What about COVID-19?
Clearly, we are in unpreceded times and there is no way to predict exactly how Fall 2020 courses will be experienced. We are being proactive and planning for several scenarios and will communicate them here on this website as soon as decisions are made. We are redesigning the course to allow both in-person but also exclusively remote engagement with the materials. This includes online lectures, sections, assignments, and teamwork. We will likely deploy new teaching and team collaboration tools. If you enroll in CS160, you will be expected to engage with these as part of the course experience. Lectures will be recorded so you can view them asynchronously. Attendance requirements will be significantly relaxed. That is not to say you do not ever need to be "present" (online or in-person) during actual class time. We will require you to be online with us or in person (if that is an option) during selected course dates. We will communicate those dates as soon as we have finalized the syllabus for Fall 2020. In general, we ask that you be flexible and accommodating. We are here to support you but with this flexibility comes additional responsibilities for you as a student.
I can't enroll but I see space in the class?
I do not control enrollment. It is handled through CS and does give preference to EECS and L&S CS students. We hope to accommodate as many as we can. Please put yourself on the waitlist. We cannot enroll you if you are not on the waitlist. Ignore messages through enrollment that say there are open spaces in the class – these are enrollment artifacts. We are aware of the current and expected enrollment and handling them to accommodate as many students as we can. Final enrollment will be decided by Monday 31st August, 2020.
I'm not an EECS or L&S CS student. Can I enroll?
Possibly (and hopefully), but you must first be waitlisted. Please put yourself on the waitlist and we will process as we move forward towards the start of the semester. We typically do enroll a small number of such students.
What is CS260A? Can I enroll in that?
CS260A is the exact same class and requirements as CS160. It is simply a separate course number for use by graduate students. You cannot enroll in CS260A unless you are a graduate student. Please do not use CS260A as a back door into CS160. Undergraduates should not be able to enroll into CS260A. We remove all undergraduates from the CS260A course listing prior to the start of the semester.
How do I get on the waitlist? It's not working for me.
I do not control the waitlist. I have communicated with staff that anyone should be able to be added to the waitlist. I have been told that there are sometimes glitches in the system. If you cannot add yourself to the waitlist, do not email me. I cannot add you to it nor can I provide any help on how to do so.
I'm at position X on the waitlist. Do I have a chance to get in?
Maybe...maybe not. What I can promise is that we will make final decision and process the waitlist by the end of day on Monday 31st Aug. So you will know by then.
Since the class is not meeting in person, there is no room capacity issue. Why not expand the class enrollment?
While we do not have room capacity issues, there are still constraints on the course. First, being online it will be even more challenging to work remotely "together" and scaling only exacerbates that issue. There are also finite teaching staff resources. We are provided resources and finances by the department to hire teaching staff and do not have extended resources to expand the course enrollment. This also leads to a more complex class management load which takes away from the educational and intellectual learning goals of the course. Finally, it is already challenging to operate and meet the learning goals of this course when it is run remote and asynchronous – expanding 2x or 3x will most certainly lead to a significantly diminished experience by all students. We are not planning on expanding enrollment.
I have a finals conflict with CS160 and another class?
No worries, CS160 does not have final. We do have a final critique and public showcase during RRR week that you must attend (exact date can be found on the syllabus). However, if we are not able to meet in person or gather in groups the showcase will take a different format. You should still expect something requiring your engagement at a specific time during RRR week. What that means is, do not be surprised when we ask you to be online or in a building to present some element in real time about your final project during RRR week.
Will the class be webcast?
Yes, it is scheduled to be webcast. But you are of course strongly encouraged to come to class. Also, there will be a set of required attendance days which can be found on the syllabus. Attendence will count towards your participation grade.
What does it mean to attend a class if it is online and no one can be physically present?
We are moving significant parts of the course to an online asynchronous format that can be easily accessed remotely. However, there are specific times where the learning experience requires us to come together. We will communicate those dates to you when the syllabus is finalized. The mechanics of "attendance" will be sorted out then. What you should take away is, you do not have to attend in real-time most of the time. However, you will be required to at specific times. Please do not enroll if you will never be able to be part of this class during it's regularly scheduled time slot. This is because we are developing a blended hybrid experience of asynchronous and selected synchronous activities throughout the semester. We need you to be present during those limited but important synchronous class times.
What about Octoburary 34th? Can I be excused since I have special event X?
Teaching CS160 online is a challenge and we are working hard to accommodate the course while delivering the required instructional material. The logistics of operating the class at scale are complex. As such, and because there is so much flexibility around the class and relaxed attendance, we cannot handle any special exemptions or requests for the course. That means if we need to select a date that is required attendance that you cannot make, it will be entirely on you to decide your action. We cannot and will not handle any exceptions. Please don't make myself and the teaching staff work around your complex schedule. We are excited to teach CS160 but will not handle special exceptions around attendance. Please understand we do not have the staffing support to accommodate such requests.
Great, the class is webcast. I'm definitely not going to attend class.
I know most of you are not thinking that but indeed I'm not naïve enough to not realize that by webcasting lectures that some of you interpret that as an open invitation to never attend. Your experience at Berkeley is precious. It is such an amazing moment in your life. I know you may not realize that now but trust me it is (ask your friends that have graduated and are out a few years)! For you to simply opt-out of many of the important experiences is not only disheartening (for me and you) but also robs of you of the essential, once in a lifetime experience of being a student. Don't take my word for it? Here are public, unsolicited comments about my offering of CS160:
"It is the single most amazing class I’ve taken at Berkeley."
"I owe my current career plans to CS160; this was the class that got me very interested in the area of mobile development."
"The lectures themselves were very nonintuitive and interesting. You kinda have to attend lectures in order to keep up with the class. A couple of my friends tried to study for the midterm the night before by just reading the slides (they had never attended a single lecture). Bad mistake…they only performed a std. deviation above average. They could’ve topped the class had they just gone to lecture."
"Overall I highly recommend taking CS160 if your remotely interested in UI/UX, design, being a program manager, starting your own company, or just a software engineer who wants to build a better user experience. The skills in understanding users, and sketching out ideas have helped me in my career."
So attend class (whatever that may mean in Fall 2020), be engaged, change your perspective, and be rewarded. I'm here to help you along that path. Please be there with me!
I have a great project idea I want to work on, can I develop it throughout the course?
We will all work from a single design brief for the final project. The brief will provide enough creative range for everyone but you will need to keep your final design within the final scope of work. Best to jump into the class ready to generate new ideas than to bring one you have already developed or have thought about.
When are the sections and how do I enroll?
Sections are on Thursdays. Similar to lectures, most are not required but again you are strongly encouraged to attend as they provided much needed technical materials to complete the assignments and build your HCI skills. We will allow signups to for specific section times during the first week of class. We will need to do soem load ballancing across the sections. You may not get your first choice. For now, be prepared to select a section by the first class.
What is the hardware platform we will be using?
We are in the process of finalizing that selection and let you know when appropriate.
Is there a midterm?
Maybe. We will have a final decison by the first day of class.
Can I form my own team?
Please realize that I know there are many functional groups and friendships within our UC Berkeley community. I have tried nearly every mechanism for forming groups and by far the best is for the teaching staff to select the groups. Groups will be formed and finalized by the teaching staff and professor.
Can I enroll in the course as a concurrent enrollment student?
Please understand we would very much enjoy being able to offer this course to the widest range of students. However, as a high touch, qualitative, project-focused design course, CS160 cannot scale as readily as some other courses (we also have a room capacity limits). Because of that, fully enrolled students take priority. Please understand that for many students, this course is part of their path to graduation. Ethically, for myself as an instructor, enrolling a concurrent student would mean denying acccess to a fully enrolled UC Berkeley student that very likely delays their graduation. As a concurrent enrollment student, please put yourself in the situation of a fully enrolled UC Berkeley student working towards their graduation. If I accept you into the course that means denying access to this course and often delaying the graduation of another full UC Berkeley student. Thank you for understanding this policy.
Can I audit the class?
My classroom is open and you are welcome to attend. However, since you are not part of the official enrollment you may not be able to access all course matrials, recorded lectures, readings, assignments, etc. Similarly, I will not be placing you into groups or teams. There will likely be diminished returns as we start to work in groups and team projects as you will be excluded from those activities. Similarly, I actually won't put you into any such collaborative projects. This is because even though I do believe you have the best of intentions, your participation in a group or team will almost certainly become detrimental once the projects ramp up and your own life pulls you in other directions causing you to disengage from the group. I know this does not reflect your personal values, but I have seen it happen far too many times to travel down that path again. You are welcome to attend lectures. Also, please be aware that I will give priority to fully enrolled students as well during my office hour. Thank you for understanding.
What happens in this class?
For many of you, this will be one of the first times we focus on the user experience within computer science. You will blend your technical and computational lens with a humanist view of people, motivations, needs, desires, emotions, and demographics. You will strengthen your design skills and develop inspiring portfolios of work. If you put in the time and effort, this class will change you ... and you'll likely have some fun along the way.
