Grading
If you choose to do a final project, your final grade will be determined by the
following weights:
- 40%: class participation (see below for what we expect)
- 40%: labs and homework assignments
- 20%: final project
If you choose not to do a final project, the weights will be:
- 50%: class participation (see below for what we expect)
- 50%: labs and homework assignments
Class participation
- We expect students to do the assigned reading before class.
- We expect each student to participate in each class
in a quality way. If you volunteer to speak during a given discussion,
great. If you don't volunteer, we will call on you.
- By "quality", we mean that you are contributing to the discussion,
not detracting from it. Ways of contributing to the discussion include
highlighting genuine confusions, shedding light on a paper, answering
the discussion leader's questions, giving new points of view (that you
substantiate with evidence), etc. Please do not try to game the class
discussion with irrelevant comments or bogus questions as a way of
enhancing your participation. First of all, such behavior is pretty
obvious. Second, we are evaluating you based on quality, not
quantity.
- You will be evaluated based in part on attendance.
- On the other hand, if you have not prepared, please don't show up.
If you do show up unprepared, and that fact comes out (as it often does
-- remember, we are calling on students), you will not only not be
counted as present but you will also do further harm to your grade. Why
the harsh policy? Having disengaged people in the room detracts from the
discussion, which is unfair to the rest of the class.
- There may be pop quizzes, just to make sure that students are
keeping up with the reading.
Collaboration
Please feel free to discuss the homework assignments and labs in
general
terms with your classmates. A few notes on this policy:
- You must do the work on your own. You should not discuss actual
code, in any form. (For example, you should not discuss code on the
whiteboard.) You should not help each other debug.
- You must write down the names of people with whom you discussed the
assignment and what you discussed with them. If student A gets an idea from
student B, both students must write down that fact and also what the idea
was.
- You must further acknowledge any other contributions (for example, ideas
from Web sites or other sources).
- There may be pop quizzes on the homework, just to make sure that
students are doing the homework on their own.
Code of conduct
Please read the UTCS Code of
Conduct; it applies to this course.
Slack days and turn-in policy
Each student gets three "slack days". At most ONE of these slack days can
be used to skip a particular class discussion, with no ill effects on
the participation grade.
You can use the remaining slack days on the lab
assignments. However, note that you are required to turn in each lab. If
you do not turn in a given lab, you will receive an F on it. If you turn
in a lab and get 0 points on it, you will get a D on it. After you have
used up your slack days, each additional day late will incur a full
letter grade penalty.
Note that there are no partial slack days: an assignment that is only
six hours late uses an entire slack day. Also, Saturday and Sunday both
count as days.
Accommodations for students with disabilities
The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate
academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For
more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at
512-471-6259, 512-471-6441 TTY.