Syllabus

• Logistics
• Environment
• Learning
• Honor Code
• Class Participation
• Assessments

Logistics

Time and Location

MW 10:40-11:55 AM EST, Zoom Lecture (link fix)

Faculty Info

Shelby Kimmel
Please call me "Professor Kimmel" or "Professor"
Pronouns: she/her
skimmel [at] middlebury (dot) edu

Andrea Vaccari (link fix)
Please call me xxxx
Pronouns:
avaccari [at] middlebury (dot) edu

Peer Tutors

Schedule TBD, will be on Zoom.

Canvas Site

Canvas Site

Department Wiki

Department Wiki

Environment

Our goal is to create a classroom environment that is equitable, inclusive, and welcoming, in order to promote learning for all students.

Names/Pronouns

We will honor your request to address you using your preferred name and pronoun. We will collect this information in the class.

Academic Accommodations

Students with documented disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact us as early in the semester as possible to ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. Assistance is available to eligible students through Student Accessibility Services. Please contact the ADA Coordinator Jodi Litchfield, who can be reached at litchfie@middlebury.edu or 802-443-5936 for more information. All discussions will remain confidential.

Title IX

You deserve a community free from discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. If you experience or know of a Title IX violation, you have many options for support and/or reporting; see go/titleIX. Note that I am a mandatory reporter.

You deserve a learning experience free of comments or assumptions that are based on identity, whether that be gender, skin color, sexual orientation, language/accent, nationality, socio-economic status, etc. If you experience or witness bias or a microaggression, we encourage you to fill out a Bias Incident Report which goes to the Middlebury Community Bias Response Team , or, if you feel comfortable, talk to us about it, so that we can address these issues in our class.

Learning

Learning happens when you develop new neural pathways. You do this by repeatedly practicing new skills. If this is the first time you are writing a code, it may feel uncomfortable. Don't give up! With practice it will begin to feel more natural.

Based on your past learning experiences, you may already have the neural pathways in place to quickly learn certain topics, while you may have to work harder on others. This has nothing to do with your ability to learn this material. You all have the capacity, with sufficient practice, to rewire your brains to become expert computer scientists.

Honor Code

For the homework, you may work with others to understand the assignment, bounce ideas off of each other, and discuss possible approaches. Then, when you are ready, write the program on your own, "in your own words." You may also discuss debugging approaches with a peer, but you should make changes to your code on your own. You should acknowledge your collaborators in the initial comments of your code.

For the quiz, the part that is individual should be completed on your own, with the specified resources.

Class Participation

The major way we expect you to participate is through in-class small-group problem solving and discussion. Most of us are physically isolated from others, so this will give us an opportunity to connect, which can be good for our mental health! Also problem solving in groups helps you to learn. Explaining your thoughts solidifies your thinking, and understanding other people's perspectives broadens your conceptions. Additionally, working with other students will help you to build a community. Finally, practicing working in groups will help you to become a better team member, which is important for many context outside of the classroom.

You have the ability to create a positive learning environment for everyone in your group. Here are ways you can participate in your group: Suggest an idea; Keep track of suggested ideas/work so far; Ask questions: ask for clarification, ask for more time to think, ask someone to repeat what *you* just said/wrote, ask someone to rephrase what *they* just said/wrote; Try to restate in your own words something someone else said/wrote; Provide encouragement.

Assessments

Homework

The homework will be a low-stakes opportunities to practice problem solving, to make mistakes, and to learn from those mistakes

You will be graded on effort and thoughtfulness, not correctness.

Quizzes

There will be a quiz for us to assess your understanding and problem solving. You will take the quiz twice. Once on your own (first attempt), and once with a partner or group (second attempt). We will average the two scores.