Assignment: Administrivia and Survey

Assigned: Friday, 26 August 2011
Due: 11:00 p.m. Monday, 29 August 2011

Summary: In this assignment, you will gather information about the structure of the course and then respond to a few basic questions about the course and about yourself.

Purposes: To encourage you to learn about the structure of the course and the course web. To give me a bit more information about you.

Expected Time: One to two hours for parts one and two.

Collaboration: Each student should turn in his or her own version of this assignment. However, you may certainly work with other students as you review the course materials and answer the questions. You may discuss the assignment with anyone you wish. You may obtain help from anyone you wish, but you should clearly document that help.

Submitting: Email me your answers. More details below.

Warning: So that this exercise is a learning assignment for everyone, I may spend class time publicly critiquing your work.

Assignment

Part One: The Course

As you might have been able to tell from the first day of class, I have a wide variety of opinions about learning and teaching in CS which are reflected in how I run the class. You can (and should) learn more about these perspectives from the course Web. In this assignment, you will review the course Web and answer some basic questions.

1. Read

• The front door for the course, available at http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS362/2011F/.
• My notes on teaching and learning, available at http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS362/2011F/Handouts/teaching.html.
• My notes on academic honesty, available at http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS362/2011F/Handouts/academic-honesty.html.
• My notes on students with disabilities, available at http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS362/2011F/Handouts/disabilities.html.
• The class FAQ, available at http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS362/2011F/Handouts/faq.html.
• Anything else that looks of interest or that is necessary to answer the following questions.

2. Write (well, type) answers to the following questions:

a. Suppose you get everything correct on a homework assignment. What grade should you expect to receive on that assignment?

b. What happens if you turn in homework late?

c. Explain what an eboard is (or seems to be) and list a few ways one can get the eboard for a particular class. (Note that you may have to look at the eboards for a previous version of this class, since I have not yet started using eboards in our class.)

d. Give at least two ways that you can find out what assignments you have due?

e. When can you work with other students and when can you not work with other students (for this class)?

f. How can you obtain help from me?

g. What work should you do in preparation for each class session?

h. Why do you think I gave you this assignment?

i. What questions about the class do you have that aren't answered by the Web site?

Part Two: About You

As I start each class, I like to learn a little bit about each student. Hence, I provide a short survey. I find that knowing more about my students helps me teach a better class.

a. What is your name?

b. What is your major (or intended major)?

c. Who is your academic advisor?

d. What courses are you taking this term? Please include meeting times. I prefer course names to course abbreviations, although you should feel free to include abbreviations in addition to names.

e. What is your favorite thing that you've learned in computer science?

f. What do you hope to learn or gain from this course?

g. What are your biggest concerns for the course?

h. What programming languages do you know?

i. Most surveys like this ask you to list your five favorite books, movies, TV shows, CDs, chia animals, buildings on campus, professors, or whatever. I'll give you a little more freedom. Pick a category of objects (it can be one that I listed, it can be one that I didn't list), and list your five favorite objects in that category.

j. What else should I know about you?

k. Since I'm asking you all of these questions, it's only fair that you get to ask me some questions. What, if anything, would you like to know about me?

Important Evaluation Criteria

I will evaluate your work on the seriousness with which you approach the assignment and your correctness in answering the questions. (And, yes, particularly clever or amusing answers are likely to earn you a modicum of extra credit.)

Submitting Your Homework

Please submit this work via two separate email messages. The first should be titled CSC362 Course Details (Your Name) and should contain your answers to part one of this assignment. The second should be titled

CSC362 Survey Answers (Your Name) and should contain your answers to part two of the assignment.

Please send your work as the body of an email message. I don't like attachments, and prefer not to receive them when they can be avoided.