Contact
① Our course mailing list is candl2011@rockalypse.org. You should ask all course-related questions on that list. Anything pertaining to assignments and coursework should be asked here. This has two benefits: first, if others have the same question, they will benefit as well, and second, it is possible that a classmate can answer your question faster than I can.
② My email address is mjadud at allegheny.edu. This is a good way to reach me with more personal questions. (But not really personal questions.)
③ You can call me from your web browser. Really.
I have already set this up so that if it is "too late" to call me, you'll be routed to voice mail. This way, you never have to worry about waking me up. And, because the voice mail is routed to my email, it is possible I'll be up and get your message anyway. Ah, technology.
Office Hours
You can book office hours online through this Google form.
Basics
We meet Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 13:30 until 2:20.
We will be running the Third Thursday programme this semester, meaning that
➙ September 22nd,
➙ October 2oth,
➙ November 17th, and
➙ December 15th
we will have a class meeting during the evening. You should plan in advance for these sessions, and make sure that your other coursework (as well as any social/sports commitments) are clear. If this is a problem, do talk to me.
Attendance
Two unexcused absences will drop your grade by a full letter. We will often be engaged in activities and/or discussions that cannot be "filled in" after the fact. Your presence, and active participation while present, is a must for success in this class.
Texts
We will be using a variety of resources this semester.
Whack on the Side of the Head
I like this text; it makes you think about how you think. We'll be reading it early in the term to help frame discussions over the entire term.
Getting to Yes
This is a classic text on negotiation; we'll be putting some of it into practice during the term, and hopefully it will help you frame many discussions throughout your Allegheny career.
Assorted Articles
I haven't picked all of these yet, but they will largely be freely licensed chapters and/or text we have permission to use as students at an academic institution. They will (most likely) be made available via Sakai.
Evaluation
We will be engaged in active learning throughout the term. By this, I mean that we will be spending large amounts of time during class doing rather than listening. The Flash widget at Iowa State University's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning helps explain what I mean. Specifically, when I lecture, you are primarily engaged in remembering factual information. However, when we are implementing and designing programming languages, we are analyzing, evaluating, and creating in the conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive domains. Hence why we will be engaging in fundamentally interactive and discursive modes of learning throughout the term.
Put another way: it is by engaging and reflecting that you learn, not by listening and memorizing.
The breakdown of grades is not final, but you can expect that:
① 20-30% of your grade will come from your active participation in the class. The peer leaders will be helping me keep track of the content and quality of your participation. Below is a minified version of our participation rubric; you can click on it to download a PDF of a larger version.
② 30-40% of your course grade will come from your efforts in editing and writing. We will be editing work from last semester (and applying our understanding of Hacker along the way) as well as writing essays of our own. We will read and discuss the rubrics below in due time.
③ 20-30% of your course grade will come from your project. Specifically, the work you do developing, planning, presenting, advertising, and reporting on your Third Thursday workshop. This is, essentially, a leadership grade. Remember that leadership does not mean "you told everyone what to do." It means "I rolled up my sleeves with my team and done good." I'm excited about these projects, and we'll be using a variety of team and individual evaluation tools to determine how things went.
