CPS 116 (Fall 2008):
Introduction to Database Systems

Index

• Introduction
• Purchasing access
• Signing up
• Logging in
• Additional information

Introduction

Gradiance (also known as GOAL, for Gradiance Online Accelerated Learning) 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.

Purchasing access

You can purchase Gradiance access online at https://register.pearsoncmg.com/reg/buy/buy1.jsp?productID=26087. (The last time I check the price was $34.00.) You will get a 6-word access code. Take a note of it and keep it safely for your records.

(During the purchase, you might notice that the Product Selection is Database Systems: The Complete Book, the first edition. It's fine. Gradiance for the second edition is not available for purchase yet, but the access code you purchased should work for either edition.)

Another way to obtain Gradiance access is to purchase a "valuepack," which bundles the book together with a Gradiance access kit. The combined price is usually slightly cheaper. You will find 6-word access code inside the kit; it will be needed later for signing up. However, as of the time of writing, valuepack for the second edition of the book is not available yet. You could purchase a valuepack for the first edition, but that edition will be missing some materials to be covered in the class.

If you are buying a used valuepack, beware that the access code might have already been used. If that is the case, you will not be able to sign up with the access code.

Signing up

If you have not yet signed up for an account (you would have already if you purchased the access online), point your browser to http://esminfo.prenhall.com/goal/, and follow the instructions to sign up as a student. The sign-up process will let you create a user id and a password for logging into Gradiance. During the sign-up process, enter the access code that you obtained earlier.

Logging in

Point your browser to http://www.gradiance.com/pearson and follow the instructions to log into Gradiance. If this is the first time that log in, enter the class token F001F976 to sign up for CPS116. From this point on, CPS116 will be listed automatically as one your classes (at the top of the Web page) as you log in. Click on CPS116 to continue.

Additional information

You might want to 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.