1. How does this course operate?
This course has 24 class meetings. Of those meetings, 21 are lectures and 3 are labtests. The lectures take place in the lecture room and the labtests take place in the labs as indicated on the course homepage. The dates of the labtests are indicated in the course schedule, also found on this webpage.
2. How will the lectures be formatted?
At the start of each lecture, there will be a 10-15 minute quiz. The quiz will consist of one question. The question will evaluate comprehension of the lecture's assigned reading. Each quiz is worth 1% of your mark. The quizzes will be submitted, marked, and returned to you by the following lecture. The possible marks are 0, 0.5, or 1. Overall, the quizzes are worth 20% of your mark.
The quiz will be followed by a lecture in which the assigned reading is further discussed. Depending on the topic, the lecture may include individual or group exercises.
At the end of the class meeting time, the previous lecture's quizzes will be made available for pick-up, if applicable.
No quizzes are scheduled for the first lecture or on the days of labtests.
3. How will the labtests be conducted?
A labtest is scheduled to follow each of the three course assignments. Time has been allocated for each assignments to be marked and returned to the students prior to the corresponding labtest. Each labtest will be an extension of the prior assignment. Thus, completion of the assignment is required preparation for the corresponding labtest.
The labtest will consist of one or more programming/implementation tasks and one or more comprehension questions about the implementation and/or the software. The scope of the programming tasks will be appropriate to the time allocated, but will presume completion and understanding of the preceeding assignment work. For the labtest, the lab machines will be booted into "labtest mode". A set of materials will be provided to each student, including already-developed code and software, the necessary APIs, documentation and other reference materials.
4. Is it possible to make alternative arrangements for the labtests and/or the quizzes?
Enrollment in this course implies full knowledge of the course schedule and it is understood that course meetings (e.g., the lectures and labs) take precedence over other activities/appointments/flights/travel plans/etc.
The only alternative arrangements that can be made can be under the official "aegrotat" standing on the grounds of sickness or misfortune under the Faculty of Science and Engineering's Regulations Governing Examinations and Academic Standards. The forms and instructions can be found at the "Deferred Standing" section of the Registrar's office. In the case of this course, an Attending Physician’s Statement is required and will be subjected to validation.
If Aegrotat standing is established by the petitioner, then the weight of the course component will be transferred to the other course components at the discretion of the instructor. No additional time will be given for Labtests, Assignments, or Quizzes.
5. What if I cannot write the final exam due to sickness, misfortune or other grounds?
In this case, the student petitions to gain "aegrotat" standing under the Faculty of Science and Engineering's Regulations Governing Examinations and Academic Standards. The forms and instructions can be found at the "Deferred Standing" section of the Registrar's office. In the case of this course, an Attending Physician’s Statement is required and will be subjected to validation. If Aegrotat standing is established by the petitioner, then the petitioner becomes eligible to sit at the deferred exam seating, which is scheduled by the Department of Computer Science to take place early in the Winter 2011 term.