Other Materials Needed: A Zip disk (Mac formatted) or a pile of 3.5" floppies (floppies are becoming obsolete; new Macintoshes don't have any floppy drives).
Please also keep good backups.
Grading:
15% Learning Activities
15% Homework (including Review Questions and other assignments)
15% Quizzes (including Online Quizzes at the AEOnline site)
15% Labs
20% Tests
10% Self Evaluation of your Tests (how well you honestly justify your grade)
10% Subjective Teacher's Evaluation (participation, attitude, helpfulness, etc.)
How about if these are the only grades we will deal with in this class,
including on the tests, self-evaluations, and final grades:
A 4.0
A- 3.7
B+ 3.3
B 3.0
B- 2.7
C+ 2.3
C 2.0
C- 1.7
D+ 1.3
D 1.0
D- 0.7
F 0.0
Learning Activities:
Suggestions for learning activities:
Tests:
Self Evaluations:
More details:
For each module you should do a learning activity (of
your own choosing) to introduce you to the module. You should send in (by
e-mail) a report of your learning activity before class on the day we start
a new module together in class. At a minimum this should include (but not
be limited to) a thorough reading of the chapter in our textbook. You will
receive a 4.0 if your learning activity report is on time, written in the
past tense and demonstrates significant interaction with the material. You may receive
lesser grades depending on its lateness or reduction in quality. There is a lot of
flexibility in what you choose for your own learning activities; this philosophy accomodates
different learning styles. Do whatever you need to in order to meet your own learning
style and interact significantly with the material. (You should not feel a need to
be a complete master of the material at this stage or have _completed_ all of the
labs, because otherwise there would be no need to discuss things in class or allow
class time for labs. Find a nice balance so you do enough to intelligently participate
in the class discussions but still have more to learn and do in class/lab. The learning
activity should prepare you to contribute to the class discussion at a level deeper
than the textbook.)
Read the chapter in the textbook
Answer the Review Questions sprinkled throughout the chapter
Do the Exercises at the end of the chapter
Read from the list of Additional Readings at the end of the chapter
Discuss the topic with experts (or even your classmates)
Find internet (e.g. web) resources that address the topic
Watch pertinent videos in the library
Begin the lab exercises
Read the chapter in the textbook a second time
Take reading notes
etc....
At the end of each module there will be a test (administered and
returned by e-mail). You will receive whatever you give yourself if the
evaluation is justified, honest, and on time; if not, my graders and I will decide
what the test score should be (hopefully in dialogue with you).
Most of the tests will be essay questions, with a couple of probable
exceptions.
After each test you will submit a self-evaluation about
your test. Each evaluation must be turned in (by e-mail) before the next
test. You should start with the test answer you sent to me (there should
be a copy in your Out box) and annotate it, setting off your evaluation
comments with ** or capital letters or something. Evaluate performance,
not effort.
Three goals:
1) Learn what Computer Science is
2) Learn to produce, recognize, and critique quality work
3) Try a paperless experiment
Scheduling:
Because the learning activities need to be done before we begin the module in class,
you will likely be working on different phases of three different modules at any one
time. For example, you could be working on the labs for module 5, preparing your
self-evaluation for test 4, and reading ahead as part of your learning activity 6,
all on the same day.
