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Hello CMPSC 102 Students,

Introduction

As you will recall, I promised you that I would send you a link to join a Google Meet for our first CMPSC 102 course in Discrete Structures.

Here is the link to join our class session that starts today at 10:20 AM:

https://meet.google.com/ttp-hamc-zcx

Please make sure that you have followed all of the suggestions in the remainder of this email before you join today's Google Meet. I also ask that you make sure that you follow the course guidelines listed below once you have joined the Google Meet. For today's class, please also make sure that:

  • You have opened up your web browser to the following GitHub repository:

    https://github.com/Allegheny-Computer-Science-102-F2020/cs102-F2020-plans

  • You have a way to take notes either in a notebook or on your computer

  • You are ready to listen and actively participate during the class session

  • You are prepared to start working on technical tasks after class finishes

  • You are prepared to login to our Slack workspace and start a discussion and ask questions about the technical tasks that you are going to start today

As I will explain today in class, we are not going to review the syllabus today. Instead, I am going to introduce the content in our course planning repository and overview the technologies that we will use to investigate discrete structures in the Python programming language. Then, I will give you an assignment to install various technologies on your laptop. In addition to becoming accustomed to the workflow in our course, the main task for this week is to ensure that every student can use all of the course technologies on their laptop. Okay, I look forward to seeing all of you very soon!

Reminder about the First Week of Class

Since there are many students who are interested in taking this class and yet are still on the course waiting list due to the College's registration procedure, I don't yet know how many students must fit into our classroom at the same time. Moreover, until I add everyone to the class, I will not be able to fairly divide all students into groups that will meet in person according to a set schedule, thereby ensuring that we never exceed the room limit for our classroom and that you are safer during the Fall 2020 semester.

Therefore, to ensure that you are all as safe as possible during the first week of classes, I will be holding all classes, which are scheduled for M/W/F 10:20 AM - 11:10 AM, through a Google Meet link that I will provide on Monday morning of next week.

Before you click this link, please make sure that you take the following steps:

-- Ensure that you have headphones connected to your laptop and that you are able to hear sound through your headphones when you use Google Meet. Please note that you can test to ensure that your sound is working by visiting the following site and creating a sample Google Meet of which you are the only member:

https://meet.google.com/

-- Ensure that your video is working correctly on your laptop so that it records your face and can transmit it correctly to Google Meet. Again, you can test this by using the aforementioned web site. If you click the three vertical dots in the right-hand-side of Google Meet then you can go into the settings and confirm that your audio and video are working correctly. Please note that you must complete these steps before the start of our first class next week.

-- If you laptop and Internet connection will support it, please configure Google Meet to transmit and receive video at the 720p resolution. Picking these settings will ensure that you can read all of the video content that I stream to you and that everyone else in the class can clearly see your face. If you find that your connection drops regularly or the video becomes choppy or irregular then you can pick a lower level of video quality and see if that helps. You should only stop transmitting or receiving video when your laptop or Internet connection absolutely do not support any type of video streaming.

After clicking this link, please make sure that you take the following steps:

-- You should mute your microphone if you are not talking so that noise from your laptop is not transmitted into the meeting.

-- You should "pin" my video stream to your center screen by clicking a pin icon that will appear when you hover your mouse near the center of my video.

-- If you want to ask a question or participate in a discussion, then you need to type a * into the chat window of Google Meet. I will use this symbol as an indicator that the student who typed it wants to contribute to our conversation by making a point or asking a question.

-- Unless your laptop or Internet connection does not support it, please leave your video enabled during all of the classroom sessions. Since these Google Meets are private for our class, there is not, to my knowledge, a risk that outsiders will enter our class or be able to record your video. By keeping your video enabled it will allow me and the other students in the class to see who is talking and who is currently engaged in the course.

During the first three classes, please keep in mind the following points:

-- I will be recording from my home studio which means that you will not be able to find me in my office in Alden Hall to ask me questions about your laptop or the Google Meet software.

-- During the class sessions next week, you will see that I will switch between full screen video and the display of various programs (e.g., terminal window, text editor, PDF viewer, or web browser) on my laptop. If I am not using full screen video, then you will see my face in a small circle normally on the right-hand side of your video.

-- Throughout the semester I will use specialized broadcasting software that will allow me to seamlessly change between different scenes and sources during our classroom and laboratory and practical sessions. If something goes wrong with the broadcasting software and you cannot see my video in Google Meet, then please use a * in the Google Meet chat. Once you receive my acknowledgment you can explain what problem you are experiencing so that I can resolve it quickly and move on with the class.

Reminders

Here are some key points I want you to remember from my previous emails:

-- 1) To date, I anticipate that I can add everyone to the course who is on the waiting list. If you completed the waiting list form, then you should be able to add the course at the start of the Fall 2020 semester. To add the course, you will need to confirm with me by writing me an email by the first or second class that you want to join the course. I will then use the "Add Authorization" feature of Self Service during the first week of classes and you should then see that CMPSC 102 Fall 2020 is visible in your course roster.

Please note that, by default, I will not automatically add the name of each student on the waiting list to the course roster. This is because not everyone on the waiting list may still want to take CMPSC 102. Again, before the first two class periods I will need you to write to me by email to express your confirmed interest in taking the CMPSC 102 Fall 2020 course. Please refer to the previous content about the first week of classes for more details on this issue.

-- 2) Since I want you to stay up-to-date with the planning for our course, I encourage you to visit the following GitHub repository for more details:

https://github.com/Allegheny-Computer-Science-102-F2020/cs102-F2020-plans

If you have not already checked the GitHub repository, then please do so! I will also be updating the content in this repository throughout this week and then during the entirety of the Fall 2020 academic semester.

-- 3) Since I also want you to be able to easily communicate with me and the other students who will be in the course, I have setup a Slack workspace. You can sign-up to join the Slack workspace for free at this web site:

https://join.slack.com/t/cmpsc102fall2020/signup

If you have not already joined our Slack workspace, then please do so at your earliest convenience. Instead of using email for communication during the Fall 2020 academic semester I will primarily communicate with students through Slack. In addition to informally chatting with the other people in the course, you can also start asking me questions through Slack at any time!

-- 4) All students must have a department approved laptop to take the CMPSC 102 course. You can learn whether or not your laptop meets the guidelines for being a department approved laptop by visiting this web site:

https://www.cs.allegheny.edu/resources/laptops/

Please note that, along with bringing a laptop, you must have headphones that will allow you to participate in online sessions while hearing all content through your headphones. As your schedule permits during the remainder of the summer, I encourage you to please explore the various programs I mentioned in my previous email so that you are able to participate in all course activities.

Please Stay in Touch by Slack

Since the semester starts today, I will now start to check Slack on a regular basis. If you have general questions about the course you can ask them in the #general channel. If you have specific questions that you think are best discussed in a private manner, then please send them to me as a direct message. Unless there is an absolute need for you to do so, please refrain from sending me emails and instead focus on communicating with me through Slack.