Hello, and welcome to BIT 142!
This document exists to help orient you to how this class will be run -- I hope that this document will help explain what to expect in this class, as well as what will be expected if you from this class.
Before I answer that directly let's look at the history of this course, briefly.
So as of right now there's two ways in which students are expected to engage with this course:
For both types of students there are no points attached to attending the face-to-face class. It is recommended that you do so, but you don't have to (and 'online' students are not expected to).
Each begins when the hybrid class meets and lasts for one week (remember this - if something says that it's "Due at the start of Lesson 02", then it'll be due at the time, and on the day that the hybrid class meets for lesson 02). During each lesson has started you will watch online videos that explain (and/or review) that lesson's material; you then will do several post-class exercises that give you a chance to practice the material that has been covered.
(Note that in prior quarters the online videos were referred to as "preview videos" - if you see this wording anywhere please notify the instructor so that I can fix it!)
Even though this is an online course you are welcome to attend the hybrid (in-person) class whenever you'd like. You are not required to attend, but if you want to attend you're welcome to. You are specifically welcome to attend only those weeks that you'd like to and not others (for example, if you've gone through the material and have questions that you'd rather talk about in-person than over the Canvas Discussion Forum, please feel free to show up that week).
The exams must be taken in-person; there are no online exams in either version of this course. The main page of this website lists the days and times that the exams will be given for the students enrolled in the hybrid section. Students enrolled in the online section have three options:
The first thing to understand is that this is a hybrid class � it's partially online, and partially in-person. What that means in practice is that while class time will be used to address some of the topics in the class we will not cover all the topics. Whatever topics we don't cover in class you will cover on your own, during the online portion of this hybrid class. In some sense you can think of the hybrid class as being "the online class, plus an extra help session before each week's work"
Hybrid students are required to attend class. There are some extra points attached to participating in each class, as detailed in the syllabus.
This is a question that only you can decide. There is a quiz in Lesson 01 that helps get you thinking about this by asking you questions about your work style, study style, how good you are at working independently, etc. At the end of
the day factors like "How effective am I at getting extra help when I get stuck?" are a lot more important than things like "How good am I at programming?"
Each lesson officially begins at the start of that week's class session. During the class session the instructor will give an overview of that week's Lesson, covering some (but not all) of the topics for that week. In addition to the lecture each class session will also feature short, guided exercises to work through with peers to ensure that you're learning the lecture material.
Each lesson has online videos that illustrate and emphasize certain concepts. These videos review the material that was covered in class, cover some topics in more detail, and cover some topics that weren't covered in class at all. You are responsible for knowing all this material, regardless of whether it was covered in class or in the videos. You are required to watch these videos, and are given a choice of how to prove that you've watched them:
A) You can take a "viewing quiz" for each video. The quiz is a "viewing comprehension" quiz that you should be able to answer easily as you're watching the videos; the quiz is intended to both incentivize you to actually watch the videos as well as to clarify what the instructor considers to be important about the video. Personally, I'd recommend downloading a copy of the quiz, opening it in MS Word, and then going through the quiz as you're watching the video. Since the quizzes were made by adding questions to the bottom of the document as the instructor watched the videos you should be able to read the next 2-3 questions (just in case you miss one), and then watch the video until you can answer the next one. If you miss a question you'll need to back up & find the answer.
B) You can create a "video outline" for each video. You will create the outline by downloading a starter file (in Word .DOC/.DOCX format) and creating an outline of the important topics as you watch the video. There are more details about how this is done in the first lesson.
Most students seem to prefer option A (the viewing quizzes), but some students choose option B.
There is a video (and PowerPoint slide stack) describing how to use the videos.
After each lecture you will be required to complete some "post-class" exercises. Each student must do the work individually, and submit these pre-class exercises individually. Each student is free to collaborate with anyone else
in the class to complete these exercises, which includes having both/all people sitting down at the same computer, and working through the exercises together. Regardless, each person needs to hand in a unique copy of the exercises that they've
done on their own (so if two people sit at the computer & work through the exercises, one person will have to do the exercise a second time, and in (at least a slightly) different way).
NOTE: In previous quarters PCEs have meant PRE Class Exercises. Please notify your instructor if you find this phrase used anywhere on this website (and please include both the URL of the offending file and a description of where the phrase is in the file)
Any given lecture (any given class session) may have you either using work that you've done previously and/or working ahead on material that will be due in the future. You must bring all your work to class, even work that you haven't finished yet (regardless of when it's due) so that you will have access to it during class time.
This is so important that I'm going to say again, in a bright yellow box:
Always bring all your work (even incomplete work) to every class!
For this class, you are required to update Cascadia's record of your current email address, and you are required to check that email address at least once every 24 hours. Knowing your email address is critical in case something comes
up and the instructor needs to contact you individually.
The easiest way to do this is to use the
Student Toolbox, specifically the link for the "Address
Change"
If you change your email address, you are required to immediately update this information, so that the professor can still contact you via email, if needed
For this class, you are required to use the Canvas learning management system in order to participate in online class discussions and to be notified of class-wide announcements. You should have been automatically signed up when you registered for this course with Cascadia Community College.
At this time we will not be using Canvas for anything other than the discussion forums. You'll hand your homework in via the StudentTracker web application (which will also show you your grades), and the course content will be listed on the course web page.
In order to log in you need to go to https://cascadia.instructure.com/, then log in. Your username is your Cascadia College SID (Student ID Number), and your password is the first 6 letters/characters of your last name (all lower case) NOTE: If your last name has fewer than 6 characters, repeat from the beginning until you reach 6. Examples: Smith = smiths, Doe = doedoe, Don-Baker = don-ba, Van Huesin = vanhue. Note that you should change your password once you log in.
There's a "Student Guide" / manual available online at http://guides.instructure.com/m/4212, but the system is easy enough to use that you'll probably pick it up just by using it. You'll notice that there's a column of links on the left side of the page - clicking on "Discussions" brings you to the discussion page, where you can click on the discussion you're interested in. The Lesson 01/Lesson 02 discussions are "pinned", meaning that they should stay near the top of the page (where you can easily find them). Similarly, there's a link in that left column for the course announcements.
In addition to slowly, laboriously visiting the website on a daily basis (and you are required to read all messages at least once every 24 hours) you can set up Canvas so that it emails (or texts) you whenever someone posts to a discussion group. Here are some links that should help you configure this (if you choose to use this feature):
For this class, you are required to read all course announcements and all messages posted to any discussion group at least once every 24 hours.
This is required regardless of whether you sign up for email/text notifications or not.
It's worth noting that the instructor is signed up for all the discussion groups, too. So please post your questions there - if the other students can't help you out then the instructor will jump in and answer them. (The only exceptions to this rule are that you should send questions about your personal grades and questions about homework assignments (which are done strictly individually) directly to the instructor).