COMSC-341EA

Expedition: Algorithms

Fall 2026

Instructors:  Audrey St. John (she/her), astjohn@mtholyoke.edu,
and Sage Mahannah (he/they), smahannah@mtholyoke.edu 

Overview

Welcome to CS 341EA - Expedition: Algorithms!

Embark on a journey to discover how algorithms can be leveraged as a tool for creative problem-solving, innovation and leadership. This project-based course challenges students to deploy their computer science knowledge through the lens of "entrepreneurial thinking." Faced with a design problem, students will explore risk-taking, collaboration and iterative processes as well fabrication technologies, such as laser cutting and 3D printing, through the Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab.

As a Liberal Arts in Action (LAIA) course, this course is constructed to support you in learning to build, practice & transfer your computational skills.

By engaging in, and reflecting on, analogous processes across different domains, you will strengthen your problem solving skills. Further deepening of your understanding will be gained through embodied practice, such as:

• laser cutting a voronoi lamp

• embroidering a cellular automaton

• composing a minuet with the roll of a dice

The physical embodiment of making an (aspect of an) algorithm can expose insights that may be hard to notice otherwise. 

Course Learning Goals 

Through this course, students will:

1. Explore the impact of embodied forms on learning, with a particular focus on deepening understanding of computer science concepts fundamental to algorithms.

2. Practice precise and iterative problem solving in different contexts (e.g., computational geometry, tangible making, career development): formulate the problem, then cyclically plan/revise, execute/prototype, analyze/evaluate.

3. Identify, strengthen and synthesize connections between computational problem solving and problem solving in different contexts (e.g., physical product design, self-regulated learning, teamwork).

4. Build skills for finding and navigating resources that support the problem solving process (e.g., research papers, technical documentation, alum connections).

Materials

There is no textbook for this course. All instructional materials will be provided through in-class tutorials and supplementary materials posted on the course web site. Physical materials, such as those needed for laser cutting and 3D printing, will be provided to each student.

Expectations

We are so glad you are here and believe you will be able to succeed in this class! To provide baseline clarity, as a 4-credit class, we expect you to commit about 10-12 hours per week: 

• 4 hours of in-person meeting across the Wednesday and Friday morning sessions

• 6-8 hours per week of work outside of class meetings

In-class participation

Risk-taking, Creativity, Initiative and Expanding Perspectives

Some of the most crucial skills for succeeding in tech and beyond revolve around taking strategic risks (problem solving benefits from new ideas which may not guarantee success). In class, you will have the opportunity for low-stakes risk-taking, and we hope that you take advantage of this. You will also find us challenging you to be creative, perhaps outside of traditional computer science environments, to deepen your problem-solving skills. We expect you to take initiative to optimize your learning, which could take the form of asking questions, offering ideas and building community with your peers. Finally, the best solutions are often discovered by trying on different perspectives; please embrace the many chances to do so during class!

Attendance

This course was developed to align with the Academic Expectations of Mount Holyoke. It is designed to be highly interactive, and consistent attendance and active engagement are crucial for a deep and meaningful learning experience. Your presence and participation in class activities, discussions, and small group work are essential for success. To cultivate a community of learning, there will be plenty of scaffolded opportunities to work with others and practice communication skills. Consistent engagement with your peers will support a climate where we can learn and build together.

Since instructional materials will generally be delivered through these sessions, missing a class will make it extremely difficult to complete associated and subsequent coursework. If you do end up needing to miss some or all of a class, you remain responsible for any material or announcements covered during that meeting time. Your best strategy is to check with a peer to see what you missed. Except in extraordinary situations and in consultation with your Academic Dean, we (the instructor, TAs and Fimbel staff) will not be able to provide support for missed class sessions.

Therefore, it will be hard to succeed in the course without attending each class session. 

Engagement

Active engagement, particularly during class meetings, will support your learning and contribute to the overall classroom climate. We are invested in your learning and expect that you are invested as well. Please do not hesitate to talk with us about any factors impacting your capacity to engage or strategies to increase your level of engagement.

How does one engage in class? 

When content is being presented, you may find it useful to take notes, jot down questions or think through a simple example.

When working with others, it is important to share the air- and board-space. Beyond contributing your own perspectives and sharing your experiences, consider engaging as a facilitator for your group:

• invite folks to contribute their perspectives (and always give the opportunity to pass)

• identify other modes of communication (e.g., drawing on the whiteboard, writing individually before sharing out)

• actively listen and mirror what you heard; highlight common themes or salient differences

• be aware of the space and consider when to step up to take up space, and when to make room for more voices

We will use this rubric to assess your approach to engagement in the course. 

Logistics

Activities & Grading

Your learning will be supported through a variety of activities:

• In-class engagement (individual, groupwork, and lab modules)

  • Lab Modules offer hands-on activities in Fimbel. Through these, you will develop various fabrication skills, broadening the range of possibilities when creating physical designs and building confidence with using available machinery on campus.
    Due to the unique opportunities afforded by Fimbel, these activities cannot be made up outside of the lab meeting. If you expect to be absent, you must contact your lab instructor asap.

• Out-of-class assignments, roughly categorized into:

  • Waypoints (short written or recorded deliverables) provide the opportunity to identify key takeaways from a pre-class or in-class activity.
    Pre-class work must be completed prior to the relevant class meeting.  

  • Projects will take advantage of the incredible Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab to build tangible objects embodying case studies from class.

  • A peer-led Case Study (with a partner) gives you the chance to identify and explore a topic in more depth.
    Guiding your peers through this case study will be scheduled for two class meetings. You will be given time in class beforehand to work with your partner. 

• During the last portion of the course, you will design and build a Final Project that embodies an (aspect of an) algorithm.
  Project deliverables include: an elevator pitch, design/build documentation, final presentation and final showcase. Scheduled in-class deliverables must be ready prior to the relevant class meeting.

Late submission will be deducted 10% credit / day. You will have 4 late day tokens for the semester, which provide a 24-hour extensions on associated work.

Your final grade will be determined according to the following distribution:

In-class engagement 20%

Waypoints (~10) 15%

Projects (~4) 40%

Peer-led Case Study 10%

Final Project 15%

Honor code

Mount Holyoke College is a community of students, faculty, staff, and administrators committed to free inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge in the tradition of the liberal arts. The decision to join this academic community requires acceptance of special rights and responsibilities that are essential for its effective functioning and the realization of its mission. All members of the community share the responsibility to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity.

We expect all your work to abide by the MHC Honor Code and trust that you are committed to your academic journey by learning through challenging yourself: 

“I will honor myself, my fellow students, and Mount Holyoke College by acting responsibly, honestly, and respectfully in both my words and deeds.” 

Any work that does not will be reported to the Academic Honor Board. For more detail on what constitutes an academic violation of the Honor Code, please see the College ​Academic Rights and Responsibilities webpage.

If you are at all unsure about what is acceptable, please just ask!

Here are some general guidelines:

Do

• Talk to your peers about the labs, projects and topics

• Organize study or working groups

• Consult and acknowledge other books or the internet for inspiration and clarifications

• Ask the instructor or TA to help you find bugs in your code

• Acknowledge peers or TA that you worked with for anything you turn in

Since we expect that you will use the internet heavily for tutorials from the “makerspace” community, you MUST acknowledge any tutorials/resources you consulted or followed for your projects by providing a list of URLs. If you used or adapted code, place a comment at the top with the source of the original code.

Don't

• Submit work that isn't yours: it is against the honor code to have somebody else do work for you (including TAs or tutors) or to copy it from somewhere else (including books or the internet).

• Blindly copy/paste material from other sources. You must be able to explain your reasoning for any work you submit, even if the reasoning is "I still do not understand this part because ___".

AI Usage Policy

As computer scientists, working with the current developer tools is an essential skill expected by the world beyond our gates. Therefore, in this class, AI is encouraged with certain tasks and with attribution. When AI is prohibited, the assignment will clearly and explicitly state what materials you are allowed to consult. When not prohibited, you can choose to use AI tools to help brainstorm assignments or projects or to revise existing work you have written. Note that using Gemini with your Mount Holyoke account keeps your data in a "walled garden" and Google does not use it to train their models. When you submit your assignment, we expect you to clearly attribute what text was generated by the AI tool (e.g., AI-generated text appears in a different colored font, quoted directly in the text, or use an in-text parenthetical citation). 

You may wish to review the LITS guide on AI as well as the Guidelines for the Ethical Use of Generative AI.

About academic accommodations: 

We are committed to supporting all learners in our class and recognize that MHC is required to provide reasonable academic accommodations to disabled students who have a documented disability-related access need. Disability Services works with students to determine reasonable accommodations, which are protected by civil rights laws and regulations. Since DS distributes accommodations letters each semester that lists the individualized accommodations for each course at the request of the student, we invite you to discuss logistics for accommodations implementation with the primary instructor (Audrey) during office hours or via email within the first two weeks of the semester (or as soon as your accommodations are established with Disability Services). 

Title IX/Responsible Reporter

If you or someone you know has been a victim of discrimination, harassment or violence based on sex or gender and you would like to talk to someone about our resources, please contact the Title IX Coordinator, Shannon Lynch at ​titleixofficer@mtholyoke.edu​.

As a faculty, we are responsible reporters for any information we learn that may be a violation of our Gender-based and Sexual Misconduct Policy. This means that we will need to share this information with our Title IX Coordinator, Shannon Da Silva. This could be anything related to sexual assault, dating violence, stalking or sex or gender-based harassment. If you are experiencing any of these things and you want to talk with someone who is not a responsible reporter, we can help direct you to private and confidential resources on campus (Counseling Service, Health Services, and Alcohol and Drug Awareness Project. These offices have a legal mandate for confidentiality. These offices are not required to turn over identifying information to the Title IX coordinator but may provide anonymous data to the Title IX coordinator for reporting requirements of the Clery Act).

Sexual harassment 

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”) is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities. Under Title IX, discrimination on the basis of sex can include sex-based harassment, gender-based harassment, sex- or gender-based discrimination, sexual assault and other forms of sexual misconduct, including stalking and domestic and dating violence. In accordance with current federal regulations and court decisions, Mount Holyoke follows the 2020 Title IX Regulations. Our Sexual Harassment Policy and procedures ensure compliance with these regulations, as well as other federal and state laws. For information regarding support, help and resources, please contact the Title IX Coordinator, Shannon Lynch at ​titleixofficer@mtholyoke.edu​.

Nondiscrimination and anti-harassment 

The College does not discriminate against any employee, applicant for employment, student or applicant for admission on the basis of actual or perceived: age; citizenship status; color; creed; disability; domestic violence victim status; ethnicity; familial responsibilities; genetic information; marital status; national origin/ancestry; personal appearance; political belief or affiliation; race; religion; residence; source of income; veteran or military status; weight; or any other protected characteristic under applicable local, state, or federal law. These values are spelled out within our updated Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policies and procedures. These policies and procedures will apply to any allegation of discrimination, harassment or retaliation, excluding allegations that fall within the definitions in the Sexual Harassment Policy above.

Audio/Visual Recording Policy 

To encourage active engagement and academic inquiry in the classroom, as well as to safeguard the privacy of students and faculty, no form of audio or visual recording in the classroom is permitted without explicit permission from the professor/instructor or without a letter from AccessAbility Services, signed by the faculty member, authorizing the recording as an accommodation. Authorized recordings may only be used by a student who has obtained permission and may not be shared or distributed for any reason. Violation of this policy is an infraction of the Mount Holyoke Honor Code and academic regulations and will result in disciplinary action.