Syllabus

About the Course

Course description

Welcome to CSE 8A! We are thrilled to have you in this course. In this class, our aim is to help you experience the thrill of solving problems using computers – by expressing that solution in a programming language. Throughout this course, you will engage in interactive in-class exercises and programming assignments that will assist you in mastering the basics of computational problem-solving and programming.

Prerequisites

CSE 8A is designed for students with no prior programming experience. We do not expect you to have any prior programming experience, just a willingness to learn.

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete CSE 8A will be able to:

• Read a computational problem and formulate an algorithm to solve that problem

• Describe the functionality of a program that you or someone else has written 

• Write simple Python programs using variables, functions, conditional statements, and loops

• Store data in a  program using data structures like lists, tuples, and dictionaries

• Use memory models to trace the state of data during a program’s execution

• Debug and test Python programs that you or someone else has written

• Describe ways in which computer science plays a role in society and in other scientific disciplines

Course Resources

Textbooks

We will use the following free online textbook on a platform called Stepik.

• Course Textbook (on Stepik)
  Link: https://stepik.org/course/84164

Additional Resources

• Automate The Boring Stuff With Python by Al Sweigart (Optional)
  Link: https://automatetheboringstuff.com/

• Think Python (2nd Edition) by Allen B. Downey (Optional)
  Link to pdf version:  http://greenteapress.com/thinkpython2/thinkpython2.pdf
  Link to HTML version: https://greenteapress.com/thinkpython2/html/index.html 

NOTE: You need NOT purchase any textbook for this course! Readings will be assigned from the above FREE ONLINE TEXTBOOK and other online sources.

Course Website

Our course website can be found here: https://sites.google.com/eng.ucsd.edu/cse-8a-spring-2023

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 use Canvas (www.canvas.ucsd.edu) to publish your grades for this course. The grades you see on canvas are YOUR OFFICIAL GRADE, and it is your responsibility to CHECK THEM REGULARLY to ensure they are recorded correctly.

Edstem

We will use Edstem (https://edstem.org/us/courses/38454/) as our course discussion board, as well as submitting programming assignments. Please ask all course content related questions via Edstem.  Make your post public unless it contains personal information. This will help you get the fastest response possible to your post. DO NOT POST YOUR CODE as a public post on Edstem as it will be considered as an Academic Integrity (AI) violation. When posting a question on Edstem, make sure to select the appropriate folder. For example, if you have a question on PA1, choose the PA1 folder.

If you do not have access to Edstem by first day of classes, please email our tutor, Vardhan Agarwal (v7agarwa@ucsd.edu).

Gradescope

We will use Gradescope (https://www.gradescope.com/courses/528961) for submitting worksheets, as well as grading your midterm and final exam.

Course Components

1. Lectures

Lectures will include active learning, where you will work independently and collaboratively in groups to solve problems and answer questions. Your lecture participation will account for 10% of your grade, so it's essential to attend lectures regularly and actively engage in the activities. Lecture participation will be recorded via Google Forms that you will fill out during the lecture. You must submit these questions during lecture, and submit the final reflection questions by the end of the day. You cannot earn credit for lecture participation through watching lecture recordings. You can miss up to four lectures without any penalty.

2. Programming Assignments (PAs)

There will be a total of eight programming assignments (PA1 - PA8), with one assignment released each week. Each assignment will be counted towards your final grade. Each PA will mainly focus on the content covered in the two lectures of the respective week. All PAs should be completed individually! PAs are worth 25% of your overall grade and no PAs will be dropped. 

You must score at least 55% (average) on the programming assignments to pass this course. If you score less than 55% on the assignments, you will receive an F for the course, regardless of your overall average. 

3. Worksheets

Worksheets will focus on testing your conceptual understanding of the course material. For most weeks, there will be one worksheet that will help you get familiarized with the types of questions you may encounter on exams, such as drawing memory diagrams, tracing code, and predicting the output of code snippets. You should work on these worksheets individually. Worksheets are worth 10% of your overall grade.

4. Stepik Review Quizzes (RQs)

To prepare you for the interactive class lectures, there will be reading assignments to be completed before or after each class session. At the end of each week, there will be a Review Quiz (RQ), which will be due at 11:59 PM on Sundays.  The link to the RQ for the week will be available in the course schedule. Review quizzes will be on Stepik. You will need to create a Stepik ID to access them. Review quizzes must be completed individually. Late RQ submissions will not be accepted. There will be a total of 10 RQs and none of them will be dropped.  You can attempt the review quizzes multiple times (before the deadline) until you get them correct! The RQs are worth 10% of your overall grade.

5. Lab Assignments

All labs will take place on Wednesdays with the earliest session starting at 9:00 AM and the latest session starting at 12:00 PM. If you arrive late, you will lose a portion of your lab grade. There will be a lab assignment due on Friday at 11:59pm every week. The lab sessions will be supervised by TAs and tutors who will assist you throughout the quarter. It is mandatory to attend the lab section you have signed up for. Lab assignments are worth 10% of your course grade. No labs will be dropped.

6. Exams

This course will have two exams: a midterm and a final exam. The exam dates/times/locations are shown below:

• Midterm Exam: Friday, May 5th, 6 - 7:50 PM, Location: MOS 0114

• Final Exam: Tuesday, June 13th, 3 - 5:59 PM, Location: CENTER 115

The final exam will be cumulative and will cover all topics discussed throughout the course. You must pass the final exam to pass this course. You must score at least 55% on the final exam to pass the final exam.

Both the midterm and final exams will be conducted in-person. If your final exam score (in percentage) is higher than your midterm score, your midterm score will be replaced by your final exam score.

7. Discussion Sections

Every Friday, there will be an in-person discussion section held by Teaching Assistants (TAs). During these sessions, the TAs will review course concepts to help students overcome any learning breakdowns they may have encountered throughout the week. Additionally, TAs will review and offer guidance on how to get started on the PAs. Discussion sections are optional but we highly encourage you to attend or watch the discussions as they will be extremely helpful for your learning. 

Late Policy

Programming Assignments

• • Each student will have eight free “slip days” to use for any programming assignment (PA) during the quarter. The slip days allow an automatic 24-hour extension on the deadline, and you do not need to ask for permission to use them. Just submit your assignment after the deadline (within 24 hours) and it will be automatically deducted from your account. You may submit your PAs up to three days late. You can only use a maximum of 3 slip days for any PA. No PA can be submitted more than 3 days late.  

  • Once you use up your free slip days, you can still submit assignments late but for each late day you will be docked 20% of the grade for that PA. You cannot submit a PA more than 3 days late. For example, if you submit your PA anytime between 12:01am - 11:59pm on the day after the PA is due, your PA will be graded only for a maximum of 80% total points. And if you submit it anytime between 12:01am - 11:59pm on the second day after the PA is due, your PA will be graded for a maximum of 60% total points. And if you submit it anytime between 12:01am - 11:59pm on the third day after the PA is due, your PA will be graded for a maximum of 40% total points. After 3 days no late PA submissions will be accepted.

Worksheets

• • Each student gets seven free “slip days” that allow an automatic 24-hour extension on any worksheet. You do not have to ask to use your slip days. Just submit your worksheet after the deadline (within 24 hours) and it will be automatically deducted from your account. You may submit your worksheets up to two days late. You can only use a maximum of 2 slip days for any worksheet. No worksheet can be submitted more than 2 days late. 

Policy for Making up for Missed Labs 

You are allowed to make up for TWO missed labs throughout the quarter. If you miss a lab and would like to make up, you should do the following: 

1. Submit the lab assignment on Edstem by EOD Friday (i.e., within 2 days after the missed lab) to receive the 1 point for lab submission

2. Visit any of the TAs/tutors in your lab section during their office/tutor hours to explain your lab work to get back the 2 points for participation by EOD Tuesday following the lab.  

Policy for Late Enrolled Students

If you enrolled in the course late, you will have until the end of Week 4 to submit any PAs, labs or worksheets 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 PA anytime before the end of Week 4 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 full credit for any missed labs, you must attend your lab tutor's or TA's 1-1 office hours and get the labs checked off.

To submit these missed assignments, please check the 'Lessons' tab on Edstem and complete the assignments tagged as 'Late-Adds Only'. For example, PA1 (Late-Adds Only) or Lab1 (Late-Adds Only).

Grading

Grading Components

• Lecture Participation - 10% (miss up to 4 lectures without penalty)

• Programming Assignments - 25%

• Worksheets - 10%

• Stepik Review Quizzes - 10%

• Lab Participation - 10%

• Midterm - 15%

• Final - 20% (cumulative, replace the midterm if final > midterm)

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. 

Link to the Academic Integrity Form: https://forms.gle/rcCEZadRJWZKcr948

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 PAs, review quizzes, worksheets, and exams must be written only completely independently. If you are found cheating, 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.

The basic rule for CSE 8A is: Work hard. Start early. Make use of the expertise of our amazing CSE 8A staff to learn what you need to know to really do well in the course. Don't cheat.

What counts as cheating?

In CSE 8A, you can read books, surf the web, talk to your friends and the CSE 8A staff to get help understanding the concepts you need to know to solve your PA, worksheet, and RQ problems.

In CSE 8A, using or even looking at program code or the write up of algorithms that someone else has written (unless it was explicitly provided as part of the assignment), or providing program code or detailed algorithms to someone else, or turning in code that you have copied from someone else is considered cheating. Yes, we do electronically check every program that is turned in. In recent quarters, we also found out that people unintentionally post their codes on public Github repositories and it is a violation of the AI policy! We report all these cases to the academic integrity office.

Receiving a grade on a PA doesn't mean that you have passed the plagiarism checking. We can report cheating cases any time during the quarter, even after we submit your final letter grade. So the safest bet is not to cheat!

How can I be sure that my actions are NOT considered cheating?

To ensure you don't have a problem with this, here are some suggestions: 

• • Don't share your code with anyone else in the class.

  • Don't start with someone else's code and make changes to it.

  • Don't discuss anything code related (e.g., what lines of code should I write for this function?) with any other students in the class.

In CSE 8A, you must write your own answers on the review quizzes and exams. Getting quiz or exam answers from someone else, or providing answers to someone else, is cheating. Failing to follow this policy will result in an F for this course.

Getting Help

We expect that all students will need help at some point in this course. If you find yourself needing help, this is not cause for embarrassment: it is completely expected, and our goal is to ensure that you are able to receive the help you need. Please be sure to seek help early and often through any (or all!) of the following resources:

• Your Study Group: Building a support system of friends with whom you can struggle and work through the challenges you encounter is one of the best ways to seek help. You will quickly understand how much you can learn by working together!

• Office Hours: The instructor(s) and the Teaching Assistants (TAs) are always willing to help you during our office hours. Ideally, office hours should be reserved for conceptual questions: coding-specific questions are best asked of the tutors during lab hours. All office hours can be found on the Course Calendar.

• Lab Hours: There are many in-person lab hours in which tutors are willing and available to help you with any questions you might have. Lab hours will be posted on the Course Calendar. You can get help by raising a ticket on the Autograder. Please read Tutoring - Student Procedures to understand how to get help.

• Edstem: Please use the Edstem discussion board for any questions related to the Programming Assignments (PAs), material in the course, or course logistics. Edstem allows you to post questions anonymously (to other students) if you don’t feel comfortable revealing your name. In general, all content related questions should be posted only on Edstem. You should ask specific questions related to your PA code during tutor lab hours. You should NOT publicly post any PA related code on Edstem as it will be treated as an AI violation. 

• Email: If you have any questions about your grade, or would like to discuss anything confidential with your instructors, then please email your instructor(s) directly.

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.