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CPS 116 (Fall 2005): |
Getting Started with Gradiance
Index
Introduction
Gradiance is a system pioneered by Prof. Jeffrey Ullman. It offers many advantages over traditional written assignments. Given one "root question," Gradiance can generate different instances of this question. Therefore, you are permitted to test yourself on the same root question as many times as you like, and receive immediate feedback for each attempt. Gradiance also has a lab component that automatically tests your solutions on different inputs. Hence, it avoids the shortcoming of the traditional submit-and-then-wait-for-grades assignments where one error in understanding can permeate solutions to multiple problems and does not get rectified until much later. We encourage you to continue testing on each topic until you complete the assignment with a 100% score. For each Gradiance problem set or lab, your score is the highest score achieved as of 11:59PM on the due date.
Signing up
Point your browser to http://www.gradiance.com/services, and click on "Create New Account," fill out the form, submit it to create your account, and then log in.
After logging into Gradiance, sign up for CPS116 using the token D2E61F20. Gradiance will then redirect you to PayPal through which you pay the Gradiance enrollment fee ($20). After paying the fee and finishing the sign up process, a link to the class will appear in the class portfolio of your Gradiance home page.
Logging in
Simply point your browser to http://www.gradiance.com/services. After logging in, click on CPS116 in your class profolio (at the top of the Web page) to continue.
Additional information
You should read this Gradiance Guide for Students before starting your first Gradiance assignemnt. This document is very short and provides very useful hints on how to approach Gradiance-style multiple-choice questions. Note that Section 1 of the guide is outdated; please refer to the updated sign-up and login instructions on this Web page.