There are a few elementary things you can do to ensure that you receive a totally respectable grade in the course. These things may seem simple and obvious, but it’s sometimes surprising how few students seem to get this right:
There are also some things you can do to earn a really great grade in the course:
In order to ensure that you keep up with the course material, there will be short Canvas mini-quizzes that will be posted after select lectures (at least 15 of them, but there will be more). If it is announced that a specific lecture has a mini-quiz, that quiz will open after lecture ends and will remain open until the start of the next lecture. It will be your responsibility to take the mini-quiz before the quiz closes. This will give you at least two full days to take the quiz, sometimes three if you have the weekend. Each mini-quiz will have 4 short questions and will be worth a total of 1 point.
There are NO makeups for Canvas mini-quizzes. However, there will be more than 15 mini-quizzes, but you only need 15 points toward class engagement. If you earn additional points, these will act as extra credit.
The purpose of the recitations is to review the course concepts from the previous 2-3 lectures and provide you with some hands-on programming activities to apply those concepts to various short problems. Unlike the technical assignments which should be your own work, you are encouraged to work with other students during the recitation to discuss and solve the various problems. Like technical assignments, there is likely to be more than one way to solve each problem. During the recitation, we will regroup to discuss the problems, what you found challenging, how you approached the problems, and a quick look at some creative solutions you might want to share.
The goal for recitations is not to get everything perfectly correct. In fact, the recitation might include more activities than you can reasonably complete in the given time. Don’t worry if you don’t get all of the activities done. You will be graded for recitation participation on just that: PARTICIPATION. As long as you hand in some reasonable attempts to the problems and participate throughout the recitation, you will get full credit for the recitation.
Recitations will be graded with a score of 0, 1 or 2.
There are NO makeups for missed recitations. However, there are 11 recitations, so 22 points are up for grabs but you only need 20. If you earn additional points beyond 20 points, these will act as extra credit.
Deliverables for each week typically consist of up to three parts:
See below for rubrics for each submission type in your deliverable, including the important LATE POLICY.
The purpose of the Concept Questions is to test your understanding of the key programming concepts presented in class, outside of a programming editor and computer environment. In a sense, we are testing your computational thinking skills with these questions, and these questions will give you a feel for what types of questions you might get on a written exam where the computer is not available.
Each deliverable that has this component will provide a link to a Word document that you will download. The document contains the questions you must answer along with space for your answers. You will complete the document and then print/save a PDF of this document to include with your submission by the indicated deadline.
Concept Questions are graded with scores of 0, 1 or 2.
The purpose of technical Assignments is to develop your fluency in programming concepts, and to reinscribe computational literacy skills through practice.
Technical Assignments are submitted through Autolab. These assignments will have clear, crisply-worded checklists for what you need to accomplish. If you check off all the items on the checklist, and submit the work on time, you will receive full credit.
One of the components of this evaluation checklist will be style (e.g. modularity, effective use of data abstraction, readability, commenting, etc.). Your code should be properly annotated with comments that are well-placed, concise, and informative. Your assignments will be graded by your TA, and at times by your professor.
Wherever possible, we have designed Assignments to produce visual or audiovisual results, in recognition of the interests of an arts-oriented population of students. In spite of the checklist and detailed requirements, Technical Assignments have room for creativity and do not have unique solutions. Just as harmonizing a chorale in music theory is a routine technical task, there is always room for invention and artistic choice. Do not think for a nanosecond that everyone is arriving at the same solution or that it might be OK to copy another solution just this once.
The technical Assignments are given to strengthen and assess your skills as an individual. Therefore, collaboration on technical Assignments is not permitted. Moreover, Assignments submitted through Autolab are automatically proofed by a sophisticated plagiarism detector, before being graded by a human. See the course policies on Academic Integrity for more information about this.
Assignments will be graded with scores of 0,1,2, or 3.
The purpose of open-ended Projects is to provide well-circumscribed opportunities for you to make creative work with code. Generally the Project prompts will invite you to explore a specific conceptual theme or set of programming techniques, but, unless stated otherwise, there is no correct solution, and no specific requirement for how to implement your idea. While a Technical Assignment asks for a creative solution but an expected result, a Project also asks for some creativity in defining and approaching the problem but the results will be based on your individual creativity.
Open-ended Projects are evaluated according to the following considerations:
Related to our course policies on Academic Integrity, you must also
Projects will be graded with scores of 0,1,2, or 3.
All Deliverables (Concept Questions, Technical Assignments, Open-Ended Projects and Capstone Project) must be handed in on time, unless you are given extensions due to elements out of our control (e.g. system outages). Generally, unless otherwise indicated, most Deliverables will be due at 11:59pm Eastern on Saturdays, but there are a few exceptions throughout the semester.
Deliverables are due at a specified date and time. If you miss the deadline (by even one minute, according to Autolab’s clock), deliverables may be submitted up to 24 hours late with a 2 point penalty. No deliverables will be accepted after the 24-hour late period, except in the case of medical or family emergencies or other pre-arranged university-required absences that are approved by the instructor.
Autolab Grace Days: As an exception to the previous rule, students will be provided with 5 “grace days,” which are basically free extensions to be used at your discretion for submissions using Autolab. Students may use up to 5 total grace days over the semester, though no more than 1 grace day on any particular deliverable. Note that you may not combine grace days with late days so, even with grace days, no deliverables will be accepted after the 24-hour late period. Thus: deliverables submitted more than 24 hours late will receive a grade of 0.
In rare cases, students legitimately need more time. In these cases, you will almost certainly need to make up work in multiple courses. You should ask your advisor to contact your professors and help you devise a reasonable plan to catch up. We will be very cooperative with you and your advisor, and you might be surprised how much support you will get. –it happens. On the other hand, if all your other courses are fine and you just happened to blow off deadlines in 15-104, and your advisor is not supporting you, we will not be pleased.
There will five exams in this class: two lab exams to test basic programming skills, two midterm written exams and one written final exam to test conceptual topics in computing. Each lab exam is worth 15 points toward your final point total. Each midterm written exam is worth 10 points toward your final point total and the final written exam is worth 15 points toward your final point total. Questions on the exam will test core concepts, so if you have been participating regularly and doing well on the various deliverables, then you should do well on the exams.
There are NO makeups for examinations except for CMU-required absences, specific documented cases of illness or family emergency. If you have a documented disability that may affect taking an exam, please consult with Disability Resources well ahead of the exams for a review of your situation and approval of appropriate accommodations as determined by this office. Submit any requests for accommodations at least one week before an upcoming exam.
In this course, the maximum number of points you can earn is 200 points.
Although final grade breakdowns will not be published, in general, if you earn 90% of the points or more (at least 180 points), you will likely get an A. 80% of the points or more (at least 160 points) will likely earn a B. And so on. To pass the course, you should be aiming to earn at least 120 points (60%). The instructor does reserve the right to adjust these boundaries based on the relative ease or difficulty of the deliverables, but typically this is not a common occurrence.