SYLLABUS

This class will mix traditional lecture with more active learning activities, such as discussion, hands-on exercises, and group activities. Active and consistent attendance, engagement, and collaboration is expected of all students, is the best way you can boost your learning, and will affect your grade. Active participation means being on time, being prepared, listening to others, contributing ideas of your own, and asking questions as they come up. There are direct correlations between staying engaged and how much you learn and can apply later.

If you are ill or pose a health risk to other people, you should wear a mask or not come to class. You should keep up as well as your condition will allow by watching class videos, working on assignments, and communicating with your instructor and TAs in the Collaboration Center.

To create an inclusive and supportive learning environment in which everyone can participate fully, we will follow these Community Guidelines adapted from the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) at the University of Michigan and the guidelines for creating a culture of respect and support outlined in Respect in the Community: Creating a Culture of Support. (See the section below on Collaboration and the Honor System.)

Assignments, announcements, class notes, and other material will be made available on the Detailed Schedule of the course web site: http://www.cs.kzoo.edu/cs210/. Students are responsible for checking this resource daily.

Reading assignments, videos, and discussion questions or exercises should be completed before class. You are encouraged to discuss both the ideas from the reading and your solutions to any exercises with classmates, both inside and outside of class.

Reflective journal entries: Throughout the term you will asked to submit reflections on your learning experience. These assignments and their due dates will appear on the Detailed Schedule.

There will be numerous in-class activities and longer programming projects that will need to be completed outside of class. The time required to write and debug a program is difficult to predict, but time-management skills are critical in both college and industry. I will assign programming projects far enough in advance that you will have some flexibility in scheduling your work, but you are responsible for budgeting your time wisely so that you will be able to complete your assignments on time. Assignments should always be turned in on time unless you clear it with me in advance.

Quizzes and Tests: There will be several quizzes or tests to assess your understanding of basic concepts. These will be announced in advance.

Final grades will be based on:

Two documents, the CS Program Style Guide and Documentation Standards, describe the programming style and documentation standards for this course. Following these standards is an important step towards writing well-structured and reusable programs. You may use two templates that have been created to help you meet the documentation standards: the class template and main class template.

The CS Program Style Guide also provides a general description of the grading criteria used in this course.

This course operates in accordance with the principles of the Kalamazoo College Honor System: responsibility for personal behavior, independent thought, respect for others, and environmental responsibility. In particular, academic integrity is a fundamental principle of scholarship. Representing someone else's work as your own, in any form, constitutes academic dishonesty. Unauthorized collaboration and receiving help from others outside the bounds permitted by the instructor are also violations of the College honor system. You are responsible for working within the permitted bounds, and acknowledging any help from others or contributions from other sources.

Discussion questions: You should feel free to work with others on the discussion questions. As you work with others, keep in mind that the goal is not just getting a solution to the problem, but learning how to solve the problem yourself.

Programming assignments: You may discuss the requirements and strategies of a programming assignment with others in the class, but you should not look at code belonging to anyone else or make your code available to anyone other than yourself unless you are working as a team with the permission of your instructor. Some assignments will allow you to use AI, while others should be done on your own so that you learn specific concepts and techniques; the assignment should make this clear, but if you are in any doubt, ask your instructor. If you have code-specific questions you should address them to a course TA or computer science faculty member only. You should acknowledge in your program documentation any help you receive, including help from AI.

Reflections, quizzes, and tests should be entirely your own work.

Penalties for a first violation of the Honor System in this course may include receiving no credit for an assignment, a lowered course grade, or failure of the course. Depending on the severity of the incident, a report may be sent to the Dean's Office, which may result in additional consequences, including suspension from the College. Any subsequent violation will result in immediate failure of the course.