INST326 Syllabus

Instructor: Aric Bills • abills@umd.edu
Grader: Shenghan (Han) Gao

UTAs:
Saamia Bashir • saamia.bashir@gmail.com
Colin Bradley • colin.bradley68@gmail.com
Josh Hershberger • joshuahershberger47@gmail.com
Sarah Patrick • sep890@umd.edu
Yazeed Sobahi • ysobahi@terpmail.umd.edu
Abraham White • arwhite598@gmail.com

AMPs:
Ben Cohn • bcohn13@terpmail.umd.edu
Kamran Djourshari • kdjour@gmail.com
Joel Inoa Reyes • joel.inoa@yahoo.com
Erin Lance • erinlance19@gmail.com
Amber Owens • aowens14@terpmail.umd.edu

"Walk-in" office hours are outlined in the table below. Please note that this schedule may change over the course of the semester. Please consult the syllabus for the most up-to-date schedule. Office hours will not be held on Sep. 6–7 or Nov. 25–29. A reduced office hour schedule may apply Dec. 15-22.

To attend office hours, please post a brief note in the Discord #help channel explaining what you need help with, and a member of the instructional team will help you. You are also welcome to post to the #help channel outside of regular office hours, and someone will respond to you as soon as possible.

If you need to meet with me specifically and cannot do so during the times posted below, send me an email explaining what you want to meet about and we’ll schedule an appointment.

This course is an introduction to programming, emphasizing understanding and implementation of applications using object-oriented techniques. Topics to be covered include program design and testing as well as implementation of programs. Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in INST126.

This course introduces object-oriented design and programming concepts and methods using the Python programming language. Object-oriented programs are built as collections of “objects”, which are software representations of real-world entities and concepts. Objects combine data (attributes) with functionality (methods), and work through communicating with each other as the code is executed. By encapsulating code complexity within objects, OOP allows use and reuse of existing code in a relatively simple and easy manner. Advanced OOP concepts such as inheritance facilitate development of complex code without sacrificing robustness and possibility of code reuse. We apply computational thinking approaches such as abstraction, decomposition, algorithmic design, generalization, evaluation, and debugging.

This course also provides opportunities to develop an understanding of how programming is situated in and reflects broader social structures, constructs and issues, e.g. race, class or gender. Programming is often viewed as a value-neutral technical skill. However, the social and cultural impacts of information and technology are central concepts in our field, and the growing awareness of issues like algorithmic bias, ethical/unethical uses of algorithms and disparities in opportunties in tech jobs require that any informed professional needs to understand the larger context of programming. This is important to be ethical professionals and to be successful in the workplace. Through readings, discussion and writing, we will critically examine issues of racism, sexism and other forms of power and oppression that are pervasive in programming and related technical activities, and discuss what companies and individuals are doing to improve programming practices and professional work environments.

After finishing this course, students will be able to:

This course builds on a basic understanding of procedural programming, so you have to understand data types, variables, loops, conditionals, etc. and how to use them to write and debug a program. You should already be familiar with the basics of Python as introduced in INST 126. We will review these concepts briefly as we build on them. If your understanding of Python basics is not as good as you would like, please get help early on.

This is an online class built using the "flipped classroom" model. Please prepare for live sessions by watching assigned videos and/or reading assigned readings, completing any exercises, homework assignments, and/or quizzes that are due.

During class, we will do hands-on programming activities or other review activities to help you apply and master the course content in an environment where you can ask questions. Live sessions are an integral part of the course. Please do your best to attend and to participate. Live sessions will not be recorded. Barring some unusual circumstances, I expect you to turn your video on and to unmute yourself when participating. Members of the instructional team will do the same.

There will be weekly assignments to help you practice, reflect, and extend your understanding. All homework assignments are to be completed on your own unless otherwise stated in the assignment.

Here is my suggested general strategy for working on assignments:

We will also examine selected broader issues of programming and coding—the social and organizational context, issues related to gender, race, disability, etc. This will help you prepare for situations that you are likely to encounter in your professional work. You will write an essay (denoted in the schedule as "critical reflection") in which you explore some of these issues in depth.

Our readings will come from a variety of free online sources; the main ones are:

Note that all of these sources can be downloaded for offline access. Please take a moment and download copies now, so that you’re prepared in the event of internet issues during the semester.

Topics to be covered include:

Every graded element of the course (assignment, test, quiz, etc.) is assigned to one of the following weighted categories:

Your grade will be calculated as follows:

Please note that cutoffs are specified to the hundredth of a percent. I do not round grades at the end of the semester.

It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that all work is submitted correctly and successfully. I expect you to verify that you have uploaded the correct versions of the correct files and that the files were successfully uploaded. If you are unable to upload a file after multiple attempts, I expect you to email me a copy of your file prior to the deadline.

The essential purpose of the university’s undergraduate course policies is to enable all of us to fully participate in an equitable, accessible and safe academic environment so that we each can be challenged to learn and contribute most effectively. They address issues such as academic integrity, codes of conduct, discrimination, accessibility, learning accommodations, etc. We are all responsible for following the policies at http://www.ugst.umd.edu/courserelatedpolicies.html (Links to an external site.). You must read them and send me any questions by the first week of classes.

In academia and in computer programming, building on the work of others is often acceptable and encouraged. In this class, there will be some situations in which it may be appropriate to build on other people’s work. For example:

In this class, the following principles govern the ethical use of other people’s work:

You are expected to complete all course work (homework, quizzes, midterms, reflections, etc.) on your own unless my written instructions on a particular task indicate otherwise. You may not discuss exams or midterms with anyone other than the instructor until the deadline for submitting the exam or midterm has passed for all participants in the discussion (remember, due to personal circumstances, some students may have a different deadline than you). You may work on exercises with one partner unless otherwise specified; both partners must be engaged in the coding process. You may discuss homework with other students; this includes explaining underlying concepts, assisting a fellow student in debugging (without supplying your own code to that student), and discussing algorithms. If you collaborated with one or more fellow students in one of the ways described above, your code must include a comment describing the collaboration and citing all collaborators. Please note: under no circumstances are you allowed to copy/paste, retype, or work off of, or possess a partial or complete copy of someone else’s solution to an assignment unless the assignment instructions include explicit written instructions to the contrary.

UMD students are required to abide by the student honor pledge: I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment/examination. You will be asked to complete the honor pledge as part of each assignment, quiz, and test in this class.

Suspected cases of cheating, plagiarism, or other academic integrity violations will be referred to the Honor Council.

For specific due dates, please see ELMS.