CS 474: Undergraduate Consulting

Spring 2005

First Meeting

The first and only formal meeting of the semester will take place in the CS Conference room (EPS 357) on Friday, January 14th at 4:10 p.m. It is mandatory that you attend. Consulting duties will begin the week of Tuesday, January 18th.

At this meeting, you will be assigned to help out with one of the following weekly labs:

• CS 160, Tuesday 1 - 3
• CS 160, Tuesday 3 - 5

• CS 201, Tuesday 8 - 10
• CS 201, Tuesday 10 - 12
• CS 201, Wednesday 1 - 3

• CS 221, Thursday 8 - 10
• CS 221, Thursday 10 - 12
• CS 221, Thursday 1 - 3

Please bring along your schedule so that you do not end up with an assignment that conflicts with your schedule!

Once you have your consulting assignment, you should contact your course instructor (160: Lloyd, 201: Babcock, 221: Paxton) for any special instructions that apply to your situation.

Course Coordinator

John Paxton. EPS 363. 994-5979. Office Hours: Monday 10:00 - 11:50, Wednesday 10:00 - 10:50, Friday 10:00 - 10:50 and by appointment.

Duties

Each week you should

• Take a look at the material in advance and make sure that you understand it well enough to help students effectively.
• Be present for the entire 2 hour block of your assignment.
• Send an e-mail report to John Paxton with copies going to the instructor of the course and the lab TA. The report is due no later than Friday at midnight following your two hour consulting block. The report should consist of the following one paragraph sections:
  • Section I. What students understood.
  • Section II. What students didn't understand.
  • Section III. How the assignment that you helped out with might be improved.
  • Section IV. What you personally learned with respect to one or more of the course outcomes listed in the next section. Try to write about different outcomes from week to week.

Universal Outcomes

At the end of the semester, your skill ability in the following areas should be improved

• The ability to apply your knowledge of computer science.
• The ability to help other people design solutions to problems.
• The ability to help other people implement designs.
• The ability to help other people debug programs.
• The ability to help other people to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data.
• A better understanding of professional responsibilities, from the standpoint of an expert relating to a novice.
• The ability to communicate effectively.
• The recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning.

Grading

• 70% - The quality of the weekly reports. Each weekly report is worth 8 points. For each of the four paragraphs, you will receive 2 points if the section is well done, 1 point if it is OK, and 0 points otherwise. Remember to use good writing skills! Remember that these reports are due by Friday at midnight following your consulting duties. For every 24 hours that the report is late, it will lose 2 points.
• 20% - A hardcopy of a 2-3 page, typed paper (no electronic submissions please!) that is due to John Paxton no later than Friday, April 15th by noon. The paper topic will be available in early February.
• 10% - Evaluation by the TA in the lab. The TA will provide a rating and a written explanation to the course instructor for each of the following four criteria:
  • Whether you arrive promptly and stay until the end of lab
  • Your ability to answer questions
  • Your ability to communicate clearly
  • Your ability to treat students professionally
    
• Special - Each consulting duty that is missed without permission or without making arrangements for someone to replace you in advance will drop your final grade a full letter grade. For example, if you forget to attend one lab, a B+ would become a C+.

Final Grade

At the end of the semester, your final grade will be determined based on the percentage of points you have earned:

• [93 - 100]: A
• [90 - 93): A-
• [87 - 90): B+
• [83 - 87): B
• etc.

Catalog Description

Fall, Spring. 1 credit recitation.
Prerequisite: Junior standing and CS 223.
Directed assistance to, and involvement in labs, with lower division CS students. Can only complete once.