Course Goals

CSE 390Z is a workshop designed to provide academic support to students enrolled concurrently with CSE 311. CSE 311 concepts are at the core of computer science, but they are different from what many students have experienced in CS courses before. During each 2-hour workshop for CSE 390Z, students will reinforce concepts through collaborative problem solving, practice study skills and effective learning habits, and build a community for peer support.

All students enrolled in CSE 311 are welcome to register for this course.

Course Content

The workshop is organized around a large set of math problems about 311 content. In workshop, students work together on some of these problems. The graded components of the workshop are the following:

Outside of Class

• Mini Assignments (Quick Checks, ~30 minutes): These assignments focus on solving 311-type questions, watching a solution video, and reflecting on your comfort level and understanding.
• Homework & Reflections (~1 hour): These may include things such as reading and questions or reflections based on your 311 performance.

In Class

Explanations of common 311 misconceptions, time for students to work on problems and arger assignments together and to receive support from the course staff.

Extra credit

It is likely that we will have a couple of small assignments that will count as extra credit around midterms and finals.

Course Grading

This course is credit/no-credit and is not graded on a curve. To earn credit for this course you must:

1. Participate in at least 7 of the 9 class periods (first class not included; description below)
2. Score at least an 80% in the course

Your final score for the course will be calculated roughly as follows:

Your grades will be available on Canvas throughout the quarter. The following describes each graded component of the course.

Unless otherwise specified, all course assignments are released on Canvas at 12:00AM PDT, Wednesday and are due on TBD at 11:59 PM PDT on Sunday of the following week.

Late Work

Late work will generally not be accepted for this course unless an extension has been granted prior to the assignment's due date. If you have special circumstances that prevent you from submitting an assignment by its due date, please email the course staff so we can determine if an extension is needed.

Course Resources

• This Website: The central source of info about what's going on in the class
• Canvas: All assignments, files, Zoom links, and grades will be posted on Canvas. Some assignments will be submitted through Canvas.
• Gradescope: Some assignments will be submitted through Gradescope, and feedback on assignments will be accessed here.
• Ed: This will serve as the discussion board for the course and will be where the course staff posts important announcements. You should enable email notifications and check the discussion board frequently.
• Office hours: All course staff have office hours, and we love receiving your questions. The schedule for office hours is available here on the course website, and links for any virtual office hours will be posted on Canvas. Note that we cannot answer 311 homework questions during office hours out of fairness to all students in 311 but we are happy to work on workshop problems, answer section problems or lecture problems, and to provide explanations of a variety of concepts.
• Zoom: We will hold some office hours virtually on Zoom, and it's possible that we may need to intermittently use Zoom to conduct class this quarter. For instructions on how to set up Zoom, you can visit this page, read the Zoom FAQ, or contact Zoom support for other issues. Here is information on setting it up. I highly recommend that you try a test meeting to check your connectivity.

Accomodations

We want this course to be approachable, accessible, and flexible for all students. Please let the course instructor know if you require accommodations for disability, mental health, religious activity, or matters of conscience. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to the course instructor at your earliest convenience so we can discuss how best to accommodate your needs in this course. If any incident occurs that challenges our commitment to a supportive and inclusive environment, please let the instructor know so the issue can be addressed.

Additionally, a list of University of Washington mental health resources is accessible at all times from the course Canvas page.

Academic Conduct

Outside of workshop problems, it is expected that you will complete your CSE 390Z assignments individually. We encourage you to discuss your ideas with other students, but your writing and work must be your own. Additionally, we strongly recommend that you review the Allen School Academic Misconduct Policy as you work with other students this quarter.

Expectations & Best Practices

We expect that you will be respectful to one another and the course staff. We have a diverse classroom with many different backgrounds and experiences. Please think carefully about how you communicate with your classmates and the course staff. CSE 311 can be a very difficult course, and we expect you to be supportive of your classmates as they learn the material and ask questions.

Technology

(Portions heavily borrowed from Professor Hacker)

In the Classroom

This is a computer science class and somewhat obviously, we'll need to use technology in the classroom. However, it should to be used for adding value to your learning, not as a distraction. I understand that your phones connect you with your friends and family, but the classroom should be a place apart, however briefly, from the outside world. You will learn more, in short, if you can concentrate on the course while you’re in the course.

The following are some guidelines for technology use in the classroom:

• Phones, tablets and other communication devices: This should go without saying; your cell phone and other devices should not be a distraction in this classroom.
  • I am not asking you to turn your phone "off" (no one does when they're told to anyway), but your phone should ideally be set to silent or vibrate before you enter the classroom and put away where it will not distract you (i.e preferably not in your pocket, but rather in your bag).
  • You should not be sending or or receiving any messages (text, Snapchat, Facebook, etc).
  • If we hear your phone ring once during class we’ll ask you to turn it off. If your phone rings again, we’ll need to have a talk. A third time and you will be asked to turn it off and put it away or leave the room to avoid distracting others.
  • If there is a somewhat emergent case where you do need to receive a phone call or text message, please speak with an instructor at the beginning of class to explain why you need an exception to these rules. You will still be expected to keep your phone on vibrate, and as soon as you receive said call or message, you quietly excuse yourself outside to answer it, returning promptly after.
• Laptops: I'm sure you've heard all the research (like this, and this, and this) that you should really take notes with pen and paper, but you may use a laptop or tablet to take notes during this class. In fact, we'll be needing our laptops quite a lot to do course work, test out theories, and even look up facts during class. However, in-class laptops also present temptations that many students find irresistible. You should not use a laptop during class to follow a game, use social media, play games, IM/DM, respond to email, etc, or even do work for another class! Such activities not only distract you (meaning you will be less able to participate meaningfully in the class’ conversations), they also distract anyone around or behind you. If you often seem distracted by what’s on your screen, I will ask you to put your laptop away if we are lecturing (and perhaps even during work time).
• Likewise, since class will include a lot of group work, unless you have a strong reason why a laptop will help you collaborate, I strongly encourage you to work together without using a laptop. If you do think you need a laptop to work on group collaboration work, please talk to me.

COVID-19 Policies

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there are certain university and course policies in place to best protect the students and staff. Due to the size of the class, workshops will be held in person per current university policies.

• To protect their fellow students, faculty, and staff, students who feel ill or exhibit possible COVID symptoms should not come to class. If you find yourself in this position, please reach out to the course instructor for access to the asynchronous participation option described in the "Participation" section above.
• All students are required to wear masks at all times within the classroom.
• Please do not eat inside the classroom. Should you need to do so during the workshop, you are welcome to step outside the classroom and do so. You are allowed to drink within the classroom, but you should only breifly lift or remove your mask to take a drink, and then immediately replace it.
• If you do not have a face mask to wear to class, you may get a disposable one from the instructor; you can also get one from one of the Healthy Husky vending machines on campus. You are still required to wear masks at all times within the classroom.
• Refusal to comply with any of the above policies will result in being asked to leave the classroom. Refusal to do so may result in the entire class being dismissed for the day instead.

As with any course policies, should you need an accomodation, please let the course staff know so that we can do our best to accomodate you in our classroom.

Acknowledgements

We thank Lauren Bricker for serving as an advisor for this course as well as Kevin Zatloukal for supporting as the 311 professor. Adam Blank, David Eck, Michael Lee, Lucy Jiang, Mackenzie Leach, Natalie Parry, Nicole Riley, Robert Minneker, Philip Garrison, Jessica Louie, Garrett Devereux, and Melissa Hovik shared or created materials and problems for the workshop.