ICS 10 • David G. Kay • UC Irvine • Summer 2013

Assignments

General assignment guidelines

The guidelines given below apply to all assignments unless an assignment explicitly says otherwise. Read them now and read them again once or twice during the quarter.

Assignments

First Homework (due on Checkmate at 5:00 on Friday, June 28)

Second Homework (due on Checkmate at 5:00 on Monday, July 1)

Third Homework (due on Checkmate at 5:00 on Friday, July 5)

Fourth Homework (due on Checkmate at 5:00 on Wednesday, July 10)

Fifth Homework (due on Checkmate at 5:00 on Wednesday, July 17)

Sixth Homework (due on Checkmate at 5:00 on Friday, July 19)

Seventh Homework (due on Checkmate at 5:00 on Wednesday, July 24)

Eighth Homework (due on Checkmate at 5:00 on Friday, July 26)

Read the assignment carefully

If an assignment asks for three examples, give three examples, not just one. This seems pretty simple, but you'd be surprised how often people just don't seem to read the assignment carefully. Meticulous attention to detail is essential in technical work; it's often not enough just to "get the broad outlines." It's a good idea to read the assignment more than once, including one time after you think you've finished the work.

Some students aren't used to working at this level of detail and precision, but that's one of the things this course teaches you (and one of the reasons it carries General Education credit—it shows you how people in other disciplines think and work).

Assignment submission

You'll be submitting most homework assignments in electronic form via Checkmate. To get set up for electronic submission, go to checkmate.ics.uci.edu, log in with your UCInet ID, choose "Course Listing" for "Summer 1 2013," click "Go" next to ICS 10 and then click "List me for this course."

Working in pairs

Some of our assignments will be done in groups of two.

• Why not individually? Because you learn more when you discuss the problems and the possible solutions. Also because you won't feel as isolated or frustrated if you don't understand something: Either your partner will know the answer, so you can keep going, or else you'll know you're not alone in not knowing, so you won't feel embarrassed about sending Email questions to ics10@uci.edu.
• Why not groups of three or more? With two people, both must be engaged; one person talks, the other listens (and we expect they will switch roles frequently). A third or fourth person can stop paying attention without bringing everything to a halt, and that's not good.
• Does this mean it's okay to split up the assignment, so that each partner does half? No. The assignments are designed to be enough work for one person; we ask you to do them in pairs because you'll learn more that way. The goal isn't just to get answers onto the page; the goal is to learn from the experience of working on the problems. Part of technical expertise is being able to communicate about technical issues; working in pairs helps you do that.
• Does that mean my partner and I have to work out a schedule to meet, or at least communicate, about the assignment? Yes, it does. When you pick a partner, have a brief conversation about what your availability is. It won't be an excuse that you have to work in the afternoons and your partner isn't free in the mornings.
• What's the most dangerous aspect of working in pairs? One partner can be passive, letting the other take the lead and do the work. Then the passive partner doesn't do well on the exams. This can happen especially when one partner has more experience or background than the other. It's each partner's job to ask enough questions to master the concepts, and it's each partner's job to make sure that both partners get the answers they need. Sometimes it seems easier just to let one partner take the lead, but that's a failure. Concepts can seem to make sense when you just hear them, but to be able to apply them (on an exam, let's say), you have to be actively engaged in the assignments.
• What's the most effective way for a pair to work together? One person starts out as the "driver," in control of the keyboard and mouse, and the other acts as the "navigator," asking questions, making suggestions, and generally helping to keep the work on track. Every five or ten minutes, the partners switch roles, so that over the course of the assignment, each partner spends some time as driver and some as navigator. It's tempting for the best typist, or the partner with the most experience, to want to remain as the driver, but it's important to switch off. Most of the learning that happens with paired work comes from the communication, from the partners having to talk about what they're doing. If the driver just speeds off without talking to the navigator, you lose that.
• Does this mean that I can talk to anybody about any aspect of any assignment? Not at all. Of course you can tell your friends and family what kind of work you're doing in this class. But when it comes to doing the actual work: (a) On assignments where you're required to work in pairs, you can get detailed help from your partner, the instructor, and the TA, not from other classmates or anyone else. (b) You can ask questions on piazza.com, but you should expect to get help, not final answers. (c) On assignments where you're not expected to work in pairs, you can get detailed help from the instructor or TA or piazza.com. The point is for you to learn how to produce the answers, not just for you to put an answer down on the page.

Working with a partner does require some professionalism:

• As noted above, make sure you and your partner are available at compatible times.
• Decide when your first meeting will be.
• Exchange contact info with your partner (e-mail, phone, whatever); then check your e-mail regularly, keep your phone charged, and so on.
• Don't ignore or blow off your partner. In the real world, you often have to work with people you wouldn't choose as your friends. In the rare event of a partnership disaster, contact ics10@uci.edu.
• Each partner should keep a copy of any work in progress, just in case something gets lost or someone unexpectedly becomes unavailable.

Plagiarism—don't do it

Plagiarism means presenting somebody else's work as if it's your own. You may use whatever outside sources (books, friends, interviews, periodicals) are appropriate for an assignment, so long as you cite them: Any time you use two or more words in a row that you didn't think up and write yourself, you must put the words in quotation marks and indicate where they came from. (There could be situations where this two-word rule isn't appropriate. If you think you have one, check with us.) Even if you paraphrase (state in your own words) someone else's work or ideas, you should cite the source (e.g., "Jakob Nielsen says that users should be informed about the status of the system"). Plagiarism is academically dishonest, and we expect that nobody in the class will engage in it.

Turning in another person's work as your own violates the honesty policies of ICS and UCI (http://www.ics.uci.edu/ugrad/policies/index.php). The School of ICS takes academic honesty very seriously and imposes serious penalties on students who violate its guidelines. Detected violations could result in your failing the course, having a letter filed with the school, and losing a variety of other benefits and privileges. We do check for academic dishonesty both manually and automatically. It is an unfortunate fact that nearly every quarter, some students in ICS classes are found to have violated these policies; to protect the privacy of the guilty, violations are not made public, but sadly, they do occur. Compared to the consequences of academic dishonesty, one low assignment score is a minor disadvantage. If you feel as if you're falling behind or have other difficulties, see the instructor; we will help you work around your trouble. No matter how pressured you feel, don't plagiarize; it's not worth it.

Most importantly, realize that getting "the answer" is only the last part of each assignment. Equally important is the process of getting the solution—including the false starts, bugs, misconceptions, and mistakes—because the learning occurs in the doing. Completely apart from the ethical issues, copying a solution deprives you of the whole point of the assignment.