Meeting 1: 14 July 2004
Duration: 1 hour
Present: Johannes, Nadejda, Tony T, Nadeeja, Pooja, Brian, Tony M, Daniel,
Lashi, Kym, Debbie, Jon
Absent: Vipul, Khalid
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courseware page: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/courseware/cse2305
(lecture notes, assignment sheets (& solutions), exercises, admin info)
newsgroup: monash.csse.cse2305
This has all the posts from previous years, which may be useful for student
revising.
news server: collabra1.monash.edu.au
(you need authcate to use this).
Please read and respond to student posts when you can - this should be counted
as part of 'preparation' for you classes (ie - don't spend _too_ much time on
it!) A newsreader for linux is still being arranged.
Tutors list (all the tutors + ALs + Jon) tutors2305t@mail.csse.monash.edu.au
Demonstrators list (demonstrators + ALs + Jon)
tutors2305@mail.csse.monash.edu.au
If you want to get to _all_ of the tutors (both prac and tutes) then mail both
lists.
If you want to get _just_ the ALs: consult@mail.csse.monash.edu.au
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Meetings
Future meetings (fortnightly on odd weeks until the break): Tuesday 12 - 1 pm
Starting next week (week 1).
This is about the only time around which the most people can attend, and is
around lecture, prac and tute times - sorry Brian! I will be sending meeting
summaries, and hopefully any tips, common questions/problems/answers will be
posted by you to the tutors group or the newsgroup to help those who can't
attend some of the meetings (and hopefully help other classes!).
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Course overviewCSE2305 is a mixture of C++ programming and software engineer/OO theory (and
design), and many of the students seem to forget about the theoretical
aspects until a week or two before the exam. It will be up to mainly the
tutors to stress that theory is just as important throughout the semester in
the tutorials.
Students who have done cse1401 may be bored at the start, but you will have
some students who have not done the pre-requisites (may not know C, or have
done any programming prior to this subject).
If any of you are rusty in C++ (I know I am after a 4 year gap!), you may want
to read through the notes/texts to brush up. I will try to arrange to get a
bunch of texts for you to borrow in the first couple of weeks (Stroustrup
(C++), Lippman (C++) and Fowler (UML)).
Students are broken into two groups (A and B), pracs and tutes for them are
run fortnightly - you will be giving the same prac/tute two weeks in a row to
two different sets of students.
Lecturer: Jon McCormack, room 176(75), Ph. x59298
AL: Kymberly Fergusson room G29 (75), Ph. x55222
Lectures: Tue 1pm Sth1, Fri 9am R1
Consultation: Jon: Fri 10-12, Kym: Tue 2-4
Additional hours will be scheduled if necessary.
Assessment
Assignments - 4 assignments, building on each previous submission, worth 20%
total, hurdle of 50%. If they do not pass the assignments they will fail the
subject.
Exam - worth 80%
Prac 1 - 'Intro to linux' 9 marks. Must get 9/9 or may fail.
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Attendance needs to be taken in the tutorials and pracs, and once we have the
class lists set up, you should only accept those students on the class list
or with permission from Jon/me/one of the ALs to attend a class that they are
not allocated to. Students can mover themselves around in Allocate+, so your
mess lists may not be up to date, if in a prac, ask the student to show you
their allocation. We can't allow impromptu shuffling as some classes may end
up overfull.
If students have a problem with their allocation, please ask them to email/see
me or one of the other ALs.
Please make sure you keep a paper record of attendance so we can verify it if
something goes wonky with mess (instructions on how to use that below the
class outlines).
Absentee - with medical certificate - generally an extension for the period
they were sick will apply for the assignment, there are no attendance hurdles
(but don't tell them that!) Students must submit medical certificates at the
general office - you have nothing to do with them!
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Tutorials - Start in week 2
1 hour in a 'flat room' (a room without computers).
Up to an hour preparation (claim in 15 min increments). You can claim more,
but expect a query from me before I approve it. This is for each 'tute'
which is repeated twice, thus there will be one lot of prep for each
fortnight.
There are 'homework' exercises available on the courseware page which require
the students to use a computer. Typically tutorials will be run more like
consultation sessions, if the students have questions about a particular
topic, then by all means, please cover that topic. Have a look through the
courseware site to get a feel for the topics, flow and some of the exercises.
Try not to focus too much on the 'programming' aspects, although some of the
more difficult concepts will need to be covered in tutes (templates,
overloading, polymorphism etc). The students will probably bombard you with
questions about the assignments - please encourage them to post questions
(not code!) on the newsgroup and come to consultation (my times are yet to be
arranged). It's probably a good idea to stress that tutorial attendance
typically helps with getting good marks on the exam.
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Pracs - 2 hour pracs, start in week 1 (next week)
Up to an hour preparation (claim in 15 min increments). You can claim more,
but expect a query from me before I approve it. This is for each 'prac'
which is repeated twice, thus there will be one lot of prep for each
fortnight.
Prac 1
The first prac is shared with cse2302 and is an 'Intro to linux' using the
tools that they will be using in both subjects this semester.
There are 9 milestones that are each worth one mark. Students _must_ complete
all 9 milestones, if they run out of time, they will need to complete it in
their own time and demonstrate it to one of the ALs or Jon to complete the
marks. At the end of the semester if any student does not have 9/9 for this
prac, they are 'at risk' of failing the subject, no matter how well they have
done throughout the assignments and exam. They must not leave the prac until
they have completed it. If students have trouble with linux accounts - they
need to contact me and Jon immediately to be allocated into a later class, or
to be marked. The hurdles and assessment requirements are all described on
the courseware page.
Students need to know the command line gdb, even if they prefer a graphical
environment (ddd).
You essentially have about 8 mins per student to mark them for this prac, so
you may not have that much time to help them. Some techniques that may help
with marking: students write their name on the board in a list when they are
ready to be marked for each (or all) of the milestones, you may not be able
to accept questions in the last half hour (dedicate that to just marking).
Other pracs are more like practical consultation sessions where the students
can work on their assignments. Assignments are due electronically at the
same time for all students in weeks: 3, 6, 9, and 12.
Assignment solutions will be released on the courseware page 1 week after the
assignment is due. Thus no student can hand in work over a week late. If a
medical condition has prevented the student from completing their work in
that time, Jon or I will arrange for extra assessment for the student to
complete before the end of the semester.
If you find that a student has received a low mark on a previous assignment
(or their code is completely incomprehensible), please encourage them to use
the solutions to base the next submission on.
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Marking of assignments
A call for markers will go out as each assignment is due. The submissions
will be divided into batches and sent to those who responded. We are trying
to get the turnaround time to be fast, the more markers the merrier. You
need to be able to mark on a linux account (redhat, gcc 3.2 - probably the
ITS linux accounts to be safest), and be able to view pdf files.
You need to be aware of how much time you will be able to mark for as you
won't be able to do 'half' a batch.
Obviously if you don't have time, or don't want to, you don't have to mark the
assignments.
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Admin (me!)
Unable to take a tutorial/prac or will be late
Please email me and/or the tutor lists to organise a replacement if you know
in advance that you can't make a prac.
If an emergency comes up these are phone numbers you can try (in order):
me (work): 9905 5222, me (home): 9560 0062 (not for students to know!)
I don't have a mobile and regularly may not be contactable (doctors/etc) in
which case please try to get hold of one of the other ALs or Jon.
(check the tutor site for the other AL's phone numbers).
I am typically online (email/goofey ladyhawke/ICQ 321971234) much of the time,
so it's the best way of contacting me. If you ring me at home, talk at the
answering machine - I actively screen calls! If you ICQ or goof me, let me
know who you are so I can add you to my 'unquiet' lists. I will not be
physically at uni much this semester (probably only 1-2 days), so if students
ask how to contact me - it's best they email.
Any problems with students/workload/pay issues/marking issues should come to
me first (not Jon). If you want to receive the tutor list mails to a
different address, please let me know.
Debbie will be organising (hopefully) linux accounts, but it may not be in
time for the first prac. It depends on the reaction time of ITS...
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TPS - payment system
The address for this semester's TPS is:
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~tps-2003/Tutor/login.php
Your classes should be showing in TPS when you log in by Friday (I will be
setting it up tonight/tomorrow)
This semester you will need to enter the time spent doing preparation and
attending meetings manually (they will be set as 0 hour tasks).
Marking hours are required to be added manually (I'll send out instructions
when needed). Please try to be accurate to a 15 minute block when entering
your times. I will approve your hours once a week when the timesheets are
generated, providing your marks are kept up to date in mess (see below). You
will then need to log in and 'confirm' your timesheet in order to be paid -
this is akin to a signature on a physical timesheet.
More on TPS can be found at:
http://www.csse.monash.edu/tutors/admin/tps.shtml
(see below for tutoring resources).
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mess - marks system
Mess is a menu based system for recording student attendance and marks, many
of you have used it before. It can be used from sng/ra-clay or bruce/nexus,
however I will need to know what username you will be using to run it ASAP so
I can set it up. If you have never used mess before (or have changed
usernames) you will need to be issued a password, which I will send to each
as required.
It is not currently set up, and won't be until later this week or early next
week (we are waiting on TSU@csse to set it up for this semester).
Marks need to be recorded by the end of each week (at the latest), preferably
after each class.
You can run mess by typing:
mess cse2305t (for tutorials)
mess cse2305 (for pracs)
Present/Absent are marked as 'p' or 'a' respectively, other than prac 1
(numeric mark out of 9). You should not be marking anyone as sick or
exempt.
More on mess can be found at:
http://www.csse.monash.edu/tutors/admin/mess.shtml
(see below for tutoring resources).
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Tutoring resources
There is a tutors website with useful information at:
http://www.csse.monash.edu/tutors/
It covers how to use mess, TPS, which ALs are doing what subjects, tutor
training notes (from when FLITE did not exist), and other random bits and
pieces. To access this you need to log in:
Username: tutors1-04
Password: squeak
If you have any feedback, or something you wish to be added, please let me
know.... it's going to get a facelift to match the new style when I'm
offically 'back at work'.
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That is it for now... I will go and rest my 'aching fingers' now ;>
--
Kymberly Fergusson
Associate Lecturer, Monash University, Australia
Office: G29 (75) Phone: +613 9905 5222
www.csse.monash.edu.au/~kef