Syllabus

About the Course

Welcome to CSE 15L, Software Tools and Techniques! We are glad to have you in this course!

Hands-on exploration of software development tools and techniques. Investigation of the scientific process as applied to software development and debugging. Emphasis is on weekly hands-on laboratory experiences, development of laboratory notebooking techniques as applied to software design.

Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

  • access remote machines using ssh

  • copy files back and forth between computers using scp

  • use simple UNIX commands to access the file system

  • write simple shell scripts for task automation

  • use GitHub repositories and GitHub Pages

  • debug and test Java programs

  • work on a terminal-based text editor, e.g., Vim

  • apply clean coding practices, e.g., meaningful names, small functions

  • understand how to work with large code bases

Note that this course has two components: labs and lectures -- labs will be in person while lectures will be remote. Each week, you will have one 1hr 50mins lecture and one 2-hour lab session. You must go to the lab section you are registered to.

Prerequisites

CSE 8B or CSE 11, and concurrent enrollment with CSE 12; restricted to undergraduates. Graduate students will be allowed as space permits.

Course Resources

Textbooks

THERE IS NO REQUIRED TEXTBOOK FOR THIS COURSE!

You need NOT purchase any textbook for this course! Readings (if any) will be assigned from online sources.

Course Website

Our course website can be found here: https://sites.google.com/eng.ucsd.edu/cse-15l-spring-2022/

The course webpage contains basic information, syllabus (that you are reading right now!), schedule (including office/lab hours), materials (notes, slides, etc) and staff contact information. You should check our course website often!

Canvas

We will be using Canvas (www.canvas.ucsd.edu) for publishing your grades for this course. The grades you see on canvas is YOUR OFFICIAL GRADE, and it is your responsibility to CHECK THEM REGULARLY to make sure they are recorded correctly.

Gradescope

You will use gradescope (www.gradescope.com) for submitting your programming assignments. We will use gradescope for grading your HWs, labs, and exams. You will be added to our course on gradescope automatically sometime during week 1.

Piazza

We will use Piazza as our course discussion board. Please ask all course content related questions via Piazza. Make your post public unless it contains personal information. This will help you get the fastest response possible to your post.

  • Sign up link: piazza.com/ucsd/spring2022/cse15l

  • Piazza homepage: piazza.com/ucsd/spring2022/cse15l/home

Course Components

1. Lectures

The purpose of our lectures is to introduce course concepts through presentations and in-class examples. You will utilize these concepts in the weekly labs. The live lectures will be recorded and the lecture recording will be made available after the lecture. If you are unable to attend the lectures, please make sure to watch the lecture recordings on your own. Lecture participation (i.e., answering questions during lecture) will constitute 5% of your total course grade. You can miss up to 2 lectures without any penalty.

Our lecture schedule is as follows.

  • Lecture A00: Wednesdays @ 5:00 PM — 6:50 PM PT in Zoom

Zoom link for lectures: https://ucsd.zoom.us/my/adalbertgerald

2. Labs

This is the most important part of this course where you gain hands-on experience. Lab sessions will happen in CSE Basement Labs (EBU3B B260) on Thursdays and Fridays. You must go to the lab section you are registered to, otherwise, your lab effort will not be evaluated. The lab sessions are going to be conducted by TA and tutors who note your participation in group discussions for credit. You will work on your own, work in pairs, and participate in group discussions. Lab participation will constitute 10% of your total course grade. You can miss up to 2 labs without any penalty.

3. Review Quizzes

Each week, you are given an online, unlimited, multiple-tries quiz. You will take the quiz on Gradescope. These quizzes will prepare you for the labs and review lecture materials. In total, there will be 10 quizzes. Weekly quizzes will constitute 10% of your total course grade. You can miss up to 2 quizzes without any penalty.

4. Lab Reports

Every two weeks, you will create a lab report on work from the previous two weeks. These reports will be in the form of a blog post on a personal site. At the end of the quarter, you’ll have a personal website with 5 posts detailing what you learned. This is a great resource for other people and for your future self. For each report, teaching staff will review it and either give full credit or give feedback. You must respond to the feedback to receive full credit for your post. Lab reports will constitute 40% of your total course grade.

Late policy for lab reports (Updated on April 12, 2022)

  • You can submit lab reports late (up until the regrade request deadline for a lab report) but you will not receive any feedback for late submissions. This means that if you submit your lab report late, whatever score you get will be your final score as no feedback for improvement will be provided and so you won't be able to improve your lab report.

5. Skill Demonstrations

Twice during the quarter (Week 5 and 9), you will record a screencast of yourself demonstrating some of the skills you learned. We will grade these screencasts and give feedback on if they correctly demonstrated what we were looking for. You must respond to the feedback to receive full credit. You must do this all-in-one take (you can’t stitch together multiple videos) and the video needs to be less than 15 minutes. Skill demonstrations will constitute 35% of your total course grade.

We have already built in ways for you to submit work late and make up for lost points, but if you feel you have a legitimate reason why you need additional accommodations please talk to your instructor right away to see what might be arranged. There will be no exceptions to these policies unless for very compelling personal reasons.


Policy for Students who Enrolled in the Course Late

If you enrolled in the course late, you will have until the end of Week 5 to submit any late work (e.g., labs, quizzes, lab reports) that you may have missed before the time you enrolled in the course. For example, if you joined the course at the beginning of Week 2, then you may submit the Week1's lab and quiz anytime before the end of Week 5 to get credits for it. You will be expected to submit all the remaining course work starting from the time you are enrolled (in this example, Week 2) normally with other students. To receive credits for any missed labs, you must attend your lab tutor's or TA's 1-1 office hours and get the labs checked off.

Grade Components

  • Lecture Participation: 5% (miss up to 2 lectures without penalty)

  • Weekly Quizzes: 10 % (miss up to 2 quizzes without penalty)

  • Lab Participation: 10% (miss up to 2 labs without penalty)

  • Lab Reports: 40%

  • Skill Demonstrations: 35%

Grading cutoffs

By default, we will use the standard scale of 90%—100% = A, 80%—89.9% = B, 70%—79.9% = C, 60%—69.9% = D, and <60% = F. These cutoffs may be lowered if need be, but they will never be raised. In other words, we may make it easier to get a certain letter grade, but never harder. Pluses and minuses (e.g., A+, A-) will be given at the professors' discretion.

Academic Integrity

All students must submit the Academic Integrity Form at the start of the course.

You will not receive any course credit until you submit the form. By submitting the form, you are agreeing to its terms, so be sure to read it carefully. We encourage you to study together and discuss concepts from this class, but all lab reports must be written independently and skill demonstration videos must be recorded by yourself without getting any help during recording. You should not collaborate with anyone on your quizzes. If you are found cheating, you will receive an automatic F in the course, and you may face even stricter sanctions from the University. In short, do not cheat!

The basic rule for CSE 15L is: Work hard. Start early. Make use of the expertise of our amazing CSE 15L staff to learn what you need to know to really do well in the course. Don't cheat.

If you do cheat, we will enforce the UCSD Policy on Integrity of Scholarship. This means: You will get an F in the course, and the Dean of your college will put you on probation or suspend you or dismiss you from UCSD.

Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to fostering a learning environment for this course that supports a diversity of thoughts, perspectives and experiences, and respects your identities (including race, ethnicity, heritage, gender, sex, class, sexuality, religion, ability, age, educational background, etc.). Our goal is to create a diverse and inclusive learning environment where all students feel comfortable and can thrive.

Our instructional staff will make a concerted effort to be welcoming and inclusive to the wide diversity of students in this course. If there is a way we can make you feel more included please let one of the course staff know, either in person, via email/discussion board, or even in a note under the door. Our learning about diverse perspectives and identities is an ongoing process, and we welcome your perspectives and input.

We also expect that you, as a student in this course, will honor and respect your classmates, abiding by the UCSD Principles of Community (https://ucsd.edu/about/principles.html). Please understand that others’ backgrounds, perspectives and experiences may be different than your own, and help us to build an environment where everyone is respected and feels comfortable.

If you experience any sort of harassment or discrimination, please contact your instructor as soon as possible. If you prefer to speak with someone outside of the course, please contact the Office of Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination: https://ophd.ucsd.edu/.

Students with Disabilities

We aim to create an environment in which all students can succeed in this course. If you have a disability, please contact the Office for Students with Disability (OSD), which is located in University Center 202 behind Center Hall, to discuss appropriate accommodations right away. We will work to provide you with the accommodations you need, but you must first provide a current Authorization For Accommodation (AFA) letter issued by the OSD. You are required to present their AFA letters to faculty (please make arrangements to contact your instructor privately) and to the OSD Liaison in the department in advance so that accommodations may be arranged.

Basic Needs/Food Insecurities

If you are experiencing any basic needs insecurities (food, housing, financial resources), there are resources available on campus to help, including The Hub and the Triton Food Pantry. Please visit http://thehub.ucsd.edu/ for more information.

Consent to Act as a Research Subject

Investigating the Impact of Pedagogical Choices on University Student Learning and Engagement

Who is conducting the study, why you have been asked to participate, how you were selected, and what is the approximate number of participants in the study?

Gabriele Wienhausen, Director of the Teaching and Learning Commons, together with her education research colleagues is conducting a research study to find out more about how pedagogical choices affect student learning and experience in the classroom. You have been asked to participate in this study because you are a student in a class that is being studied or used as a control. There will be approximately 500,000 participants in this study.

Why is this study being done?

The purpose of this study is to create knowledge that has the potential to improve the learning and educational experience of students at UC San Diego and beyond.

What will happen to you in this study and which procedures are standard of care and which are experimental?

If you agree to be in this study, the following will happen:

  • Your data from this class including grades, homework and exam submissions, and survey responses will be included in the analysis to determine the effectiveness of the pedagogical techniques used in this course compared to other similar courses.

How much time will each study procedure take, what is your total time commitment, and how long will the study last?

Your participation involves only agreeing to let us use your data in our analysis. It will require no time on your part above the time you put into this course without agreeing to the study.

What risks are associated with this study?

Participation in this study may involve some added risks or discomforts. These include the following:

1. A potential for the loss of confidentiality. We will not share your personally identifying data with people outside our research team. Data will only be kept in anonymized form for research purposes. Course data will not be used for this research study until after final grades have been posted and will be rendered confidential by removing any identifiers before analysis. Your instructor will not know whether or not you are participating in this study until after final grades have been posted. Data from students who opt out of the study will be removed prior to data analysis. Research records will be kept confidential to the extent allowed by law. Research records may be reviewed by the UCSD Institutional Review Board.

Since this is an investigational study, there may be some unknown risks that are currently unforeseeable. You will be informed of any significant new findings.

What are the alternatives to participating in this study?

The alternatives to participation in this study are not to participate. If you choose to opt-out of participating in this research study, we will exclude your data from analysis. Whether you participate will have no impact on your experience or grade in the associated class as the professor will not know who is or is not participating in the study until after final grades are assigned.

What benefits can be reasonably expected?

There is no direct benefit to you for participating in the study. The investigator, however, may learn more about how to improve student learning, and society may benefit from this knowledge.

Can you choose to not participate or withdraw from the study without penalty or loss of benefits?

Participation in research is entirely voluntary. You may refuse to participate or withdraw or refuse to answer specific questions in an interview or on a questionnaire at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which you are entitled. If you decide that you no longer wish to continue in this study before the end of the quarter, simply respond to the online opt-out form here: https://goo.gl/forms/JSBRjEmkES6W6xYc2. If you decide to opt out after the quarter has ended, you must contact Laurel Nelson (laureln@ucsd.edu) and give the quarter and the course from which you would like your data withdrawn.

You will be told if any important new information is found during the course of this study that may affect your wanting to continue.

Can you be withdrawn from the study without your consent?

The PI may remove you from the study without your consent if the PI feels it is in your best interest or the best interest of the study. You may also be withdrawn from the study if you do not follow the instructions given you by the study personnel.

Will you be compensated for participating in this study?

You will not be compensated for participating in this study.

Are there any costs associated with participating in this study?

There will be no cost to you for participating in this study.

Who can you call if you have questions?

Gabriele Wienhausen and/or her colleague has explained this study to you and answered your questions. If you have other questions or research-related problems, you may reach Gabriele Wienhausen at gwienhausen@ucsd.edu or (858) 534-3958.

You may call the Human Research Protections Program Office at 858-246-HRPP (858-246-4777) to inquire about your rights as a research subject or to report research-related problems.

Your Consent

If you consent to participate in this study, no action is needed. If you DO NOT consent to participate in this study, or you choose to opt-out at any time during the quarter, please submit this form online at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScs0Cznypp4SxQJOsFMgP9nFDjJ0zzYPlSBWsiP3_wiWkdjaA/viewform. Your instructor will not have access to the list of students who opted out until after grades are posted. Note that you must separately opt-out of the study for each course involved in this study.

Link to the IRB: here

Acknowledgements

This course is based on Prof. Joe Politz's CSE 15L from Winter 2022.