Welcome to CMPE 003 - Personal Computer Concepts
General Class Information
Course assignments and weekly quizzes will be available through the Canvas portal. You will need to use your CruzID and your Gold Password.
If you need help with Canvas, you can go to http://itrequest.ucsc.edu, or email canvas.help@ucsc.edu, or call 459-HELP. You can also visit the ITS Help Desk in person in Kerr Hall Room 54, Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
Class Number:
41280
Instructor:
Gerald B. Moulds
Email: gmoulds@soe.ucsc.edu
(Note: If your issue can be resolved by your TA, please contact them first. Due to the volume of email I receive, I may take several days to respond.)
Instructor Office Hours:
Wednesdays 1:00pm-3:00pm
Office: Engineering-2 Room #237A (Here is a map)
Lecture times:
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:40am-1:15pm, Classroom Unit #2
Teaching Assistants:
Max Belman - maxbelm@ucsc.edu
Ryan Zakskorn - rzakskor@ucsc.edu
Who is my TA?
- You will receive an email early in the quarter, providing you with the name of your TA.
Required Reading:
Please bookmark the Reading List. There will not be a traditional textbook in this class.
Sections/Labs:
- Labs are NOT mandatory.
- You only need to attend a lab if you would like some help from one of the course TAs.
- You may drop in on ANY of the four labs for help, even if you are not enrolled in that lab.
Labs are held in the Ming Ong PC Lab (Merrill Room 103- Left side). A map to Ming Ong can be found here.
Lab times:
Monday 4:00-5:30pm - Ming Ong PC Lab - Ryan Zakskorn
Wednesday 4:00-5:30pm - Ming Ong PC Lab - Ryan Zakskorn
Friday 11:00am-12:30pm - Ming Ong PC Lab - Max Belman
Friday 12:30pm-2:00pm - Ming Ong PC Lab - Max Belman
Exam times:
Midterm Exams (each worth 15% of your final grade):
Exam 1: Tuesday, January 29
Exam 2: Thursday, February 21
Exam 3: Thursday March 21 at 8:00am
Bring a pink Scantron form (form F-1712, available at the Bay Tree Bookstore) and pencils on exam days.
All three exams will be held in the course classroom. Exams will not be cumulative - each exam will cover roughly one-third of the course material for the quarter.
If you know you cannot make an exam, or need special arrangements, inform me at least a week ahead of the scheduled exam time. If you miss an exam due to illness or emergency, contact me as soon as possible.
Academic Integrity:
Cheating in any part of the course may lead to failing the course and severe academic discipline.
Disability Accommodations:
UC Santa Cruz is committed to creating an academic environment that supports its diverse student body. If you are a student with a disability who requires accommodations to achieve equal access in this course, please submit your Accommodation Authorization Letter from the Disability Resource Center (DRC) to me privately during my office hours or by appointment, preferably within the first two weeks of the quarter. At this time, I would also like us to discuss ways we can ensure your full participation in the course. I encourage all students who may benefit from learning more about DRC services to contact DRC by phone at 831-459-2089, or by email at drc@ucsc.edu.
Course Outline:
This course covers the concepts of hardware and software used in personal computing. The lectures provide a background in terminology and fundamental concepts. The assignments provide hands-on practice using basic office applications and creating simple web pages and applications.
Credit:
This course is worth 5.0 credits. Students cannot repeat this course for credit.
Grade Evaluation:
- 45% = 3 Exams (15% each) Worth 1500 points each.
- 15% = 10 Quizzes (1.5% each). Each is worth 150 points. 50 of these points will come from a class participation question referencing something that happened during a recent class lecture.
- 40% = Best 4 of 5 Homework Assignments (10% each) Each is worth 1000 points.
Your grade will be assigned: A=90% and above, B=80%-89%, C=70%-79%, D=60%-69, Fail=below 60%
Free Microsoft Office 365
Students can download Microsoft Office 365 for free at https://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-education.
Assignments 1 and 5 require spreadsheet and slideshow software, although if you prefer not to use Microsoft Office you're welcome to use Libreoffice (free software) or Numbers/Keynote (for Mac).
Late Assignments.
Assignments submitted in the 24 hours after the due date will receive a late penalty. After this grace period, unexcused lateness may result in a grade of zero. If you have a valid excuse for a late assignment, contact your TA or the Instructor.
Assignments:
Note on submitting Assignments 1-5:
- All assignments are submitted through Canvas, accessed through the "Assignments" link on the class portal.
- Click on "Assignments"
- Click on the Assignment # you are trying to submit.
- Click on the blue box labelled "Submit Assignment".
- Browse for the assignment.
- Click "Submit Assignment."
- (Some assignments may have additional requirements as well.)
- Assignments #1 and #5 use Microsoft Office, any version (Mac or PC). This software is installed on most of the PCs available in labs on campus. See above note "Free Microsoft Office 365" about aquiring a free student version of this software.
- You may also use the LibreOffice application suite. This suite is free for download, but students unfamiliar with the software may have trouble installing or using the software. We'll go over this software suite in class.
- Assignments #2 and #3 will require a plain text editor, with files saved in plain ASCII format (I'll explain this in detail during class.) This can prove tricky for Mac users, who need to change some preferences on TextEdit for the assignments to display properly - see Assignment #2 description for instructions on installing a better text editor.
Assignment 1 - Spreadsheet. Here are links to the assignment and an example - Due Thursday, January 17
Assignment 2 - Web Page. Here are links to the assignment and an example - Due Thursday, January 31
Assignment 3 - Javascript. Here are links to the assignment and hello_java.html - Due Thursday, February 14
Assignment 4 -Programming. Here are links to the assignment - Due Thursday, March 7
Assignment 5 - PowerPoint Presentation. Here is the link to the assignment - Due Monday, March 18
Quizzes:
All quizzes are taken on Canvas and must be submitted by 11:55pm of their due date. All quizzes (except for the first quiz) are due on Wednesdays. Each quiz is available by the Saturday before its due date.
- Chapter 1 Quiz - Due Friday, January 11
- Chapter 2 Quiz - Due Wednesday, January 16
- Chapter 3 Quiz - Due Wednesday, January 23
- Chapter 4 Quiz - Due Wednesday, January 30
- Chapter 5 Quiz - Due Wednesday, February 6
- Chapter 6 Quiz - Due Wednesday, February 13
- Chapter 7 Quiz - Due Wednesday, February 20
- Chapter 8 Quiz - Due Wednesday, February 27
- Chapter 9 Quiz - Due Wednesday, March 6
- Chapter 10 Quiz - Due Wednesday, March 13