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Introduction to Computers for Arts and Social Sciences (2010)

This page shows the course content for the 2010 summer version.  To see the most up-to-date material, please visit this page.

Course Outline

The course outline is available online from Carleton's School of Computer Science.

Learning Objectives

  1. Gain an appreciation of what computer science is and how it relates to the arts and social sciences.
  2. Practice computational thinking.
  3. Learn about the software and tools that will help you succeed in an undergraduate program.

Topics

  • Introduction to computer science and computational thinking
  • Binary numbers and data representation
  • Basic programming with Scratch
  • Introduction to Microsoft Word and Powerpoint
  • Algorithms
  • Human computer interaction
  • Using the Internet effectively: security, software and tools
  • Open source software

Course Notes (Summer 2010)

These slides are not completely representative of what I did in class (I don't like teaching off the slides, but use them as a guide), but give a good general idea.

Assignments

Sample Results for Assignment 1

What I Would Change Next Time

A better order of topics might be:

  • Introduction to computer science and computational thinking
  • Introduction to Microsoft Word and Powerpoint (allows the students to learn the more advanced features of Word before completing any assignments)
  • Algorithms (allows students to get a feel for this type of thinking before they do Scratch)
  • Basic programming with Scratch
  • Binary numbers and data representation (nothing depends on teaching this)
  • Human computer interaction (this is where the "How Can Computing Help?" assignment could be given)
  • Using the Internet effectively: security, software and tools
  • Open source software

Along with the topic shuffle, the assignments would be shuffled. I would probably add another assignment or two that relate to topics not covered in the original assignment.

Presentations were helpful in a sense, but even with a relatively small class it was difficult to organize.  I might drop them in the summer, and couldn't do them in the fall/winter (unless they were done in tutorials).

If not doing in-class presentations, more topics could be covered.  Excel would be a useful one to bring back, and is a great opportunity to illustrate use of algorithms.  I also didn't end up having much time to demo the open source software I wanted to (GIMP, Inkscape, etc), so this is another possibility.

I opted not to have a midterm because I was giving a fair number of assignments for a condensed summer term.  However, a better alternative would have been to have pop quizzes on each topic.  Students could have, say, the best 7 out of 8 of their quizzes replace their midterm (if there is one) or some/all of the final.