Syllabus | CS 2113 Software Engineering - Spring 2025

Syllabus

Meeting Times and Staff

Instructor

Meeting Time and Course Staff

Office hours

Grading

Course Details

Course Description

In this course, students will learn how to write and debug object-oriented code using Java. Concepts will focus on object-oriented thinking, software composition, inheritance and polymorphism, unit testing, and design patterns.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Textbook and Resources

There are NO REQUIRED textbooks for this course. You do not need to use outside materials to complete the assignments, except when specifically instructed to do so.

Workload

Expected time commitment

The GW standard is that one credit hour corresponds to a minimum of 50 minutes of instruction plus 100 minutes of independent learning (e.g., homework and exam prep) per week. This is a 3 credit course, thus you should expect to spend 2.5-3 hours in class and 50 minutes in lab, plus four to five hours of independent learning per week, which may include completing programming assignments.

The amount of time you spend per week may be more or less, depending on the topic and the current assignments, but you should set aside time to complete your work for this class, both during lecture and out. The course will be extremely programming-intensive.

Grading

Grading Breakdown

Final course grades are calculated as follows:
A (>= 92.0%) A– (>= 90.0%)
B+ (>= 88.0%) B (>= 82.0%) B– (>= 80.0%)
C+ (>= 78.0%) C (>= 72.0%) C– (>= 70.0%)
D (>= 60.0%)
F (< 60.0%)

* You must earn an 80 or higher on the live coding assessment in order to pass this course (otherwise your grade will be an F).

Having completed the pre-reqs, you are expected to:

It is your responsibility to submit your code early and often to the submitserver and ensure it passes all the test cases there. Note that, under load, the submitserver may take longer than a few seconds to return your score if many other students are also using it simultaneously. We will not accept any code that has not been submitted to the submitserver before the deadline. When using the submitserver, your grade will be the score you see on the submitserver. Make sure you leave yourself ample time before assignment submission to get help with any issues that you may run into when submitting your code.

Re-grade requests and grades on the submitserver/Blackboard

It is your responsibility to make sure that Blackboard reflects your correct scores within two weeks of an assignment due date; we will not adjust scores after this deadline. You can calculate your grade in the course at any time by referring to the raw scores on Blackboard, and using the weights above to calculate your grade in the class. No assignments will be accepted for re-grade requests after final course grades have been recorded on Blackboard. You have 48 hours to notify the professor of any issues with final grades recorded to Blackboard once they have been posted there; we will not entertain regrade requests and other related questions after that time.

Regrade requests will only be considered for either 1) a grade being incorrectly recorded on the submitserver/Blackboard or 2) a grading rubric was not followed correctly. Please do not request to meet to “discuss” grades before emailing the instructional staff why your situation falls into one of these two situations first.

We also do not entertain any requests to arbitrarily “bump up” grades, and we do not offer grades for effort – see the professionalism policy below. If you wish to have the professor review how your final grade was calculated according to the grading policy above, you may do this via email, or in-person. If you choose to do it in person, please email to schedule a meeting and include your own calculations for reference. Final grade questions will not be answered in regular office hours.

Labs

You will usually have one or two labs each week. These are due Fridays at 11:59pm on the submitserver/BB. However, you may submit them up until class time on Mondays without penalty, but there will be no office hours nor Ed support for these assignments after the Friday due date. The lowest scoring lab will be dropped from your grade.

Quizzes and Exams

We will have quizzes most weeks of the semester. If you miss a quiz, you may make this quiz up on the last lecture of the semester: these quizzes will be harder as you had more time to study. No additional makeups-on-makeups will be supported. If you need to make up more than one missed quiz, you will need a note from Dean Zara. You will not be allowed to make up any quizzes that you have already taken.

There will also be one live coding exam that students will take on school-provided computers during one lecture/lab session.

Worksheets

This class is taught as a flipped classroom; you are expected to do the weekly readings before coming to class. During lecture, we will complete worksheets together that are due on Mondays at 11:59pm (the same day of lecture). These will be graded for correctness. The lowest scoring worksheet will be dropped from your grade.

Submission/Late Work Policy/Extensions

All assignments are due in EST.

We do not accept late work in this course.

We do not offer extensions in this course.

If you are missing class due to a extended unforseen absence (such as hospitalization) or documented scheduled absence (such as surgery or court) please email the professor to let them know and send along the documentation for these events. Makeup work will be at the professor’s discretion; extended abscences such as vacations will not be excused, for example. We do not require, and are not permitted to accept, doctor’s notes to excuse short-term illnesses (that do not require hospitalization); instead, we drop the lowest of various missed assignments or allow for a makeup according to the class schedule. For situations that fall outside what is described in this syllabus, a note from Dean Zara will be required.

Class Communication

Make sure to check Ed at least once every weekday.

Please allow instructional staff 24 business hours (M-F from 8am-4pm) to respond to email and Ed messages. A message sent on a Friday afternoon may only be answered on a Monday. We can often reply much more quickly, but please do not wait until the last minute to ask your questions and/or start assignments.

Professionalism

Students are expected to treat each other, the TAs, and the instructor professionally both in-person and in online communications and work. If unprofessional behavior is observed, a student will first receive a warning. Afterwards, their final grade in the course may be reduced up to 5% for additional acts of unprofessionalism.

Knowingly asking the professor to violate or go against policies set in this syllabus will count as unprofessional behavior.

Students who exhibit unprofessional behavior, including but not limited to honor code violations, will not receive letters of recommendation from the professor for TA applications, graduate school, scholarships, etc.

Course Policies

Academic Integrity policy

It is very important in this course (and in life), that your work be your own. These guidelines will help you achieve that.

You must:

You may:

You may NOT:

Penalties for violating the code or the policies described here include failing this course, and are elaborated in the GW Academic Integrity Code. Note that the minimum punishment is failure of the assignment. Additional actions could include failure of the class, suspension, or expulsion.

Use of Electronic Course Materials and Class Recordings

Students are encouraged to use electronic course materials, including recorded class sessions, for private personal use in connection with their academic program of study. Electronic course materials and recorded class sessions should not be shared or used for non-course related purposes unless express permission has been granted by the instructor. Students who impermissibly share any electronic course materials are subject to discipline under the Student Code of Conduct. Please contact the instructor if you have questions regarding what constitutes permissible or impermissible use of electronic course materials and/or recorded class sessions. Please contact Disability Support Services if you have questions or need assistance in accessing electronic course materials.

University policy on observance of religious holidays

In accordance with University policy, students should notify faculty during the first week of the semester of their intention to be absent from class on their day(s) of religious observance. For details and policy, see Religious Holidays on the Provost web page.

Disability Support Services (DSS)

Any student who may need an accommodation based on the potential impact of a disability should contact Disability Support Services (or call 202-994-8250) to establish eligibility and to coordinate accommodations.

Safety and Security

• Monitor GW Alerts and Campus Advisories to Stay Informed before and during an emergency event or situation
• In an emergency: call GWPD/EMeRG 202-994-6111 or 911
• For situation-specific actions: refer to GW’s Emergency Response Handbook and Emergency Operations Plan
• In the event of an armed Intruder: Run. Hide. Fight.

Diversity and Inclusion

All people have the right to be addressed and referred to in accordance with their personal identity. In this class, we will have the chance to indicate the name that we prefer to be called and, if we choose, to identify pronouns with which we would like to be addressed. I will do my best to address and refer to all students accordingly and support classmates in doing so as well.

For more resources, see the CS Dept JEDI homepage.

Acknowledgments

The material for this course comes from previous iterations taught by Prof. Aviv. Thank you.