Exercise A - CIS 120 Requirements Contract

A Microsoft Word .doc file that must be submitted into the Assignments area in Blackboard for Exercise A, including items 1, 2 and 3 below.

I may need to send out urgent emails to warn students about getting dropped from the class or not receiving credit for the course because of missing or incomplete assignments at the end of the quarter.

1. Therefore you need to paste into the Word .doc file the email address you check most often.

My past experience is that a substantial number of students sign up for this course because they need four units to maintain some kind of status, but because it’s credit/no credit they don’t do any of the work because they have nothing to lose. To help me prevent this problem, you also need to paste the following statements into the file, with your signatures where indicated below:

2. I sincerely intend to complete all these assignments:
   • I do not plan to only do a few at the start of the quarter or not do any at all.
   • I understand that if I do not submit this Exercise A and Assignment 1 by Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009 the instructor will administratively drop me from the class and I will need to complete the full requirements of Assignments 1, 2 and 3 by Wednesday, October 14, 2009 to get reinstated.
   • If I am having difficulties in completing assignments, I will make an appointment with the instructor to get coaching to help me catch up.
   • If I am having other problems that prevent me from submitting assignments by the cut-off dates, I will contact the instructor to explain the circumstances.
   • If I am unable to complete the full requirements of Assignments 1, 2 and 3 by Wednesday, October 14, 2009 and have not contacted the instructor about the problems, I promise to drop this class myself.

This statement needs to be signed by your official electronic signature (see Signature Examples and The S-Signature), as follows:
/ your name inside slashes /
  your name typed again (without slashes)
  the current date

3. I completely understand that:

• If I fail to satisfactorily complete Assignments 1, 2 and 3 by Wednesday, October 14, 2009 and then don't keep my commitment to drop the course (see above), my name will be referred to the Office of Judicial Affairs.
• I need to submit all ten assignments and each one needs to have all of the specific deliverables, done correctly, that are required in its assignment.
• Each assignment should be submitted by the due date and must be submitted by the cut-off date.
• I will only be allowed to resubmit two out of the 10 assignments if they are graded as being incomplete or not done correctly or come in after the cut-off date.
  • Resubmittals of Assignments 1 through 8 must be completed before the start of finals week.
• Incomplete or late assignments will have additional make-up requirements that need to be satisfactorily completed before they can receive credit.
• The midterm will not be available until after satisfactory completion of the first five assignments, and the final will only be available after satisfactory completion of the last five assignments. (Both tests are online.)
• The grade for the course will be only based on Assignment 10. However that grade will not be assigned until after a student satisfactorily completes all 10 assignments and gets at least 70% on both the midterm and final.
  • No one will receive credit for this course without satisfactorily completing all 10 assignments.
  • Even if all the requirements for Assignment 10 are completed, credit will not be given if the work is of very poor quality.
    

This statement also needs to be signed by your official electronic signature (see above).

Submitting Your Microsoft Word .doc File for Credit

1. Click the Assignments button on the left side of Blackboard, and then click the link that says, >> View/Complete Assignment: Exercise A - CIS 120 Requirements Agreement.
2. Type in your name in the text area that says, Comments. Now click the Browse button to the right of where it says, Attach local file. Browse to find and click on your .doc file that you just created. Then click the Submit button, and then the OK button to finish submitting your assignment.

Assistance with Your Project

Prof. Westfall will be available most of the time within one day over the Internet. He will have Office Hours from 1-2 PM and 8-9:00 PM on Mondays, 1-2:00 PM on Tuesdays, 8-9:00 PM on Wednesdays, and 5-7:00 PM Thursdays. He can also telephone you by appointment to provide advice and assistance.

The lab attendants in Studio 6 on the 6th floor should also be able to help with most aspects of the assignments. Those in in the Computing Commons on the 5th floor of building 98C may also be able to help if Studio 6 isn't open, but past experience indicates that Studio 6 gives better service.

There have been some problems in the past with lab attendants in both labs not being as helpful or supportive as they should be. I've had to complain more than once to the manager of Computing Commons to get some assistants to understand that they are there to provide service. If you have any problems getting help, please let me know ASAP and I will follow-up. If someone tells you to wait for the CIS tutor, tell them that:

1. this class is for non-CIS majors
2. any of the attendants should be able to help you
3. your instructor is going to follow-up with the manager if the service is poor
4. if none of the above gets results, ask for the atttendant's name for the instructor to follow up on

In addition you can post questions to the Discussion topics for each assignment to get help from other class members (put HELP at the start of the Subject to make it catch peoples attention). You can also look at the messages students are posting about their projects this quarter and in previous quarters. (One of the goals of this class is to facilitate students learning from each other.)

Get an early start. Enrolled students should be able to log in to Blackboard to start working on CIS 120 assignments before the first day of classes.