Where is the Access Code for myITlab?
In the bundle from the bookstore is a greeting card sized folder that contains your code.
What is the Course ID for myITlab?
You should not be asked for a course ID or instructor ID when setting up myITlab. If the process asks for a course ID, something has gone wrong. Make sure you go into myITlab through Blackboard when you sign up; do not go directly to Pearson or myITlab. The process also seems to get messed up if you use Chrome, so try Firefox, Edge, or another web browser.
MyITlab doesn't open the assignment!
If you click on the assignment and nothing happens, or it seems to start but then never actually opens the activity. You may need to try a different web browser. MyITlab seems to have trouble with Chrome, so try Firefox or Edge.
This should be set up correctly in the campus labs. If you are at home, you may have to do more setup.
MyITlab won't let me edit the document!
MyITlab is a training program which gives you step-by-step directions to show you how to do various activities in office applications.
It will give you a series of steps to do, usually on the side or bottom of the screen, with the current step in bold large text. You need to follow the directions, doing the steps in the order given. If you try to do anything other than the current step, it will flash up "Incorrect Action" and expect you to try again.
I
don't know how to do the steps in an assignment in myITlab! What should I do?
The book talks about the overall situation for each assignment, and how to do each instruction. It also includes how to do many steps that are skipped over by myITlab (myITlab does a lot of the typing for you).
In myITlab, if you click Learning Aids, you can look at Read to see a text explanation of the current step, or Watch a video that covers the same thing.
Under Learning Aids you can also click Practice, which will take you through the current instruction step by step, showing you exactly where to click. For most people, the Learning Aids Practice is the most useful thing.
If you come to office hours with a question about a specific part of a
specific assignment, we can go over it. You can also email me specific
questions. (If you don't ask a specific question, I have no way to know
how to help you.)
I'm doing what the directions say in myITlab but it keeps saying Incorrect Action! What should I do?
Usually when this happens, there is some very small thing that myITlab was asking for that hadn't been done. The creators thought they had made it obvious that they wanted the cursor to be in a certain place, or a certain part of the document selected, or a certain view set, or certain checkboxes checked/unchecked, but their directions didn't make it clear enough to the student.
So the easiest thing to do is just let myITlab show you exactly what it wants you to do. Under Learning Aids choose Practice, and it will take you through the current instruction step by step, showing you exactly where it wants you to click.
I went through Learning Aids Practice and I'm clicking EXACTLY what it
showed me, step by step, and it still says "Incorrect
Action"! What should I do?
If not, it will be very hard for me to figure out what's going wrong by email unless you send me several screenshots, showing step-by-step what you did, and include a lot of text description as well, so office hours are probably your best bet.
I bet I can get through all the myITlab practices in the 14 day trial period they give before you have to pay. Then I get the credit without paying, right?
If you do not pay for access, at the end of the trial period grades for any assignments you have finished will be removed and will not be included in the grades I see in myITlab at that point. If you come back and pay later, they will reinstate the grades. If your grades are not available when I go to download them from myITlab at the end of the semester, I will not accept them for credit later.Can I do the homework in Office 2007 / Open Office / WordPerfect / Google Docs / etc?
The files you turn in need to be valid Microsoft Office 2016 files in order to display properly in Blackboard. If you create the files in another application and save them as docx, they may work. If you create the files in another application and I can't tell the difference, you're okay. (Office 2010 or 2013 will probably work.)
Once you have attached your file and submitted, look at your submission in Blackboard and check that everything looks right. They should also open and work in MS Office 2016 as installed on the campus computers.
Can I do the project in Office 2007 / Open Office / WordPerfect / Google Docs / etc?
The files you turn in need to be valid Microsoft Office files, should display their content in BlackBoard, and should open in the appropriate MS Office 2016 application on campus machines. Required format elements (e.g. footnotes) have to work properly in Office 2016.
If you create the files in another application and I can't tell the difference, you're okay. If I can tell, (e.g., if the document only opens in "compatibility mode") I will take off points.
I can't log into my HCC account or have another HCC-specific technology issue. Can you reset my password / fix my account/ etc?
I do not have any access to accounts, passwords, etc. The best I can do is put in a workorder if your classrom computer hardware has a problem. Otherwise you need to talk to HCC's ITS.
For password/account problems, call 443-412-2477 option 3.
For other questions and problems, you can chat through owlnet, text 443 227 5757, or email helpdesk@harford.edu. Most of these are open only weekdays until 5pm.
You said this assignment is not a huge part of my grade, but it is graded out of 100. 100 is a big number!!! In fact all the assignments are graded out of 100! Doesn't that mean they are all worth the same?
A grade on an individual assignment is graded as a percentage. Percentage means out of 100. so if you got 73 on an assigment, that means you got 73% of the credit available for that assignment.
Each assignment makes a different contribution to your overall class grade depending on the class grading scheme and how many of each type of assignment there are.
For example, suppose tests are worth 30% of the class grade and we have 3 tests. Then each test is worth 10% of your overall grade. If you got 73% on that test, then you got 73% of the 10% that test could have contributed to your overall grade (so, about 7.3%). Suppose another type of assignment is worth 15% and we have 15 of them; then each is worth about 1% and if you got 73% on one that contributes 0.73% to your overall grade.
Blackboard tries to just add up all the points for all the assignments because Blackboard is designed for people who don't understand how percentages work. We should laugh at them.
Will you help me with my homework?
Sure! You can bring your questions about assignments to office hours or email me.
The more you can narrow down what you're having trouble with, the better (and faster) the answer you'll get.
If you are coming to office hours, bring as much as you have got done already, but have in mind the specific parts you need help on
If you are emailing me for help with your answer to a short answer question or written problem, please put it into the body of an email rather than just attaching a document. (Attach a document if you have a question about document formatting e.g. "My footnotes are numbered wrong, how do I fix this?")
If your question is limited to a short block of code, please paste that into the body of an email. If your question involves more of your project, attach your zipped project directory, but still if possible include the part(s) of the code you're having trouble with in the body.
Will you check my homework before I turn it in?
No. I will happily answer specific questions about any part of an assignment, but I won't just pre-grade your whole assignment.
But I need help with my whole homework! Why won't you help me without a specific question?
The help I give you needs to lead you to learning the material, so I can't give you useful help until I know what parts you are and aren't having trouble with. Otherwise I may be wasting your time "helping" with the part you can do already, rather than the part you actually need me for.
For instance, one thing you could be having trouble with is finding where a topic is covered in the course material in the first place. If you are looking at a page in a browser, such as example code or notes, CTRL+F will search for keywords. In a paper textbook make sure you look at the table of contents, index, and/or glossary. If you've done that and still can't find it, email or come by office hours to ask me where to find it; there are always a few topics that we only cover in class, so make sure you got notes if you missed a day!
Another thing you could be having trouble with is knowing what I'm asking for. Read carefully through the assignment until you narrow it down to a particular directive or question that you don't understand. That's the part to email/ask me about.
It could be that you've read all the material and you understand the question or task, but you just can't figure out how to do it. This is where real learning happens! Start identifying the parts you do understand and the parts you don't. There will probably be a lot of parts you do understand. For instance you may not need my help to know what "variable" means, or what MM stands for. Eventually, you'll hit something you really don't understand. That's when you should come by office hours or email me or ask in class, and we can spend lots of time on the stuff you really need my help on, without me wasting your time explaining stuff you already know.
I'm having trouble with the class material. How can I do better?
Face to face: Ask more questions in class. Come to office hours and ask questions. Try the learning center (Library, Room 115).
Use the discussion boards in BlackBoard to ask specific questions. (Saying "I don't understand hardware." or "Arrays don't make sense." doesn't tell me enough to get a useful response.)
Try the NetTutor resource in Blackboard
Why did I lose credit for using the wrong document format?? Who cares?
Understanding and following document format requirements is a baseline skill for dealing with computer technology. The incredibly common format I am requiring is available on all campus computers, many alterative editors can also save to MS office formats, and you can get a free online account to use basic versions of MS office programs.
Blackboard uses a system called Box, which displays MS office documents within blackboard and gives me tools for marking.
If you use a document format Blackboard cannot handle I may or may not choose to take the extra time and effort to view your document. If I do choose to grade it at all, I will certainly not bother to give feedback; just a score.
How did I do on this assignment?
All grades are given as percentages. Percentage means out of 100. 90% and above is A, 80-89% is B, etc.
Grades are not "curved" (in most cases this would lower grades, not raise them).
Most grades will come back through electronic systems (Blackboard, MyITlab). If you did not submit an assignment, or submitted it late, I may not have bothered to type the 0 into the system. Blackboard does not show grades for missed team work.
Grades for hardcopy assignments will come back written on the paper (sometimes on the back page).
I think you recorded the wrong grade / added the points wrong, what should I do?
Email me telling me which assignment and what you think is wrong, and I will do a regrade. (If it was team work, also tell me your team number, if it was on paper, give me the paper back.)
Note that sometimes the result of a regrade is that I discover that I didn't note one of the places where you lost points - blackboard can fail to save the last comment I typed if I don't click carefully. In which case I'll add the note and the points will stay the same.
If I am doing a regrade and I notice that I missed somewhere else I should have taken off points, I will do so.
The system shows an assignment as Not Graded. What does this mean?
If it is an assignment that you turned in on time, it means that I have not graded it yet. If it is an assignment that you turned in late, it means that I didn't bother to type in the zero.
How long until this assignment is graded?
Every time someone asks this question, it adds a week.
(If it has been several weeks, or you discover that everyone else's is graded except yours, then it's fine to check with me that yours didn't get overlooked somehow.)
If you had to have a makeup/regrade/other special circumstances, that grading will always have to wait until everything else (all grading in all classes, and administrative work) is done.
Is the online system showing my correct grade?
Grades for most individual assignments will be available in the online system you used to turn them in.
Blackboard may show you a "total score" . This is not your class grade!!! It is simply adding up all points on all the assignments it has, ignoring that a homework may be worth less than a project, and ignoring any missed team work.
Blackboard may show you a "total points" for the class. Please ignore this garbage number which blackboard has made up by adding the points for... some assignments you have been assigned and some you haven't but apparently not all of them?
(note: Why would you ever add up the "total points" for assignments anyway? If you've had 18 classworks, you add up your classwork grades and divide by 18 to find your classwork average.)
There is no way to win on this: if I set blackboard to display a final course grade calculated correctly (as near as blackboard can manage), students panic because the zeroes on assignments outside blackboard or ones they haven't been given yet are "bringing down their grade!" If I don't, then blackboard reports its own incomprehensible numbers and students panic about those. The second option seems to cause somewhat less panic so I usually go with that.
Nothing about how blackboard displays scores can "bring down your grade" because blackboard does not assign your course grade. I do, at the end of the semester, using the grade percentages listed for the parts of your class.
Similarly myITlab may show a score that doesn't take into account that some assignments are extra credit.
Assignments not turned in electronically (e.g. paper tests) will come back on paper and will not be included in the online systems at all.
So how do I find out my grade?
The class handout/syllabus has the grading scheme for your class. Different assignments are worth more or less based on this scheme and on how many such assignments are given.
In general, to find a weighted average,
So, suppose homework is worth 25% classwork is worth 35% and tests are worth 40%. If your homework average is 90, your classwork average is 80, and your test average is 70, then your overall grade is 90 * .25 + 80 *.35 + 70 *.4 = 78.5 .
Excel makes this very easy to do. If you are over halfway through any of my classes, you should be able to do this.
How does extra credit work?
Extra credit is added to the rest of the score on a single assignment, and can raise that score even above 100%. So if you got 110% and 90% on two tests, that would be a test average of 100%.
You could end up with more than 100% average on one type of assignment, which would help make up for a low average on another type of assignment. But note that 110% on a type of assignment worth only 10% of the class grade would not make up for having a 60% on a type of assignement worth 40% overall.
What are the class policies on team work?
Unless stated otherwise, classwork is to be done as team work. Team work may be allowed in other circumstances. If you work alone when team work is assigned I will deduct 15-25%
The work turned in by a team should be agreed on by the whole team. The whole team will share the grade, positive or negative -- if you turned it in, you are saying it was the team's work, not just one team member's.
If an assignment is team work, the whole assignment is team work. One team member cannot turn in one part (extra credit or otherwise) independently.
Every team member must contribute to all parts of the assignment. Parallel work is not allowed (unless the assignment explicitly says so). If the team agrees to turn in work and leave, a single member cannot choose to stay and work further (on extra credit or otherwise). I will deduct points if the "team" does not function as one.
If you come in late or leave early enough that you cannot contribute to all parts of an assignment, you must work alone and take the point hit. If you join a team but leave your teammates to finish without you before everyone agrees you're done, you will receive no points at all. If you have been abandoned, tell me.
You are strongly encouraged to work with different people each time. Please don't make me have to assign teams; it is tedious and you are not small children.
You are strongly encouraged to switch off between team members during an assignment so that everyone is involved in typing/writing, in planning, in watching for typos/syntax errors, etc.
You must cooperate with your team members. This means that one team member's preferences cannot rule over the team's needs.
Someone in a team never does any work / takes over and does everything. What should I do?
When you are in a team with a person who is not cooperating, the first thing to do is just try to politely change what's happening. "Let me see if I've got the way this works -- I think we should..." or "How about you try this this part - how should we start?" or even "I feel like I'm/you're always typing, let's switch it up for this part."
If that doesn't help, it might be worth calmly and respectfully saying, "I feel like you're not saying much, could you try to be more active in the team?" or "I can see you've got this down, but I need a little more practice, I'd like to try some things first, before you just speed through everything."
After that classwork, however, remember that you are strongly encouraged to try working with different people. You can cut down on how often you have to work in a situation that you don't like.
Can I audio-record class / take a picture of the board?
It is fine to do this, using your own equipment. Neither I nor any classmate should appear in pictures (unless your classmate has given you their explicit permission).
Can I get the Powerpoint slides you used in class?
I do not make these available to students.
In programming classes, code examples the same or equivalent to any on the slides will be available on the class page.
Arrangements can be made through DSS for print-outs of powerpoints to be provided in order to accomodate special needs. However even students with accomodations will not be given powerpoints for days they did not attend.
I missed class, what did we do?
On the class page, content goes up almost every day, so you can easily answer this question for yourself by going to the class page. These include any new assignments (except any assigned in myITlab, which you can find in the assignment calendar). If no new content has been added, we probably continued the previous topic or topics (for example we may have reviewed several previous topics.)
Will you send me the powerpoints / give me notes for a day I missed?
No.
You are expected to get notes from a classmate. Read throught these and come to me with questions and you can haunt my office hours indefinitely until you have a handle on the material.
I missed turning in an assignment. Can I make it up for credit?
No, late work will not be accepted for credit.
If you are afraid of your internet going out, turn in the work on campus. You don't have to wait until 11pm the night it is due to turn something in.
Paper homework can be turned in early under my office door or in my mailbox in the Joppa office. If you cannot get to campus to turn in paper homework but let me know before it is due I may, at my discretion, arrange an alternate method of turning it in on time.
I missed class on a day there was classwork assigned. Can I make it up for credit?
No, class policy is that missed classwork cannot be made up for credit. Classwork must be done in class with me observing.
I suggest you do read through the classwork, to determine whether you understand the material, and then get in touch with me with specific questions.
HCC requires that students who miss class for official HCC athletic events are allowed to make up any work from the days missed. This unfair policy is HCC's, not mine. Athletes who will miss class for a game must send me official notice at least two weeks in advance and will be required to complete the makeup work before the day we would do it in class.
I will not be here at the time of a test, can I still take it?
If you let me know before the date of the test, I can arrange for you to take the test in the test center early. Give me at least a week's notice before the time you will leave, to make arrangements.
I missed a test, can I make it up for credit?
If you contact me before the end of the period we are taking the test, and give me a compelling explanation why you cannot make it, I may, at my discretion, allow you to take a makeup test. Makeup tests are always harder.
If you contact me after this, but can prove that you could not get in touch with me sooner, I may, at my discretion, allow you to take a makeup test. Makeup tests are always harder.
Otherwise, no, you have missed this test.
Most of my classes just put everything in BlackBoard. Why is some of our material somewhere else? Can't you just put it all in BlackBoard?
Unfortunately, BlackBoard's editors are terrible at creating anything but single paragraphs of unformatted text. Also most information typed into BlackBoard is difficult to get back out of BlackBoard except in special proprietary formats.
Also, BlackBoard will eventually time out your login. I'd rather students be able to keep the material open and available however long they need to.
Systems like MyLab are outside of BlackBoard and while they can be connected, they still cannot become part of Blackboard as they require separate access.
I can't open something from the class page. I get a page that says "The page you are trying to reach cannot be found"
If you typed the address or chose it from a drop-down in the browser, double check the url is right. If you clicked a link on one of my pages, email me to let me know the link is broken.
I can't open a handout/assignment. The file name ends in .pdf .
There is a known issue viewing PDFs when you are in Blackboard on a MAC OS computer. You can fix this with a free plugin ( http://schubert-it.com/downloads/ ) or use the free browser Google Chrome ( http://www.google.com/chrome ).
However, in general, there's no reason you need to be in Blackboard to get to stuff on the class page. Just go directly to the class page using the URL (at home, add a bookmark!) or by going through my HCC faculty page, instead of logging in to Blackboard, then clicking on a link just to get there.
I'm having a Blackboard or OwlNet or Owlmail Problem, or a problem with a machine in a campus lab.
Try the student E-Access page for frequent problems and their FAQ. If that doesn't help, email helpdesk@harford.edu or call 443 412 2777. For Blackboard-specific problems, try online@harford.edu .
In the labs, report your problem to the lab monitor, and tell them which computer you were at, what you were trying to do, and that you need this for required coursework.
Where should we save files on campus ?
Not on the C: drive of the computer you are sitting at! On campus computers are set up to automatically delete anything saved on C: (e.g. in Documents) when you log out. Saved work may also be deleted if the power goes out (e.g. if someone trips over the power cord of your computer).
A W: network drive should have been set up for all students in my classes. You should be able to save there directly from all programs on campus machines, including putting your projects there from NetBeans. See this page on campus drives.
You may also choose to use a thumb drive.
Can I make an appointment to come by your office hours?
It is always fine to come by office hours You don't need an appointment; just show up at my office. (Office hours are first come first served, so you may sometimes have to wait a few minutes until another student is finished.)
You weren't at your office hours!
Was there a sign on the door saying that office hours were cancelled? If so, then you're right, sorry about that, I'm probably ill.
There may instead be a sign on the door saying "Back in 5 minutes," or telling you another room in Joppa where you can find me. In which case you need to wait/come find me.
If there is no sign, I may be holding office hours in the classroom where I ended the previous class. Look at the door schedule to see which classroom this was.My office hours are
Other times you happen to come by my office, including 5 minutes before or after office hours, are not my office hours.
Can I work in the classroom when you aren't there?
No, according to HCC rules, classrooms are supposed to be closed and locked when no faculty are present. Lab hours may be available for students.
You said I copied text from a certain website but I've never been to that site. I got it from another website/ the textbook/ a friend.
That also counts. Yes, including the textbook.
You said I copied text from a website or other source but my text isn't exactly the same.
The requirement is that you put it in your own words. Tiny cosmetic changes like removing or inserting an extra word, swapping punctuation, or deliberate misspelling does not constitute putting it in your own words.
Suppose, for instance, you were looking for info about compilers and found on the wikipedia page for Compiler:
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language (the source language) into another computer language (the target language, often having a binary form known as object code). The most common reason for wanting to transform source code is to create an executable program.
If you basically quoted this with minor changes, that would not be putting it in your own words:
It is a computer program which transforms source code in a programming language, the source language, into another computer language, the target language, very often having a form known as object code and the most common reason for wanting to transform source code is to create an executable program
However if you understood it well enough to paraphrase, you'd be fine:
Compilers translate programs from one programming language to another, usually creating a program that can run.
But my copied text was the right answer! Shouldn't I get credit for the right answer?
No, none of my courses offer credit for googling a keyword and copy-pasting. If you cannot express a class concept in your own words, you have not learned it well enough for a passing grade. The process of formulating your own description or explanation is a key part of learning. Trying to use someone else's words to trick me into thinking you've done this is dishonest and counter-productive.
Also, almost every time, the answers students have received -100% for have in fact been terrible answers to the question I actually asked, and would have received 0 points even if I hadn't noticed they did not sound like student writing.
You said I copied text from a website or other source, but that was just for one question! You can't give me a -100% on the whole assignment!
Yes I can. This policy was discussed on the first day of class.
You said I copied text from a website or other source, but actually that was someone else in my team, so I shouldn't be penalized.
By turning in work as a team, you are attesting that it was a collaboration between all team members, including you. Everyone receives the credit; including negative credit.
You said I copied text from a website or other source, but a -100% will hurt my grade! A lot! Can't you just give me a zero?
If you got a zero, you'd be no worse off than if you hadn't turned work in. That turns out not to be a sufficient deterrent.
Since people sometimes do it anyway, perhaps -100% isn't sufficient either. Maybe it should be -200% for the second offense...
You said I copied text from a website or other source. Actually, I can prove I was the original creator of the content of that website.
This is the only explanation that would make a difference.
I know all the stuff that's really important about this topic. I can build my own computer and program pong in assembly. Why doesn't my grade reflect this?
I can only grade you on the knowledge of class-specific concepts you demonstrated through the work you turn in. For credit, you need to prove that you have mastered all of the class material, not just the part that interests you. I also can't give you credit for homework you don't turn in, no matter how far beyond 9000 your skillz are.
Can I do a special project or other assignment for extra credit?
No. Extra credit will not be offered that is not available to the whole class.
Similarly, extra credit will not be offered on anything outside the class material. (In other words, your ability to field-strip a PDP-11 is impressive but isn't worth any class credit.)
Can I have an extension on this assignment?
No. Extra time will not be offered that is not available to the whole class. Turn in as much as you did get done, for partial credit.
I lost something in the classroom, how do I find it again?
Anything turned in to me I will leave at the front of the classroom in the hope you will return soon to find it. If it is not there, also check at the secretary's office for the building, and at the lost & found in the security office in the library.
The weather is bad! Is class cancelled?
HCC uses the AlertMe system to alert students when we are closed for weather, by email and/or phone -- whatever contact you give them. They're also usually pretty good at putting a banner across the HCC main page to announce closing, or you can call 443-412-2322 to check.
If we are open, I will hold class unless I can't get there, in which case I will probably send an email (unless the weather has also knocked out my power/internet...).
I was told shaking hands with my professors was a way to show respect and professionalism. Can we shake hands?
Please don't. Shaking hands is also a way to multiply the power of the college as a disease vector. A fist bump is plenty respectful for me and less likely to exchange germs.
Hey! You used "they" as a singular pronoun! That's incorrect grammar! "They" is plural!
Thou art using "you" as a singular nominative! Fie! Did no one teach thee that "you" is an oblique plural?
How many hats have ye?
Approximately 53. Not all of them get worn to class.
(better. still plural tho'. )