General Information

Catalog description // Communication // Organization // Labs // Homework // Attendance // Grading // Textbooks // Collaboration // Class meetings // Staff // Discussion Board // Office hours // Miscellaneous

HMC catalog description

Prereq.: Either CS 42 or CS 60.

From the course catalog:

This course introduces students to issues in the design, implementation, and evaluation of human-computer interfaces, with emphasis on user-centered design and graphical interfaces. In this course, students learn skills that aid them in choosing the right user interaction technique and developing an interface that is well-suited to the people for whom it is designed.

Communication

There is a Sakai site which will be used for the gradebook.

We will distribute assignments on this course web site (https://cs.hmc.edu/~rhodes/cs124), and make all announcements through Piazza. This course web site has the schedule for the term.

Organization

This class is organized as a flipped classroom. Before the class meeting, there will be readings and occassional videos. Classroom time is used for in-class activities and for discussing the readings and videos.

There is a large focus in this class on hands-on work with user interface design and implementation, organized into 5 separate labs.

Labs

A large part of the learning in this class occurs while working on the labs.

The labs build on one another. (See the Labs tab in the toolbar at the top of this page.)

Labs are worked on in teams of two. Teams are your choice. Some class meetings will be reserved for working on you labs, so it will be easier if your partner is in the same section of the class. However, the choice is up to you.

You'll submit:

I'll be assessing labs based on:

I'm available to answer questions about labs and look over your code during office hours.

Please feel free to post questions (and answer other's questions) about the labs on Piazza. Although you can discuss code, don't provide complete solution code (in either your questions or in your answers). Several-line code snippets are fine, as is discussion about any problems you are having. So, don't paste in your entire Javascript code and ask what's wrong with it.

Late labs will not be accepted. However, you have one 48-hour lab extension that you can use for any reason. You do not need to ask me in advance to take your extension. Each member of a team must have an extension available.

Homework

The homework is intended to make you think about the lecture topic and/or get your hands dirty. The homework is due the day of the lecture (by noon) on the specified due dates. I do not grade your answers for correctness, but merely verify that you put reasonable effort into them.

No late homework will be accepted, but I'll drop the lowest homework score. Homework will be assigned and submitted via Gradescope. You'll need to create a PDF (either electronically, or by scanning from a printer). Further instructions here.

Attendance/Participation

On-time attendance to every class is absolutely required to pass this course. This is a small class and class participation is essential to your learning and class dynamics. If you are ill and cannot attend or an emergency arises, please contact me as soon as possible. I will ask for a dean's note to excuse more than one sick day during the term. If you need to miss class for any other reason, you must get permission in advance.

Unexcused absences will be handled as followed:

I will track your participation in class daily. To get full participation credit, you must actively participate in class activities. If you attend class and listen respectfully but do not participate, you will get half credit for that day. If you engage in any disruptive activities (e.g., sleeping, texting, disrespectfully dominating the discussion, etc) you will get no credit.

Grading

Grading will be based:

Textbooks

CS 124 relies on the following three books:

Collaboration

  1. All students enrolled in this course are bound by the HMC Honor Code. More information on the HMC Honor Code can be found in the HMC Student Handbook.
  2. It is your responsibility to determine whether your actions adhere to the HMC Honor Code. If this document does not clarify the legitimacy of a particular action, you should contact the course instructor and request clarification.
  3. Work you submit for individual assignments should be your own, and you should complete all assignments based on your own understanding of the underlying material. If you work with, or receive help from, another individual on an assignment, provide a written acknowledgement in complete sentences that includes the person's name and the nature of the help.
  4. When you submit a group lab, the group should complete the lab based on your group's understanding of the underlying material. If your group works with, or receives help from another individual or group on an lab, provide a written acknowledgement in complete sentences that includes the person's name and the nature of the help. The submitted lab should be based on joint work among all members of the group, and all group members should understand the entire lab and submittal. If one or more members of the group did not participate in a lab, provide an explanatory statement as part of the submission.
  5. This document is not meant to be an exhaustive list of every possible Honor Code violation. Infractions not explicitly mentioned here may still violate the Honor Code.
  6. Boundaries of Collaboration: verbal collaboration with other students on labs is encouraged. However, all submitted written work should be written by yourself individually, and not a collaborative effort or copied from a common source (e.g., a chalkboard).
  7. Use of Web Resources: the use of Internet resources to aid in course work is acceptable, as long it does not substitute for an understanding of the course material. Plagiarism and direct copying from online (or any other) sources is strictly prohibited. However, you may not look at source code for labs from the internet or from other students.
  8. Use of Your Own Work from Previous Semesters: if you have previously attempted this course, you may refer to your work from previous semesters, but may not resubmit it as this semester's coursework.
  9. Use of Other Course Resources from Previous Semesters: You may not reference assignments of this course from previous semesters or tests from previous semesters (other than those explicitly provided by the instructor as study aids).
  10. Retention of Course Resources: assignments and exams from this course may not be committed to dorm repositories or otherwise used to help future students.

Class meetings

Class sessions will be held on Monday and Wednesday in Shanahan 3425:

Please attend class with:

Staff

Professor
Neil Rhodes

Grutors: none :(

Discussion Board
We'll use Piazza for general questions (about topics in lecture, quizzes, labs, etc.). Please post any answers that you may have. That can often provide a more timely response to your fellow students.

If it's a lab question containing code that shouldn't be posted publicly, or questions about a grade, for example, send a Piazza private message to me (or email me: rhodes@hmc.edu).

Office hours

Office hours will be used for: I will have office hours in the Café from 4:15-5:15 on Monday/Wednesday (after section 2 class).

In addition, I have several hours of zoom office hours each week, broken up into 15-minute slots. You can reserve a 15-minute appointment in my Google Calendar appointment page. Notes:

  • The zoom link is in the appointment.

    Misc

    If you need accommodations for a documented disability, please talk to me or contact Brandon Ice, the HMC Student Accommodation Advisor (bice@hmc.edu). You will find information about disability resources on the college website: https://www.hmc.edu/ability. Students from the other Claremont Colleges should contact their home college';s disability officer.

    If I learn of a potential violation of the college's gender-based misconduct policy (see https://www.hmc.edu/tix), I am required to report it to Leslie Hughes, the HMC Title IX Coordinator. If you want to speak to someone confidentially, the following resources are available on and off campus: the EmPOWER Center (909-607-2689), the Monsour Counseling Center (909-621-8202), and the McAlister Chaplains (909-621-8685).

    Accessibility

    HMC https://www.hmc.edu/website-accessibility/.
    CS 124 (Interaction Design) home // Last updated Wed Oct 20 12:33:18 PM PDT 2021