Syllabus

Zoom Etiquette

Lecture will be held via Zoom during the official scheduled time for this course (MWF 9:20 AM-10:35 AM Eastern Standard Time) unless otherwise noted in the schedule. To access the virtual classroom, click the on CSC111 Virtual Classroom (Zoom) under Resources & Useful Information on the CSC111 Moodle page.

Synchronous attendance is encouraged (because it gives you a chance to ask questions in real time), but not strictly required. If you are not able to attend a given class, lectures will be recorded and posted to Moodle shortly after the class ends. Please watch the video within 24 hours of it going live to ensure that we all stay together.

Here are a few guidelines that we hope will help keep things running smoothly:

The Zoom classroom will open 15 minutes prior to the start of each class session. To prevent Zoom raiding, attendees will be added to a Waiting Room and one of the instructors will let you in.
Try to log in to our class meeting from a quiet, distraction-free environment. We understand that this is not possible for every student, and we will do our best to create a classroom culture that supports equitable participation for all students, including those with care obligations, limited access to technology, and shared or multiuse physical space.
Audio and video will be muted by default when you enter the room. We encourage students to turn on their video if they feel comfortable doing so; it's a lot less awkward to give a lecture to people you can see! Professors miss seeing students, and rely on facial cues to help us understand when people are confused. However, we understand that there are many reasons why a student may choose not to have their video on. This decision will not affect your participation score.
At the bottom of the Zoom window, click on Participants and Chat. Two pop-up windows will open on the right side of your screen. When you want to speak, use the Raise Hand feature (on the bottom left of the Participants window). The professor or Zoom assistant will call on you, and you'll be able to unmute yourself to talk. You can also use the Chat box to make a point or ask a question. Remember that Chat is public, and may be recorded and archived for the use of people participating in the class asynchronously.
We'll occasionally use Breakout Rooms for small group discussions and activities. We recommend making use of the whiteboard and screensharing features! Your group may want to designate one person to be the Scribe for your group; this person will be responsible for saving an image of the whiteboard for the group, because unfortunately Zoom doesn't record them automatically.

Communication expectations

All written communication regarding this course will take place via discord (a cloud-based communcation platform that supports text, voic, and video). This includes:

announcements (in the #general channel)
questions about the material (in the #questions channel)
messages between individual students and the instructor

Email is hard to search, response rate is slow, and messages are likely to get lost. Use discord!

Course Materials

There is one required e-textbook for this course, which can be purchased through the Smith College Bookstore or directly from the publisher using the instructions below:

Sign in or create an account at learn.zybooks.com
Enter zyBook code: SMITHCSC111Fall2020
Subscribe

We'll use this book for both readings and labs, so it really is important that each student have access to their own copy. If you need help covering the cost of textbooks or other academic supplies (for this or any of your courses!) please fill out the Academic Funding Application found at socialnetwork.smith.edu/forms.

Development Environment

We strongly recommend using repl.it to complete your programming assignments for this course. Repl.it is a full-featured integrated development environment (IDE) that supports live, interactive coding right in your web browser. There's nothing to install, and it works on any web-enabled device. We will use it as our primary coding environment for this course. (Note: please reach out to Jordan if you don't have reliable internet access, there are other options available.)

If you haven't done so already, you will need to sign up for a free account. Go to repl.it/signup and click the google icon to register with your Smith account:

Assignments and Assessment

There will be approximately 8 programming assignments in this course. Assignments will be posted on Friday after class, and will be due on Moodle at 11:55pm the following Thursday There will be one written midterm examination, which will be held during class time. There will be one major group project on a topic of the students' choosing, which will be presented during the final week of classes.

Policy on Late Work

Due to the number of students enrolled in this course, as well as the pace of the material, no extensions will be given, and no late assignments will be accepted without advance consultation with the instructors and the student's Class Dean.

Each student is permitted to drop one homework assignment without penalty, as well as one lab. If a student turns in all the assignments and labs, the one with the lowest grade will be dropped automatically.

Labs

Due to the unusual circumstances presented by teh COVID-19 pandemic, the labs for this semester will be fully asynchronous. The lab will be released Monday after class, and will be due Wednesday morning. The lab exercises can be completed directly within your textbook, which will provide automated feedback as you make progress.

Study Groups

It can be difficult to get to know people in a large, asynchronous, online class. Because of this,the instructors are offering to help students form small (~10 person) study groups. These groups commit to meeting once per week for an hour at a regularly scheduled time to work on assignments and labs, and will be joined by one of the instructors to provide support. Though not required, we strongly encourage each student to consider whether such a group might be beneficial to their success in the course. You can indicate your interest via the CSC111 3-Minute Biography Form.

Collaboration and Academic Integrity

Students are strongly encouraged to form study groups and to collaborate on assignments and labs. The following information is required for all submitted work:

The names of all collaborating students be listed at the top of the submission. If you worked alone, please state: "I did not collaborate with anyone on this assignment."
A "References" section, with in-line citations to any resources you used. Citations should include page numbers (if a printed resource) or a direct URL (if an online resource). If you did not use any resources in completing the assignment, please state: "I did not utilize any external resources in completing this assignment."

Grading

Category	Percentage
Homework assignments	40%
Labs	20%
Midterm	15%
Final Project	15%
Participation	10%

Accommodation

Smith College is committed to providing support services and reasonable accommodations to all students with disabilities. To request an accommodation, please register with the Disability Services Office at the beginning of the semester. To do so, call (413) 585-2071 to arrange an appointment with Laura Rauscher, Director of Disability Services.

Acknowledgement

Some of the materials used in this course are derived from lectures, notes, or similar courses taught at other institutions. Appropriate references will be included on all such material.