Info
This is the official syllabus for the college credit for this course. It is subject to change as we work with MATC and the CTE program to finalize the agreements. Any changes will be shared with your teachers to be passed along to you.
Basic concepts in developing computer programs: program structure and syntax, primitive data types, variables, control flow, iteration, simple algorithms, debugging, and good software development practices. Introduction to object-oriented programming.
The course introduces students to computer programming using one of several programming languages. Interactive lessons and engaging projects reinforce new skills and concepts while relating programming fundamentals to the real world. This course covers the basic concepts of programming, from variables and control flow to functions, objects, and simple algorithms.
In either Java or Python (J or P), successful students should be able to:
CC 210 objectives were developed using the taxonomy described in “Developing a Computer Science-specific Learning Taxonomy”, Fuller, et al, 2007, on-line at https://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/pubs/2007/2798/content.pdf
This course is intended to be taught 100% online, each module is self-paced, and each module must be completed to progress to the next one. Students are expected to make good progress; we have found students who fall behind often fail to successfully complete the class. The expected schedule is one module every other week: we allow some flexibility in “due date.”
There may be some bumps in the road as we refine the overall course structure. Material will be provided in the form of recorded videos, online tutorials, links to online resources, and discussion prompts. Each module will include a coding project or assignment, many of which will be graded automatically through Codio. Assignments may also include portions which will be graded manually via Canvas or other tools.
In practice, each student starts with 0 points in the gradebook and works upward toward a final point total earned out of the possible number of points. In this course, each assignment constitutes a portion of the final grade, as detailed below:
Up to 5% of the total grade in the class is available as extra credit. See the Extra Credit - Bug Bounty assignment for details.
Letter grades will be assigned following the standard scale:
Warning
Read this late work policy very carefully! If you are unsure how to interpret it, please contact the instructors via email. Not understanding the policy does not mean that it won’t apply to you!
Read this late work policy very carefully! If you are unsure how to interpret it, please contact the instructors. Not understanding the policy does not mean that it won’t apply to you!
Since this course is entirely online, students may work at any time and at their own pace through the modules. However, to keep everyone on track, there will be approximately one module each week. Each module will have a specific due date. Any module submitted late will have that module’s project grade reduced by 100% of the total possible points on that project.
This penalty will be assessed via a single separate assignment entry in the gradebook, containing the sum of all grade reductions in the course for that student. For the purposes of recordkeeping, the submission time of the confirmation quiz in each module will be used to establish the completion time of the entire module in case of a discrepancy. This is because Codio may update submission times when assignments are regraded, but the quiz in Canvas should only be completed.
However, even if a module is not submitted on time, it must still be completed before a student is allowed to begin the next module. So, students should take care not to get too far behind, as it may be very difficult to catch up.
Finally, all course work must be submitted on or before the last day of the semester in which the student is enrolled in the course in order for it to be graded.
If you have extenuating circumstances, please discuss them with the instructor as soon as they arise so other arrangements can be made. If you find that you are getting behind in the class, you are encouraged to speak to the instructor for options to make up missed work.
Students should strive to complete this course in its entirety before the end of the semester in which they are enrolled. However, since retaking the course would be costly and repetitive for students, we would like to give students a chance to succeed with a little help rather than immediately fail students who are struggling.
If you are unable to complete the course in a timely manner, please contact the instructor to discuss an incomplete grade. Incomplete grades are given solely at the instructor’s discretion. See the official K-State Grading Policy for more information. In general, poor time management alone is not a sufficient reason for an incomplete grade.
Unless otherwise noted in writing on a signed Incomplete Agreement Form, the following stipulations apply to any incomplete grades given in Computational Core courses:
To participate in this course, students must have access to a modern web browser and broadband internet connection. All course materials will be provided via Canvas and Codio. Modules may also contain links to external resources for additional information, such as programming language documentation.
The details in this syllabus are not set in stone. Due to the flexible nature of this class, adjustments may need to be made as the semester progresses, though they will be kept to a minimum. If any changes occur, the changes will be posted on the Canvas page for this course and emailed to all students.
Kansas State University has an Honor and Integrity System based on personal integrity, which is presumed to be sufficient assurance that, in academic matters, one’s work is performed honestly and without unauthorized assistance. Undergraduate and graduate students, by registration, acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Honor and Integrity System. The policies and procedures of the Honor and Integrity System apply to all full and part-time students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate courses on-campus, off-campus, and via distance learning. A component vital to the Honor and Integrity System is the inclusion of the Honor Pledge which applies to all assignments, examinations, or other course work undertaken by students. The Honor Pledge is implied, whether or not it is stated: “On my honor, as a student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this academic work.” A grade of XF can result from a breach of academic honesty. The F indicates failure in the course; the X indicates the reason is an Honor Pledge violation.
For this course, a violation of the Honor Pledge will result in sanctions such as a 0 on the assignment or an XF in the course, depending on severity. Actively seeking unauthorized aid, such as posting lab assignments on sites such as Chegg or StackOverflow or asking another person to complete your work, even if unsuccessful, will result in an immediate XF in the course.
The Codio platform can perform automatic plagiarism detection by comparing submitted projects against other students' submissions and known solutions. That information may be used to determine if plagiarism has taken place.
Students with disabilities who need classroom accommodations, access to technology, or information about emergency building/campus evacuation processes should contact the Student Access Center and/or their instructor. Services are available to students with a wide range of disabilities including, but not limited to, physical disabilities, medical conditions, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, depression, and anxiety. If you are a student enrolled in campus/online courses through the Manhattan or Olathe campuses, contact the Student Access Center at accesscenter@k-state.edu, 785-532-6441; for K-State Polytechnic campus, contact Julie Rowe, Diversity, Inclusion and Access Coordinator, at jarowe@ksu.edu or call 785-826-2971.
All student activities in the University, including this course, are governed by the Student Judicial Conduct Code as outlined in the Student Governing Association By Laws, Article V, Section 3, number 2. Students who engage in behavior that disrupts the learning environment may be asked to leave the class.
Note
This is our personal policy and not a required syllabus statement from K-State. It has been adapted from this statement created by two educators at Brown University. We feel that a statement such as this is very powerful and important in today’s world, and we’ll do our best to live up to it.
In an ideal world, science and technology would be objective. However, much of science and technology is subjective and is historically built on a small subset of privileged voices. In this class, we will reference many materials from a diverse set of sources, but limits still exist on this diversity. I acknowledge that it is possible that there may be both overt and covert biases in the material due to the lens with which it was written, even though the material is primarily of a technical nature.
Please contact us or submit anonymous feedback through the Computer Science department office if you have any concerns or suggestions regarding this course and related materials.
Furthermore, I would like to create a learning environment for my students that supports a diversity of thoughts, perspectives and experiences, and honors your identities (including race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, ability, etc.). To help accomplish this:
I, like many people, am still in the process of learning about diverse perspectives and identities. If something was said in class, by anyone, that made you feel uncomfortable, please talk to me about it. Again, anonymous feedback is always an option.
Note
This is our personal policy and not a required syllabus statement from K-State. It has been adapted from this statement from K-State Global Campus, and the Recurse Center Manual. We have adapted their ideas to fit this course.
Online communication is inherently different than in-person communication. When speaking in person, many times we can take advantage of the context and body language of the person speaking to better understand what the speaker means, not just what is said. This information is not present when communicating online, so we must be much more careful about what we say and how we say it in order to get our meaning across.
Here are a few general rules to help us all communicate online in this course, especially while using tools such as Canvas or Discord:
As a participant in course discussions, you should also strive to honor the diversity of your classmates by adhering to the K-State Principles of Community.
To protect the health and safety of the K-State community, students, faculty, staff and visitors must wear face coverings over their mouths and noses in all indoor and outdoor spaces while you are on university property unless you are alone in a private office or workspace or alone outdoors. In addition, all new students are required to complete face covering training that also covers COVID-19 transmission, risk mitigation and the Every Wildcat a Wellcat pledge. Students needing accommodations may contact the Student Access Center at accesscenter@k-state.edu.
In classrooms, faculty have the right to deny a student entry into the room if the student is not wearing a face covering. Students not wearing a face covering will be reminded to do so and offered a clean face covering, if one is available. If the student does not comply, the faculty member will ask the student to leave the space, and if available, join the class remotely. As a last resort, campus police will be called. The faculty member will complete the Code of Conduct form and the Office of Student Life will look further into the issue and take the non-compliance with the request to leave into consideration of further accountability measures.
At no point should the professor or other students put themselves into an unsafe situation while attempting to enforce the face-covering policy.
Kansas State University is a community of students, faculty, and staff who work together to discover new knowledge, create new ideas, and share the results of their scholarly inquiry with the wider public. Although new ideas or research results may be controversial or challenge established views, the health and growth of any society requires frank intellectual exchange. Academic freedom protects this type of free exchange and is thus essential to any university’s mission.
Moreover, academic freedom supports collaborative work in the pursuit of truth and the dissemination of knowledge in an environment of inquiry, respectful debate, and professionalism. Academic freedom is not limited to the classroom or to scientific and scholarly research, but extends to the life of the university as well as to larger social and political questions. It is the right and responsibility of the university community to engage with such issues.
Kansas State University is committed to providing a safe teaching and learning environment for student and faculty members. In order to enhance your safety in the unlikely case of a campus emergency make sure that you know where and how to quickly exit your classroom and how to follow any emergency directives. To view additional campus emergency information go to the University’s main page, www.k-state.edu, and click on the Emergency Information button, located at the bottom of the page.
K-State has many resources to help contribute to student success. These resources include accommodations for academics, paying for college, student life, health and safety, and others found at www.k-state.edu/onestop.
Student academic creations are subject to Kansas State University and Kansas Board of Regents Intellectual Property Policies. For courses in which students will be creating intellectual property, the K-State policy can be found at University Handbook, Appendix R: Intellectual Property Policy and Institutional Procedures (part I.E.). These policies address ownership and use of student academic creations.
Your mental health and good relationships are vital to your overall well-being. Symptoms of mental health issues may include excessive sadness or worry, thoughts of death or self-harm, inability to concentrate, lack of motivation, or substance abuse. Although problems can occur anytime for anyone, you should pay extra attention to your mental health if you are feeling academic or financial stress, discrimination, or have experienced a traumatic event, such as loss of a friend or family member, sexual assault or other physical or emotional abuse.
If you are struggling with these issues, do not wait to seek assistance.
For Kansas State Polytechnic Campus:
© The materials in this online course fall under the protection of all intellectual property, copyright and trademark laws of the U.S. The digital materials included here come with the legal permissions and releases of the copyright holders. These course materials should be used for educational purposes only; the contents should not be distributed electronically or otherwise beyond the confines of this online course. The URLs listed here do not suggest endorsement of either the site owners or the contents found at the sites. Likewise, mentioned brands (products and services) do not suggest endorsement. Students own copyright to what they create.