Course Information
Class Logistics & Content
Class meets at 9:30-10:45 on Tuesday and Thursday in ITTC 322. The final exam time is Wednesday, December 12 at 8:00 am. Instructor office hours are in ITTC 315 at: MWF 10:00-11:30; MF 1:30-2:30; TuTh 3:00-4:30. You can e-mail me via east@cs.uni.edu.
The optional text for the course will be Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 Step by Step by Michael Halvorson. While it is not required that you purchase this book (in paper or electronic form), having access to a reasonable VB reference is very important.
The University Catalog indicates that this course should address:
Programming using the language Visual BASIC. Broad coverage of language syntax, programming practice, and programming problems appropriate to the novice or end-use programmer using a personal computer.
The course does not count toward the computer science major but is reasonable for majors to take if they have not yet completed our data structures course. It has no prerequisite and will be taught for non-majors who have an interest in learning to program or specifically learning VB.
There are two sections of this course and they will be aligned as closely as possible. Both instructors will emphasize general program design or problem-solving as much or more than the language features of Visual Basic (i.e., we will focus on the programming aspect of Visual Basic programming.
Learning
Your learning related to this course occurs in your head. Instructors have some responsibility for your learning. I attempt to meet that responsibility by planning the course, creating assignments, presenting some material, and responding to your questions. You share in the responsibility for your learning. You are expected to attend and actively participate in class activity, do the assignments, ask questions and seek help when needed, and generally make an effort to understand course content and how it can be applied. I welcome your questions (and suggestions) in class, in office-hours, via e-mail, etc. I hope we all enjoy this class and learn! If you feel some alternative activity would allow for better learning, please suggest it (or ask another student to do so if you prefer not to).
General Course Plans & Assignments
We envision the course having 12-13 units including an individual project unit. Most units will take about one week to complete while the individual project will likely take 2-3 weeks. The planned set of units is shown below and is subject to change during the semester.
- Introduction to problem solving via programming—course introduction; programming & problem solving, problem-solving (program design activities)
- Introduction to VB—the IDE; forms and interactions; event-based programming
- "Simple" problems—IPO (input/process/output) problem structure; form properties, variables, language-supplied functions; practice problems
- Conditionals—understanding and developing tests for decision-making
- Selection-focused problems (to illustrate a variety of problems & solutions, test conditions, and examples of selecting which code to execute)
- Repetition-focused problems (to illustrate a variety of problems & solutions, controlling mechanisms, and examples of organizing code before, during, and after the repetition)
- Two or three data-focused problem units, e.g., user-input; compound data; file data; ...
- Two or three problem types units—simulation; data processing; data conversion/manipulation; ...
- Individual projects—students identify, design, and implement solutions to their own problem
Early unit assignments will have multiple items—something akin to worksheets. Their purpose is to develop understanding of components of programs and provide practice using/thinking/developing with them. Later assignments will have fewer tasks per week, perhaps only a single program or report. The project assignment will be a single program but have multiple milestones in its design and development.
Assignment descriptions will be available electronically. Availability and due dates will be announced in class and electronically via e-mail and the course web site. You are responsible for asking questions about anything on the assignments that you do not understand. Minute amounts of extra credit will be awarded for the first person identifying typos and unclear aspects of the assignments and suggesting better wording.
Grading
The bulk of the credit/grade for this course will depend on grades from the unit assignments. As noted above, units will be weighted according to approximate time spent on the unit. Other grading elements of the course are the course project and quizzes. The five or six quizzes will be given regularly (perhaps weekly) during the early part of the semester. Anticipated weighing of these course elements is unit assignments: 55%, quizzes: 30%, project: 15%.
When grading I prefer to think in terms of "excellent", "good", "okay", and "marginal". However, all graded work will ultimately receive a numeric score, indicative of that assessment. If you have all "okay" scores your grade should be a C; having all "good" and "excellent" scores should result in a grade of A. Occasionally, I will "publish" the spreadsheet gradebook to allow students to check for recording errors. My standard grading scale is
A: 100–90% B: 89.9–80% C: 79.9–70% D: 69.9–60% F: <60%
You may wish to examine my anticipated general grading practices for this course.
Feedback
I very much prefer giving feedback in person rather than in writing. I will provide some general feedback during class. I can answer simple questions after class or without notice (such as drop-in during office hours). Students wishing additional or detailed feedback (or to discuss the grade/score) will need to make arrangements for a 10-15 minute in-person grading discussion.
Attendance and Participation
I will create a seating chart, take roll, and note class participation. Each part (attendance & participation) will count equally. At the end of the semester, students with the equivalent of perfect attendance and no participation will receive half a percentage point of extra credit. Participation can increase the credit up to another half a percentage point.
Other Extra Credit
In addition to attendance and participation, extra credit will be available for above and beyond activity, e.g., finding typos in assignments and handouts (≈ 1/10 point) and suggesting improvements for class documents or activity (≈ 1/10 to 1/2 point). Students may suggest additional extra credit activity. The primary requirement is that the activity has a reasonable chance of enhancing student learning of course-related material. Such requests must be submitted before the two-thirds point of the semester and the work must be completed by final exam time. Total extra credit is limited to five percentage points.
Additional Information
Academic Conduct
Sometimes we tend to equate time spent with the grade we should receive. Do not fall into that trap. The quality of work is as or more important than the quantity of time spent (though time spent indicates something of worth). Keep in mind the rule of thumb says that, on average, students should spend about two hours outside of class for each hour of class time.
If you know in advance of an extended absence, notify me and we will plan how the absence will be handled. For unforeseen absences, with good reason, contact me as soon as you return to arrange for making the work up and avoiding interference with other studies.
This course makes extensive use of electronic information from a host of sources. Students are expected to provide a citation for any work that is not original to the student (i.e., is someone else's idea or words). When quoting, the amount of material from a particular source should be the minimum necessary. Including excessive amounts of material from a source or failing to cite material are plagiarism and subject to penalties as provided by the UNI code of conduct.
Be a grownup—do your own work and give credit where credit is due. Keep in mind that word sequences, images, etc. are subject to copyright, basic ideas are not.
Accessibility
If a student has a disability that qualifies under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and requires accommodations, he/she should contact Student Disability Services (SDS) for information on appropriate policies and procedures. SDS is located in 103 Student Health Center—phone (319) 273-2677.
Cell Phones, etc.
It is generally not acceptable to use cell phones, computers, etc. during class time, except with permission of the instructor and for reasons directly related to class activity. However, UNI Alert situations and personal-life emergencies may occur, thus, we need to be able to receive those kinds of messages. Non-emergency calls are to be avoided. Personal texting, web-surfing, etc. is not okay. Generally, texting, web-surfing, etc. about class-related subjects is discouraged. If you have to hide activity from the instructor or peers, it is not okay (so don't do it).
Additional Academic Help
You may wish to utilize the Academic Learning Center’s assistance with writing, math, science, reading, and learning strategies (no cost to currently-enrolled UNI students):