The objective of this course is to help you develop into a more qualified computer professional. As the course name suggests, the course has three primary objectives:
Scheduled office hours for this semester are as follows:
If I'm not in my office, I should be somewhere in the building (perhaps in one of the labs helping another student), and there will often be a note on my door saying where to find me.
Some office hours will be held in one of the classrooms/labs (times to be announced soon). These are ``open lab'' times, during which I'll be in one of the department's labs, prepared to answer questions. The intent is that students can use these times to work on assignments with someone available to help with any questions or problems.
In addition to scheduled office hours, you're welcome to drop by and see if I'm in my office and free to talk, or you can make an appointment by calling me or sending me e-mail.
E-mail is almost always a good way to reach me; I normally check it fairly often and reply promptly.
Most course-related information (this syllabus, reading assignments, etc.) will be made available via the Web. The course Web page is a starting point for Web-accessible course material; you can find it linked from my home page (http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing) or directly at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~bmassing/Classes/CS2194_2010spring/HTML/.
Here are some additional references on UML.
Grades in this course will be determined on the basis of class attendance/participation, an ethics presentation, and the design project, weighted as follows.
| Component | Maximum points |
|---|---|
| Class participation | 10 |
| Ethics presentation | 15 |
| Project | 75 |
Numeric grades will be calculated as a simple percentage, by dividing total points earned on the above components by total points possible. These numeric grades will then be converted to letter grades based on a curve, but in no case will the resulting letter grades be worse than students would receive based on the following scheme.
| Numeric grade | Letter grade |
|---|---|
| 90 - 100 | A-/A |
| 80 - 89 | B-/B/B+ |
| 70 - 79 | C-/C/C+ |
| 60 - 69 | D/D+ |
| 0 - 59 | F |
Detailed requirements will be provided via the course Web page. Ethics presentations are scheduled for March 8; please plan accordingly (i.e., please plan to be in class that day).
Detailed requirements will be provided via the course Web page. Briefly, however: The class will be split into groups of four to five students each. All groups will work on the same problem, first analyzing the requirements and then developing a design and a prototype solution. Each group will turn in a written report (including UML diagrams) and do an in-class presentation. Each group member will also turn in an evaluation of other members of his/her group. Sophomores' design presentations are scheduled for April 26; please also plan to be in class on that date. Other due dates will be announced via the course Web page.
Regular class attendance is strongly encouraged; class participation grades will be based largely on attendance.
Course-related announcements will sometimes be made by sending e-mail to the Trinity e-mail addresses of all registered students. Students are strongly encouraged to read mail sent to their Trinity addresses frequently.
Since most of the due dates for this course are linked to scheduled in-class events, they should be considered to be inflexible. Exceptions are possible only in very unusual circumstances; if you know you will be unable to meet a deadline, please notify the instructor as far in advance as possible.
All students are covered by the Trinity University Honor Code, which prohibits dishonesty in academic work.
The Code asserts that the academic community is based on honesty and trust, and defines specific violations as well as the procedure to determine if a violation has occurred. The Code also covers the process of hearings for alleged violations and the various sanctions applied for specific violations. The Code also provides for an appeal process.
The Code is implemented by the Academic Honor Council. Under the Code, a faculty member will (or a student may) report an alleged violation to the Academic Honor Council. It is the task of the Council to collect the pertinent evidence, adjudicate, and assign a sanction within certain guidelines if a violation has been verified.
Students who are under the Honor Code are required to pledge all written work that is submitted for a grade: ``On my honor, I have neither given nor received any unauthorized assistance on this work'' and their signature. The pledge may be abbreviated ``pledged'' with a signature.
The specifics of the Honor Code, its underlying philosophy, and the norms for sanctioning can all be found on the Academic Honor Council website, accessed through the Trinity Homepage, or directly here.
Most work for this course is to be performed in groups, but some (e.g., the evaluations of other group members) is to be performed individually. Detailed requirements for the project and ethics presentation will spell out which is which. Work submitted by an individual student must represent that student's own effort. Work submitted by a group must represent the efforts of members of the group only (i.e., collaboration between groups is not allowed). Unless otherwise stated all submitted work will be considered pledged work. Work that is identical beyond coincidence will be considered to be in violation of the honor code and will result in disciplinary action. You are responsible for the security of your work, both electronic and hard copy.