, methods and technologies; focusing on the linkpopularity and authority based PageRank® system by Google, Inc. Lessons will clarify the underlying procedures, algorithms, and implications. Students will design and optimize information architectures and documents addressing the aforementioned concerns.

The course will also cover advanced methods of code, page and architecture optimization and discuss structural, legal and ethical implications. Students will analyze several case studies, investigate and improve the information architecture, page structure, search engine ranking and traffic of several online examples and assignments. Class members will participate in several directories, Open Source projects and online communities. Students will devise and program several related applications and solutions, and prepare a final project that demonstrates the mastery of the methods and technology discussed in the class.

• CLASS INFORMATION
  
• CLASS SCHEDULE

• MATERIAL
  
• REQUIREMENTS
  • Attendance
  • Assignments
  • Online Participation
  • Out of Class Optional Projects
  • Final Exam/Presentation
  • Grading Policy
  • Academic Integrity
  • Course Access

The lectures introduce a great deal of material that is not covered in the readings. Lectures are essential for passing the course; therefore students are required to attend every class meeting and to arrive on time. More than two absences will result in the loss of 10 percentage points from the final grade. More than three absences from lecture or two absences from section without prior consultation with the instructor will result in a failing grade for the class.

In any case, students are responsible for all work assigned at each class period and any assignments lose at least 5% for each calendar day that they are late. Absence from class must be excused in advance, with an expectation of a written submission of the material of the day. Any unexcused absences may substantially harm class partition grade.

Because it is essential for the course to learn and evaluate methods, solutions, ideas and programs designed by class participants, assignments must be completed on time. Students are expected to submit all completed assignments on the due dates indicated on the class schedule. Late assignments will only be accepted at the sole discretion of the instructor up to one week after the due date. In fairness to students who complete assignments on time, late assignments will be assessed the loss of one grade. After the one-week grace period, late assignments will not be accepted.

In addition to placing all written assignments in a designated box that will be set out outside the office until 4:00 P.M. on the day they are due; all assignments are to be submitted online to the bulletin board. Do not leave assignments in the professor or teaching assistants (TA's) office or mailbox. Everyone has to register to the online classroom.

There will be assignments and a final exam /presentation for the class.

Assigned readings are to be completed by the dates indicated on the schedule.

Participation in asynchronous, online discussions and other course activities is mandatory. This course will require significant weekly participation in the online environment. Students are required to submit each week two questions to the bulletin board/online classroom on each reading assignment, topic, problem or section. These questions will form the basis for class discussion. Each student will then select two questions from another student and respond to that question in the online classroom. All students are required to read, evaluate and grade the answers of their peers in the bulletin board.

Students must do assigned readings and participate in discussions and collaborations. Students must participate in critiques of projects, providing feedback about other students' work. Students who are having apparent difficulties in the course will be asked to arrange to meet with the instructor.

All students are encouraged to develop and propose an optional assignment. Each project, worth up to 5 points, may be used to improve your grade. A written report must be submitted at the final presentation of each optional project. Examples of optional projects can include but are not limited to: researching of a particular area of education, preparation of class materials and handouts, and/or maintaining a weekly electronic discussion. A maximum of 2 optional projects may be submitted.

The Final Exam will be a certification-style exam consisting of multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, short answer, short essay questions or a presentation of the group project to demonstrate mastery of the material covered; questions will be based on the learning objectives for each topic or project module.

The grading criteria for the class will be as follows:

(USA – letter grading system of the United States,
GPA – United States grade point average,
D – European university grading system.)

Final Course Grade Calculation: Class Participation

Grades will depend largely on level of effort, with class contribution, participation and attendance influencing borderline decisions.

All requests for regrades must be submitted in writing within one week of the exam being handed back or graded.

Students are expected to maintain high standards of ethical conduct and academic integrity. Cheating and plagiarism in any form are unacceptable and will result in a grade reduction and possibly grounds for a failing grade. Students are responsible for adhering to the ethical policies and the policies for responsible computing, which can be found online at the following location: http://www.informatik.fh-kl.de/dm/organisation/po_aktuell_text.html

All students are expected and encouraged to discuss topics and questions raised by this course. Students shall also identify appropriate resources, authorities and projects, Open Source projects in particular, that will help them preparing their assignments. Ideas or material incorporated from outside sources or another student however, must be documented appropriately. Similarly, in the case of group work and Open Source projects, the bounds of what was contributed by whom or from which source, should be explicitly and clearly delineated in the final individual reports. Any material quoted or paraphrased from other sources must be fully identified, including secondary and original sources according to the MLA (Modern Language Association) style guides. (The latest version of the MLA Style Manual, the standard guide for graduate students, teachers, and scholars, can be found online at the following location: http://www.mla.org/.)

Each student has access to the course for a period of 6 months from the day of enrollment in the course. Please read our Courseware License for more details.

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