Mt/CS 401 Seminar

Spring 2004

Seminar participants are expected to plan class activities. Weekly course assignments should reflect the goals of the Seminar. Assignments and discussion topics may be developed and modified by the participants (subject to approval by the instructor).

Links to the study guides are at the end of this page.

The benchmark study guide is now available.

Course assignments and activities will be determined by seminar participants. We will keep a record here of weekly course activities.

Week 1: January 20 - 22

Introductions, set directions for the course, complete the syllabus, reach consensus on issues/concerns about class participation

Your Academic Autobiography

You are near the end of your academic career here at Cardinal Stritch University. Looking back at your academic career, and reflect on the highlights of that career. Write a two-page reflection, and send this to me by email at breynolds@stritch.edu. This reflection is DUE by noon on Monday, January 26.

Open discussion on exam study problems #1 and #2.

Week 2: January 27 - 29

Tuesday, January 28: Last day to drop/add classes

Discussion of policies and procedures for Class Participation, Attendance and Make-up policy: Judi Price, Howard Fajhe

Discussion of requirements for the benchmarks. Each benchmark group will present some ideas for discussion.

CS Benchmark Committee: Andre Lewis, Megan Heidkamp-Young, Alex Tarimo.

Mt Benchmark Committee: Katie Walczak, Lindsay Bronson, Kathy Kubicek.

Setting dates for the Project Timetable: Liz Rottler

Kathy Kubicek will open the discussion on exam study problems #4 and #22.

Liz Rottler will open discussion on Chapter 3: Systems of Logic from the Turing Omnibus.

Interest was expressed in the following chapters of The Turning Omnibus: Chapter 4 (Ying Moua, Kyle Riemersma, Judi Price, Megan Heidkamp-Young), Chapter 9 (Judi Price, Liz Rottler), Chapter 12 (Liz Rottler), Chapter 24 (Megan Heidkamp-Young), Chapter 25 (Kathy Kubicek), Chapter 28 (Andre Lewis), Chapter 29 (Kathy Kubicek), Chapter 33 (Katie Walczak), Chapter 40 (Ying Moua), Chapter 44 (Lindsay Bronson), Chapter 51 (Andre Lewis), Chapter 57 (Kathy Kubicek, Lindsay Bronson, katie Walczak, Howard Fahje), Chapter 65 (Alex Tarimo). We have discussed at least portions of the following chapters of The Turning Omnibus in class: Chapters 3 (Liz Rottler, Judi Price), Chapter 20 (Judi Price), Chapter 37 (Alex Tarimo), Chapter 47 (Kathy Kubicek), Chapter 53 (Andre Lewis), Chapter 55 (Ying Moua), Chapter 60 (Kyle Riemersma)

Week 3: February 3 - 5

Exam study questions: #6, 7, and 20 (Katie Walczak); #14 (Liz Rottler); #9, 21, 18 (Lindsay Bronson).

Further discussion on Chapter 3 (Alex Tarimo, Judi Price): What is a complete basis? Show that certain subsets of operators form a complete basis for the set of possible Boolean functions.

Further discussion of the Exam study questions: #21 (Lindsay Bronson).

DUE February 5: Bibliography and one-page proposal for yor project. The instructor will review your proposal and return it to you one week later.

Week 4: February 10 - 12

Exam study questions: #3 (Ying Moua), #13 and #17 (Kathy Kubicek and Katie Walczak), #16 (Howard Fahje).

Chapter 37: Public Key Cryptography (Alex Tarimo).

#18, using Maple (Lindsay Bronson); #15, review of limits and integrals with Maple (Liz Rottler).

WorkForce 2004, 4:00 - 8:00 pm at Marquette

Student who participate in WorkForce 2004 and want "credit" for this activity should send me an email message with a short paragraph telling me (a) what you did at WorkForce 2004 and (b) what you learned by participating in this event.

Week 5: February 17 - 29

Global Awareness Week is February 16 - 19.

Sr. Joanne Schatzlein will be in our class on TUESDAY, February 17. She will talk to us about Franciscan values and the Franciscan intellectual tradition. I suggested that she give us a 30-minute presentation, and that you would have questions.

I have told her that you have the Franciscan Values at Stritch booklet, and that you have been given the link to Franciscan Values on the Stritch web page. (Under Choose a Topic, select Franciscan Values, then click on the Franciscan Values link which appears near the bottom of the page.)

#5 (Megan Heidkamp-Young); #19 (Howard Fahje); implementing all 16 functions with NOR gates (Judi Price).

More on number systems: binary and hexadecimal systems (Sr Barbara Reynolds).

Week 6: February 24 - 26

DUE February 24: Revised proposal, project outline, pseudo-code, sketches, or whatever is appropriate for the type of project you are doing. The instructor will return these to you with suggestions one week later.

Computer Science workshop on both application software, and computer hardware:

• Tuesday: Overview of useful software packages (Andre Lewis, Megan Heidkamp-Young)
• Thursday: Overview of hardware concepts (Andre Lewis, Megan Heidkamp-Young, Howard Fahje, Alex Tarimo, Judi Price)

More on NOR-gates (Judi Price)

Week 7: March 2 - 4

Class discussion on what is appropriate for the benchmark. The benchmark study guide is now avaliable.

Using NOR-gates to implement AND, OR, and NOT (Judi Price)

#12 (Howard Fahje)

Thursday, March 4: Tom Kipp from Career Services will talk about Preparing for a Job Interview, including how to use your portfolio on a job interview.

Week 8: March 9 - 11

Benchmark review (Liz Rottler, Katie Walczak)

Using a graphing/scientific calculator (Liz Rottler)

Chapter 20: Karnaugh maps (Judi Price)

March 11: Turn in the suggested revision, timeframe, or progress report for your project.

Chapter 60: Computer Viruses (Kyle Riemersma)

The benchmark will be available between March 8 and March 26. The CS portion of the benchmark will be emailed to everyone on Monday, March 8; this will be DUE no later than Monday, March 15. Students may take the Mt portion of the benchmark by appointment with Sr. Barbara any time between March 8 and March 26.

Midterm is Friday, March 12. Spring Break is March 15 - 20.

Week 9: March 23 - 25

Chapter 20: more on Karnaugh maps (Judi Price)

Vending machine problem, page 137.

Chapter 60: Computer Viruses (Kyle Riemersma)

March 25: Turn in Project 1 or Part 1 of your project.

March 26: Last day for completing the Benchmarks.

Week 10: March 30 - April 1

Loan Insurance Analysis (Megan Heidkamp-Young).

Chapter 55: Towers of Hanoi (Ying Moua)

Logic diagram for a Binary Counter (Sr. Barbara Reynolds).

Chapter 53: DOS - Bootstrapping the Computer (Andre Lewis).

Chapter 47: Storing Images: A Cat in a Quad Tree (Kathy Kubicek).

April 1: Senior Exit Assessment (beginning at 3:10 p.m.).

Friday, April 2: Last day to withdraw

A Midsemester Reflection As it is just past the middle of the semester, it is a good time to take a look at how far we have come in this course -- and how much farther we need to go. You have each received some mid-semester feedback from me, and I would appreciate hearing your feedback to me. Please review the course objectives for this course, and send me your reflective responses to the following questions by email by 2 pm on Friday, April 2. What is your sense of the progress you are making in meeting the course objectives and content goals? In what ways have your experiences in this course helped you to understand Franciscan values more deeply? What aspects of the course do you feel are working well for you? What do you feel is working poorly? Identify two or three things that you can do which would help you to meet the objectives and content goals of this course. Do we need to change anything about how this Seminar is being run to help you better meet the course objectives? What? Be specific. In what way(s) could Sister Barbara help you to do the things you identify in item 4?

Week 11: April 6 - 8

More on Quad trees - Chapter 47 (Kathy Kubicek)

More on Loans, Interest, Insurance (Megan)

Other follow-up questions (??)

Discussion about how the course is going based on the feedback you send to Sr. Barbara in your mid-semester reflections.

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Comprehensive exam available: April 6.

Easter Break is April 8 - 12 --- NO CLASS ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON

Week 12: April 13 - 15

April 13: Opportunity to ask questions for clarification about the exam questions.

Comprehensive exam DUE: April 15. Oral presentation of exam questions in class that day.

Week 13: April 20 - 22

Portfolio DUE: April 22.

Rubric for Grading the Portfolio

April 20: Discussion with Papa Annor and Karen (Varga) Emmons, recent Stritch graduates with majors in Computer Science and Mathematics

April 22: Discussion with Tim Erdmann, recent Stritch graduate with major Mathematics, minor in Political Science

Week 14: April 27 - 29

April 27: Career Services -- assessment, personality preferences.

Small group work.

Wednesday, April 28: Honors Convocation -- All students (especially Seniors) are expected to participate in the Honors Convocation.

April 29: Introduction to Access (Andre Lewis, Alex Tarimo)

Small group work.

Week 15: May 4 - 6

Presentation -- May 4: Simulation: The Monte Carlo Method (Chapter 4, plus some additional information), Ying Moua and Kyle Riemersma

Presentation -- May 6: Linex Network, Alex Tarimo

Project DUE: May 6.

Rubric for Grading the Project

Last Class Meeting: Tuesday, May 11 (1 - 3 p.m.)

Presentations -- May 6:

• Linear Programming: The Simplex Method (Chapter 57), Lindsay Bronson, Katie Walczak, Kathy Kubicek, Howard Fahje
• Heaps and Merges: The Fastest Sorts of Sorts (Cahpter 40), Ying Moua

Projects returned: May 11.

• Completing the Syllabus

This is an opportunity to create your own course. Within certain parameters, students can set the directions for this course. Everyone has a vested interest in this discussion.

• Loan Insurance Analysis

This problem gives you an opportunity to learn some practical things about personal finance and insurance. It can be solved using spreadsheets, calculators, and/or methods of algebra and calculus. (A booklet of information about this problem will be available as a handout in class.)

• Career Opportunities

What career opportunities are available for graduates with a degree in Mathematics and/or Computer Studies? What resources are available to you in as you search for a job/career related to your degree? This is an opportunity to invite guest speakers from Career Services. In past years, students have also invited recent graduates to speak to the Seminar class.

• The benchmark study guide is now available.

• A list of topics to be covered on the comprehensive exam and the benchmark test are available on-line. Questions from previous exams are also available.