UWinnipeg Hides Easter Egg Game For Students

UWinnipeg Hides Easter Egg Game For Students

January 11, 2010

WINNIPEG, MB - The University of Winnipeg's Division of Continuing Education (UWDCE) is practicing what it preaches - merging technology, marketing and fun - by hiding a classic arcade game on its website and leaving clues how to find it over the Internet.

Last week, UWDCE quietly placed a modified version of PacMan on a website, dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca, and left clues on Facebook and Twitter about its existence. A secret code is required before it can be found. Within 24 hours, people were talking about it, looking for clues and sharing hints on how to access the game using something called the “Konami Code”.

“We teach technologies like Flash, PHP, ActionScript, as well as design and usability in our Internet Systems Specialist Diploma program,” says Stevi Dram, Director of DCE Information Technology (DCE-IT), “The students are learning these subjects in the classroom right now, so the timing is perfect. They really can see how their new skills can be applied to real-world projects.”

Erin Stewart, Dean of Continuing Education, agrees. “This is an example of word-of-mouth buzz that started with students, expanded to their friends, and then was picked up by online media outlets once people started blogging about it. It's exciting.”

The video game, re-branded as DCE-IT Man, can be played by visiting dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca and entering the Konami Code, which are these keys, in this order:

• Up arrow
• Up arrow
• Down arrow
• Down arrow
• Left arrow
• Right arrow
• Left arrow
• Right arrow
• B
• A

The University of Winnipeg Division of Continuing Education has started blogging at http://UWinnipegDCE.wordpress.com.

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Since 1972, The University of Winnipeg Division of Continuing Education has been a dynamic and innovative lifelong learning institution. Our success has been driven by the ability to create and sustain a dynamic culture based on our most valuable resource: learners. Our life-long learning approach provides hands-on training opportunities to expand learners' career potential. We offer more than 600 full-time and part-time programs, courses and seminars in a full range of program areas.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Stevi Dram, Director of Information Technology, The University of Winnipeg DCE
P: 204.982.1168 E: S.Dram@UWinnipeg.ca W: dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca

DCE-IT Man images are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/UWinnipegDCE and UWinnipeg images are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/university_of_winnipeg_dce

From: http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/index/uw-news-action/story.261/title.-uwinnipeg-hides-easter-egg-game-for-students

The Inside Scoop about The University of Winnipeg's Konami Code

Easter eggs are fun!

What fun would the world be without Easter eggs? Well, I suppose we would survive, but they certainly can add a little fun and excitement to the regular routine. At least this is what we thought at the University of Winnipeg Division of Continuing Education. In case you hadn't seen the buzz yet, we have created a secret page on our new website (DCE.UWinnipegCourses.ca) which can only be accessed by entering in a special code, known as the Konami Code. This classic Konami Code should stir up some nostalgia with much of the 30 something population, as it was made hugely popular during the original Nintendo days back in the 1980's.

So what's on the secret page?

Well, we don't want to give away too much. However, keeping with the theme of classic video games, let's just say that the quintessential classic game is there waiting for you to play, of course with our own little customization added in, courtesy of one of our Flash instructors, Brent Scott. And yes, there are high scores, so if you didn't have your chops together back in 1986, now is your chance to show the world how you measure up.

What does this have to do with continuing education in Winnipeg?

If you like what you see on our Easter egg page, you might be interested in some of the technology behind it. If so, that is lucky for you because we offer courses in everything that is involved to create the Flash game, as well as the DCE.UWinnipegCourses.ca website itself. Our full-time program, the Internet Systems Specialist Diploma (ISSD), is an intense one-year program designed to cover a wide scope of topics and technologies which are all relevant in today's World Wide Web. Topics such as:

• XHTML/CSS
• PHP
• MySQL
• Flash
• Javascript
• XML
• ASP.Net
• Java
• and more...

Can an ISSD graduate really create a Flash game like this after just one year?

A lot can be accomplished and learned in one year. The ISSD program covers a wide range of technologies and it is typical for students to end up specializing and going deeper in a few areas rather than being a jack of all trades. Our Flash video Easter egg game is slightly more involved and more detailed than what is taught in the ISSD Flash section. However, the fundamental principles are learned and it is only a matter of extra time and experience that is required to create a similar project. Anything in the Information Technology industry will always require you to be researching, learning, and keeping on top of the latest developments.

DCE.UWinnipegCourses.ca

Speaking of graduates, the University of Winnipeg Division of Continuing Education's new website was designed and built by ISSD graduates. Bob Freeman designed the site, and I built it using the Drupal Content Management System (CMS). The Konami Code was implemented using one of the many open-source modules available for Drupal. The site has come a long way since its launch in June of 2009 and it's always exciting to launch new features such as the Konami Code and the Flash game. The site was inspired by the feedback that past and present students were giving us about what kind of information they wanted to see online. The website was essentially built by students, for students. Content and features are continuing to improve all the time and it has really become an excellent resource for current and future students. I look forward to seeing the site grow even more in 2010.

Steve Gomori

University of Winnipeg Konami Code

The University of Winnipeg Division of Continuing Education put an Easter Egg on the http://dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca website this month and placed teasers and hints on various places around the Internet.

More details later this week!

Teaser 1:
Find the key; have some fun!
>> Door: http://dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca
>>Lock: Konami
>>Key:___ <--???

Teaser 2: 
A hidden surprise awaits those of you who can find the key:
Google "University of Winnipeg Konami Code" and try it out on http://dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca!
Good luck :)

Teaser 3:
Sure, you've heard of the Da Vinci Code, but have you heard of the Konami Code?
The University of Winnipeg has!
http://ow.ly/Tc7F

A review of 2009 and social media with the University of Winnipeg's Division of Continuing Education

It's been an exciting year at The University of Winnipeg Division of Continuing Education! We launched a new website, http://dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca, based on feedback, research, and requests from current and former students and staff. We are quite pleased with the results.

To be clear, http://dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca does not replace our presence at http://dce.UWinnipeg.ca, which is our main site on the UWinnipeg.ca server. Rather, it was designed to complement it with more specific features that our students were requesting.

For example, in addition to describing the major full-time and part-time day and evening programs, it also includes detailed timetable and course outline information. There are now easier ways to contact us for individual course information, as well as ways to connect via Facebook and Twitter.

Speaking of Facebook and Twitter, UWinnipeg DCE started to get serious about using social media to keep in touch with our students. You can find our accounts at http://dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca/Facebook and http://dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca/Twitter. In addition, we have a Delicious bookmark account at http://delicious.com/UWinnipegCourses.ca where we are regularly adding resources that can help our students with their courses, getting financial assistance, and other tasks.

Also, we created a flickr photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/university_of_winnipeg_dce to highlight some of the unique sights at the University of Winnipeg.

If you are a "Yahoo! Answers" user, you can find the "University of Winnipeg DCE" profile at http://tinyurl.com/ydplqjy where we try to answer questions on a regular basis.

These are just the first baby steps we are taking to open up UWinnipeg DCE to the general public; we look forward to more exciting progress in 2010. Stay tuned :)

ISSD 19 Javascript, Flash, and XML

After the Online Databases section, you will be capable of creating some pretty fancy web projects. You may feel like you're ready to take on many of the challenges that could come your way, and in many ways you will be. But these next three courses will open up doors for you and give you tools to enhance your web work in ways you hadn't yet imagined. Although these courses are short, there is still a lot of material to cover, as well as a final project for each course.

Javascript

At this point in your course, Javascript is really the missing link in your capabilities. Javascript is everywhere on the web, and if it's used correctly, you'll hardly even notice it. It's a tool to provide more interaction with the user and create a more seamless web experience. It can either be very helpful to the user, or it can be an incredible nuisance.

If you hadn't already touched upon this during your databases course, this course may be your first exposure to different points of view about what technologies are most important on the web. People who work with back-end (or server-side) technologies tend to give more value to how things are programmatically set up, and don't concern themselves much with how things look to the user. People who work in the front-end (or client-side) technologies tend to place more importance on usability. Javascript is a client-side scripting language. For example, form validation is essential. User input must be checked to make sure it is suitable to your standards and also to ensure it won't be harmful to your server or database. The debate has sometimes been whether validation should take place on the server side, the client side, or both. Personally, I think validation should be on both sides, with the server side being essential, and the client side simply a courtesy to the user. This technique makes it easier for people to use your site, and it saves your server some work by preventing an extra page load. However, in the case where the user has Javascript disabled, server-side validation will still provide a safeguard to protect against bad data. Nevertheless, back-end and front-end people may still have their biases.

I have a lot of fun with Javascript. There are lots of things that you can do that are very problem-solving oriented. Javascript can be very subtle, but it can make your site so much more robust. I encourage you to dive into it with full force.

Flash

Flash is a fun course. You'll get a quick break from the hard-core programming for a while and jump back into an Adobe IDE. For some of you this may be a relief, while for others it may be a nightmare. The class often tends to be split between programmer-types and designer-types. Flash tends to be more on the creative side, although there is still the opportunity to include some Actionscript programming towards the end of the course. Personally, I'm not much of an IDE fan. I find them a bit overwhelming at first, and I feel like I'm never doing things the correct or best way. Even with Dreamweaver, I find it can be helpful in creating a basic template of my site, but beyond that, it is much easier for me to go back to my trusty ol' text editor. Anyway, that's a side note.

So perhaps the biggest challenge with Flash is learning the program. Otherwise, you will learn how to do some very cool things, and when you include Actionscript, Flash becomes an extremely powerful tool.

XML

In the XML course, you will learn a lot of the behind the scenes of what you have already been doing. XHTML is XML so you will learn the structure and principles of what XHTML is based on, except you will be able to start with a clean state. You say you don't like the <span> tag? Okay, then go ahead and create a new tag and call it whatever you want. I found this course to be very informative. You will also go into more detail about what a DTD is and how to write your own.

For your final project, you will create a webpage without using XHTML You will write the code in XML validate the code against your own DTD, and then add your own styles using XSLT. It's rather impressive what you can create out of pretty much nothing. And don't worry, you'll learn what all these acronyms stand for.

The use of XML is becoming more common in the web and it is important to have an understanding of what it is and where it's used. For example, RSS feeds are now an extremely popular use of XML XML is also becoming more and more the mainstream way to store data. As I discovered later, XML is often used very nicely with Flash. This course gives you a good, solid foundation of what XML is. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to go further with it and put it to practical use. I know that time will come for me soon.

Author: Steve Gomori

The world of ISSD and the real world - salary expectations

Hi ho, Hi ho.

First timer to the this blog, so bear with me. I graduated out of the ISSD17 group, gods knows where most of them are right now.

When I spoke to the ISSD18 after I'd completed my course, the one thing that was mentioned was salary expectations. What, they asked, can we expect to be paid when we graduate....

Since I'd just been hired by an advertising company, I could give them what "my" pay was. I've found out since then what some consulting web firms offer as a "consulting fee" and man, what a difference.

It might be an idea to explain to the potential web masters what to expect when you finish your course and go look for the "job".

Most web firms, on hearsay, will charge app. $100 to $150 an hour for their work. That's their top guys working on the website you ask for, I'm assuming. So let's take the $100 an hour as base. You as a new employee to a firm will not get that, unless you start your own firm (good luck with that). You will potentially get 1/3 of that. So we're talking $30 an hour, $54,000 a year, for the top guy with years of experience.

Ooookay, but you as the newbie, not what you're gonna get.

Figure as the newbie, you're gonna get about 1/2 that. So your salary should be about $15-16 an hour or roughly $35,000 a year.

I think that this info needs to be pushed to the students in some form so that it will manage their expectations when they graduate and finally get a job as a web developer. We got a little bit of it when someone in our class, I think it was Nicole, asked about it, but we didn't get the breakdown. Push the breakdown.

Okay, that's it. Hope my rant was too, ohhh not extreme, let's say conservative.

Cheers

Author: Jacques Bosc

A quick ISSD glimpse

For me the course is over. At times I felt we would never make it through, and then the end leaped upon us. Depending on your strengths and interests you will find material to inspire, and some that will frustrate until you can get a grasp of it. The one constant throughout was a group of unquestionably intelligent and knowledgeable Instructors. Never be afraid to ask questions when you are struggling; they are there to help you learn.

It is a year packed with learning. The courses follow very quickly, one after the other, and the workload is not light. Don't be intimidated by this as all it means is that if you apply yourself you will make it through. After all, if I can make it through successfully then so can you.

I was lucky enough to go through with a wonderful collection of quirky, smart, and hard working fellow students who made the overall experience that much more enjoyable. Ours was a relatively small class, whose students were far too quiet for most of our instructors. We made it very hard for them to read our moods, or even know if we were alive some times. We didn't mean to make life difficult for them, we were just an unusually quiet group.

The ISSD course is an amazing introduction to the intricacies of the World Wide Web, and provides the building blocks to seek almost any Internet related employment available. My only small piece of advice would be to look for a job that involves the type of work you enjoy doing.

For me ISSD was exhilarating, and challenging, as well as an opportunity to meet some wonderful people. I wish you enjoyment, success and luck should you decide to take, or be taking the ISSD course.

Author: Tad Wigmore

Be on time

Your first week, you'll quickly find out the importance of being on time. I tried to ensure I was at least 20 to 30 minutes early each day - all depending on the weather.

Most of the instructors arrive early too... and this is a great time to ask questions or get clarification on the subject material. This is also an excellent time to get to know your instructor and fellow students. We had some great morning chats!

Get there early, organize yourself!

Author: Karen Zuke

ISSD 19 Online Databases and Perl

After the design portion of the program is complete, there is a noticeable shift of pace and learning style in the online databases and Perl sections. Firstly, class time is now reduced to three hours. That's not to say you will be working any less, however. There are more take-home assignments which mostly involve some significant planning. There is a lot of thinking involved in your homework and you'll see very quickly that you won't be able to get away with missing the little details. I was glad for this because it forced me to continually ask the question, "what else am I missing?", or "what else could I add to make this design more robust?" This is a good habit to get into because this kind of thinking will either prevent you from making a mistake which may require you to undo and repeat a lot of work, or it will give an extra feature to your design which will make your system more versatile. To help facilitate this, class lectures are heavily focused on planning and practicing established methods which have been proven to work and save time.

Nothing is neglected with the coding aspect either. The smaller, "trivial", or "baby steps" of the script are brought to attention and tested on a regular basis. Quite often these are the steps which can make a script fail, and if they've been breezed over, it can take some time to debug simply because the coder is looking in the wrong place. This methodical approach to coding contributes to the larger lesson learnt in this section, which is debugging. You will be encouraged to learn what kind of errors you commonly make and then look for those types of errors first when your script is not working. Eventually you will make fewer errors, and when you do, you will debug them faster. Learning how to problem solve will be much more useful to you than just asking for someone for help.

It was the databases section of the ISSD program which really drew me to enroll in the program. I looked at other programs in Winnipeg, but none of them were as complete and well rounded as the ISSD. I had been familiar with XHTML and Javascript to a degree before enrolling, but my next area of interest was in databases and server-side scripting. Of all the other certificate or diploma programs I looked at, none seemed to incorporate these areas.

As it turned out, my desire to venture into these areas was a logical step. These are the tools which will really set you apart from the rest of the developers. There are actually quite a lot of people who can construct a basic or even moderate website which will ultimately work, but all their pages will be static and hard to maintain. Having said that, HTML is a very forgiving language and there are a lot of unqualified people who can fumble their way through the code and end up with a webpage. However, it won't be valid, it will probably be poorly designed, it will likely not be cross-browser compatible, and it will probably take ten or so seconds to load. Nevertheless, they have created a webpage. When it comes to programming, however, you cannot fumble your way through it. You have to know what you're doing and how to do it. The tools learnt in this section are very powerful tools, perhaps the most valuable of the program. You'll be capable of creating dynamic content including shopping carts, blogs, and guest books. You'll be able to process the forms you created in your XHMTL project. You'll be able to send emails and store user information. Just about anything you can think of that you've seen on a website, you'll be able to create by utilizing the tools learned in this section.

You'll once again have a final project. You'll be adding the dynamic content of your choice to your existing XHTML project, if you choose to use the same project. Most people implement a shopping cart, but there are also other options you can choose if you have the right kind of website and you're able to think outside the box.

It's rather exciting to see your project and your work evolve into something so complete and interactive. I really think that this is one of the most valuable sections of the program. The course material is one thing, but the methods of implementation are invaluable. Instilling proper planning and coding methods into your work will save you an immense amount of time and money in the future. Looking back on the year now, I think this section was my favorite part of the program. There is just so much to be learnt, and the results are so rewarding.

After online databases and Perl, you'll have three quick courses in Flash, Javascript, and XML Very cool stuff which I'll talk about next post.

Author: Steve Gomori

ISSD 19 XHTML and Design

Aside from a quick intro into the world of Unix, the first major section of the ISSD program is the XHTML and design portion. Like many classes in the program, this section culminates with a fairly sizable final project. In retrospect, I think this section contained the most diverse styles of teaching and learning. Because it is at the start of the program, there are many questions from students and many open discussions about a wide range of topics including design, the industry, and coding methods. I think the pace is generally slower than other parts of the year to allow for this kind of style. It is one of the longer sections of the program and it is one of the only sections where you will have full days.

You will likely be surprised when you find out that you'll have to write a few essays as some of your first homework assignments. I know I certainly wasn't expecting it. It may seem strange to have to write essays in an information technology course, and it is quite possibly not a strong point for some of us computer folk, but I can assure you that it has its purpose.

Firstly, the XHTML final project is quite heavily focused on presentation and creating a professional image. It is an important element in any business and it is what can set you apart from the competition. I think it's excellent that this aspect hadn't been overlooked in this program. I could imagine a similar program which might easily omit this component and simply teach people how to design and code. The graduates, however, would be lost when it came time to package and present their work.

Secondly, these essays will give you a crash course on how to effectively use the web for research. More often than not in this business, the web will be the first place you go for reference, so it important to learn how to get the most accurate results when using Google or any other search engine. You will be encouraged from day one to use Google on a regular basis to seek documentation or to find a solution to a problem you're having which has already been discussed on the web.

Finally, there are a few aspects of this section which are simply in place to help you get used to being back in school again. As I mentioned in my previous post, for some of you it may be upwards of ten years since you've studied anything. So although the pace is relatively slower at the beginning of the year, an immediate dose of structure, homework, and information may seem like a lot, but it will set you on the right track for the rest of the year.

As far as the day to day classes go, you will explore almost all of the XHTML tags and learn how they all fit together. You'll then incorporate CSS styles, which is a lot of fun. The importance of valid XHTML code is heavily stressed. This is another aspect of the program I am very appreciative of. Valid code is very rare to find on the internet, so yours will certainly stand out. The final project I found to be an excellent learning process, as I did with all of the projects throughout the year. One of the most difficult parts is coming up with an idea for a website. Whatever you decide on, I recommend you choose something with the intention of expanding on it in the following sections of the program. This will not only make your life a little easier, but it is also an excellent way to compartmentalize the different sections of the program and be able to apply them separately to the same project. This perhaps isn't realistic to how sites are built in the real world; I just found it to be a good learning tool to see everything as its own entity.

The next section of the program is the online databases section. In my next post, I'll comment on this exciting section of the program and what kind of doors it will open up for you in the industry.

Author: Steve Gomori

Parking Downtown

If you are a commuter like me, downtown parking is top priority! A quick tip about parking... try to get your parking soon (especially if you're starting your program in October).

I purchased monthly parking via Impark - and had great parking space, underground & heated! A little pricey, but a life saver in the winter.

Here's an entire list of Impark lots in the area:

http://lots.impark.com/result.asp?subarea=winnipeg_nw&city=Winnipeg

If you can't get parking immediately, put your name on the waiting list.

Author: Karen Zuke

Welcome to ISSD!

Hi All! My name is Karen Zuke and I'm in the final stretch of the Internet Systems Specialist Diploma (ISSD 19) program. I can not believe there are only three weeks remaining.

I'm happy to be sharing my thoughts and tips with you on my experience in the ISSD program.

First off, I should tell you that I'm from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba ; I've been commuting the entire year! That's about 3 hours a day in car. So far, the rough calculation is over 50,000 kilometers! It certainly is a commitment, but it's well worth it.

Make the commitment to upgrade your skills!

After several years of working for the same company, I made the decision to go back to school full time. It was a difficult decision, but I felt work was not rewarding enough and I needed more.

For me, it was that nagging feeling that life is passing by and I needed to do more. I needed more life challenge and more skills. The ISSD program does deliver on both! I had some limited technical work experience, but the ISSD program has expanded my knowledge to much more!

My advice to you if you're thinking about going back to school... It's never too late too start, you just need to make the leap.

Author: Karen Zuke

Beginning the ISSD Program

Welcome to the University of Winnipeg. My name is Steve and I am in the final weeks of the Internet Systems Specialist Diploma (ISSD 19) program. Over the next little while I will be blogging on this site to give you my insight into the program as well as my experiences as I progress into the working world.

As I look back on the past year of my life, I am very happy to see how much things have changed, and how much I have moved forward. I'm not only speaking in terms of the knowledge I've gained from the course material, but also the options that are now available to me in the world. It can be a difficult decision to go back to school, especially if it's already been a decade since you last had any formal education. For some of us it had been longer, and for some of us less. Either way, if you're a new ISSD student, you've made a sizeable financial commitment which is really symbolic of your desire to shift gears, move forward, and get to a better and more prosperous place at the end of the year. For the first time in my life, I can look through job postings and feel like companies are looking for a skill that only I have. They are also willing to pay for it. I feel like it is me who has the bargaining power and that I will be interviewing them for a job. That feels like an ideal situation to be in.

As far as the program goes, you are going to learn bits of almost everything. For some of the earlier courses, you will walk out knowing pretty much all you need to know in that area. With a little more practice and experience, those areas will become second nature. Some of the other courses are much larger in scope and there is simply too much material to learn in a short time. You will, however, learn the fundamentals, and you will certainly have the tools to go deeper into the material if you choose to do so. This is exactly the beauty of the ISSD program. At the end of the program, you'll know pieces of almost every area, and you can then choose to specialize in one or two. This is very realistic to how the working world is anyway. Very few people can do everything and still produce high quality work. You're better off being an expert in one area, yet still being knowledgeable of the other areas so that you can communicate effectively with the other members of the team.

There are some excellent instructors throughout this program. You should take advantage of that and ask them questions whenever you have them. Sometimes the most valuable lessons are when an instructor gets sidetracked and starts talking about the industry, and their personal insights or experiences about certain areas. How much do you charge someone? How do you negotiate paperwork and contracts? They can provide realistic examples of difficult work situations and how to approach them.

Over the next several blog entries, I'll walk through the program, talking about each major section and what you can expect. In my next post I'll start with the first part of your program, which consists of design and your XHTML project.

Author: Steve Gomori