How

I am using Moodle for quizzes. They will all appear in the Moodle page for this course: Q0, Q1, ..., Q4. Simply double-click on the appropriate quiz. Each will be be available at least a week in advance of when you need to submit it (which is always Thurday night, midnight. I set it to close at 12:15AM Friday morning).

Rules

Second, the rules on taking quizzes:

1. They are completely open book. You may use any source: My posted class notes, searching on the Internet, etc. Pay special attention to www.w3schools.com. You may use a calculator or any other computational aide.
2. The only source you may not use is another human being: no student, no friend, not a TA, no blog forum, etc. No collaborations on quizzes.
3. You may ask me clarifying questions (e.g., by email), and if I think the issue raised is relevant, I will write to the whole class.
4. You may take the quiz twice. If you take it twice, the second score is used (even if it is lower). I am using this to minimize random guessing. Just opening and looking at the quiz does not count as taking it. Only when you click Submit have you taken it.
5. You will only see a total score after taking it. You will not see which ones were wrong. After the quiz deadline, you can access it again and then you will see all my answers.
6. If you miss the deadline, there will be a version "for late-takers only"---take that one instead.

Advice

Third, a few pointers and advice on taking the quizzes. Here is how I think it best to handle them.

1. Access the quiz and print it out.. Read it over, perhaps guessing at the answers.
2. Go to w3schools and look up the relevant technical points.
3. Look over your class notes, my Notes for each lecture in the Syllabus, revisit the Lab(s).
4. Sometimes you may have to just think about what should be the answer, without finding it anywhere.
5. Sometimes you have to run experiments, using the tools learned in the Labs, to answer a particular question. If you are unsure if some construction works or not, try it out by making a sample web page and testing it.
6. Feel free to write me (jorourke@smith.edu or orourke@cs.smith.edu) with clarification questions.
7. Only actually take the quiz when you have it completely figured out, with all answers written on your sheet. (It is not timed, and until you hit Submit, I never see it.)
8. Be aware that Moodle shuffles the options each time you visit!
9. It may be harder than you initially think to get everything correct. It will usually not suffice to know roughly what's going on--often you will have to know precisely what's going on, the precise meaning of technical terms, etc.
10. Take your time. There is no advantage to submitting it early, except to give yourself a second chance.