CPSC 105 -- Spring 1998 -- Syllabus

CPSC 105 -- Computers in a Modern Society
Spring 1998 Syllabus

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Catalog Description

This course is designed to expose students to a broad range of computer science topics by examining different aspects of computing, including hardware, theory, history, societal impact, and ways in which computers affect our everyday lives. This course does not teach proficiency in a programming language; rather, students are exposed to hands-on computer work using typical personal computer-based application programs and languages. Typical computer science problem-solving strategies and approaches will be developed. This course is intended for students not majoring in computer science and may not be taken by students who have received credit for Computer Science 115L.

Classrooms

MW Lectures:	MW 8:30 - 9:45 AM	McCook Auditorium	(Morelli)
TA Help Sessions	F 9:00 - 9:45	LSC 138	(Morelli and TAs)

Textbooks and Other Resources

Castro, E. HTML for the WWW, 2nd Ed., Peachpit Press, 1997. (required)

Gesing, T and Schneider, J. Javascript for the WWW, 2nd Ed., Peachpit Press, 1997. (required)

Student Computing Handbook -- online
Academic Computing Documentation -- online

Course Policies

Lecture Sessions. Lecture sessions will be a combination lecturing, answering questions about the readings, and solving problems based on the reading. We will take a convince your neighbor approach to solving problems.

Preparation for Lectures. It is crucial that students complete the daily reading and homework assignment before coming to class.

Reading Quizzes To provide an incentive toward completing the reading assignment before class, a daily (multiple choice) reading quiz will be given either before or at the beginning of class. The grades on these quizzes will count 10% toward the final grade.

Inclass Quizzes. Periodic quizzes will be given at the end of the lecture session. These will be closed book and will usually consist of questions similar to those discussed in class or in homework assignments.

Late Penalties. Late assignments will be penalized 10% per day up until the beginning of the next lecture class after which they will not be accepted. For example an assignment due on Monday at 8:30 am receives a 10% late penalty if handed in before Tuesday at 8:30 am and a 20% penalty if handed before Wednesday at 8:30 am. Normally, assignments will not be accepted after the start of the next class period after which they were due. Please don't ask for special consideration on these lateness penalities. It's not fair to those who struggle to get their work done on time.

Grade Determination.

Final grades are determined by taking weighted averages of your grades on exams, assignments and homework/quizzes. In class quizzes and two hourly exams will be worth a total of 30% of the final grade. The two hour final exam is worth 25%. That means that exams account for 55% of the final grade. Handin assignments are worth 35% of your final grade, with the remaining 10% being drawn from reading quizzes. To compute your letter grade at any given time during the course, just calculate your average on exams, handin assignments, quizzes and homework, multiply each by its weight and add them together. A final average of 90% or better is A-, 80% or better is B-, and so on.