The following policies all relate to grades, grading, and late dates. Please view canvas for your actual grades in the course.
Grade Assignment
The assignment of letter grades will be made as follows:
| Letter Grade | Points |
|---|---|
| A | ≥ 90% |
| B | ≥ 80% |
| C | ≥ 70% |
| D | ≥ 60% |
| F | < 60% |
In general, we will not assign lower grades than shown. We reserve the right to change the grading cut lines.
Point Distribution
| Activity | Weight |
|---|---|
| Reading Assignments and Labs | 20% |
| Knowledge Checks | 35% |
| Essays and Discussions | 23% |
| Summative Assessments (Practical Project, Paper, Final Exam) | 22% |
Grade complaints will be considered only for two weeks immediately following when the assignment grade appears on Canvas!
Assignment Categories
Reading Assignments and Labs
Reading assignments are to be done in Zybooks, and are meant to be done before the associated lecture. Labs are meant to be after the lecture, and both are major components in your understanding how to code. The readings often start out longer at the start of the semester, but decrease in length when we return to topics. Labs will start off easier, but will get longer throughout the semester.
To complete a reading, it suggested you use the link in canvas every time you login as compared to going directly to zybooks. Due dates for the assignments are in Canvas, and are the night before the associated lecture.
Accommodation Window / Resubmissions
You may resubmit assignments and labs throughout the semester. Due to how technology interacts,
the official “cutoff” date is in zybooks which will allow you to submit anything
done before that date to canvas at a later time. Please note, it is still recommended
that you complete most of the reading by the due date in canvas!
For accommodations, the resubmission window takes into account most accommodations, as it will allow anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks of extra time. While the expected time is the due date in canvas, we understand that everyone can occasionally need accommodations, so having this resubmission window helps show competency at your own rate.
Knowledge Checks
Knowledge Checks and in-class activities supplement the lecture, by interweaving recall and instruction with the lecture content. Knowledge checks are available on canvas, required to progress content and may be redone as many times as possible until finals week.
Accommodation Window / Resubmissions
Knowledge checks may be resubmitted as many times until end of the semester, but you will
need to score a 3 of 4 to move onto the next module. As they are open all semester for resubmission,
even though they are due each week, accommodations are already taken into account.
Study Suggestion
You should go back to older knowledge checks each week, and interweave your study
habits. For example, during week four, pick a knowledge check from 1, 2, and 3 to
redo. This will help solidify content, and help with retention of information.
Papers and Discussion
You will have three papers throughout the semester, one for each unit. Please note, these papers are meant to teach you a foundation for research, and should not be taken lightly! They are a major component of your grade.
Accommodation Window / Resubmissions
There is an accommodation window of 3 days after each paper. Please note that due to
the nature of providing prompt feedback and peer grading, we cannot extend past this window.
The window is automatically taken into account in canvas by the until by date. You should
try to follow the due date unless something comes up, and just submit before the
until by if something does come up. With that said, we assign the paper at the beginning
of a unit, and we do not assume it will take 3 weeks to write a paper. As such, we encourage
students to plan ahead!
The week after papers are graded, students may request the option to resubmit. In order to request this option, they must meet with their cohort TA, and go over the points they missed on the paper. The TA will then mark the student as allowed to resubmit, correcting their mistakes on the paper.
Grading
Papers will be graded using 0-4 standard rubric. Each standard will have 0-4, but in order to score
a 4 on the assignment, you would actually have to have a majority of 4 in all the standards, and no less
than a 3 in the other standards. To score a 3, you need majority 3 or 4s, but will have a 1 or 2 in other
standards. To score a 2, you will have majority 2 and 1s. To score a 1, you will have to have
a majority of 1s in the standards.
Summative Assessments
78% of the course uses what we call formative assessments. Learning is meant to have mistakes, and we do not feel you should be penalized for learning. Instead, you are given the option of redoing it until you get it correct. For the Summative Assessments, are your projects in which you demonstrate mastery of the subject, and combined make up 22% of your grade. Of this 22%, 12% of your final grade is dedicated towards the final exam.
While there will be readings and knowledge checks during unit 4, there will be no labs, so you can work on your Summative Assessments.
Course Reflection
There is a lot of value in reflective writing, and our last standard written assignment is a reflection of what you learned and your future goals. This is a “do or don’t” type assignment.
Accommodation Window
The paper has a week accommodation window between the due date, and the until by date.
Please note, due to the timing in the semester and needing to get them graded,
there will be no submissions after the accommodation window.
Practical Project / Final Paper
You can learn more about the practical project by going to the practical project page. The practical project has both a coding and written component.
Accommodation Window
You can submit the code as many times as you want until the due date / accommodation window.
The paper has a week accommodation window between the due date and the until by date.
Please note, due to the timing in the semester and needing to get them graded,
there will be no submissions after the accommodation window. You may not resubmit after it is graded.
The paper will follow the same 0-4 standards rubric as the other papers, though may be scaled to reflect the final grade percentages.
Final Exam
The final exam is the only proctored exam for this course. While we allow unlimited time for the exam, it does need to be taken using proctoring software. There will be a mix of culture topics and code reading/parsing on the exam.
Accommodations Window
Exam accommodations will be taken into account, and you should work with the SDC to arrange those accommodations
beforehand.
Topic Mastery
As way to track mastery of topics, we reserve the option to add additional assignments based on your performance on previous assignments. The goal of these assignments is to encourage mastery of topics. Grading for the additional assignments will be factored into the total for ZyBooks, thus increasing your overall grade for that area, and reducing the impact of previous performance.
Course Workload Expectations
You are expected to work every night on this due to daily assignment due dates. This is to encourage good study habits, and the importance of repetition. As it is a 3 credit course, you should expect to spend 9 hours a week for a standard semester (or 18hr for an 8 week) completing content in this course. However, this various greatly based on the path you take when solving problems.