Toward an Ungraded CS50 - SIGCSE 2021

In 2010, we proposed to eliminate letter grades in CS50 at Harvard University in favor of Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (SAT/UNS), whereby students would instead receive at term's end a grade of SAT in lieu of A through C- or UNS in lieu of D+ through E. Albeit designed to empower students without prior background to explore an area beyond their comfort zone without fear of failure, that proposal initially failed. Not only were some concentrations on campus unwilling to grant credit for SAT, the university's program in general education (of which CS50 was part) required that all courses be taken for letter grades. In 2013, we instead proposed, this time successfully, to allow students to take CS50 either for a letter grade or SAT/UNS. And in 2017, we made SAT/UNS the course's default, though students could still opt out. The percentage of students taking the course SAT/UNS jumped that year to 31%, up from 9% in the year prior, with as many as 86 of the course's 671 students (13%) reporting that they enrolled because of SAT/UNS. The percentage of women in the course also increased to 44%, a 29-year high. And 19% of students who took the course SAT/UNS subsequently reported that their concentration would be or might be CS. Despite concerns to the contrary, students taking the course SAT/UNS reported spending not less but more time on the course each week than letter-graded classmates. And, once we accounted for prior background, they performed nearly the same. We present the challenges and results of this 10-year initiative. We argue ultimately in favor of SAT/UNS, provided students must still meet all expectations, including all work submitted, in order to be eligible for SAT.

***

This is CS50, Harvard University's introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming.

***

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE

HOW TO TAKE CS50

HOW TO JOIN CS50 COMMUNITIES

HOW TO FOLLOW DAVID J. MALAN

***

CS50 SHOP

***

LICENSE

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License

David J. Malan

[rsfernandesmath]

The best professor I have ever had in my life so far...thanks David Malan and technology!

[Ashitaka]

David Malan is an absolute legend. I've had professors at Uni who care, some who don't but from my experience, Malan sits at the very top among those who truly care for their students.

[muchiriwamaina]

David taught me that computers are not hard, Just a set of 0's and 1's. I am currently a programmer based in Africa. I took the course online. I also support the same, when a course is done with passion and no fear of failure, You'll understand more. Thanks, David!

[bety]

The fact that you worry a lot about reaching the last of the students and the pedagogical approach is simply to admire. You are a truly educator! We are very much in debt with you Master, the force be with you.

[linshine]

I might have said this on Facebook already but I'm very willing to say it again (and again). CS50 is the only class containing both challenges and excitements during my 19 years of campus life. Back in college and graduate school, finance was my major, and I've never thought that someday I'll be sitting in front of two screens, writing codes.
CS50 is challenging, particularly the problem sets, which always took me 10 hours of struggle. But the reward that comes after solving them is much more satisfying.
I'd give the credit to David and Brian. David is the most enthusiastic, patient, and riveting professor I've ever met (though I wish to meet in person :p ). I can't say "thank you" enough to express my gratefulness. Thank you all, for the huge amount of works on this class. And thanks to the Internet, so I can attend CS50 without buying the plane ticket flying across the world.

[lekshajain]

Got to know about CS50 (Harvard) just today by some you tubers (ishaan sharma, sunny singh and etc...).
*Course of 8 weeks and got reviews that its so helpful and has changed many of people lives and many got their internships just at after 12th and some at 2nd year degree itself, it's easy to get job opportunities and the main thing I like about this course is that David J. Malan sir is so energetic while teaching that no one can get bored and secondly the course is of free of cost* ...
Even I'm looking through to join this course after so many good reviews from youtubers who have experienced this course and they say it changed their life and made them successful in life!

Thank you to you sir for making the course available for all those youngsters at free of cost and that everyone can afford to join this course and learn new things and lastly certificate is also been issued. After this we get many opportunities in further career! Thank you so much sir 😊

[HominisLupis]

Mr Malan, I as well as literal thousands across the globe, thank you.

[AmiyaSarkar]

David Malan is really an outstanding teacher. He has an uncanny ability to impart knowledge in a playful way. I had seen him in action in CS50 earlier and it was just awesome.
My only regret is that I couldn't complete the course due to other liabilities. Hope to take it again when time permits.

[FunQuizzy]

I enrolled this course in early March (this year). And in fact, I have no experience in the CS world (literally 0 :D). But, I truly enjoyed this class, fun & super challenging hehe. Thanks a lot, Professor. I love your enthusiasm and real-world examples, it made a very technical subject relevant & entertaining. And thanks to you & all the CS50x team for making this online course available for students from various majors & for students all over the world.




Anyway, I still need to catch up on the lectures & all the remained labs & problem sets, so good luck to me :D

[ddague-kpub]

one of best classes I ever took, truly grateful

[heminsatya]

🙏Thank you so much professor David Malan. You are the best teacher I've ever had.🙏

[elikelik]

Though I'm a system Admin not programmer but i love programming and thanks for Malan i am learning a lot. I want one day to meet him and thanks to him.

[oussamatarhi]

Please someone explains to me why there are dislikes on this video. Why anybody wants to dislike this content.

[alexmitchell]

hi, my name is darius and, yes, i am 11 but i am also commited to learning cs50 with the help of my crusty old computer. thanks for the videos, they will help a lot.

[LargoGabriel]

Amazing teacher...fascinating material 👍

[Hitman-fgfx]

Bless you heart David you are a true angel 🙏 thank you

[nowuknow]

I always reduce the speed to 0.75x to clearly get the message

[saq]

Please see if you can allow Sat/Unsat for Extension/HES students too not just College/HC students.

[EN-yedz]

Amazing teacher thank you for making the learning experience worth while :)

[smallbluemachine]

"More kids pass, the school looks good, everybody's happy; the IQ of the country slips another two or three points and pretty soon, all you'll need to get into college is a fucking pencil! 'Gotta pencil? Get the fuck in there, it's physics!' Then everyone wonders why 17 other countries graduate more scientists than we do. Education!" - George Carlin