Intro to Cybersecurity: Key Links and FAQs

Key links

• Course portal
• Course syllabus
• Course Policies
• Groupings

Live Sessions

BEFORE THE SESSION

• Download Zoom (make sure you have the most updated one)

• Make sure you have a copy of your 5-digit personal member ID found in the course portal.
  
  
  

  
  
  

• Join at least 5 minutes before the session to make sure that any technical difficulties that you have are resolved before the lecture begins

• Make sure you're logged in to your CodePath registered GitHub account before opening the session link to avoid encountering any access issues.

• Use the email address used in the CodePath application to make sure that we know that you showed up for the class.

• Remember your group number in case you get disconnected from the session (the link to the groupings are at the top of this document)

Where can I find the Session link?

• This is found on the calendar invites that were sent out during admissions.
  • The invites were sent to the email address you used on your application.
  • Please add [e-mail] to your contacts/approved senders list/address book in order to receive calendar invitations and other important updates for your courses. You may check the videos below for additional details.
    • Adding [e-mail] as a contact
    • Finding the calendar invites
  • If you have not received them, reach out to [e-mail] or to your assigned coordinators through Slack.
    • Intro to Cybersecurity coordinators:
      • Sections 1 and 4 - Rojalyn Atienza (@Roja Atienza (CodePath Ops Coordinator ConnClass) )
      • Section 2 - Nicole Panlilio (@Nicole Panlilio (CodePath Ops) - E3 / Connclass )
      • Section 3 - Jun Rey Rendora (@Jun Rendora (CodePath Ops Coordinator - ConnClass) )
• Aside from the calendar invites, it can also be found on the course portal and bookmarked at the top of your course's help and announcement Slack channels.

DURING THE SESSION

• Prepend your group number to your Zoom name. You can change your Zoom display name by going to Participants -> Find your name and hover over it -> Click on More -> Rename.

  • Example: If Caren was in group 1, she would rename herself as 1 - Caren Chang

• Closed Caption is enabled for the session. If you want it to appear on your end, just click the CC button at the bottom of the screen.

• After the lecture, students will be grouped and placed into breakout rooms.
• Switch your microphone and video on when you are in your breakout rooms for easier collaboration.

How do I join the breakout room?

• We set up Zoom so you will be automatically routed to your breakout rooms

• Click Join.
  

• In case you weren’t routed to your room, try clicking the Breakout rooms icon on your Zoom toolbar or on the More options. From there, you should have the option to join your assigned room. If you do not see any room, reach out to the host through Zoom chat so they can invite you to join the room.
  

  
  

I need help while in a breakout room

• You can get help by clicking on “Ask for help”.

Why are my other groupmates not in the breakout room?

• It’s most likely due to any of these reasons:
  • They are not attending the session today.
  • They got disconnected and need to be assigned to your breakout room.
  • They have been assigned, but have not clicked on the Join breakout room button.

Our TF is absent. What do we do?

• We encourage you to continue to work on the task and discuss the problems amongst yourselves.
• Click on the “Ask for help” button if you are stuck and need help.

How do I know if it’s time to leave my breakout room?

• The host will broadcast a notification when there are only 15 and/or 5 minutes remaining before breakout rooms close.
• When breakout rooms close, you’ll have a 60-second countdown before being automatically moved back to the main Zoom room.

AFTER THE SESSION

• You will be notified on Slack once the session recording is available.
• Complete the assignment by the deadline.
• You may attend office hours sessions for additional assistance on your coursework. The schedule and meeting link for these sessions will be available on the Schedule tab of your course portal, as well as relayed through calendar invites and Slack reminders.

Course Policies

Homework and Practice Problems

What are the homework tasks for this course?

• Weekly Individual Assignments (Units 1-7)
• Group Capstone Milestones (Units 8-10)

Do I need to manually submit coursework to CodePath?

• Yes, all your coursework need to be manually submitted. Please check the per unit Project tab or Milestone tab on the course portal for more details

If you are having issues with submitting your assignment, reach out to us at [e-mail].

What happens if I miss a submission?

• Missed and incomplete submissions automatically trigger a 48-hour extension until they are used up, therefore, requesting for it is not needed anymore. You are allowed only two 48-hour deadline extensions to be used on 2 separate assignments for the whole duration of the program.
• If you miss to submit any of the coursework submission before the allowed 48-hour extension, you will be withdrawn from the course.
• If you need additional time extension due to extenuating circumstances, email [e-mail].

Can I skip homework entirely?

• No, all coursework submissions are required and need to be submitted within the deadline / extension given.
• Failing to submit even one required coursework within the deadline / extension given will result in being moved to Observer status. This means that your grades will not be recorded anymore, you will no longer be able to attend sessions, and you will not be getting any course completion certificate.
• If you need additional time due to extenuating circumstances, email [e-mail].

I received a missing submission email by mistake.

• This usually happens because of the following reasons:
  • You did not click on the Submit button on the assignments that need manual submission.
  • The account is incorrectly mapped.
• Reply to the email to let us know, and we’ll look into it further.

I received an email saying that my submission is incomplete. What does this mean?

• This usually happens because of the following reasons:
  • You were not able to complete all the required tasks by the deadline.
  • Your linked Google doc submission is incorrect or inaccesible
• You will need to address these and resubmit throught the course portal by the given deadline extension (if not yet used) in order to be given a score.

📌 You are allowed to have TWO late assignments for the entire semester, no questions asked, but you have to submit all required coursework before the deadline / end of the extension given .

I’m confused about the score I received.

• You can check the following for more details:
  • Grading Rubric
  • Submission Report found in the grading notice emailed to you (search your inbox for Your submission has been reviewed!)
• You can also reach out to [e-mail] for further clarification.

I’m stuck, how can I ask for help?

• Post your question on the help channel and tag the TSRs (@security-help) if outside of class or the TFs user group (@cyb101-s1-connclass-tfs for section 1, @cyb101-s2-connclass-tfs for section 2, @cyb101-s3-connclass-tfs for section 3, or @cyb101-s4-connclass-tfs for section 4) if in class for faster resolution.

Gentle Reminders for Resubmissions

• There are only 2 checkpoints for the submissions. First is the regular Monday (for section 1), Tuesday (for section 2), Wednesday (for section 3), or Friday (for section 4) deadline, and second is the 48hr extension deadline. You can resubmit after the lapse of the deadline extension of 48 hours but you will not receive additional points anymore. If you only submit after the 48-hour extension deadline, it will still be considered as missing.
• In order for your update to be scored, you must resubmit the assignment using the submit button in the course portal by the given deadline/extension.

Attendance and Absences

How many absences are allowed?

• You are allowed 2 absences for the whole duration of the course.
• Your grades will no longer be graded/monitored, you will no longer be able to attend sessions, and you will not get any course completion certificate if you exceed this.
• You are expected to attend and actively participate in each session. You may be marked as absent if you are missing for a significant portion of the session.
• If you have an extenuating circumstance regarding attendance, email [e-mail] as soon as possible.

What happens when I miss a session?

• You will receive an email acknowledging your absence.
• If it is your second absence, you will receive a course policy reminder that you've used up all your allowed absences
• If it is your 3rd absence, you will receive a withdrawal notice.
• If you are not up for withdrawal yet, you will still be required to complete the assignment by the deadline.
• The session recording will be posted so that you can watch them at your own time.

I was marked absent even though I joined class. What do I do?

• This typically happens because of the following reasons:

  • You joined the session using a mobile device. To make sure this doesn’t happen:
    • Use a laptop/PC device.
    • Register using the email used in your CodePath application.
  • You used a different email and GitHub, and you entered an incorrect member ID during your registration.
  • You joined the class late.
  • You did not finish the class and left early.
  • You missed a significant portion of the session.

• If you think your attendance was marked in error, let us know by replying to the email acknowledging your absence.

General admissions

Will I receive a certificate of completion?

• You will only if you fulfill all of the following:
  • Did not exceed the allowed absences
  • Submitted all the required coursework
  • Got a final grade of at least 70%
• We’ll send out digital certificates within 2 weeks after the last coursework deadline.

Does my access to the course have an expiry?

• No, you will continue to have lifetime access to this course as long as you use the same GitHub account associated with your CodePath application.

Withdrawing from the program

How can I withdraw from the program?

• You can do this from your course portal. At the top right you will find Quick Actions, where you can select Withdraw from course from the drop-down.
  
  
  
  
  

What happens when I withdraw from the program?

• You will be given observer access to the course. Following are some key elements on how this is different from participating in the actual class:
  • You will continue to have access to the course materials online but cannot attend the live sessions anymore.
  • You will continue to have access to the Slack help channel but not the announcement and career center channel.
  • You can continue to access resources in the Career Kit (https://go.codepath.org/careerkit), and view recordings of Career Center Labs and events on the Career Center YouTube playlist (https://go.codepath.org/careerplaylist) but cannot take part in career coaching, mock interviews, resume reviews, or company-led events. (Unless you have already completed another CodePath course.)
  • You will not be eligible to attend the Emerging Engineers Summit or take part in CareerConnect. (Unless you have already completed another CodePath course.)
  • You have no due dates or any expectations of observers imposed by us.
  • You are no longer eligible for a course completion certificate.