💬 CodeCollab Homework Instructions

Discussion Requirements

You must contribute at least two (2) valid comments in the Blackbaud discussion before Friday @ 11:59PM to earn full credit. See below for more detailed guidelines for what qualifies as an acceptable comment.

Checklist:

  • At least one (1) of your comments must be a paragraph-long post where you analyze/attempt to explain a section of code. This is considered your “individual contribution” and it’s the most important part of the assignment.
    • Focus on small sections - DO NOT attempt to explain the entire program by yourself!
    • This is a collaborative effort - try to pick an area that no one else has talked about yet.
    • Be specific - use line numbers and vocabulary terms when referring to code.
  • At least one (1) of your comments must be a direct reply on another classmate’s post.
    • Save this part for later in the week.
    • Your response must extend the conversation in some way - like expanding on a concept brought up, giving another example, asking a question, sharing a relevant resource, etc.

Guidelines & Tips

  • 🛠️ Start by tinkering with and manipulating the given code on your forked copy of the program to understand how it works.
    • Make small changes one at a time, press RUN, then observe the resulting output. This process will help you visualize the cause and effect of different code instructions.
    • EX: A simple “experiment” you can always do is to delete/comment-out a single line of code then see what happens.
  • 📝 When writing your discussion post, describe your process of tinkering with the code and present your observations. Seek to explain what your observations mean in terms of both higher-level objectives (like programming & computational thinking concepts) and lower-level objectives (like syntax & vocabulary).
    • EX: Explaining the overall goal / task achieved of a code section would count as a “higher-level objective”
    • EX: Observing the use and purpose of symbols such as curly braces { } would count as a “lower-level objective”
  • 📚 You are encouraged to do research and refer to the course notes, online textbooks, and reference websites like W3Schools. Feel free to include links to relevant and helpful articles, images, and videos!
    • Sharing links is a particularly great way to supplement your “response” comment, especially if your classmate asked a question or brought up something that needs further clarification.
  • 🔍 Keep in mind that a CodeCollab is an exploratory endeavor and you should approach it like an experiment. Work submitted will NOT be checked on “correctness” of responses, rather, the articulation of your thought process. Thus, it’s less important that you get the “right answer” and more important that you record your thinking process as descriptively as possible.
    • What did you notice about the code or the output?
    • What did you realize after changing part of the code?
    • What questions did it generate?
    • What parallels did you see?
    • What research did you do?