This is a quick discussion for students who are actually enrolled in the CS 1300 course
for credit. I want you to know that the syllabus is available on Desire2Learn, and we're going
to go through the rules of the syllabus right now. So this course was designed based on
the CS Principles class, and there are a couple of URLs there that you can go to and you can
learn more about it. It's designed for non-majors, and it's designed to fit the new upcoming
AP exam that will be happening in computer science. It should be appearing somewhere
between 2016 and 2017. The learning objectives for this semester follow the syllabus from
the the CS Principles course.
So we have a couple of big ideas that we're going to follow. We're going to focus on creativity,
so you'll be working on using computing tools and techniques to create artifacts. You'll
be using computing tools and techniques for creative expression. And programming is a
creative tool, so that means you're going to learn how to program and you're going to
learn how to program in a way that you can do something creative with it. You're also
going to be learning about abstraction, and we'll talk a lot about what abstraction is
in the course. I'm just talking about the learning objectives now, so you know what
the course as a whole is doing overall. So you're going to be describing the combination
of abstractions used to represent data, learn what binary means and how binary can be used
to represent data, and then develop abstractions of your own. You're going to able to look
at data. Data is a big word. There are a lot of people who talk about big data now. We're
going to be focusing on one particular type of data for the examples in here, but you're
going to be able to use the computer to process data and information to gain insight and knowledge.
We'll be looking at algorithms. An algorithm is a way of expressing a program. And by the
end of the semester, you'll be developing algorithms designed to be implemented and
run on a computer, and you'll be able to express those algorithms in a language, specifically
Snap!, and then you'll be programming. You'll be using abstraction in your program to manage
your complexity. You'll be developing correct programs, and you'll be collaborating to solve
problems using programming. One of the other big learning objectives is that we're going
to be working on impact, and that is that we're going to be talking about how computing
connects with innovations in a lot of other fields and talk about the benefits and the
harms of computing. Computing isn't all good, and we're going to connect computing within
an economic, social, and cultural context. Most of the class except for just a few things,
like the grades, will be on Janux. You have the book. It's on Janux. It's the Blown to
Bits book, and you can download it online as well just by googling it.
Policies: the homeworks, the projects, and the quizzes, anything that I assign in Janux,
are going to be due at 11:59 PM on the day listed. There is no late day because you have
a fair amount of time. These things are all available at the beginning of the semester.
They're just going to be due on the day they're listed. Okay, so your grade is going to come
half from the exercises, labs, and projects that are available on Janux, and then about
half from the quizzes. The quizzes, there'll be approximately one quiz per reading or longer
video. Your official grades are going to be on Desire2Learn, just like this video. And
what I want you to remember is that you should trust the percentage of the grade, but don't
always trust the number of points. Every once in a while Desire2Learn does something strange,
and 9 out of 10 doesn't always mean it's a 10 point assignment. But if you get a 90%,
it means you got a 90%. If you have any questions about your grade, make sure you bring them
to the person who graded it. That may include the TA. It may include me. Any disagreement
about grades needs to be brought to our attention within one week of when you get your grade.
I said this in the other version of the video, but I'm going to tell you this just to remind
you. In order to get the most out of class, you need to really actively participate--watch
every video, keep up with the learnings, and do your labs, exercises, homeworks, and quizzes.
Now, when I teach in the classroom, I have a long list of appropriate classroom behaviors,
and I want to point out that this applies even to the online classroom. You have one
rule: respect. You're here to learn. Your peers are here to learn, and I'm here to help
you learn. That means you respect everybody. So what is an inappropriate online classroom
conduct? You could be exhibiting erratic or irrational behavior. You could have behavior
that distracts from the subject matter or the discussion. You could make physical or
verbal threats to a faculty member, teaching assistant, or class member. You could not
comply with the faculty direction or you could post inappropriate comments or pictures anywhere
in the course content. Any one of those would count as inappropriate. I do not want you
doing it. In the case of disruptive behavior, I will ask that you leave the online classroom,
and I may charge you with a violation in the student code of responsibilities and conduct.
If you have repeated disruptive issues, I will seek to withdraw you from the class.
Let me make one other big note: I will catch if you cheat. We are going to have a special
video on academic integrity, and you need to watch it, and you need to agree to it.