Click on the question to read the answer. Please read the FAQ carefully.
ALERT: Click here to see the new state law on Withdrawal limitsThis law applies to students who started college in Fall 2007.
State law permits students to withdraw from no more than six courses during their entire undergraduate career at Texas public colleges or universities. All course withdrawals automatically count toward the limit unless:
The student withdraws from all courses;
The student or course is exempt from the rule; or
The student receives an exception authorized by college officials.
Students who reach their withdrawal limit must remain on the class roll unless they request and receive approval for a withdrawal exception.
Required Textbook: Starting Out with Python with MyProgrammingLab Access Code
Author: Tony Gaddis
Publisher: Pearson/Addison Wesley
ISBN: 978-0-13-386225-6
Software: The software used in this class is Python and is available for free download at http://www.python.org
2. When will the online orientation...?
The online orientation will be available from Monday through Friday during the first week of classes; The Blackboard site will be fully functional by the end of the day of the first day of classes.
This is a distance learning course taught in the ONL format. ONL courses require students to have access to a computer with an Internet connection and a personal email address to complete coursework online. you may use computers from home or work, or you may use the Computer Studies Open Labs at ACC. In this course, all labs will be disseminated through Blackboard. You will submit completed labs to Blackboard as well. I will enter lab and test grades in Blackboard. Grades will never be sent through email for reasons of confidentiality. You will also participate in the online discussion board in Blackboard. Such participation will count towards your class participation points. More details on the labs and course materials will be available in Blackboard. This course is structured as a module/competency based course. All competencies, except Course Orientation, are written as Adaptive releases in Blackboard. Thus, competency module one will only be revealed to you after you complete the Course Orientation module; Competency Two will be revealed only after you have successfully completed the lab for module 1 with a score of 70% or higher AND completed the module assessment with a score of 70% or higher. You may accelerate through the course at any pace. There are deadlines to ensure that you do not fall behind. For more details, see the course schedule. The schedule is written based on competencies rather than the traditional schedules based on dates.
The three main exams will be taken in the Computer Studies open labs. You can view the open lab hours, room and phone numbers by clicking here. In order to take the test, you will go to the Computer Studies Open Lab during the hours it is open. You will present your ACC student ID to the lab technician and they will hand the exam to you and guide you to a place to take your test. Tests 2 and 3 may have a portion that needs to be done on the computer.
Note the room number of the lab where you will take the test. In fact, print the open lab hours page and take it with you. There are several open labs on each campus - you will need to specifically go to the Computer Studies open lab.
The tests will NOT be available in the testing centers, in the library or in the learning labs.
In order to log into Blackboard you will need your ACCeID. Click here for more information. Click here to log into Blackboard AFTER you have your ACCeID. Please bookmark the Blackboard login link in your browser as you will be visiting it often during this course. Your email address is automatically populated with the email address that ACC has assigned to you. You can see more information about the ACC email by clicking on this link: http://www.austincc.edu/google/ If your email address is not current you will not receive any email I send through Blackboard. A valid email address is also required to use the "forgot your password" feature. You can find out more information about Blackboard on the student information page.
Relax! Read the manual on Getting Started with Blackboard at http://irt.austincc.edu/blackboard/StudentSupport.php This site is also linked directly from the Blackboard main page. Ask if you have any questions. My sole purpose of being here is to help you!
Now, take a deep breath!!
PLEASE NOTE that as of September 15, 2008, ACC requires all faculty to communicate with students through the official ACC email address assigned to all students. Please follow this link to see more information: http://www.austincc.edu/google/
You can email me at akahlon@austincc.edu. Yes, you MUST (MUST - repeated on purpose) include your class synonym in the subject line of the email. This ensures that your email is filtered into the right folder. Messages sent without a synonym in the subject line may not get a response. Check the course schedule for your class synonym.
I have strict filters set up. Any messages with a blank subject line will be automatically deleted by my email client.
I generally do not respond to email messages on the weekend.
Make sure your full name is included at the end of the email. It is confusing enough to get an email without a name but it is even more confusing when I have two students with the same name in the class. Your email address tells me nothing about your identity. At my age the brain does not tolerate confusion too well and may even explode!!
Labs must be submitted electronically through the course Blackboard site. There is a document under the Assignments link in Blackboard that details how to submit the labs.
This is NOT a self-paced course. Labs and other homeworks are due on or before the dates specified in the course schedule. You may pace the course in such a way that you can finish the whole course early. However, assigned work cannot not be handed in late. Tests need to be taken by the deadlines given in the course schedule. You may work on the labs, exercises and tests early and submit them before their due dates. Late labs will be penalized according to the late lab policy listed in the syllabus. Tests deadlines will NOT be extended. - there will be no exceptions made to this rule. Please plan your time accordingly.
This course uses the Python interpreter. This is available free of cost to the student and runs the same on a Windows or Mac. This free software can be downloaded from the following link: https://www.python.org/downloads/
10. What if I am stuck..........?
If you are in a position where you don't understand any part of the lab or the text you should do one/both of the following:
- You post your question on the class discussion forum.
- You email/ call/ visit me in my office.
Do not struggle on your own till the last minute! I am here to help you.
11. Can we work on the labs........?
All labs/projects are individual assignments and NOT group projects. Any labs that are found to be suspiciously similar will receive a maximum grade of 0. See the Academic Honesty policy in the course syllabus.
You may discuss the lab requirements and software use with other classmates in the discussion forums.
Cheating is any of the following:
- Taking the work of another student and turning it in as your own.
- Giving your work to another student to turn in as their own.
- Getting information about the exam from another student.
- Giving information about the exam to another student.
- Copying material off the Internet and turning it in as your own.
- Getting someone else to do your labs for you.
I consider cheating to be a serious offense. The first incident will earn you a grade of 0 or F for that particular lab or exam. A second offense will result in an F in the course. You can view the ACC policy on academic dishonesty at http://www.austincc.edu/current/needtoknow/policies.php#conduct
Your lab grade will be posted on the grade sheet on the Blackboard course site. The general grading scale is included in the course syllabus. Any grade questions should be emailed to me and NOT posted to the class discussion list.
Once you submit your lab, you will see an exclamation sign appear as your grade. When I grade the lab, the exclamation sign will change to an actual grade. If you still see a grade of 1, it means there was a problem with your lab. Please read the comment associated with the grade carefully. I generally do not grade on the weekends.
In Blackboard, click on the My Grades button to view your grades.
14. Where can I take the tests..........?
The tests can be taken at a Computer Studies open lab at any main campus. Please DO NOT go to a testing center, a learning lab or the library to take the tests. Click here to see the open lab hours and locations.
There may be a short multiple choice/short answer section in the test. You do NOT need a scantron answer sheet. The tests are closed book.
You may address me as Professor Kahlon or Dr. Kahlon or simply Amardeep (note the spelling). One of my pet peeves is people spelling my name wrong. I have many other pet peeves but will not list them here.
I am sporadically active on Twitter. If you wish you can follow me on: http://twitter.com/gigabyte10100.
Log into Blackboard on or after the first day of class and complete the orientation quiz. On the first day of class, I will send a "Welcome letter" to your ACC email account. Please respond to this letter from your ACC email account. Then start looking over the reading materials and labs. Start the readings. If you have questions post them to the class discussion board. Start working on the first lab assignment. Familiarize yourself with Blackboard before things get too busy.
Yes!! I am on Google Apps with ACC. If you log onto your ACC provided gmail account, you will see a chat text box in the middle of the left side of the window. You can invite me to chat with you. Just search for me using my name. If you see me online (a green dot next to my name) it means I am available to chat. You can chat with me at anytime - morning, noon or night as long as you see the green dot next to my name.