Instructor: Dr. Melissa Danforth
Office Hours: MWF 2:45-3:45pm and TuTh 12:00-1:00pm (link posted on Moodle)
Email: melissa@cs.csub.edu or mdanforth@csub.edu (CSUB.edu goes to my phone)

Moodle website: https://moodle3.cs.csub.edu/course/view.php?id=44

Course meets Fridays 4:00 to 5:40pm on Zoom (Zoom information posted on Moodle)

General Class Structure:

• First Day: Attendance required for class overview.
• Presentation Days: Attendance required. Presentation days are noted on the class calendar on Moodle.
• Team Check-Ins: All team members are required to attend team check-ins with the instructor. Teams will individually schedule check-in times with the instructor. Teams should select a time where everyone on the team is available.
• Individual Work and Team Work: Self-scheduled individual work and team work is also expected for this course. Students should plan to spend about 6 to 8 hours a week (on average) working on their Senior Project and coordinating with their team.

Contact me if you have any issues with attending required sessions, such as Internet issues, rotating power outages, technical difficulties, work conflicts, or other university excused absences. Please contact me as soon as possible after the absence, and preferably before class if you know you will not be able to attend.

Because nonverbal feedback is important to evaluating presentations, webcams will be required on Presentation Days while presenting. Webcams are optional at other times. If you believe you have a legitimate reason to not have your camera turned on for your presentation, please consult with me well in advance of a required Presentation Day, and I will make a determination on your request. If you do not have a webcam, contact me as soon as possible so I can see if ITS has a loaner available. Do not wait until the day of the presentation to let me know you do not have a webcam.

I have configured Zoom to allow phone call-ins and to mask phone numbers for those who have to call in to attend.

Students will be required to work in teams in this class. All team work must be completed virtually, with no face-to-face meetings. Use virtual collaboration tools such as git, Slack, Discord, Zoom, MS Teams, etc. to manage your group work and team work.

After consultation with the faculty supervisor and investigation of relevant literature, the student(s) shall prepare a substantial project with significance in the designated area. The timeline, teamwork responsibilities, milestones, and presentation(s) will be scheduled. Prerequisites: At least 12 semester units of 3000- or 4000-level CMPS courses. Completion of multiple upper-division CMPS courses 2 semester units. 2 units lecture (100 minutes). Required for CS. None. None. All tenured and tenure-track Computer Science faculty members.
AY 2020/21 Coordinators are Albert Cruz and Melissa Danforth. CMPS 4910 is the first part of two-term senior programming project sequence, with CMPS 4928 Senior Project II in Spring term being the second course in the sequence. All teams are expected to sign up to the same instructor for CMPS 4928 to maintain a seamless mentoring and supervision role for the project.

CMPS 4910 will complete the problem analysis and project design part of the Senior Project; emphasizing problem analysis and applying the knowledge of computer science areas to design solutions.

In this course, students will do the following:

• Work as teams on a team-chosen design problem, which will result in a substantial software project at the end of the two-course sequence.
• Choose a problem, analyze the problem, apply knowledge of computer science areas, and propose a solution to the problem.
• Plan the project implementation, including the timeline, individual responsibilities, milestones of the project, and use cases / user stories, as part of the project proposal document.
• Present the "project pitch" to the class describing their chosen problem and project.
• Meet regularly with the instructor for team check-ins to discuss progress on the project.
• Analyze the possible solutions, including a discussion of the analysis during team check-ins with the instructor and a written analysis in the end-of-term progress report.
• Begin implementation of the project. Teams work on their projects and discuss their projects with the instructor and class.
• Meet regularly outside of class with their team to work on their project. Also regularly complete individual work on the project and keep the team updated on that individual work at the team meetings.
• Present their implementation difficulties/problems, solutions, and experiences to the class, and listen for suggestions from others in the class, at the end-of-term progress presentation.

Specific requirements for this course are:

• Orally present to the class twice for the "team pitch" and end-of-term progress presentation. Every member of the team is expected to present during these times.
• Write a project proposal that describes the problem, describes the team's analysis of the problem, analyzes possible solutions for the problem, provides use cases / user stories, outlines the basic features of the project, and plans for the project implementation over both terms of the course. Teams should verbally discuss their project ideas at team check-ins with the instructor prior to the proposal due date. The instructor may require a revision of the proposal if the chosen project is not at the expected difficulty for a Senior Project or if components of the proposal do not meet expectactions for Senior Project.
• Maintain a git repository on Github or on Odin that is accessible to the instructor with the project code, documentation, and research. Team members are expected to regularly contribute actionable work to the repository. In CMPS 4910, most of the work is expected to be research, proof-of-concept code, test cases, and other preliminary work necessary for successful implementation of the project in CMPS 4928.
• Write a project progress report at the end of the term that states what the team has done to date, describes any changes the team has made to the project features and implementation plan, and provides justification for those changes. The end-of-term report grade will also contain the instructor's analysis of work submitted to the project's git repository by each team member.

NOTE: At the end of the two-term sequence, usually in late April, students are expected to present their projects to the campus community as a whole at the Senior Design Expo.

The course maps to the following student learning outcomes for Computer Science (CAC/ABET):

1. Analyze a complex computing problem and apply principles of computing and other relevant disciplines to identify solutions.

2. Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the program's discipline.

3. Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts.

4. Recognize professional responsibilities and make informed judgements in computing practice based on legal and ethical principles.

5. Function effectively as a member or leader of a team engaged in activities appropriate to the program's discipline.

6 (CS). Apply computer science theory and software development fundamentals to produce computing-based solutions.

For presentation days, there will be a poll on Moodle where each team can sign up for a specific presentation time slot.

Week 1	Friday August 28th	Class overview and Begin team selections
Week 2	Friday September 4th	Finalize team selections and Begin problem selection
Week 3	Schedule with Instructor	Team check-in with instructor to discuss project topic
Week 4	Schedule with Instructor	Team check-in with instructor to discuss project topic
Week 5	Friday September 25th (Extended until October 2nd)	Project Proposals Due
Week 6	Friday October 2nd	Hold for possible speaker Teams with proposal revisions requested must also schedule a team check-in with the instructor
Week 7	Schedule with Instructor	Team check-in with instructor to discuss project pitch and any requested proposal revisions Proposal Revisions due on Friday October 9th
Week 8	Friday October 16th	Presentation Day: Project pitches from each team
Week 9	Schedule with Instructor	Team check-in with instructor to discuss project progress
Week 10	Friday October 30th	Hold for possible speaker
Week 11	Schedule with Instructor	Team check-in with instructor to discuss project progress
Week 12	Friday November 13th	Hold for possible speaker
Week 13	Schedule with Instructor	Team check-in with instructor to discuss project progress
Week 14	Friday November 27th	No Class - Holiday (Thanksgiving Break)
Week 15	Schedule with Instructor	Team check-in with instructor to discuss end-of-term progress report
Week 15 16	Friday December 4th 11th	End-of-term Progress Report Due
Week 16	Wednesday December 9th and Thursday December 17th	End-of-term Progress Presentations

Note: The instructor may require further team check-ins beyond those listed above on an as-needed, group-by-group, basis. The instructor will email teams about any required check-ins.

All work completed by the teams is expected to be done by the individual team members, or public code that is used with appropriate instructor approval and with appropriate citation and documentation. Any public code that is not appropriately documented and cited in the git repository and the reports will be considered plagiarism.

Examples of violations of the Academic Integrity policy include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Submitting junk work to give the appearance of effort. Work submitted to the team git repository should be relevant to the code, research, or documentation components of the project. Example: Submitting a substantial amount to the code base that does not contribute to a project feature.
• Submitting an iteration or copy of public code as your own work. As noted above, public code must be approved by the instructor and appropriately documented and cited. Example: Most of your contribution to your group's project is a modification of an online tutorial on web app games.
• Most of your code base has been reused from an assignment or project from another class. Example: Iterating your CMPS 3350, 3420, or 3680 project.
• Copying, paraphrasing, or quoting text in your reports or documentation without proper citation. If you need assistance with proper citations, the Writing Resource Center has resources available to help you. Example: Cutting and pasting a guide from a manufacturer into your software requirements.

Violations will result in consequences, either to a specific assignment grade or to the overall course grade. Lack of knowledge is not a reasonable explanation for a violation.

Refer to the Academic Integrity policy in the campus catalog and class schedule for more details. You can also refer to the Academic Integrity policy at the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities at https://www.csub.edu/osrr/

To request academic accomodations, please contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) and email me an accomodations letter from the SSD Office. Policies from the SSD Office relating to accomodations, such as scheduling policies for using their testng center, must also be followed. For more information about the services and policies of the SSD Office, contact their staff by email and/or visit their website at https://www.csub.edu/ssd/

If you are experiencing challenges related to basic needs, such as food insecurity, housing insecurity, or other challenges, there are resources available to you. The campus Food Pantry, located next to the Student Union, is open with reduced hours during Fall 2020. The Food Pantry also has information about services and monthly food distributions. Please visit the Food Pantry website for hours and information. For housing concerns and other basic needs, please contact the Campus Advocate at 654-6210 or Jason Watkins, Assistant Director for Basic Needs, at 654-3360.

Teams are expected to consist of 3 to 5 students. Fewer than 3 students makes it difficult to develop a complex enough project and more than 5 students is difficult to coordinate.

Projects are expected to be complex and reflect a culminating experience in Computer Science. Expected project complexity and scope will be scaled by the size of the team. A team of 5 will be expected to complete a more complex project than a team of 3.

The project components should match the skills of the team members. For example, if the project contains a database, at least one team member should have completed CMPS 3420 and/or have extensive on-the-job experience with databases.

All teams will use git to store code, research, documentation, and other files related to the project. Teams can opt to use GitHub or Odin for their git repository.

Any SDKs, APIs, etc. used in the project must have the approval of the instructor and be appropriately cited and used. Any public code that is not appropriately documented and cited in the git repository and the reports will be considered plagerism. All license and usage requirements of the original developers must also be followed.

Project Proposal	20% (75% individual contribution, 25% team)
Pitch Presentation	20% (25% individual contribution, 75% team)
End-of-Term Progress Report	20% (75% individual contribution, 25% team)
End-of-Term Presentation	20% (25% individual contribution, 75% team)
Teamwork	10% (50% individual teamwork skills, 50% team cohessiveness)
Participation	10% (100% individual)

Grades are posted on Moodle. It is your responsibility to check Moodle for grades and any comments on assignments. If you believe you submitted your assignment on time but the comment field says "assignment not submitted", contact the instructor.

The proposal should clearly state what is the chosen project and the goals the team has for the project. The project should be verbally cleared with the instructor at one of the team check-in meetings prior to the proposal due date. The instructor may request a revised proposal if the initial proposal does not meet all criteria or the project is not sufficiently advanced for a Senior Project.

Grading Components:

• 25% weight: Executive Summary and Plan (team effort)
• 75% weight: Detailed Individual Contributions and Use Cases / User Stories (individual effort)

See the Moodle assignment for more details.

Once the team's proposal is approved by the instructor, the team will give a short "pitch" presentation to the class introducting the team and describing the project. The pitch presentation will be about 5-10 minutes long. The team is expected to have a set of prepared slides (PowerPoint, Google, etc.) that they can share to the screen in the Zoom session.

Grading Components:

• 75% weight: Prepared slides for the presentation (team effort)
• 25% weight: Individual oral communication skills from the modified oral communication rubric posted on Moodle (modified for virtual delivery)

See the Moodle assignment for more details.

The progress report is due at the end of the term and should summarize where the team is on the project, what changes have been made, the justification for the changes, and a summary from each team member on their accomplishments during the term. The instructor will also evaluate the git repository for the team to determine individual contributions to the project.

Grading Components:

• 25% weight: Status report and changes made, with justification (team effort)
• 25% weight: A written summary by each team member of their individual accomplishments during the term. Hint: Regularly commit a text file or report of what you've done to git to make it easier to write this summary. (individual effort)
• 50% weight: Instructor evaluation of each team member's contributions to the git repository based on the quality of work and the level of effort. Put the project feature in the commit message to git so your effort is easily traceable to the proposal (individual effort)

See the Moodle assignment for more details.

The end-of-term presentation will update the class on the status of the project, and can include a demo of code, if the team has gotten that far on the project (demos will be required in CMPS 4928, but are optional in CMPS 4910). The end-of-term presentation is expected to be about 15 minutes long. As with the pitch presentation, the team is expected to have a set of prepared slides for the presentation.

Grading Components:

• 75% weight: Prepared slides for the presentation (team effort)
• 25% weight: Individual oral communication skills from the modified oral communication rubric posted on Moodle (modified for virtual delivery)

See the Moodle assignment for more details.

Teams are expected to function as a cohessive unit on the project. Teamwork skills that the department expects at this level are:

• The ability to fulfill team duties and share in the work of the team.
• The ability to listen and communicate with other team members.
• The ability to meet deadlines to achieve project goals.

Grading Components:

• 50% weight: Individual teamwork skills on the above metrics as determined by the instructor observations of team dynamics during team check-ins and presentations, and by input from the peer evaluation of team members. (individual effort)
• 50% weight: Team cohessiveness and functionality as a whole (team effort)

See the Moodle assignment for more details.

This portion of your grade will be based on your attendance and participation at required class sessions, team check-in meetings, and presentation days. If you believe you have an allowed absence based on the CSUB Excused Absence policy, you must email the instructor as soon as possible to see if your absence qualifies as an excused absence.

Grading component is 100% individual effort.

There is no final exam for this class. Your end of term presentation and project progress report takes the place of the final exam.

Most end-of-term presentations will occur on the Study Day, Wednesday December 9, 2020, during our normal class meeting time. If you are unavailable on Study Day, a second end-of-term presentation time slot will be set up during our normal class time on Evaluation Day, Thursday December 17, 2020.

Notify the instructor no later than Friday December 4th if you have a conflict with both of these times, but preferably sooner so we can find an alternative time that works for everyone in your team.

Melissa Danforth on August 16, 2020 Effective Fall 2020