Basic Facts

Discussions

Required Resources

Graded Components

What you will learn in this course

This course is an introduction to Computer Science, and programming. So, what is it that you need to know to be a skilled beginning-level programmer in Python? Here’s the list of what you’ll need to be ready for CMPSC 16 (aka CS16, the next programming course):

Problem solving

Memory concepts

Control structures

Functions

Testing

Writing to the terminal

Program style

More information about this course is available at this link

Final Grade Assignment

The formula to determine your course grade average is explained in the table below.

A+ 97-100 A 93-97 A- 90-93
B+ 87-90 B 83-87 B- 80-83
C+ 77-80 C 73-77 C- 70-73
D+ 67-70 D 63-67 D- 60-63
F Below 60

Regardless of any other policies spelled out here, the average used to determine your final letter grade may be no higher than one full letter grade higher than your exam average.

Thus,

To convert final averages to letter grades, a standard 10 point scale will be used, with the upper and lower ends of each range as +/- grades, except for A+ grades, see below. There is no “rounding up”; a grade of 86.9999 is a B and a grade of 87.0000 is a B+.

A+ grades: These may be awarded to the very best performing students in the class—but the cutoff for A+ grades will be determined at the end of the course at the discretion of the instructor (there is no pre-determined cutoff—an average of 97 or more doesn’t guarantee you an A+ grade.)

A Few Course Policies In Brief

You may NOT:

 

Attendance

This course moves quickly. So attendance is very important. This is even more true when the course is scheduled in a 6 week summer session.

As a result, there will be something you have to turn in at almost every class.

Lab attendance constitutes 2% of your grade. You are allowed to miss only ONE lab in order to get the full 2% dedicated to lab attendance.

Missing homework

Homeworks will be distributed in lecture on Tuesdays, and they should be turned in lectures on the due date

There is no makeup. In lieu of providing a makeup opportunity, I will drop the lowest 2 homework grades (which may be zeros if you miss an assignment.) Each homework will be of equal value (100 pts).

Questions about grades

Summary: regrade requests must be made only on GradeScope, and always within one week.

From time to time, the people who grade your papers may make clerical errors in grading (e.g. adding up points wrong or applying a rubric incorrectly.) For this reason, you are encouraged to review your grades as they are posted to Gradescope and Gauchospace. You will typically get an email as soon as each grade is posted. From the time the grade is posted, you will have one calendar week to post regrade requests. These must be made ONLY through Gradescope, ON the correct problem. (Don’t request a regrade for question 4 on the page for question 7.)

Please note that regrade requests based on clerical errors or applying a rubric incorrectly are always welcome. Over the course of the quarter, we’ll grade over 10,000 individual problems, so it is unlikely that we won’t make at least some mistakes.

More problematic are challenges to the rubric itself, e.g. “I don’t think you should have taken off so many points for that error” or “I think I deserve more partial credit for that incorrect answer”. The instructor and TA will always listen, but please know that we’ve put a great deal of thought, time and experience into determining the rubric, and we’ve done our best to apply it to all students equitably. You may have a different point of view, we will not always agree with your assessment—in fact, we seldom will. As such, regrade requests on this basis are not encouraged. It is important to approach such conversations in a respectful manner, accepting that the instructor, TA and grader have been given responsibility for determining course standards, and applying those in a fair way to all students.

In any case, once the two week deadline for challenges has passed, each grade becomes final—and it is your responsibility to come to scheduled TA or instructor office hours to have this discussion. If you cannot make office hours, you may request an appointment, but you must request the appointment within ONE WEEK of the assignment being posted. If you wait until the last office hours opportunity during the two week window, and you are not able to be seen (e.g. because of a long line of students), then you lose the right to appeal your grade.

 

Labs

Lateness:

Accommodations for disabilities

Students with disabilities may request academic accommodations for exams online through the UCSB Disabled Students Program at http://dsp.sa.ucsb.edu/. Please make your requests for exam accommodations through the online system as early in the quarter as possible to ensure proper arrangement.

Managing stress

Personal concerns such as stress, anxiety, relationships, depression, cultural differences, can interfere with the ability of students to succeed and thrive. For helpful resources, please contact UCSB Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) at 805-893-4411 or visit http://counseling.sa.ucsb.edu/ .

Responsible scholarship

Honesty and integrity in all academic work is essential for a valuable educational experience. The Office of Judicial Affairs has policies, tips, and resources for proper citation use, recognizing actions considered to be cheating or other forms of academic theft, and students’ responsibilities, available on their website at: http://judicialaffairs.sa.ucsb.edu. Students are responsible for educating themselves on the policies and to abide by them.

Furthermore, for general academic support, students are encouraged to visit Campus Learning Assistance Services (CLAS) early and often. CLAS offers instructional groups, drop-in tutoring, writing and ESL services, skills workshops and one-on-one consultations. CLAS is located on the third floor of the Student Resource Building, or visit http://clas.sa.ucsb.edu

Standard Disclaimer

This syllabus is as accurate as possible, but is subject to change at the instructor’s discretion, within the bounds of UC policy.

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