DSCI 521 Week 1 Setup Tasks
The small things due before Milestone 1
See the assessment table on the home page for the weights, due dates, and where to submit each one.
Why this page exists
These five tasks are small, they are each worth the same 1%, and they are easy to miss because no two of them are submitted the same way.
They are listed here so that everything you owe in this course is in the one place you already look. Canvas remains the place with the actual links and instructions. This page tells you what each one is.
Note that these are due mid-week, not the usual Saturday 6 PM. Week 1 is front-loaded on purpose, so that anything broken on your machine turns up before Milestone 1 is due at the end of the week.
Setup (Canvas)
Install the MDS software stack and confirm it works. Submit the log on Canvas.
Do this one first. Everything else in Week 1 assumes your machine is working, and this is the task that finds out whether it is.
Policies quiz (PrairieLearn)
Read the program policies and answer the questions on PrairieLearn.
This is also your first time using PrairieLearn, which you will meet again in the weekly practice questions and in a graded setting in another course.
Student information survey (PrairieLearn)
A short survey allowing teaching team to gather you github usernames and other necessary info for subsequent courses. Find it on PrairieLearn.
Lab 0a: Python and Lab 0b: R (Gradescope)
Two short labs covered during the orientation (find the recording in pins of the course slack channel), one per language.
They check that your Python and R installations can actually run and submit work. They do not check whether you already know the languages.
JupyterLab orientation chapter and RStudio orientation chapter will be helpful for these labs.
Also remember to upload the corresponding assignment document along with your html, pdf docs.
Where to look
| For | Look at |
|---|---|
| Links, instructions, and materials | Canvas (has links to PrairieLearn and Gradescope as well) |
| What is due and when | The assessment table on the home page |
| What each task is | This page |
| Lecture and office hour times | MDS calendar |
If something here disagrees with Canvas, Canvas is correct. Tell your instructor so we can fix this page.