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TLAP Deadline / Codebash this Friday / Plagiarism / Group allocations / Sessions next week
Dear all,
Important admin things first
- As I mentioned in class, the deadline for ALL activities for Thinking Like A Programmer will be this Friday 6th November at 5pm. After this point, you will still be able to go on and collect medals towards your module total but they will not count towards your overall module mark any longer.
- As of next week, the lectures for Programming 1 will happen on MONDAYS. Team Skywalker will have their session between 2pm-4pm and Team Solo 4pm-6pm.
- If you are in the Monday workshop group, WE WILL NOT BE RUNNING THE WORKSHOPS ON MONDAY 9TH NOVEMBER. This is because the corresponding lecture is in the afternoon that same day and we won’t have anything to do on the new unit yet in the morning! Those in the Tuesday workshop, the workshop will be running as normal.
- There will be a Codebash this coming Friday most likely in SB3035 (watch Studyspace just in case the location changes). It will run from 9am to 5pm and will be the final opportunity to pick up medals for TLAP. In the past students who have attended the codebash have gone from hardly any medals to completing nearly all of them. It is an informal atmosphere and you can stay for as long or short a time as you like. Take the opportunity to get yourself a higher grade before it’s too late!
Plagiarism, Collusion and Misconduct
With the deadline approaching, some of you might be tempted to take shortcuts. I HAVE TOLD YOU IN CLASS THAT NOOBLAB CAN DETECT MISCONDUCT. I spent lots of time in the first lecture and in some of the early workshops talking about what is acceptable and what is not. If you have any doubts go back to the very first lecture video and watch it again! In short – you should not at any point be loading someone else’s code into your computer (or copying and pasting it, or manually copying it by hand). You should also not be working on exercises in groups. If you do, NoobLab will flag your activity and you WILL be found out. DO NOT TAKE SHORTCUTS. DO YOUR OWN WORK.
Some people have already been contacted by me about this. This is a serious matter. This will be the final time I say this. Now that you have been warned again, any new attempts to gain credit for someone else’s work will result in ALL of your TLAP medals being revoked. JUST DON’T DO IT.
Team Solo v Team Skywalker
You should all now have had your group allocations from me. IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN ALLOCATED TO EITHER TEAM SOLO OR TEAM SKYWALKER PLEASE LET ME KNOW.
Some people seem to think that there is some kind of grading system and that one group is “higher” than the other. This is not the case. The groups do a slightly different syllabus from each other but both still fulfil the module’s learning outcomes. The different syllabi are tailored to the abilities and the needs of each group. Just because you are in one group doesn’t mean you will get a lower mark than someone in the other group. In fact, maybe we’ll get a little inter-group competition going on and see who does better!
However, do please note that the lecture content is DIFFERENT. You cannot turn up to the wrong lecture! So, you can’t just rock along to the 2pm lecture because the timing is more convenient. You might as well go to the lecture down the corridor on Interpretive Dance; it would be just as relevant!
If anyone has any questions on the above, please let me know – hopefully that is all nice and clear.
All the best,
Paul
“Orange Event” (in-class quiz) on Friday 30th October at 2pm
Dear all,
As you should be aware (I’ve announced it in lectures and workshops!) in this week’s lecture (Friday 30th October) we will be holding an assessment event.
I’ve referred to this event as an “in-class test” and more recently as a “quiz”. I think going forward I am simply going to call them “Orange Sessions”.
Basically, there will be no lecture content other than orange clicker slides. These count towards your module total and this Orange Session will form the bulk of your non-practical mark for Thinking Like A Programmer. The short version: this will be worth just under 10% of your module total (with the rest of the 10% made up of the odd orange slides you’ve had in the lectures so far).
The key points:
YOU MUST BRING YOUR CLICKER TO FRIDAY’S EVENT. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN YOU GETTING ZERO FOR THE EVENT. REMEMBER: ALWAYS GET YOUR “ARS” TO CLASS!
YOU WILL ALSO BE ASKED TO SWIPE IN WITH YOUR ID CARD AT FRIDAY’S EVENT. ENSURE YOU BRING YOUR ID CARD! FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN YOU GETTING ZERO FOR THE EVENT (and in any case, you are supposed to have your ID card at all times anyway!)
YOU MUST BE ON TIME FOR FRIDAY’S EVENT. IF YOU ARE LATE YOU WILL NOT BE ADMITTED. I run a fairly informal ship on most occasions but when it comes to assessed events, it simply isn’t fair on other students who are trying to work and think for people to bowl in late and disrupt the session.
YOU MAY USE HANDWRITTEN (ON PAPER) AND PRINTED NOTES. YOU MAY *NOT* USE PHONES, TABLETS/iPADs, LAPTOPS OR ANY OTHER DIGITAL DEVICES.
Other things to know about the format of the event:
- There will be no finite time limit for the event – it will take as long as it takes (within the limitations of the two hour slot). It is not an exam or in-class test, after all.
- There will be between 10 and 12 questions in total (I still haven’t finalised this yet!)
I will leave each slide on the screen for as long as is necessary for everyone in the room to answer. You will be able to change your answer (with your clicker) if you get it wrong the first time but once we move away from a question, your answer is final! - No question should really take anyone more than a few minutes to figure out and answer. If you can’t answer it within that timescale, then you probably don’t know the answer.
- If you don’t know the answer – guess! There are no marks taken off for wrong (guessed!) answers.
- I will put the voting graphs up so you can see how the group answered. So, you will have an idea on the day how well you did – although it doesn’t necessarily mean you will have got it right if most people voted the same way!
- If you miss the event because of illness you must need to go through the formal mitigating circumstances procedure. I will not be able to help you with that – you will need to speak to the student office.
On a brighter note, on Friday I will also be looking to hand out the awards for Thinking Like A Programmer. Yes, I said “awards”. There will be awards in three categories:
- Top of the high score table
- First person to get maximum medals
- Hardest worker (who may not necessarily have all the medals!)
What the prizes will be for the awards I cannot say at this point 
Finally, we will also be doing the Early Module Feedback. This is important because it gives you your opportunity to tell us what we need to change at an early point in the module before it becomes too late. So come armed with your views that your course reps can take away to make things better.
See you Friday!
Timetabling Woes: What to do if your timetable doesn’t show Programming 1
Dear all,
If your timetable does not show Programming 1, DON’T PANIC!
Because this is the first week of teaching, the workshop sessions will involve me introducing the module and giving the first lecture. If your timetable does not show a given session, then you can come to EITHER Tuesday morning in EM001 at 9am or Friday afternoon in PRMB1099 (the Jacqueline Wilson Hall) at 2pm.
As long as you get yourself to ONE of the scheduled sessions this week you will be fine. Hopefully, by next week all the timetables should be sorted out.
All the best and see you this coming week!
Paul
Hello from the Programming 1 team
Dear all,
Welcome to Programming 1! My name is Paul Neve and most of you will have seen me during induction week doing my Personal Tutor thing, but my “real” job is teaching you guys how to program.
I believe very strongly that learning programming should be fun and engaging. Some of you will doubtlessly be approaching this module with some trepidation. Do not be afraid! The computer cannot bite, error messages can’t hurt you. In the first weeks of the module we will be trying to get you to think logically and break programmatic problems down, which is the fundamental skill required to be a good programmer. All other things follow that. There will be no incomprensible program code in the first few weeks, we start off with visual problems and programs which hopefully should be good fun to engage with. We present introductory programming in a unique way here at KU – no other university has the same approach or tools as us, and it is something of a speciality of ours. At the heart of Programming 1 is a belief that everybody can learn to program and everybody can have fun while doing it. Don’t get me wrong: this isn’t going to be easy. It will be hard work, and you will get out whatever you put in. But if you are willing to put in that work then by the end of the academic year you should have an excellent foundation in programming.
The important things first:
- Please check your timetable on OSIS regularly as the times and dates of sessions are subject to change. (This applies to all modules, not just Programming 1)
- Also be sure to check your KU email for additional information about where to go and at what time. Any changes may take a couple of days to filter through to the timetable so if there is a need to move something in a hurry, Studyspace and your email is where it’ll be.
- It is CRUCIAL that you attend ALL of your scheduled classes. There will usually be one lecture and one workshop per week allocated to you. BE AT BOTH EVERY WEEK. The workshop assumes you’ve been to the lecture so if you dodge the lecture and only come to the workshop you will be lost!
I am looking forward to meeting you all!
All the best,
Paul
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