Instructor Contact

Gustav Choto

• Canvas Inbox is preferred.
• Email: gustav.choto@ccsf.edu
• Office Hours: By appointment
• Office Location: By Canvas and Zoom
• I will respond to all course emails within 48 hours Monday-Friday, exclusive of school holidays. Once the course begins, I prefer to get messages through the Canvas "Inbox."
• You can visit my instructional website outside of Canvas

Communication Plan

• I will respond to your messages within 48 hours during the workweek (Monday-Friday), excluding holidays, or if you are notified otherwise.
• Your work will be reviewed, and I will comment on it within 48 hours of the due date unless you are informed otherwise. Please note that you will receive private comments on your discussion posts, your course journal entries, and your project and final exams. Your weekly quizzes also contain feedback for your own self-assessment.
• I will participate in the weekly discussions but will not respond to each individual student. You will receive private comments on your discussion posts.
• If you do not log in to the course,  you will receive a message from our early alert system, "Starfish," to remind you to come back to the course. It is best to keep up as the semester goes quickly and because life happens!
• Office hours are: by appointment. I am not on campus so we can meet via Zoom video conferencing.

Building Community

The heart of this class is the discussion forum. Each week you and your classmates will analyze and discuss the issues that come up in the material this week. Each time this class is offered, I am humbled by the thoughtfulness of all of you, your posts, and your responses to each other inform my understanding of the topics. We learn from each other, from our varied experiences, from our different world views. I look forward to participating in discussions with you.

Instructor Announcements 

The instructor will post announcements on the “Instructor Announcements” page in Canvas throughout the semester. Canvas notifies students according to their preferred Notification Preferences as soon as the instructor creates an Announcement. 

Q&A Discussion

• A “Q&A Discussion” is available on the home page as a quick link. The Q&A Discussion is for you to ask for the assistance of your classmates or the instructor.

A study of the fundamental approaches to estimating the cost of building construction projects. Topics discussed include: types of construction estimates; the material takeoff process; the use of computers in estimating; total project estimating including direct costs, indirect costs, contingency and profit.

Prerequisites/corequisites/advisories

CM 110 Construction Graphics

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Describe the estimating process, identifying the information required to construct an estimate, differentiating between different types of estimates, and relating their appropriate use to the different phases of the construction process.
2. Analyze construction documents to determine methods and means of construction in order to estimate rates of productivity, equipment, and labor requirements.
3. Assemble and price an estimate for a building construction project.

Class Meetings

There will be optional synchronous meetings for guest lectures and virtual field trips. Refer to the class schedule for dates.

Textbooks

• Estimating in Building Construction, 9th Edition, ISBN-13: 9780134701820

Field Trips

There may be optional field trip opportunities throughout the semester. Refer to the class schedule for exact dates. Most will be virtual field trips but there may be opportunities for in-person field trips as well.

Canvas

Students will use the Canvas Learning Management system [for assignment instructions, submitting assignments, viewing classmates' work, sharing resources, and viewing grades].  I can help with the course material and with some Canvas issues. But, if you need help uploading an assignment or with the mechanics of Canvas, Canvas help is the number to call.

For 24/7 help with Canvas, use the Canvas chat. It's the help question mark icon on the global navigation menu.

You can visit my CCSF instructional website outside of Canvas

Zoom Video Conferencing

If you wish to meet with me and you are unable to come to campus. We can meet in my Zoom room. Please schedule time on my calendar via my Calendly page. 

Required Software

The class requires the use of some additional software for completing assignments and learning key concepts.

• Bluebeam Revu eXtreme® (Links to an external site.) (Digital Quantity Takeoff Software) (Free license provided)
• Google Workspace for Education: Chrome Web Browser, Sheets, Docs, Slides, Drive, YouTube, Forms, Jamboard (Included with your CCSF email)
• Update your browser

To complete this course successfully, you will need:

• A word processing software. This can be Google Docs.
• A PDF reader. I strive to provide my instructional materials in the form of Canvas pages to make the content easy for you to access. There are a few resources provided in PDF format, however. For those documents, you will need a PDF reader, like Bluebeam, which is free for CCSF CM students.
• Zoom, and either a webcam and microphone or a smartphone. Each of you will meet with me one time in Zoom within the first two weeks of our course with a small group of your peers. This will be a brief check-in meeting so we can get acquainted and you can meet a few other students. You will have an opportunity to sign up for a time that works for you soon. To participate, you will need either a computer with a microphone or webcam with Zoom downloaded on it or a smartphone with the Zoom app installed on it.

Important Dates

• Day Class Begins: August 14, 2022
• Day Class Ends: December 17, 2022
• Last Day to Add without instructor's approval: September 3
• Last Day to Drop with a refund: August 27, 2022
• Last Day to Drop without a 'W' symbol: September 3
• Last Day to Opt for Pass/No Pass: November 19, 2022
• Last Day to Drop with a W or apply for leave of absence: November 19, 2022
• Final Exam Date: December 14, 2022

Dropping the Class

If you decide to discontinue this course, it is your responsibility to officially drop it to avoid getting no refund (after 10% of course length), a W symbol (after 20%), or a grade (after 60%). Also, for several consecutive, unexplained absences, the instructor may drop a student.

Pass‐No Pass (P/NP)

You may take this class P/NP. You must decide before the deadline and add the option online with College Scheduler or file the P/NP form with Admissions and Records. With a grade of C or better, you will get P.

You must file for the P/NP option by the date listed above. Once you decide to go for P/NP, you cannot change back to a letter grade. If you are taking this course as part of a certificate program, you can probably still take the class P/NP. Check with a counselor to be sure.

Attendance

Students who fail to attend the first class (face-to-face courses) or do not log in to an online class after the second week and participate in a learning activity will be dropped from the class. It is strongly advised that if you need to miss more than one class/homework deadline in a row that you contact me to avoid being dropped from the class.

Late Policy

All assignments are due at 11:59 p.m. PST on the due date. A late submission will receive a 20% penalty. Submissions more than one week late are not accepted without prior arrangement. Late work will not be graded unless the student sends the instructor an email with the URL for late work.

Methods of Evaluation

Each week you will complete graded assignments. There is a Discussion, a Course Journal entry, and a Quiz each week. Quizzes may be taken three times. These assignments can be completed after reading the textbook assignments and the summaries in the content modules. 

Exams

There will be online quizzes throughout the course and an online final exam. The material comes from the textbook, class lectures, and supplemental materials. If an exam is missed, a zero will be recorded as the score. It is your responsibility to take the online exams by the due date. 

Grading Policy

Visit the “Grades” in Canvas to keep track of your grades. I grade bi-weekly and post grades and comments on the online Canvas gradebook.

  How do I view my grades, teacher comments, and an assignment rubric as a student?

Grades will be assigned as follows:

If taking Pass/No Pass, you need at least 70% of the total class points and complete the midterm exam and the final exam to pass the class.

An “F” grade indicates that a student attended, participated, and completed the course but failed to master the course curriculum.

An “FW” grade indicates the student stopped attending a course after the “last day to withdraw” deadline and subsequently did not submit any work or participate in any exams. Please check with your counselor and financial aid advisor for possible implications of the FW grade on residency and financial aid status.

If you need classroom or testing accommodations because of a disability, or have emergency medical information to share with me, or need special arrangements in case the building needs to be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible. My office hours are by appointment either on the Ocean Campus (9-4 p.m., Monday through Friday) or by Zoom video-conferencing.

Students seeking disability-related accommodations are encouraged to also register with Disabled Students Programs and Services located in Room 323 of the Rosenberg Library (415) 452-5481. Please see the DSPS website for more information and alternate locations.

Students who register in CCSF classes are required to abide by the CCSF Student Code of Conduct. Violation of the code is basis for referral to the Student Conduct Coordinator or dismissal from class or from the College. See the Office of Student Affairs.

Collaborating on or copying of tests or homework in whole or in part will be considered an act of academic dishonesty and result in a grade of 0 for that test or assignment. I encourage students to share information and ideas, but not their work. See these links on Plagiarism:

Encourage Academic Integrity and Prevent Plagiarism

Citing Information Sources

Resources To Help You Prepare For Class

There are several resources at City College that can support your online learning experience.

• Complete a computer readiness test to make sure their technology is robust enough to manage the demands of an online course.
• Review resources for Getting Tech Ready to ensure they understand what is required when it comes to participating in online courses.

• City College Online Support Center
• City College Disabled Students Programs and Services
• If you are new to learning online, I highly recommend that you review the Online Student Readiness Tutorial for information about how learning online is different from other experiences you may have had in the classroom and how to best manage your time.

Finally, I highly recommend that you set your Notifications in Canvas to forward Announcements and Inbox messages, or "Conversations," to your email and/or as a text message.  This will enable you to get a notification immediately when I post a new Announcement or send you a message via the Inbox.

• Complete all or a selection of the Online Education Initiative's Readiness modules as one of your first assignments. Online Education Initiative (OEI) Readiness Modules
• Read these articles the first week about being an online student, then write a reflection about what you agree or disagree with and why.
  • Debunked: 8 Online Learning Myths That Need to Disappear
  • Top 5 Tips for Online Student Success

• Check out the "Are You Ready?" online student guide (adapted from a Sierra College resource) -- it's a great starting point!

Student Expectations

You will succeed in this course if you meet the following expectations:

• Complete the assigned activities. Please let me know as soon as you can concerning difficulties you may have in getting assignments in on time. 
• Complete the discussion posts and replies within the given window of time. Our discussions are much more vibrant when we all participate!
• Complete the weekly quizzes, the final project, and the final exam on time.
• Think critically about the weekly topics. Is something surprising? Is it new to you? How does it contrast with what you know about XYZ, or how does it compare to ABC? 
• Do your own and your best work. 

Instructor Expectations

Here is what you can expect of me:

• I will respond to your email or message within 48 hours during the week unless I inform you otherwise.
• I will treat you and your ideas with respect.
• I will grade your course assignments within a week. (If you have posted late work, it may take longer.) Grades on the final project and final exam will be done within a week.
• You will see your grades in the Canvas Gradebook.
• I will work hard to make this a great class.