CS 301K  Foundations of Logical Thought
Elaine Rich

Alan Cline

 

Class Information:

 

Lectures are M, W, F 1:00 – 11:00 in GDC 1.304.

 

Final exam:  Saturday, Dec. 13, 2:00 – 5:00 in RLM 4.102.

 

There are two discussion sections:

 

     

Unique  

Time  

Room          

 

52660

F 3:00 – 3:50

GDC 2.210

     

52665  

F 2:00 – 2:50    

CBA 4.326

The two sections will both be team taught by Elaine Rich and Alan Cline.

Staff

 

 

 

   Office

     Office Hours

 

Alan Cline

cline@cs.utexas.edu       

GDC 5.808   

T, W 11:00 - noon and
F 1:00 – 2:00

 

Elaine Rich          

ear@cs.utexas.edu

GDC 5.810

T, W 11:00 – noon

 

Joyce Whang

joyce@cs.utexas.edu

by appointment

 

Eric Nguyen

Ericweb2@gmail.com 

GDC 7.724G

T, TH 3:30 – 5:00

Our Online Interactive Text Book

 

There will be no traditional textbook for this class.  Instead, we’ll use FREGE, an online, interactive textbook that we’ve created for this class.  You’ll be able to read short sections, watch some videos, and then work problems.  You’ll get immediate feedback on your answers so that you can be sure you’ve got each concept before moving on to the next one.

 

You will also be able to download a book-like version of FREGE.  So if you would like something printed that you can make notes on, flip through, and refer to, you’ll have it.  We will post it, one chapter at a time, in the Resources section of our class’s Piazza site.

 

And, in case you also want a “real” book, we recommend Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications, Kenneth Rosen, McGraw-Hill.  It’s expensive.  But it’s fine not to get the most recent edition.

Quest

 

FREGE sits on top of the Quest learning platform.  You can go to the Quest site now to start becoming familiar with it.  Your courses for the semester will be automatically loaded into Quest.  You’ll just have to pay your Quest bill within the first month or so of the semester.  It’s $25/course, but a maximum of $50/semester (in case you take multiple classes that use it).  Students often grump about this.  But, at least for this class, it’s a bargain.  It’s way cheaper than any textbook we could use.

 

There will be Quest assignments due before most classes.  The Class Schedule page will tell you what they are.  You’ll be badly behind in class if you don’t come prepared.  In addition, your Quest scores will be part of your class grade.

 

All Quest assignments are due at 6:00am on the date indicated.

Piazza, an Online Discussion Forum

 

For discussions outside of class, we’ll use Piazza.  You’ll be able to post questions and get responses, both from us and from other students.  You’ll get a message from Piazza in the first week or so of the semester, asking you to confirm your enrollment.  Do it.  Then you’ll be able to set preferences for things like how often you want to be notified as new posts appear.  It is possible to post anonymously.  Students sometimes prefer to post questions that way.  That’s fine.  But remember that anonymity should not be used as a shield for posting anything that is offensive to anyone in our community.

In-Class Discussions using iClickers

 

We’ll augment our in-class discussions with iClickers.    You need to buy one.  You can do that on the iClicker site or at the campus book store.  Either the iClicker+ or the iClicker 2 (a bit more expensive) will work for this class.  You might want to buy the iClicker 2 since some other classes may require it.  We will not be using phones as clickers (too distracting).

Other Electronic Devices

It’s important that everyone participate in class.  To that end: other than the i>clickers, there should be no electronic devices out during class.  There are two exceptions to this policy: 1) If you need a laptop to take notes, please speak to us about it.  2) If we’re discussing an issue and we need more information, it’s fine to search the web and share what you find with all of us.

Submitting Your Work

 

There will be three kinds of assignments:

 

·       Quest Learning Modules to be completed by 6:00 on the day they are due.

·       Homework problem sets to be done before discussion sections meet.  Bring these in hardcopy to your discussion section.

·       Two projects.  These will be submitted electronically.

 

The due dates for all of these things can be found on the Class Schedule page.

Grading

 

The following things will count toward your grade:

 

·       Quest assignments:  20%.  We recognize that even people with perfect knowledge can get some multiple choice questions wrong.   Questions can be ambiguous.  Therefore, there will be some free points here.  We will determine the exact number once we see what scores people are getting.  Probably it will be about 10% of the Quest total points.

·       Written homeworks to be turned in at discussion sections:  15%.

·       Projects:  There will be two projects, each worth 5%.

·       Class participation including iClicker scores:  10%

·       Exams:  Two midterms, each worth 10% and a final, worth 25%.

Canvas

We will use Canvas as a way to record grades.  You can access it at: http://canvas.utexas.edu/.

Students with Disabilities

Any student with a documented disability (physical or cognitive) who requires academic accommodations should contact the Services for Students with Disabilities area of the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259 (voice) or 471-4641 (TTY for users who are deaf or hard of hearing) as soon as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized accommodations.

Academic Integrity and the UT Student Honor Code

UT’s Student Honor Code states:  "As a student of The University of Texas at Austin, I shall abide by the core values of the University and uphold academic integrity."  You can watch an excellent video about the honor code here.

You should read carefully the class policy on academic integrity.  Cheating of any form will not be tolerated and will result in a failing grade in the class.  If you are unsure about when or how you need to cite your sources, ask us.

Additional Class Policies

You should read CS Department Code of Conduct. The policies described there will be followed in this class.