Cosi102a 2024 Syllabus (printable)

Course Description

Introduction

The most common trap that we all fall into when we become enamored with a new product or business idea is to assume that our own personal experience and intuition is a valid measure of the likelihood of success. At the highest level then, this course is about thinking, measuring and experimenting, before taking the leap to start implementation.

This course is built around “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries. The concepts, theories and techniques we cover were first made famous in that book, and by now have become more or less part of the common language in the field. While this is not a business course per se, there are a number of foundational concepts that every technical co-founder and technology entrepreneur needs to be familiar with. We will cover the basics of finance, product pricing, venture capital and funding.

We believe that the great majority of worthy endeavors are the result of team’s collaboration. Therefore we put a high value on being successful working on a team for a major product. Teams invariably experience challenges in setting and agreeing on goals, making and meeting mutual commitments, accepting team members’ diversity of interest, talent, motivation. These will all be occasions for learning and improving students success.

Grading overview

The final grade in this course will reflect my assessment of your performance in the course. This includes your participation; your mastery of the key learning objectives; your demonstration this both in written form and in code (if applicable); your application of what you’ve learned to working on a team; building an interesting product; and communicating what you achieved at the end of the semester.

Individual assignments are scored and weighted (see below), and used to determine class rank which in turn is used to determine your grade. Note that you will not get a numeric “final score”, just a final grade. I will follow the guidelines from the University Bulletin:

• A -> High Distinction
• B -> Distinction
• C -> Satisfactory
• D -> Passing, but Unsatisfactory

Skills

I have distilled the contents and objectives for this course into the following skills. There will be a variety of ways in which you will be evaluated on your understanding and ability to apply each of these skills. You will have a chance to demonstrate this through your work on homeworks, presentations, a term project, quizzes as well as your participation and contribution to the class.

Grading

My goal with grading is to keep it simple. This prelimninary so expect it to be tweaked. The building blocks are:

1. Quizzes, Mideterm, Finals, etc. There will be at least one and up to three. They will all be done in class, online, closed book and web. These will account for about 20% (revised from 35%) of your grade.
2. Term Project: This will be done in teams of four. The teams will be formed by the instructor based on students’ responses to an ‘about me’ survey. There will be work during the term that become part of the final deliverables for the term project. Some of the final deliverables will be done by individual students, and there will be part which will be considered group work, This will account for about 35% of your grade.
3. Class Participation: In person attendance is required. We need you to come to class prepared, having done the readings and ready to discuss them in class. There might be other small assignments which will be considered part of class participation. This will account for about 15% (revised from 10%) of your grade.
4. Homeworks: There are about a dozen homework assignments. Each will have one or more “skills”. Each submission will be evaluated as a “meets” or “exceeds” for each skill involved. At the end we will evaluate how well you have acquired each of the skills. These will account for about 30% (revised from 20%) of your grade.

Scores

All your work will be scored using a categorical scale with: “Does not meet expectations”, “Meets Expectations”, “Exceeds Expectations”. Take those phrases for their english language meaning. Do not try to map them to grades!

Change Policy

The instructor reserves the right to make changes to this syllabus and the associated curriculum web site if he deems it necessary. Any changes will either be announced in class or through e-mail. All students are responsible for finding out about such changes. Each student must be aware that not all assignments are listed in the syllabus. Students must use their common sense and not look for loopholes in the syllabus because, ultimately, the instructor has the final say in all matters. If you are confused on any assignment, ask the instructor for clarification.

By deciding to stay in this course, you are agreeing to all parts of this syllabus. In fairness to everyone, the syllabus must apply equally to all students without exception.

Prerequisites

This course has no pre-requisites. It is open to Sophomores and above

Credit Hours

Success in this four-credit course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of nine hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.)

Academic Integrity

Every member of the University community is expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. A student shall not submit work that is falsified or is not the result of the student’s own effort.

Infringement of academic honesty by a student subjects that student to serious penalties, which may include failure on the assignment, failure in the course, suspension from the University or other sanctions (see section 20 of R&R). Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures related to academic integrity.

You are expected to be familiar with, and to follow, the University’s policies on academic integrity. You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures related to academic integrity. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to Student Rights and Community Standards. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failing grades and/or suspension from the university.

A student who is in doubt regarding standards of academic honesty as they apply to a specific course or assignment should consult the faculty member responsible for that course or assignment before submitting the work. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Department of Student Rights and Community Standards.

Artificial Intelligence Tools

“AI Tools” broadly speaking are useful tools in our toolkits, like google and youtube and grammarly. But remember that LLMs are trained on other peope’s text which in a way is the very essence of plagiarism or intellectual theft. In this class you are not prohibited from using an “AI Tool” for research, brainstorming, fact checking, learning about tools or how to use them.

But, copying any text, diagram, table, or other content from the web, AI tools, google and all the rest is strictly prohibted and would be considered a serious breach of academic freedom.

If you are not sure, it is always better to ask a TA or the professor if you’re not certain!

Participation

Attendance is required for in-person classes such as this one. We monitor it and regular unexcused absences will definitely affect your grade.

However if you have a reason why you cannot participate in person, you are welcome to ask to be excused. We will listen to all reasonable requests.

Please email your lead TA to ask for an excused absence.

Accomodations

Brandeis seeks to create a learning environment that is welcoming and inclusive of all students, and I want to support you in your learning. If you think you may require disability accommodations, you will need to work with Student Accessibility Support (SAS). You can contact them at 781-736-3470, email them at access@brandeis.edu, or visit the Student Accessibility Support home page. You can find helpful student FAQs and other resources on the SAS website, including guidance on how to know whether you might be eligible for support from SAS.

If you already have an accommodation letter from SAS, please provide me with a copy as soon as you can so that I can ensure effective implementation of accommodations for this class. In order to coordinate exam accommodations, ideally you should provide the accommodation letter at least 48 hours before an exam.

Class Modality

Formally. this class is in-person. This means that it is open only to students living on, or commuting to, campus. There are two lectures per week that require in person attendance, as always. Unless officially excused you are required to be present in person.

However, classes will be recorded and live streamed. For students to watch a live stream of an Echo360 recording, they would simply click on the Echo360 link during the time the class is live and they can view live instead of having to wait until the recording is available. All homeworks will be assigned online. You are responsible for all the assigned homework, from the first day of class, whether you are in-class or not, unless excused.

All that said, I will make every reasonable effort to assist and accommodate whatever comes up and whatever request you may have.