Choosing Your Schedule & Grade

In this first assignment, you will start to plan your schedule for the class (it's all up to you!), and you will also learn how the points-based grading system works. When you are done reading the information on this page, you will be a able to do your first "Gradebook Declaration," which is how you will accumulate points in the Canvas Gradebook. 

Your Schedule

While there are two weekly in-person class sessions in this course (which you are welcome to attend!), the vast majority of you will take this course as if it were a fully "online" course. That means that it is UP TO YOU to set a schedule for this class. You can do this class as a Tuesday-Thursday type of class, or a Monday-Wednesday-Friday type of class, or a Weekend-Only class, or a One-Day-A-Week class. It is your choice! 

Time Required. Each week, you need to plan on spending approximately 8-10 hours. Think of this as the 4 hours each week you'd spend in a classroom listening to a lecture, plus 4-6 hours outside of class time each week. The workload in this class is very steady, week-by-week. There are no exams or midterms in this class, and there is no final. All the work consists of exercises that you will complete each week.

Due Dates. In order to make sure you stay on track during the semester, there are due dates for every assignment in this course. The Calendar in Canvas is a nice way to keep track of all of the deadlines. 

JUST TO BE 100 PERCENT CLEAR. There are daily due dates, but you do not have work due every day unless you want that schedule. That is your choice. It's up to you to figure out what kind of schedule you really prefer: every day, a couple of days a week, or even just one day a week. The No. 1 piece of advice I can offer you is to work ahead, whenever possible. (Not all exercises can be completed in advance, because they depend on other students submitting their work. However, many exercises can be completed well in advance of the due dates.)  Again, it is your choice when you would like to complete these exercises.

Points and Grading

For each exercise you complete in this class (starting with this assignment!), you will complete a "Declaration" in Canvas that will automatically record the points for the assignment in the Gradebook. The Declaration is just a true-false quiz; when you answer "true," you are declaring that you have finished the assignment, and the points are recorded for you in the Gradebook. You record all of your points there in the Gradebook; I won't be doing any grading for this class -- instead, my focus will be on providing feedback, helping you problem solve your ideas and business concepts, technical troubleshooting, etc. ... but not grading. YOU will be the one keeping track of your grade.

Each week, there are 6-10 points available, and over the 15 weeks of the course, you can earn up to 100 points. The points-per-letter-grade breakdown is as follows:

• 95-100: A
• 90-94: A-
• 87-89: B+
• 84-86: B
• 80-83: B-
• 77-79: C+
• 74-76: C
• 70-73: C-
• 67-69: D+
• 64-66: D
• 60-63: D-
• < 59: E

Honor Code and Declarations

This class, like all the classes at UF, is governed by an Honor Code, which means you must be honest and accurate in the work you do. So, you need to READ EACH DECLARATION CAREFULLY. When you answer "true," you are taking responsibility for that Declaration, so please slow down for just a minute to read the Declaration word by word. That way, you can be confident your Declaration is honest and accurate. For more information about academic honesty, please see the UF Guide to Academic Integrity (Links to an external site.). 

Here is the main thing to remember: you should NEVER do a declaration before the assignment is finished. If you have a question about a Declaration, send your Mentor or me an email explaining the situation and we will get it figured out, no problem. So, when in doubt, write your Mentor or me and ask.

Do Your First Declaration

After you have read the information on this page, you are ready to do your first Gradebook Declaration! So, below, you will see the Declaration. Read the text of the Declaration carefully. If the statement is correct, click "true," submit the quiz, and your points will be recorded in the Gradebook.  

Declaration text:

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

I have read the information about exercises and due dates for this course, and I have also read the information about points-based grading.

I know that I need to create my own schedule for the class based on my available time.

I understand that I must complete each assignment by the due date indicated, and that I am responsible for meeting these expectations. 

I will be honest and accurate when I make my Gradebook Declarations, doing the Declaration only after I have completed each exercise.