Computer Science I

CS 0109
3 Credits

Instructors
Xanda Schofield, Ph.D.
Michael Lee
Erin Hoffman
Richard Tillies

Course Description
This course introduces students to computer science through object-oriented programming, covering topics
from the basic “Hello, World!” program to recursion. Students will learn how to “think like a computer” to
solve problems in the digital and non-digital world. They will become familiar with essential concepts and
algorithms in the Java programming language and apply them to analyze, write, and test code. Additionally,
students will develop a growth mindset when it comes to programming and build skills for debugging, error
handling, and defensive programming. They will also recognize the social impact and power of computer
science within our modern society.

Course Learning Outcomes

● Demonstrate familiarity with the essential computer programming concepts
● Apply the basic concepts and principles of structured programming and object-oriented programming
● Apply computational thinking, common data structures, and algorithms to designing problem solutions
● Formulate test cases, test, and debug a program
● Translate a well-posed problem into a functioning program in order to analyze or solve the problem

Course Materials
This is an online course. All course materials (including lecture videos, interactive textbook, and practice
exercises) are provided by Outlier.org through its course website, computerscience-i.beta.outlier.org. Additional
tools will be made available, incorporated into, or linked to from Outlier.org.

09/22/2022
Class Policies
1. Attendance & Attention to Course Materials – As an online course, attendance is asynchronous and is
tracked by students viewing the required lectures, engaging with interactive online materials, and
completing practice exercises. Each student will also have the option to spend as much time as needed
learning and practicing with additional materials and practice questions; the level of their understanding
will be demonstrated by their performance on a set of mastery assessments in the form of quizzes,
midterm exams, a final exam, and a capstone assignment.
2. Access to Online Course Platform – All course materials will be accessed through the course website
computerscience-i.beta.outlier.org. Course progress, lectures, active learning, practice exercises, and
quizzes will be tracked and saved once you log in. Please reference your Course Homepage to view your
grades and academic progress, and the Course Info page for details and instructions on the Outlier
course features.
3. Assessment Completion & Late Work – Mastery assessments (quizzes, midterm exams, a final exam,
and a three-part capstone assignment) must be completed by their due dates (as indicated on Outlier.org).
Failure to complete an assessment by the indicated due date will result in a grade of 0 for that
assessment. Midterm and final exams are eligible to receive a 24-hour extension of the scheduled due
date. Extensions can be requested by submitting a short request form within the site, available within 24
hours of the assessment deadline. For assessments offering multiple opportunities for completion (only
quizzes in this course), only the highest grade of any completed instance of that assessment will count
towards the student’s final grade. Late work will not be accepted.
4. Exams – In order to maintain high standards of academic integrity we use online technology to
proctor exams. You will be asked to confirm your identity with a photo ID and you will be required to
grant access to your computer, including its webcam, screen, and microphone, for the duration of the
exam. Each exam can be taken anytime during the exam open period but must be completed in a
single contiguous sitting. Times and dates below are all based on Eastern Standard Time. Exams will
be available from the open date at 12:00pm ET through the closing date at 12:00pm ET.
5. Exam Materials – Students may not use any other kind of notes, websites, books, or any other type
of aid on course exams.
6. Academic Integrity – Students in this course will be expected to agree to and comply with the
Outlier.org Academic Integrity Policy. Any student suspected of violating this obligation for any
reason during the semester will be required to participate in the procedural process as outlined in
the Outlier.org Academic Integrity Policy.
7. Student to Instructor Communications – Most of your learning will happen within the Outlier course.
Use the button in the bottom right corner to submit feedback or if you have a question(s) about any of
the content in the lectures, active learning, or practice exercises. You can also reach a Success Advisor
by sending an email to [email protected] or by engaging in the course Discussion Community.

09/22/2022
8. Course Participation – Join Outlier’s Discussion Community and participate in weekly conversations
with the course facilitators and your peers to earn the discussion group portion of your grade. Course
participation is counted as sharing an interesting article you read that pertains to the chapters you’re
working on, or asking a question of your fellow classmates to try to solve a difficult problem. You can
also answer your peers’ questions by starting a thread under their post. Derogatory and sarcastic
comments and jokes that marginalize anyone are fundamentally unacceptable, especially in the
classroom. Offensive language—or language that could be construed as offensive—should be avoided.
9. Administrative Drops – Students who do not meaningfully participate by the time 20% of the term has
passed will be administratively dropped from the course. For 15-week terms, the 20% mark is the third
week of the course. Meaningful course participation includes regularly logging into the course,
completing quizzes, engaging in the Discussion Community, and responding to Student Success
outreach.
10. Withdrawals – If a student decides to exit from a course AFTER the drop deadline and BEFORE the
withdrawal deadline, it is defined as a withdrawal. This is different from having dropped the course, as a
grade of W will appear on your transcript. Withdrawals do not affect your GPA, but they do count
towards the number of credits attempted. Students will still have access to review the lectures and active
learning, but progress in the course will not be saved. Students who Withdraw are not eligible for a
refund.
11. Disability Accommodations – If you have a request for reasonable disability accommodations, contact
[email protected]. Please include specifics regarding the accommodation you are seeking.
Additionally, if you have a disability accommodations letter from a school you are currently attending,
please submit it as well. Outlier is committed to ensuring that learners with accessibility needs have
equal opportunity to succeed in our courses.
12. Religious observances – Outlier will make a reasonable attempt to accommodate student needs in the
case of serious incompatibility between a student's religious creed and a scheduled test or examination.
Students should make such requests via [email protected] during the first two weeks of an academic
term.
13. Transfer Credit – University of Pittsburgh grades and credits earned in this course appear on an
official University of Pittsburgh transcript, and the course credits are likely to be eligible for transfer
to other colleges and universities. Students are encouraged to contact potential colleges and
universities in advance to ensure their credits would be accepted. If students decide to attend any
University of Pittsburgh campus, the University of Pittsburgh grade earned in the course will count
toward the student grade point average at the University, and the earned credits will count towards the
overall credits required for graduation. At the University of Pittsburgh, the grade from this course
supersedes any equivalent AP credit.

09/22/2022
Grading Criteria
Your grade in this course will be comprised of the following elements:

25% Final exam

20% Midterm exams (two midterm exams, 10% each)
35% Chapter quizzes (nine quizzes)
15% Capstone assignment (three parts, 5% each)
5% Course participation in student group discussions

At the end of each chapter, each student is required to complete a quiz designed to assess their mastery of the
material covered in that chapter. Each student will be able to attempt three (3) versions of each chapter’s quiz.
All three versions will be made available to the student at the end of each chapter.

Each student is required to attempt and complete at least one version of each chapter’s quiz. Failing to do so
will result in a grade of 0% for that chapter. If a student completes more than one quiz for a chapter, only the
highest grade achieved will be counted for that chapter. As such, the student is encouraged to use these multiple
quiz attempts as opportunities to identify areas that are in need of further practice. This diligent effort will allow
the student to improve their understanding, mastery of the material, and grade in the course.

Grades
An official grade will appear on the University of Pittsburgh transcript for any student who
continues their enrollment beyond the official drop date for the course. Outlier.org will publicize
the official drop date for each semester.

Grading Scale
A: 92.5 -100%
A-: 89.5 – 92.49%
B+: 86.5-89.49%
B: 82.5 – 86.49%
B-: 79.5 – 82.49%
C+: 76.5 – 79.49%
C: 72.5 – 76.49%
C-: 69.5 – 72.49%
D: 59.5 – 69.49%
F: 0 – 59.49%

09/22/2022
Course Materials & Assessments
Chapter Assignments and Assessments are subject to change, and will be announced through
Outlier.org as applicable within a reasonable time frame.

Week Chapter Topics Assessments

Week 1 0 - Intro to ● Defining computer science Chapter 0 Quiz
(#/# - #/#) Computer Science ● Problem-solving process:
design, implementation,
testing, refinement
● Running programs
● Programming languages
● Stored program computers
(CPU, memory, I/O)
● Our language: Java
Week 2 1 - Basics ● Syntax and semantics Chapter 1 Quiz
(#/# - #/#) ● “Hello, World!”
● Commenting
● Keywords, identifiers, literals
● Variables
● Primitive types and reference
types
● Declaration and assignment
● Assignment and numerical
operators
● Order of precedence
● Making mistakes and
debugging
Week 3 2 - Conditionals ● Logical operators Chapter 2 Quiz
(#/# - #/#) ● Comparison operators
● Short circuiting
● if, else, and else if
statements
● Nested if statements
Week 4 3 - Loops ● while loops
(#/# - #/#) ● for loops Capstone
● Infinite loops Assignment Part I
● do-while loops
● Enhanced for loops
● Nested loops

09/22/2022
 ● Problem-solving with loops
● Scoping
Week 5 4 - Methods ● Defining and calling methods Chapter 3 + 4
(## - ##) ● Method signatures Quiz
● Method overloading
● Void methods
● Methods that return values
● Passing by value
Week 6 0-4 Midterm Exam 1 opens Midterm Exam 1,
(#/# - #/#) mm/dd at 12pm ET Retake
Midterm Exam 1 closes Ch 0 - 4 Quizzes
mm/dd at 12pm ET as needed
5 - Arrays ● Creating and declaring arrays Chapter 5 Quiz
● Indexing arrays
● Traversing arrays with for
loops
● Arrays with methods
● Multidimensional arrays
● Getting and setting values in
2D arrays
● Traversing 2D arrays with
nested loops
Week 7 6 - Strings ● Defining a String Chapter 6 Quiz
(#/# - #/#) ● Common String methods
● Arrays of Strings
● Comparing and manipulating
Strings
Week 8 7 - ArrayLists ● Declaring and creating
(#/# - #/#) ArrayLists
● ArrayList methods Capstone
● Traversing ArrayLists with Assignment Part II
loops
● Binary search
● Ethics of data collection and
data privacy
Week 9 8 - Object - ● Defining and creating classes Chapter 7 + 8
(#/# - #/#) Oriented and objects Quiz
Programming ● Constructor method
● Main method

09/22/2022
 ● Accessor and mutator
methods
● Data visibility
● Libraries
Week 10 5-8 Midterm Exam 2 opens Midterm 2,
(#/# - #/#) mm/dd at 12pm ET Retake
Ch 5 - 8 Quizzes
Midterm Exam 2 closes
as needed
mm/dd at 12pm ET

Week 11 9 - Classes and ● Inheritance, superclass, Chapter 9 Quiz

(#/# - #/#) Inheritance subclass
● Overriding methods
● Polymorphism
● Object class
● Designing class hierarchies
Week 12 10 - Error ● Error handling
(#/# - #/#) Handling and ● Defensive programming Capstone
Exceptions ● Enumerated types Assignment Part
● Catching, throwing, creating III
exceptions
● Checked exceptions
Week 13 11 - Recursion ● Defining recursion Chapter 10 + 11
(#/# - #/#) ● The Fibonacci sequence Quiz
● Recursion and sorting
● Selection, insertion, quick,
and merge sort
Week 14 0 - 11 Final Exam opens Final Exam,
(#/# - #/#) mm/dd at 12pm ET Retake
Final Exam closes Chapter 0 - 11
mm/dd at 12pm ET Quizzes as
needed

Exams and the capstone assignments are the only scheduled coursework. Quizzes can be
completed at any time, once their corresponding chapter has been unlocked. All other active
learning, exercises, and lectures are provided for your learning and practice and are not
time-sensitive or graded.

09/22/2022
Notice of Copyright – Materials in this course—unless otherwise indicated—are protected by
United States copyright law [Title 17, U.S. Code]. Materials are presented in an educational
context for personal use and study and should not be shared, distributed, or sold in print—or
digitally—outside the course without permission.

09/22/2022