Taking Ownership: Both instructor and student come to this class with their respective sets of responsibilities. As the instructor, it is my responsibility to organize and communicate the class requirements, as well as helping you (in an appropriate amount and manner) with problems that may arise and providing grades and feedback for submitted work. As the student, it is your responsibility to:
Make yourself fully aware of all requirements in the class -- such as standards for achieving a particular course grade, homework and project requirements (due dates, formatting, tasks to accomplish, etc.), exams (topics covered and format of questions), attendance policies, and so forth.
Do what you must to learn and master the knowledge necessary for completing the requirements (at a quality that merits the grade you desire). This could include things like attending lectures, downloading and reviewing lecture notes, reading the textbook, reviewing the code demo files used/shown in class, and watching video tutorials.
When you come across a topic you do not understand or a challenge/setback in your work -- and cannot figure it out on your own without spending excessive time on it -- ask the instructor for help. Same goes for anything you are not clear on -- assignment instructions, due dates, etc. If you are not clear, then ask.
Plan and prepare in such a way that you are able to complete course requirements successfully and in a timely manner. This includes preparing for any unforeseen circumstances that may arise, such as illness or family issues.
Continuing from the previous point, I am reasonably sympathetic to situations where unexpected occurrences (e.g., personal illness, illness or death in the family, abruptly having to move, etc.) may impact your ability to complete course requirements by the official due date. If you make contact with me about such a situation as soon as possible, we can have a discussion and see about working out some kind of arrangement. However, if you choose to simply disengage (e.g., skipping class, failing to turn in work, insufficient or no effort to communicate, little or no steps taken to keep learning material) until much later in the course, then there will not be very little (if anything) that I can do to help you.
Click here for further tips for studying and succeeding in this class.
Do It Yourself: Sometimes, I will give you tasks to undertake, while leaving it to you to figure out how to carry it out -- instead of directly walking everyone through it in class. This is in order to get you in the habit of independent problem-solving and self-motivating you to gather information and teach yourself things on your own - essential skills for any technology professional! Learn how to do your own research -- on sites such as Stack Overflow and even plain old Google -- in order to solve problems.
Asking for Help: Having said that, I must point out that students will often go to the other extreme - encountering a problem they can't solve and then spending hours and hours struggling with it and trying to find a solution. Sometimes, one may be lacking in the background knowledge to understand a problem, find a solution, and implement it. That is not good, either! As such, while I want you to make an effort to solve your own problems in this class, you should not take it to such an extreme. A good rule of thumb: If you can't figure it out yourself in less than 30 minutes, bring it to me.
Timeliness: If you are having difficulty with a homework, or an assignment, or test material, please take steps to resolve this immediately, rather than waiting until the last minute. Come to me right away rather than waiting until it's too late. This is a large class with lots of work, and it can pile up quickly, if you're not careful.
Communications:
For all questions related to class material, you should send a message to the Google Group. This way, if other students are facing a similar issue, they can automatically see my response without having to message me themselves. Makes information sharing that much easier.
For personal questions (e.g., your own grades or class performance), e-mail me directly.
All emails to me personally should have a subject line that begins with '[class number]: subject of your e-mail'. Here, "class number" means something like "CS110", "IT114", "IT341", etc. This is so that your messages will pass my e-mail filter, so that I will be sure to get them.
Important: Failure to include the class number is effectively the same as not sending an e-mail at all!
Attendance: I do not plan to enforce attendance at this time. Because the material in this class is critical to your success in this field, I expect that you will make the effort to show up, entirely of your own accord. That said, I will still keep track of attendance for records' sake. Moreover, if you are enrolled in this class as part of any special programs at UMass Boston, it is possible that I will report back to the program staff regarding your attendance. (Click button for additional notes regarding attendance.)
I understand that some students may have constraints or conflicting priorities that compete with the goal of regular class attendance. As such, some may miss a few (or more!) classes. While this is your choice, you do need to be aware of -- and prepared to accept -- the possible consequences of missing class too often. Some students may be such strong independent learners (with an aptitude for this material) that they can read course materials on their own, teach themselves, and make good grades. However, this is not the usual case. In my experience, students who attend class less regularly tend to exhibit lower performance than those who attend more regularly, all other things being equal. This is largely because they miss out on the benefits of attendance:
The extra explanation I am able to provide for various topics
Seeing code demos carried out live. (For example, I may temporarily alter a piece of code to demonstrate how it changes program behavior.)
The opportunity to ask questions and hear the answers, as well as my answers to other students' questions
Being able to work with other students and learn from one another
Hear extra information or clarifications given in class, that may not be given elsewhere.
Accommodations: Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 offers guidelines for curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities. If applicable, students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Ross Center for Disability Services in the Campus Center (617-287-7430). The student must present these recommendations and discuss them with each professor within a reasonable period, preferably before the end of Drop/Add period.
Click here for further notes for students with documented disabilities.
Academic Honesty and Student Conduct:
Students are required to adhere to the University Policy on Academic Standards and Cheating, to the University Statement on Plagiarism and the Documentation of Written Work, and to the Code of Student Conduct as delineated in the catalog of Undergraduate Programs. The Code is also available online at: Code of Student Conduct.
About Collaboration: In completing out-of-class assignments, such as homework and projects, you may wish to work with one another in some capacity. You are encouraged to help one another understand concepts and ideas, as presented in class. However, you should not share your code or other work with one another. Your work must be your own. If the work you hand in looks sufficiently similar to another student's, then suspicion of possible academic dishonesty may arise -- and appropriate action be taken.
In particular, some students have been caught posting their lab/project assignments or solutions on public websites requesting or offering to pay for outside assistance. This is unauthorized collaboration which is academic dishonesty. In addition, because it is publicly posted, it allows other students to find their code - enabling them to copy it - which is also academic dishonesty. I consider any public posting of any homework assignments or solutions on the internet to be prima facie evidence of academic dishonesty. I will identify the students involved and sanction them.
It is the student's responsibility to know what constitutes academic dishonesty, at this university and in this class. Lack of knowledge that something constitutes an academic honesty violation will not be accepted as an excuse.