CS 5244 - Internet Software - Professor Oliva

FAQ Subject: Course Mechanics

What kind of assignments will be required?
There are four basic types of assignments:
Please note that the term project builds directly upon the homework assignments you complete throughout the semester.

This is an online class; when, where, and how often do we meet?
This class meets weekly in a virtual classroom, for an online session using the VT WebEx Training Center  application.  Generally our class meetings take place every Wednesday at 7:30pm, but please check the official course website for confirmation.  During this meeting, we will have real-time audio interaction, much like a traditional telephone conference call (although only one person can speak at any given time). In addition, we share a real-time visual display, so you can see presentation slides and other prepared materials, with live mark-up so we can add or edit content as we go if needed. There are no video components to these sessions; we can't see each other face to face.

Sessions generally run about 60 minutes long, but the duration can vary. I'll bring roughly 30-50 minutes of prepared content to present each week, and you are highly encouraged to ask questions or bring up points of discussion during this time. These sessions are our only chance for real-time interaction, so questions and discussions take priority over the prepared content. Thus the longest sessions tend to be when assignments are pending, but for planning purposes I can't recall any session exceeding 90 minutes.

How can we interact with our classmates and the instructors?
 Other than our relatively short weekly sessions, the course Forums (also known as the "discussion boards") are the primary means of interaction with your instructors and your classmates throughout the semester. It is a set of threaded discussions that allows you to post and reply to text messages (with attachments). You are highly encouraged to raise any questions or comments you may have there, rather than via an email to an instructor.  The major advantage of asking questions in the forum is that your classmates may be able to answer your questions more quickly than your instructors, and often it turns out that a student-to-student discussion is far more useful and understandable. In addition, your classmates who may (or may not) have had the same questions may benefit from the answers.

What if I can't attend one (or more) of the scheduled meetings?
This is not a problem at all. All the class meetings are recorded, so you can replay them at any time. Of course you cannot directly interact with the recording, but you can use the discussion boards to raise questions or otherwise interact with your instructor and classmates. Several students have successfully taken this class even though they could not attend any of the scheduled meeting sessions.  Your "live" attendance is not mandatory in any way, as long as you view the recordings on a weekly basis.

I'll be out of the (city, state, or country) for ... days or weeks; what can I do?
Usually this is not any problem. First, you can attend from anywhere. Students in this class have routinely attended from all over this continent, plus as far away as England, France, Egypt and India.  You need to check the course website for the exact schedule of the semester. If your travel overlaps with any assignments, you need to evaluate for yourself whether you can still complete the assignments from wherever you'll be, and submit them online before the deadline. Deadline extensions aren't generally granted to accommodate travel (or any other) plans, although alternate submission arrangements can be made (if requested in advance) in certain circumstances, and of course emergency situations can be handled on a case by case basis.

What are your grading policies (or how is my grade computed)?
The grades are calculated on a 1000-point scale.  The exact composition may vary each semester, so please confirm with the course syllabus, but here's a very typical breakdown:

Item Qty Points Total
Quizzes 10
 15 150
Homeworks 3
 100 300
Project 1 300 300
Final Exam 1 250 250
Total 1000


Are there any group projects or assignments?
No, the graded work in this class are all individual assignments, subject to the stipulations of the Graduate Honor Code (GHC) as enforced by the Graduate Honor System (the Code will be strictly enforced in this class). See What is the policy on collaboration? for more details.

How do we submit assignments?
All homeworks and the project will be submitted through our course website, using the Scholar tool for assignment submissions.  You create the file on your computer, navigate to the assignment submission page, then upload the file to save it in Scholar.  When you are ready, you must take a second step to submit the file for grading.  You may upload/save your file as many times as you like, but you are only allowed to submit the file once.

All quizzes will be taken online, through the course website.  Quizzes are available starting Wednesday evening after the previous Centra session, and ending at midnight on Tuesday night (the evening before the applicable session).  Quizzes are not timed, but should take no longer than 10-20 minutes.  When you are ready to take a quiz, navigate to the quiz folder and a form will be displayed with about 8-10 questions.  Complete the form with your answers, and click submit when you are done.

How does the "in-person" final exam work?
If you are in the Northern Virginia area (National Capital Region):
You should generally follow the procedures below for off-campus, although you may have the option of taking the exam at the NVC in Falls Church.  Please ask the instructor if this applies to you, as the guidance from the university has tended to vary recently from semester to semester.

If you are in the Blacksburg area, or local to any other regional campus:
You should generally follow the procedures below to arrange for a proctor to administer your exam.  Often there are multiple students near the same campus who need a proctor; in such cases it's usually best to coordinate your planning, to minimize the administrative burden on the proctor.

If you are not in one of the areas listed above, OR if you have an excused timing conflict with another final exam:
You must let me know as soon as possible if you are in this situation.  If you are out of the area, you will be taking the exam at a location of your choice, within the guidelines of the College of Engineering Proctoring Policy.  If you are local, and are using a proctor because of a timing conflict, you must take the exam at NVC, at a time of your choice (you must get prior permission for any exam conflicts). In any event, the exam must be scheduled to occur on the appointed date, as close as practical to the appointed time. You are responsible for making the proctoring arrangements.

What is the policy on collaboration?
The graded work in this class are all individual assignments, subject to the stipulations of the Graduate Honor Code (GHC) as enforced by the Graduate Honor System (the Code will be strictly enforced in this class). However, you are highly encouraged to collaborate with your classmates and instructor, as long as it is done entirely in the online discussion boards and/or chat rooms of the official course web site, so that all students may equally share and participate in the collaboration. Try not post specific implementations or solutions that would trivialize a significant portion of any assignment. You must not use or submit any work done by any other person, including any student from this or any previous semester.  If you have any questions about what is or is not allowed, please contact the instructor immediately.
100% Enforcement
Every single file created and submitted by any student will be examined, using both manual and automated means, for potential GHC violations, and every suspected violation will be forwarded directly to the Graduate Honor System.