Note: For scheduled topics with links to lecture notes and HWs, click here.
IFSC 1305 Problem Solving Techniques IFSC
FALL 2008
Mondays & Wednesdays
1:40 p.m. – 2:55 p.m.
ETAS
354
Current course description: Prerequisite: MATH 1302 or equivalent. Corequisite: IFSC 1201 or equivalent. Examines methods of problem solving in mathematical and non-mathematical contexts. Introduces concepts that pertain to the programming and code patterns, and various diagramming techniques. Uses spreadsheet software and other software tools when appropriate. Three hours lecture per week. Three credit hours.
Future suggested course description: Prerequisite: MATH 1302 or equivalent. Corequisite: IFSC 1201 or equivalent. Gateway course to the major. Survey of topics relevant to majoring in Information Science. Technical skills, work and study skills, and awareness of the discipline and its place in society. Three hours lecture per week. Three credit hours.
Textbooks and references:
·
Required:
none. Handouts, Web resources, lecture notes, etc. will be provided as needed.
·
Free
textbooks are available from http://www.textbookrevolution.org/.
·
Here are
a few resources
The Java
computer language:
·
Web
sites: http://java.sun.com/ (Sun is the
creator of Java and maintains a very extensive Web site)
·
The Sun Microsystems
documentation start page is at: http://java.sun.com/docs/.
·
See http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/
for descriptions of all classes.
·
See http://java.ittoolbox.com/groups/groups.asp?v=JAVA-L
for a discussion group.
·
There
are lots of other Java books. For example, one available on-line for free, is Eckel's Thinking in Java, http://mindview.net/Books/TIJ4,
linked from http://www.eckelobjects.com/.
·
Various
other Java course Web sites with on-line lectures exist, for example mine, at http://ifsc.ualr.edu/jdberleant/courses/CprE485-S2005/index.htm.
Instructor: Daniel Berleant
·
Website:
http://ifsc.ualr.edu/jdberleant/
·
Course
home page: http://ifsc.ualr.edu/jdberleant/courses/IFSC1305
·
Email: berleant@gmail.com (primary); jdberleant@ualr.edu (official, forwards
to primary address)
·
Phone: (501)
569-3488
·
Mail:
Dept. of Information Science, ETAS 259D,
·
Office location: ETAS Bldg. Rm. 259D.
Homeworks:
· A typical homework assignment will be worth 100 pts. However, some may be smaller and worth fewer points as appropriate.
Grading:
· Minimum grade (e.g. if you don’t hand it in) on any quiz/test or assignment will be 50% of the total possible # of points.
· Attendance will be taken sometimes. Each time it is taken will be worth 5 pts. if you are present, none if you are absent, and 2.5 pts. if you are late and you remind me after class that you were not absent.
·
Letter grades in the course will be assigned as
follows (note that the registrar does not permit +’s and –’s, so they will not
appear on your transcript):
A (95-100%)
A- (90-95%)
· If your grade is ambiguous (e.g. exactly 90%) you will get the higher one.
· Lateness policy: 10% reduction in the grade on any assignment handed in up to 1 week late. 30% reduction in grade on any assignment handed in more than 1 week late.
Special Accomodations:
· If you are not feeling well, see me about HWs, etc., that may be affected.
· Students with Disabilities: It is the policy of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to create inclusive learning environments. If there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or to accurate assessment of achievement–such as time-limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos–please notify the instructor as soon as possible. Students are also welcome to contact the Disability Resource Center, telephone 501-569-3143 (v/tty). For more information, visit the DRC website at at http://ualr.edu/disability.
M 8/25/08:
First lecture: intro to course (go over course home page, get input on
supplementary topics); start “Last Lecture” video (with
captions but may upload too slowly; faster youtube version) (last
semester had another discussion of topics). (Ser. #1)
W 8/27/08: View and discuss “last lecture” video. See also the transcript. (Ser. #2)
Homework 1, due next Wednesday
M 9/1/08: Labor Day, no class
W
9/3/08: Start on spreadsheet programming. (See tab “spreadsheet
macros I.”) Extreme programming method at the appropriate point
in this unit.Ser. #3
Homework 2
(tab to “HWdue9-8-08),
due next time. It reviews today’s computer work.
M
9/8/08: Converting a recorded macro to a more general program. (tab to “macros II”) Ser.
#4
Homework 3 (tab to “HWdue9-10-08”). Due next time.
W
9/10/08: Visual Basic on the Excel platform. (tab
to “The
basics”) Ser. #5
M
9/15/08: Guest: Glen Rhea, IFSC graduate on issues that students may encounter,
and questions that they have. Why Information Science? Also, VB in Excel and
principles of object-oriented software. (tab to “Object
Orientation”). Ser. #6
Homework 4 (tab to “HWdue9-22-08”). Due M 9-22-08.
W
9/17/08: Visual Basic object-oriented coding (tab to “Object Orientation”) Ser. #7
M
9/22/08: VB “Class Modules” and Objects – toward object-oriented
programming (tab to “classes&objects”)
Ser. #8
Homework 5 (see Excel worksheet, tab to “ExtraCreditHW”). Due M 9/29/08.
Homework 6 (tab to “HWdueW9-24-08”). Due next time.
Skip in Fall 2008 (left over from Spring): Object Orientation 2 (tab to “Object Orientation 2”)
Extra credit Homework 7 (tab to “HWdueW-10-8-08”, in 2 weeks, may take multiple study sessions to complete, for extra credit as of Spring ‘08.)
W 9/24/08: Time management. See Pausch video. Supplementary materials: text file notes and transcript.
Consider doing Homework 7 for extra credit and some interesting VB challenges.
Homework 8: keep a record of your time use until class next time.
M 9/29/08: Guest: Dr. Elizabeth Pierce, IFSC professor (approx. 30 min.). Then time management analysis and HW makeups.
Plan:
Analyze your use of time in a spreadsheet.
Think about, or discuss with neighbor(s): what are the most tragic typical wastes of time, what ideas are there for dealing with them when they occur, and any experiences with solutions that work or not.
Write down your answers on your HW 8 and hand in (you may do this individually, or as a group assignment – if as a group, each person should hand in conclusions individually with their time use analysis.
Hand in your HW 8 before leaving class.
W 10/1/08: Virtual Reality 1. Meet in ETAS 378 with Dr. Tudoreanu. Stereo vision with polarized glasses; navigating artificial terrain with mouse and keyboard. Ser. #9
M 10/6/08: Virtual Reality 2. Meet in ETAS 378. Creating virtual terrains.
W 10/8/08: Virtual Reality 3. Finish virtual terrains. User study presentation by Dr. Tudoreanu. HW 7 due. Ser. #10(& see VR folder)
Homework 9 due next Wednesday 10/15/08 by email. Go onto the Web, search for some information, and write your vision of exactly 1000 words of what VR will be like and how it will impact our lives in the future. Also email the outline you generated before writing it (you don’t have to follow the outline necessarily, but do generate one before writing to help structure your thinking). Count the words using Word’s wordcount feature, which you may have to look up how to use.
M 10/13/08: Guests: Dr. Xiaowei Xu, IFSC professor (1:40); Mr. Michael Morrissey, IFSC graduate (2:15). Time to schedule a field trip! Then: where does it all lead to? See 5 min. video then think-pair-share.
W 10/15/08: Guests: Dr. Rolf Wigand (1:40-2:00), Dr. Steve Jennings (2:00-2:55), IFSC professors.
M 10/20/08: Guest: Serhan Dagtas, IFSC professor (1:40-2:25). Guest: Cody Decker, IFSC graduate (2:30-2:55).
W
10/22/08: Project management (guest speaker: Mary Jennings). Materials: risk log; mapping. Ser. #12
Homework 10 due next class.
M
10/27/08: Bioinformatics
Start scheduling trip to Acxiom
Homework 11 due next class: check http://bioinformatics.ualr.edu/academics/bioinformatics_minor.html. Hand in two things: (1) a critique of that Web page and/or its links and/or the Web site containing it, and (2) a question that you would ask if you were thinking of minoring in bioinformatics, or that a friend might ask you about the minor.
W
10/29/08: Bioinformatics II. DNA extraction and translation. Ser.
#13
Homework 12: questions/confusions – due verbally in class next time. Handing in written results – due in 1 week, W 11/5/08.
Explain in detail how you went from a triplet of nucleotides
to an amino acid using your Rafikihedron, for 4
different triplets.
M
11/3/08: Guest: Marico Howe, Using information science in the real world
(45-60 min.). Then start robotics 1; existential
risks, robotic bible; "Big Dog" and
related videos (Ser. #14)
W
11/5/08: Robotics 2 ("Big
Dog" and related videos; "Create" robot) Ser. #14
Homework 13 due 11/17/08: find
10 videos on utube or some other source. Describe
each of them, then rank them in order from best to least good, giving reasons
for your ranking. Be sure to give the URL of each one.
M 11/10/08: Robotics 3 (getting to know the robot); infrared communication and the electromagnetic spectrum. Ser. #16
W
11/12/08: Technology innovation (guest speaker: Gary Anderson) Ser. #15
Friday November 14, 2008: Last day to drop a class.
M 11/17/08: Company tour (Acxiom); meet by the door to this classroom at 12:00 noon (that’s 1 hour and 40 min. before class starts). A stop at a fast food place on the way back worked well, and lunch was had by some at the small shop in the ETAS bldg. Arrive there 1 p.m. Tour ends 2:30. Back to campus by 3:30. Ser. #19
W 11/19/08: Guest: Ningning Wu, IFSC professor, on data protection. Ser. #26
M
11/24/08: Robotics and programming. Ser.#17,
#18
W 11/26/08: HW makeup lab day. Then, Happy Thanksgiving!
M 12/1/08: Teams and teamwork. The long arithmetic problem demo. Why did we get the results we got? Team structure & fully connected graphs. Team exercise II: spaghetti towers as high as possible. We will spend equal amounts of time on problem definition as a class, followed by (in teams) design, then building it.
Homework 14 due
before next class: this is a team
assignment. Use the same teams that you used in class. Collect your
thoughts on your experiences, the advantages, the disadvantages, the risks and
pitfalls, and the things to watch out for when working in teams. In
addition, not as a team, you may also email me your own additional individual observations on teamwork for
extra credit. (Ser. #27)
W 12/3/08: Java lab exercise
(Ser. #22), lecture and exercise (Ser. #23), some more Java basics (Ser. #24), and Java operators (Ser. #25)
Last Homework 15 due at beginning of next
class. Fill out the questionnaire handed out today. I will not collect
this due to its content. However we will analyze them in class so you will need
to have it filled out in order to analyze.
M 12/8/08: Character development and the workplace.
Ser. #20; and/or Optimism
intro and notes,
and the world of life and work. Ser. #21
W 12/10/08 (at 1:30, not the usual 1:40): final
exam (will be a makeup session; not required if you are fully up-to-date on
your assignments).
Potential Topics that we could switch into the course.
Note! Please let me know if any of
these look exciting. We can indeed do them.
1. Creative problem solving: thinking outside the box.
2.
Software life cycle: what is it, what is the
role of actual programming and what are the roles of other activities?
3.
Universal Modeling Language, the semi-formal, graphical language for
modern specification of software and business systems.
4. Java is the most important language to
learn these days. There is a course on it and we could introduce basics here
5. Web 2.0, what is it and how does it
work?
6. One study showed highlighted a
self-reported need of students related to retention: 52% say they need help
with study skills. Should we cover it?
7. Some students report a need for help
with understanding career prospects.
8. Some students report a need for help
with skill in reading challenging material to benefit from it.
9. Some students report a need for help
with math skills so that they can learn it better in future courses.
10. Presentation skills should be covered in
an introductory class so students can use it in later classes (see faculty
meeting minutes 1/25/08).
11. Writing is a crucial skill that is often
found lacking in technical educations.
12. Faculty members could visit the class to
explain their research: how they are working to advance the state of the art
and bring the future to the present. They could explain the significance and
wider impacts of their interests and describe present and future opportunities
for students to get involved in various ways.
13. Selected videos, e.g. from youtube, could be viewed and discussed. For example,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o is interesting. Some other videos by
the same author might also be good.
14. Time management is something that many
people would like to do better. For example, Pausch
has a popular time management lecture and other resources exist.
15. Information quality: this dept. has an
internationally visible role in this growing field, and offers the worlds first
master’s degree (and now a PhD program as well). What is it, what’s the
excitement about, and what can it mean to me, an undergraduate student at UALR?
16. Teamwork. It’s how the world of work
works. It needs to be made an integral component of many of our courses. This
course could start things off and prepare you for a future of working as
members of teams.
17. Guest speakers who have graduated in
previous years and are using their educations in the next phase of their
careers. E.g. Cody, Chris, Adam, Jeremy. Other people might be found and Joe
could help find them.