Syllabus

There will be 5 components to your grade in this class:

1. Attendance & Participation (mostly required)
2. Readings (done individually, due before class each day)
3. Labs (done in pairs, mostly during class)
4. Problem Sets (collaboration allowed, completed individually)
5. Exams (individual in-class assessment)

Attendance & Participation

Your attendance and participation in class is an integral part of your learning, thus it is a requirement. Class will start promptly at the start time each day, so you should be sure to arrive before class starts. I will hold my end of the social contract by making sure we end class on time every day.

On each day of class, you will be marked as present and engaged (or not). To be marked positively you will minimally need to:

• Arrive on time for class, do not leave early
• Arrive prepared for class activities by having completed the required reading
• Actively engage and participate in all lab work
• Engaged in full group discussion/lecture (not on phone, etc.)

When you miss a class day (excused or unexcused) you are still responsible for the material covered in class. You should review readings, labs, and notes from class and consult with peers who were in class the day you missed to catch up.

If you miss a significant number of class days (including via excused absences) it may be difficult for you to meet the expectations of the course. Additionally, if you miss more than one class period in a row without notice to me, you should expect to hear from me as well as student advising (via SAL). The goal here is not to scold you, but to make sure you’re aware of the situation and have the information you need to stay on track or withdraw from the course if completing it successfully is no longer feasible.

Unexcused absences: An excessive number of unexcused absences (including being marked as late or not participating) will impact your grade in the following manner. If you are unexcused for more than 2 days, you may not receive a grade higher than a B+ in our class. Similarly, if you are unexcused for more than 4 days you may not receive higher than a C+ in our class. Finally, if you are unexcused for more than 6 days, you may not receive a grade higher than a D.

Excused absences: You may be excused for a class under certain situations. I encourage students who plan to observe holy days that coincide with class meetings or assignment due dates to consult with me in the first three weeks of classes so that we may reach a mutual understanding of how you can meet the terms of your religious observance and also the requirements for this course. Likewise, please discuss with me in the first three weeks of the semester if you will be absent due to athletic events. 

You may also be excused from class in the even of an emergency or illness. I will not require proof or details, just please inform me as soon as you are able. If you attend class with respiratory symptoms, please consider wearing an N-95 mask to protect others. 

Readings

Accompanying most class days there will be a required reading that you are to complete before class starts. After reading, find corresponding questions on the schedule, and answer those questions in Gradescope. These are meant to be an accountability device – motivation to complete the reading before class. My hope is that the questions will help you to find the important information or help you identify the things that are unclear.

Readings will be graded on a scale of full credit, or no credit. Answers will receive full credit if they are either correct, or incorrect while showing evidence of significant effort. Incomplete answers or work that is incorrect with little evidence of effort will earn zero.
There will be no revisions on Readings.
There is no 48-hour grace period for Readings.

Labs

Most class days will consist of a lab component. Lab exercises give you a chance to engage with our class material in a low-stakes way, with the benefit of collaboration from your peers. You will turn in each lab as a group, and they will be graded on a scale of full credit, half credit, or no credit. Work that is correct or nearly correct with evidence of significant effort will earn full credit. Incomplete submissions or work that is incorrect with little evidence of further effort will earn half credit. Missing work or work that shows very little effort will earn a zero.
There will be no revisions for lab exercises.

Problem Sets

Problem Sets are opportunities for you to demonstrate mastery of the course learning goals by applying these concepts and skills to problems larger in scope and complexity than the labs. Submissions that receive full credit will minimally meet the following criteria:

• The problem set must be complete, by providing answers to all questions, and/or following all instructions.
• Submission is neat. If hand-written it is legible, and if typed it is formatted appropriately using Latex or word equations.
• Answers are correct or nearly correct, showing full understanding of course material.

You will have the opportunity to revise problems sets using our token system.

Exams

We will have two exams this semester. The dates are as follows:

• Exam 1: Thursday February 27
• Exam 2: Thursday April 24

Exams will be on paper in class, however you will be allowed to use a limited set of notes. More details will be given as the exam approaches. You may be allowed to revise one problem from each of the first two exams using our token system.

Revision Tokens

Tokens are meant to give you the opportunity to revisit work from our course that challenged you the first time around. I hope this system will remove some of the pressure of “performance” in our course, since you may resubmit some things without penalty.

You may earn tokens by supporting your peers and being an active member of the Grinnell computer science community. Eligible opportunities will be listed at the start of each class. You will be limited to 6 total tokens, 3 supporting your peers and 3 attending academic events. (See Token FAQ)

Revise Problem Set: You may use one token to resubmit a Problem Set. You may not resubmit a problem set which you did not turn in. This system is meant to encourage you to take a second look at concepts that you may have struggled with initially, not as a way to turn in things late. Problem Sets must show a good faith effort initially in order to be revised. The same collaboration policies apply as in the original submission.

Revise Exam Problem: You may use one token to revise one exam problem. After each of the first two exams, I will announce which of the problems are eligible for revision, and you may choose to revise up to one of them. You are not allowed to obtain help from any person or resource other than me (Professor Eikmeier), the textbook, your notes, and our course webpage.

A note on feedback: I urge you to read all feedback given through Gradescope, especially on labs and problem sets. Feedback on these assessments is essential for you to understand how to improve, and sometimes you may receive full credit even though you would not on an exam. In Gradescope, viewing feedback means clicking through a few buttons beyond your grade.

A note on instructor/grader workload:
In order for your instructor to maintain sanity this semester, no more than two of your revisions (problem sets or exams) may submitted in a single week. This will help to keep the grading load reasonable. While revised work is not officially due until Sunday May 11, I highly encourage you to revise things earlier. Students who put off their revisions often struggle significantly to recall and understand the errors they made.