Easy to remember: http://soundthinking.uml.eduActual URL: |
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http://piazza.com/uml/spring2016/comp2120mued2120
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| Professors: |
Prof. Jesse M. Heines
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Dr. Gena R. Greher
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Please note that due to the roles that both Profs. Heines and Greher fulfill in addition to their teaching duties, each of us receives a flood of e-mail every single day. In addition, there are multiple filters on our incoming e-mail to auto-delete junk mail and pornography, and messages without subject headers typically end up in our Junk Mail folders. It is therefore critical that you always include a subject header on all your e-mail messages to us. In addition, to get us to read and respond to your e-mail before all others, always begin your subject header with our course number (MUED 2120 or COMP 2120) and follow that with a space and then a few words that clearly identify what your e-mail is about. These guidelines are for your benefit, and following them will get your questions answered as quickly as possible. |
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| Class Hours: | Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 to 10:45 AM, and possibly other times to be discussed Olsen 402, North Campus |
What is sound, and what is music? How do we capture it, manipulate it, and harness it in the digital world? The field for multimedia applications is expanding, creating new challenges for artists, technologists, and educators as well as consumers.
This course explores the intersection of the arts with technology through the art and science of digital audio. The specific applications to be examined are chosen based on their abilities to promote creative expression and exploration. We also consider the underlying code that allows these programs to run and function.
This course uses a learner-centered approach that emphasizes project-based experiences. It provides students with multiple opportunities to explore, create, and solve problems with music technology. The concept of collaboration is integral to this course. As the workforce moves to a more collaborative structure, it is important that students learn to work in groups with others who may not share their skill sets and levels of expertise, and that they gain experience in problem-solving the myriad issues that arise when using technology.
Many of the projects undertaken in this course are experimental. That is, as we plan the topics we will cover, we also develop ideas for activities that will reinforce those concepts. We then design a project-based assignment on those ideas. We are never sure exactly how these projects will work out. Therefore, an integral part of each assignment is the requirement for you to submit a “reflection” of the assignment along with your work. Your reflection should discuss what you learned and how the assignment might be improved in the future. While any and all honest ideas that you express in your reflections will be valid, we will be looking specifically for depth of critical thinking and we will figure our evaluation of that depth into your assignment grade.
Given the experimental nature of this course, from time to time we will also simply post discussion questions on the course Piazza site that we will ask you to respond to. It is our hope that there will be lively discussions of these questions online.
This course helps students attain the following outcomes mandated by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).
(b) An ability to analyze a problem, and identify and define the computing requirements appropriate to its solution.
(d) An ability to function effectively on teams to accomplish a common goal.
(f) An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences.
(i) An ability to use current techniques, skills, and tools necessary for computing practice.
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
Our office hours are listed on the first page of this syllabus. Unless we make announcements to the contrary, we expect to be in our offices or at least around our respective departments during those hours to help you or meet with you about this course. If these hours are not convenient, we will be happy to make appointments to meet with you at other times.
Some students are reluctant to contact professors personally, especially those from cultures in which professor-student relationships are very formal. That is not the case here. If you have any problem at all concerning the course or your work, it is your responsibility to contact us. There are many things we can do during the semester to assist you with the course material or help you catch up if you fall behind. But once the semester is over, it’s over, and you will not be able to make up for lost opportunities. We both monitor our e-mail daily, even when we are traveling, so there really is no excuse for not contacting us if you need help.
Of all the aspects of our jobs, teaching and interacting with students are certainly the ones we enjoy most. Your success in this course is a joint effort between you doing the assigned work and us assisting you, so please don’t be shy about contacting us. We realize that this is a new course and many things will change as the semester develops. At times you may be confused as to what is expected of you, and we understand that. So please, never assume anything. Always ask.
Your grade in this course will be made up of programming assignments, exams, and a rating based on your attendance (see below). You must complete the coursework to earn a passing grade. As a rule, we do not give incompletes. Prof. Heines has only given incompletes on one or two occasions in his entire 30-year career as a UMass Lowell professor, and these were for truly extenuating personal circumstances outside of the classroom. Do not expect to get an incomplete if you do not finish the coursework. Assignments not turned in and exams missed will be recorded as grades of 0 and will significantly impact your final grade.
Final course grades will be determined by the weighted average of all assignments, quizzes, and other activities. As we begin the semester, we are anticipating that all assignments and quizzes will carry a weight of 1.0. That is, a homework assignment counts exactly the same as a quiz or exam. Thus, the best way to get a good grade in this course is to plan your time so that you can come to class every day and put major effort into the assignments.
Put simply, you cannot do well in this course without doing well on the assignments. You cannot even pass this course without handing in the assignments, even if you get perfect grades on all in-class activities.
Important Note: We reserve the right to change this grading system as the course progresses and various circumstances develop.
Attendance is required. This course will involve a great deal of discussion, particularly of issues raised by students. The classroom is a dynamic environment, and you must be present to take advantage of this important learning activity. We plan to take attendance in each class. The number of classes attended will be divided by the number of classes in the course and that percentage will be averaged into your grade with a weight of 1.0 just like an assignment or quiz.
If you must miss a class, you may ask to be excused by contacting one of us via e-mail before that class and explaining the reason for your required absence. However, please note that “I have to work” is not an acceptable reason for absence. While we appreciate the need for money and we understand that we must all make difficult choices about how we spend our time, we do not excuse absences for work reasons because we know of no other way to convince you that work is temporary, while education is permanent. Thus, attending class has to have the higher priority.
Prof. Heines has written a Grade Display Program that runs on the Web. You can use this program at any time to see exactly where you stand in this course. The program summarizes your grade status with a display like this:
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You Are Registered for Course: | |
| Grade File Last Updated: | 4/18/2014 at 2:14 PM | |
| Total Number of Grades To Date: | 4 | |
| Number of Grades We Have for You: | 4 | |
| Your Current Weighted Average: | 80.50 | |
| Class Mean Weighted Average: | 71.08 | |
| Class Median Weighted Average: | 75.00 | |
| Assignment Resubmission Option: | Still Available | |
The program then provides complete details on each grade like this: |
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| Grade No. 2: | Assn 2: Creating a Composition from Digitized Found Sounds | |
| Due Date: | 2/14/2014 | |
| Your Raw Grade: | 12 (out of a possible 20) | |
| Raw Grade Multiplier: | 5.00 (to convert to a 100 point scale) | |
| Your Standardized Grade: | 60 (this is Your Raw Grade times the Raw Grade Multiplier to convert your grade to a 100 point scale) | |
| Relative Weight: | 1.00 (1.00 = normal) | |
| Class Mean Raw Grade: | 15.32 | |
| Class Median Raw Grade: | 15.00 | |
| Range of Class Raw Grades: | 11.00 to 20.00 | |
| Standard Deviation: | 2.75 | |
To try the program out yourself, and just click the Show My Grades button. (If you get an error saying that a file could not be opened, try selecting the radio button for one of last semester’s courses.)
We make a precise determination of final grade cutoffs only at the very end of the semester, after all assignments and exams have been graded. At that point we sort all students’ grades by their weighted average and look for “breaks” in the differences between adjacent averages. For example, we don’t give a student with an 89.93 average a different grade from a student with a 90.00 average, as these two averages do not differ significantly. Rather, we look for significant differences of a point or more at which to set the precise grade cutoffs and break the letter grades.
As a rule of thumb, if your weighted average is 90.00 or higher, you are probably doing A work. If your weighted average is between 80.00 and 90.00, you’re probably in the B range. Below that, you’re in danger of a C. However, it is critical to understand that there are no absolute grade boundaries. That is, there is no guarantee, for example, that a grade of 90 or above will be an A. Grade boundaries are only determined at the very end of the semester.
The exact grade cutoffs change from semester to semester. As a better indicator of where you stand, look at your class rank rather than your weighted average. Again as a rule of thumb based on experience teaching for many years, about 25% of the students get A or A- and 50% get B+, B, or B-. The rest typically get C+ or below. The only students who truly fail with Fs are those who don’t show up at all or who drop out during the semester without officially withdrawing or who cheat (see more on this below).
We try to be flexible and understanding during the semester with assignment due dates, etc., if you contact us before an assignment is due. At the end of the semester, however, we adhere very strictly to the policies detailed in this syllabus. Do not procrastinate. If you have a problem, contact one of us immediately. We have given you all of our contact information above and provided extensive information on the course Web site. There is absolutely no reason for you not to know the course policies.
We will not negotiate grades with you. We will not even discuss grading issues after the last day of class. As we will undoubtedly say numerous times in class, we can “play ball” on virtually all issues related to this course during the semester, but once our last class is over, so is the semester.
Homework assignments are due at midnight in the evening of their due date. Assignments handed in late will lose points from their overall grades.
If you are not able to hand in an assignment on time, contact one of us before the due date. We will allow assignments to be handed in late with valid excuses. (Note that “I was too busy at work” is not a valid excuse.) Do not simply ignore homework assignments. An unexcused assignment is averaged in as a 0. Even a 1 on a homework assignment is better than that. It is virtually impossible to pass this course without doing the homework assignments, even if you get 100s on all the other evaluated activities.
In worlds outside the classroom, people seldom work completely on their own. They typically work in teams and help each other extensively. We have no objection to you getting help from us, the teaching assistants, or other students. We encourage you to do so. However, unless specifically stated otherwise by the instructors, work in this course is to be each student’s own.
Students are responsible for understanding the full meaning of plagiarism. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the verb plagiarize as follows:
There are many ways in which students plagiarize, all of which are cheating. The World Wide Web makes if phenomenally easy to find other people’s work and copy-and-paste it into your own program or your own paper without visibly indicating that the code or text is copied and without citing or crediting the original author. Such practices are illegal and are not allowed in this or any other course at the University of Massachusetts Lowell or any other institution of learning. If you are not sure how to cite and credit another person’s work, ask. But if you plagiarize, you will fail.
We will not tolerate plagiarism or cheating of any kind. Every few semesters we are forced to fail a student or two for handing in work that they claimed was their own but was not. The following actions are all examples of cheating.
Students are also responsible for being familiar with the University’s definitions and policies on academic dishonesty. You are encouraged to get all the help you need, but you are required to hand in your own work.
It is worth repeating: IF YOU CHEAT, YOU FAIL. There are no second chances.
An assignment on which you receive a poor grade can be resubmitted for additional points subject to the following rules. (Quizzes and exams may not be resubmitted or taken a second time.)
Please note that your use of the course website is tracked in a database. This is why you must log in to access any pages on the course website. Each time you access a page the database stores:
My research assistants and I analyze this data to learn how the course website is used and how it might be improved. We do not analyze the browsing patterns of individual students and your use of the course website will not affect your grade. We are only interested in aggregate data, that is, general browsing patterns of all students as a group. Such analyses help us understand how much students use the course website, which parts of it they use most often, and whether there is any correlation between students’ use of the site and their performance in the course.
It is important to stress that information that identifies you individually is not be used in our research, as we are only interested in aggregate data. Even so, we still need your permission to use the data we collect on your browsing. We therefore need for you to explicitly grant or deny permission for us to use this data. The granting of permission is completely voluntary and will have no effect on your grade in this course. I obviously hope that you will grant permission, but there will be no negative consequences if you do not.
While the choice to grant or deny permission is yours, you are required to indicate your choice explicitly by completing a form posted on Google Docs. This form also requires you to certify that you have read and understand the contents of this document, including all the policies it spells out. The form is posted at
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/166cx_uRhYJ24qoI-zMrs1dpWVyOw5iloQ-ojjF41lv4/viewform
Thank you.
