Introduction
This page gives an overview of what our course will look like online and summarizes and links to all online resources used in this class. I hope this helps you orient yourself to our all-online experience, but please contact me through any media if you have questions about how this is going to work.
Table of Contents
This table of contents links to more detailed descriptions on this page. Where (desc, link) is provided, desc again links to the more detailed description on this page and link links directly to the resource itself.
- Online Structure
- Online Resources
- Faculty-Web: Syllabus, schedule, slides, etc.
- Email: Announcements, graded work, grade updates.
- Vidgrid: Recorded video lectures
- Discussion Venues
- Submitting labs
- esubmit (desc, link): Submitting PDFs (only available through Global Protect))
- GitHub Classroom: Submitting the Git project
- Blackboard (desc, link): Private content such as GTFS files and GitHub Classroom invitations. Also quizzes and exams. But not grades or most other graded material.
Online Structure
Class
Instead of meeting in-person in class, I will ask you to watch recorded lecture videos before class. These videos will have embedded open-ended "quiz" questions that encourage you to think creatively about the lecture content.
During our scheduled lecture times, I will meet with scheduled groups of students in dedicated Microsoft Teams groups to give you a chance to ask questions about the videos. I will ask questions to get the discussion started so please watch the videos in advance and come prepared!
Lab
I will go over lab details in a Teams discussion at the start of lab. I will be available on Teams to answer student questions during the lab period.
Office Hours
I will be available for office hours during my scheduled office hours either by Teams video call or by phone.
Online Resources
Starting point: Faculty-Web
You are already here!
This is the starting point for everything online in the course. All publicly-sharable course materials (such as the syllabus, schedule, outcomes (if provided), slides, and any code examples) will be shared here.
I will use email for announcements and returning grade work and grade reports.
Announcement Emails
I will continue to make all announcements by email or in online class sessions during our scheduled class periods. (Details about these sessions will also be announced by email. They will be conducted in Microsoft Teams, discussed below.)
Grade Emails
Throughout the quarter, I will send occassional grade updates. You are always welcome to ask me what your current grade is in the course. I will try to provide an update to the whole class in response. Sometimes the gradebook has issues that need to be cleaned up before I can send an update, such as dropping the lowest quiz, finishing grading a partly-entered lab, etc. This can delay sending an update the whole class, but I can still give you a quick update on your overall grade in the coruse if you ask.
I also return graded work by email. This is how I will distribute graded quizzes, exams, etc.
VidGrid
We will be using VidGrid for recorded video lectures. Be sure to look for the single-sign-on option when you first visit the site. Sometimes you have to log into VidGrid before individual video links will work — let me know if you see this issue happening still.
It may be more fun if you sync with a friend and brainstorm together for each of the "quizzes." Please let me know how this goes!
Please watch the video straight through. Each person should let the video run on their machine so they can answer the questions as they come up. If you skip around (and even if you go back and rewatch before you've gotten to a question!), VidGrid pops up the next question, and you HAVE to answer them right then or it won't let you continue watching the video. But you can watch it 1.5x or 2x speed if everyone in your e-study-group is comfortable with that.
The important thing is that you take time to think about each of the questions before going on to them. Once you start a question, the video requires you to answer the question before showing any more video.
Discussion
We will be using Microsoft Teams for video discussion and Piazza for Q & A discussion.
Microsoft Teams
We will use Microsoft Teams for in-class discussions and office hours. I believe this is already installed on your student machines. Please contact me through email or phone or text if you don't have this on your machine.
Piazza
Piazza is an online Q&A (Question and answer) site designed specifically for classrooms. No announcmentes will be made in Piazza, but you may find the discussion helpful when studying lecture material or working through labs.
Submitting Labs
Each lab will have submission instructions embedded within it. The first few labs will be submitted through esubmit, and most of the later labs will be submitted through both GitLab and esubmit.
Esubmit
PDF files will generally be submitted through esubmit.
Esubmit is only available through Global Protect. Please follow the linked instructions to set this up and contact me if you have any questions.
GitHub Classroom
Git assignments will be submitted through a quarter-long project hosted through GitHub Classroom. Invitation links will be shared through Blackboard. Once you have accepted the invitation, please bookmark your personal project page so that you can return to it more easily.
Blackboard
I will post private content on Blackboard, such as PDFs shared under fair use that should not be shared with the whole world. In SE2030, the GTFS files and GitHub Classroom Invitations fall under this category. I will announce materials posted on blackboard through other channels (e.g., from the lab page where they are needed) so you don't need to monitor blackboard for this class.
I will also post quizzes and exams to Blackboard. These will be open-internet but closed-human. (No talking to other people, even online.) But, as mentioned above, most graded work and grade updates will be sent by email.
Our first blackboard quiz will be on Wednesday and Thursday of Week 2 (25-26 March). The topic is the same as Lab 1: User stories and Use cases.