Course Policy

Grading

Grades will be calculated based on the following distribution:

The distribution might be adjusted based on the progression of the course.

Students who abandon their groups and do not do work on the final project will automatically fail the class, regardless of the rest of their grade.

Attendance

As this is a seminar class, regular class attendance and participation are required. There will be a maximum of 2 unexcused absences, and afterwards, they will impact your course grade. There will be a sign-in poll at the start of class every day.

If a student arrives late, they may not get attendance credit for that day. Please arrive on time and ready to participate by the scheduled start time.

Weekly Readings and Reports

A written report will be turned in every Monday by 11:59 pm on the week’s reading assignments. Typically, this will mean 4 readings per week. These are not simple readings! Expect each one to take at least an hour, and sometimes two.

Each report should include around half a page of summary of the paper read. Include the problem investigated by the paper, what the conclusions are, and insights about how the paper fits into the themes for the class. Finalize each report with a question that the reading assignment inspires in you. What does the paper leave unanswered? How could it have been improved? What are you interested in pursuing now that you have read it?

In addition, with each weekly assignment, include a link to some recent news article and a description on how it applies to the class. I will collate and distribute the links to the class. Assignments will be graded on a scale of:

No late reports will be accepted, but the lowest score will be dropped when calculating the final grade.

Paper Presentations

Each student will do 2 project presentations on separate readings throughout the semester. The first presentation will be done with a partner. The second will be individual. These will be 5-10 minute presentations on the assigned paper, ending with a list of questions that the class should discuss. Each presenter will be expected to facilitate the discussion as it happens.

The list of questions to be discussed is to be submitted along with the weekly report, so that I can review them ahead of time.

It is expected that resources outside of the readings may need to be consulted in order to fully understand the background of each reading.

Semester Projects

Projects will be graded with the following breakdown:

More details will be provided about the projects soon

As stated above, the final project is not optional, and students who do not participate in their groups will fail automatically regardless of the rest of their grade.

Accommodations for students with disabilities

If you have a disability that might impact your performance in this course, or requires special accommodation, please contact me as soon as possible so that appropriate arrangements can be made. You will need to contact the Office of Disability Access to get your disability documented before accommodations can be made.

There is also support available through the Quantitative Skills Center, CLEAR. They have drop-in hours where you can ask for assistance on programming assignments from other students who have experience.

The Computer Science Department is committed to access in its broadest sense of the word. If you identify as a low-income student, and you are experiencing challenges with securing funds to purchase required materials for this course (books/clickers/a working laptop) you can apply for funding support through ObieCares

If you are a student who is not diagnosed with a disability but suspect you may have one, please reach out to (Accessibility Services)[https://www.oberlin.edu/accessibility-services] and choose the red button about half way down the page to schedule a 15 minute informational meeting with OSAS.

Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty

I have very low tolerance for academic dishonesty, and will vigorously pursue available remedies for any incidents. All work in this class is to be performed according to the Oberlin Honor Code. Specifically I expect that:

  1. Reports will be written individually by the student, and only after reading of the material in question. Discussion of readings is expected and encouraged, however.
  2. Sources should be cited including the textbook and other web sites when you use them in your work.
  3. You are not permitted to share your source code with other students, including future ones.

All assignments must include the following signed statement:

"I have adhered to the Honor Code in this assignment."

Electronic submissions should include the honor statement in either the README file or header comments and must include your name.

Please note that claiming credit for others’ work is a violation of the honor principle. This means that if you do not participate in your project, and let your partners do all the work, not only will you fail, you will also be reported for infringing on the honor code.