This will be an interesting experience. I really hope that we can make good use of this time, and I also know that staying constructive and on-task will be a challenge for all of us. I know there are ways to cheat, and ultimately it depends on your character. I hope you are interested in an education, and not just a diploma.
I will do my best to help you solve problems, and will try to adapt my approach based on your feedback.
Monday:
For today, my goals are pretty simple:
I will do my best to help you solve problems, and will try to adapt my approach based on your feedback.
Monday:
For today, my goals are pretty simple:
- To have everyone report their presence in Google Classroom at the appropriate time.
- To verify that everyone can use the Google Chat successfully. There's a link to it in the Google Classroom.
- To get everyone signed up for the proper section of CodeHS.
- First period: use the link https://codehs.com/go/A1C26
- Second period: use the link https://codehs.com/go/E7778
Progress on Monday: It looks like most of you have gotten at least to section 2.3, "Turning Tracy". If you aren't quite there yet, you might want to put a little more time in. My impression is that things get more difficult in section 2.4.
Tuesday:
Using CodeHS: So far, so good! You seem to be liking it, and it seems to be working okay for the most part. One thing I've notices is that some of you have in some places gone on to the next unit before the proceeding one is actually finished. I know this can happen by accident, I've done it myself. Please try to avoid this, it makes it harder for me to track your progress. To see what your progress looks like to me, click on the drop-down in the upper right-hand corner of the page where it shows your name, and select "My Student Page". Then click on "Show All PCT Period x Assignments". In the right-hand column it will show "100 % completed" for the units it thinks you've finished. If any of them shows less than 100% after you've gone on to the next unit, click on the "Resume" button and finish off whatever is needed.
Tuesday:
Homework due today: Medical informatics part 2 due today -- submit to turnitin, and also turn in via Google Classroom
Using CodeHS: So far, so good! You seem to be liking it, and it seems to be working okay for the most part. One thing I've notices is that some of you have in some places gone on to the next unit before the proceeding one is actually finished. I know this can happen by accident, I've done it myself. Please try to avoid this, it makes it harder for me to track your progress. To see what your progress looks like to me, click on the drop-down in the upper right-hand corner of the page where it shows your name, and select "My Student Page". Then click on "Show All PCT Period x Assignments". In the right-hand column it will show "100 % completed" for the units it thinks you've finished. If any of them shows less than 100% after you've gone on to the next unit, click on the "Resume" button and finish off whatever is needed.
Progress on Tuesday: Generally things seem to be moving along. One thing I didn't like is that quite a few of you seem to be missing the spirit here -- the goal isn't just to get past the grader and get on to the next assignment, the goal is to learn how to use the fundamental structures of programming languages. Cutting corners now will leave you clueless in a week or two! If the grader is looking for a loop, it may be fooled by something like
for i in range(1):
forward(20)
left(90)
but that isn't a very useful or interesting loop, and if you do that it means you haven't learned what you need to learn.
Similarly, if you are trying to get Tracy to draw a picture, your program needs to draw the correct picture!
I kicked back a bunch of your exercises today -- they show up in your status as pink dots, and the Resume button will take you back there. You can see my comment on the program by clicking on the Grade menu on the right side of the window:
Please fix it before going on, and ask for help if you need it.
Group 3 current events:
P1: Katie, Prabhnoor, Eric, Christian
P2: Zarin, Natalia, Aakanksha, Jennifer
Remember to enter your topic here and be sure no one else from your section is already doing it.
Current events will obviously have to work a little differently while we're online only. I will expect each current event presenter to submit a Google doc to me via Google Classroom that includes a link to your article, and also the notes you took as you read the article. Also, each presenter should post a substantial (a good paragraph or two) summary of your article to the course's chatroom. Basically, I want you to write out what you would say if you were in front of the class. Also, please respond to any questions or comments.
It feels to me like almost everyone is making good progress. I have set a date for completing chapter 3 of CodeHS for March 31st. That seems like plenty of time to me. . . as long as you are making good progress. I expect the work to get more difficult as we get farther along with it, so don't get too complacent.
One more reminder -- please always start the day's CodeHS work by clicking on Resume. If it takes you back to something you thought you already did, take another look and make sure you actually submit it, and that I didn't kick it back to you because I was unhappy with it.
Thursday, Friday:
Keep plugging away with CodeHS. . . I have a feeling that it's going to be a very big part of my plan for the next month or so. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
A lot of you are making excellent progress. If you are somewhere in section 2.9 (Artistic effects) or 2.10 (Top-down design) you are comfortably in mid-pack for either class. If you are more than a little behind that, please try to put in some extra time over the next few days and try to catch up. If you feel really stuck, please reach out to me and we will figure something out.
Sunday night I will be going through CodeHS again and will be giving you a progress grade. If you have completed section 2.10 by then, I will give you a 100. If you've completed 2.9, a 95, 2.8 a 90, and so forth. This will count as a 10 point project -- not that big a deal, but I need to be recording something in the grade book.
Note -- I think that problem 2.10.4 (Bubble Wrap 2.0) is pretty tricky. I suggest that you solve it in stages:
Keep plugging away with CodeHS. . . I have a feeling that it's going to be a very big part of my plan for the next month or so. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
A lot of you are making excellent progress. If you are somewhere in section 2.9 (Artistic effects) or 2.10 (Top-down design) you are comfortably in mid-pack for either class. If you are more than a little behind that, please try to put in some extra time over the next few days and try to catch up. If you feel really stuck, please reach out to me and we will figure something out.
Sunday night I will be going through CodeHS again and will be giving you a progress grade. If you have completed section 2.10 by then, I will give you a 100. If you've completed 2.9, a 95, 2.8 a 90, and so forth. This will count as a 10 point project -- not that big a deal, but I need to be recording something in the grade book.
Note -- I think that problem 2.10.4 (Bubble Wrap 2.0) is pretty tricky. I suggest that you solve it in stages:
- first draw a complete white circle on top of each blue bubble,
- then figure out how to just draw a quarter circle on top of a single blue bubble -- maybe use the sandbox (see upper left part of menu) to experiment with that.
- then figure out how to move back to the starting position and direction to repeat drawing the same quarter circle
- then put that code into a loop to draw it on each bubble
and if you're really stuck:
# This function will draw a highlight on each bubble def draw_highlight(): for i in range(10): left(90) forward(20) right(90) forward(10) left(90) pendown() color("white") circle(10,90) penup() left(90) forward(30) left(90) forward(40)
