CPSC 424 Assessment and Policies

You are expected to regularly check your HWS email and the course web page (especially the schedule page). Assignments, handouts, and other information relevant to the class as a whole will be posted on the course web page. Email may be used in the case of a particularly time-sensitive announcement (e.g. an announcement about something which is due in the next class meeting) or for matters which are only relevant to a few people in the class.

You are expected to be on task during class and lab - web surfing, texting, playing games, doing assignments for other courses, etc. are not acceptable. Except in the case of an emergency, leaving the classroom during class is not acceptable. (Take care of any necessary business before or after class!) Also, please do not use headphones during lab - you may miss important announcements to the class about assignments, and it makes it difficult to interact with you about what you are working on.

Note taking on paper is encouraged, as it avoids the distraction of electronic devices and the act of handwriting helps with retention of information. If you choose to use a laptop or other device to take notes, you are encouraged to turn off the wifi and close other applications to reduce the temptation of those distractions. Either way, I recommend that you (only) make note of key ideas and examples during class and then rewrite your notes, filling in other details and relevant information, soon after class. This allows you to pay more attention during class, increases your engagement with the material, and helps you identify what you need to ask questions about.

Reading: The textbook, rather than lecture, should be your first exposure to new material. Assigned readings set the stage for class and are to be completed for the class period where they are listed on the schedule page.

Labs: Lab sessions will be held on Tuesdays in the Rosenberg 009 computer lab. (There will also be a few class periods dedicated to working with particular application programs.) Labs are the primary mechanism for working directly with the course material, and completing lab assignments is essential for mastery. The lab period provides an opportunity to get started on the lab assignment and address initial questions, but you should expect to need time outside of class to complete the lab. Labs will generally be due at the start of the lab period one week later.

Projects: There will be a midterm project partway through the course and a final project due at the end. Projects are to be completed outside of class, and there will generally also be lab assignments while you are working on a project.

Exams: There will be two in-class exams during the semester (dates are on the schedule page). More information about content and format will be announced closer to the exam dates. Note that there is no final exam (the final project takes the place of a final exam) but that there will be project presentations during the scheduled final exam time slot.

Engagement: Learning isn't a passive activity where you sit back and watch someone else do things; you need to work with the material by thinking about it, trying to apply it, asking questions about it, and so forth. Engagement covers things like attendance, completion of assigned preparatory work (readings), asking relevant questions and making meaningful contributions to class discussions, being on task in lab and in-class activities, and coming to office hours. While these things are not formally graded, a lack of engagement is frequently correlated with lower grades.

Grades: Grades in this course will be computed as follows:

• Labs: 45%
• Projects: 25% (midterm project 10%, final project 15%)
• Exams: 30% (15% each)

Work turned in for this course is expected to be easily readable - it should be clear what answers go with which problems, and what those answers are. Unless otherwise specified, both (legibly) handwritten and typed work is acceptable.

For code, good organization and following reasonable conventions plays an important role in being able to successfully write and debug programs, and well as making your code more accessible to others. You are expected to employ good programming habits and consistently follow an appropriate set of conventions; the course coding standards are suggested. Points may be lost for programs that are difficult to follow even if they work correctly.

You are expected to attend and be on time for all class and lab sessions and to be present for the full class period. Late arrivals are a distraction to the rest of the class; in addition, announcements are made at the beginning of class and those arriving late may miss important information.

While attendance is not formally factored into the course grade, any absence, whether excused or not, means that you miss out on material and activities that take place in class and lab. Not only does this place a greater burden on you to catch up, simply getting the notes from someone or working on a lab on your own later doesn't fully replace the classroom experience that you missed.

Excused absences include absences due to sports competitions, official Colleges activities such as musical performances or debate competitions, academically-related events such as attending a conference, religious observances, illness, or personal or family emergencies. A reason must be provided in order for such an absence to be counted as an excused absence. (Note that providing a reason does not automatically make an absence excused - it must also be one of the reasons listed above.)

Missing class for other reasons - such as being too busy, oversleeping, or leaving early for a vacation - is considered to be an unexcused absence. Any absence for which no reason is provided is automatically considered to be unexcused.

You are responsible for acquiring any notes, handouts, assignments, and other material missed as the result of an absence, whether excused or unexcused. This should be done promptly to avoid falling behind.

Every effort should be made to hand assignments in on time, even if you are absent from class that day. If a last-minute emergency prevents you from handing in completed work on time, the assignment will be accepted late without penalty only if arrangements are made as soon as possible to get the assignment handed in. If you need more time to complete the assignment, then you need an extension (see below).

Up to three late days are allowed. These may be applied to both labs and projects, though they can only be used in full day increments (one late day allows an assignment to be turned in by 11:59pm the day after it is due without penalty) and cannot be used to delay project presentations or extend any deadlines past the end of the final exam timeslot. Late days can be used for any reason.

Once your late days have been used (or if they are not requested for a particular assignment), late work is penalized 10% per day. Work more than 10 days late will be accepted for grading and feedback, but will no longer earn credit.

Extensions will generally only be granted for the kinds of things that count as excused absences (see the definition under "Attendance" above), and only if a significant portion of the time allocated for the assignment is affected. Note that leaving early for a vacation, being busy, or having a bunch of assignments due at the same time are not considered reasons for extensions. Save often and make backups of your files - computer failures do occur and are generally not grounds for an extension.

To use late day(s) or request an extension, send me an email before the original due date giving a brief status report (what have you completed, what is left to do) along with the number of late day(s) you wish to use (for late days) or the reason you are asking for the extension (for extensions). Late days and extensions will not be applied/granted retroactively - if a last-minute emergency prevents you from handing an assignment in on time, the make-up policy applies (see "Making Up Work" above). Note that the "extension" in this case will only be for long enough to get the already-completed assignment handed in; if you need more time to complete the assignment, it will be considered late.

No work will be accepted after the end of the Registrar-scheduled final exam time slot unless an incomplete has been granted. Late days and extensions may not be used to extend deadlines beyond this date.

Note that the use of late days and/or extensions does not change the due date of later assignments - there aren't gaps between lab assignments so falling behind on one takes time from the next. Use them if you need them, but plan ahead and start early to minimize your reliance on these things.

The HWS Principle of Academic Integrity governs all of the work completed in this course. Specifically:

• The exam is to be completed solely by the student whose name is on the paper. Only resources allowed in the exam instructions may be used, and the only person you may discuss the exam with is the instructor.

• Any individual assignment (labs and projects, unless otherwise specified) must be your work - your ideas and your effort. Unless otherwise specified, you may discuss ideas with and get help from others but:

  • You must write up your solution independently and in your own words - you may not sit down with a friend and complete the assignment together. It should be obvious that you also may not borrow or copy solutions or code from someone or somewhere else.

  • You must fully understand the solution and where it comes from. (You should be able to explain it to someone else.)

  • You must acknowledge who you worked with or got help from in the assignment writeup.

• For any group assignment, full collaboration between group members is allowed and expected. The same rules as individual assignments apply when getting help from someone outside of the group.

For all assignments, copying part or all of someone else's solution is expressly prohibited and it is never acceptable to be in possession of someone else's program or solution before you have handed in your own. Decompiling or reverse-engineering someone else's code (including provided code) is also prohibited.

Failure to acknowledge help received will generally result in a warning the first time, and point deductions for subsequent offenses. Submitting work which is unreasonably similar to another person's work and/or not being able to explain any part of your solution will result in a minimum penalty of a 0 on the assignment. A second such offense is grounds for failure in the course. Plagiarism offenses may also be referred to the Committee on Standards.

There are no exceptions to this policy; ignorance of the policy and desperation ("It was the night before it was due and there wasn't anyone else to ask!") are specifically not excuses for violating the policy. If you are having trouble with the course material, come to the instructor! - it is never advantageous to "borrow" someone else's solution, and the time spent trying to disguise this "borrowing" is far better spent getting help.

From the HWS Catalogue: (available online at http://www.hws.edu/catalogue/policies.aspx)

Principle of Academic Integrity

The faculty of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, recognizing the responsibility of the individual student for his or her own education, assumes honesty and integrity in all academic work at the Colleges. This assumption is the foundation of all intellectual efforts and lies at the heart of this community. In matriculating at the Colleges, each student accepts the responsibility to carry out all academic work with complete honesty and integrity and supports the application of this principle to others.

Categories covered by this principle include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Examinations: Giving or receiving assistance during an examination or quiz violates this principle.
• Papers: The adoption or reproduction of ideas, words, or statements of another person as one's own, without due acknowledgment, is considered plagiarism and violates this principle.
• Library Use: Failure to sign for materials taken from the library and similar abuses of library privileges infringe upon the rights of other students to fair and equal access and violate this principle.
• Reports and Laboratory Exercises: Giving or receiving unauthorized assistance and the fabrication of data or research results violate this principle.
• Computer Use: Any deliberate attempt to prevent other users access to computer services, deprive them of resources, or degrade system performance violates this principle. The use of programs or files of another computer user or the use of another person's account number or password without permission also violates this principle.

Academic dishonesty is determined in every case by the evidence presented and not by intent. Questions of intent and circumstances under which an infraction occurred may be considered in determining a penalty.

As with papers, verbatim copying of programs and problem solutions constitutes plagiarism. Also as with papers, plagiarism is not limited to verbatim copying - copying the significant ideas and structure of someone else's program/problem solution also constitutes plagiarism.

But aren't all programs which solve the same task/solutions to the same problem pretty much the same, so won't my program/solution look like everyone else's even if I worked by myself?
It is true that programming languages are simpler and more structured than human languages like English, and so two independently-written programs solving the same problem will be more similar than two independently-written papers on the same topic. However, "more similar" doesn't mean "the same" - there is still flexibility in many aspects of the program, and each programmer will express themselves somewhat differently. It is clear when two programs were derived from the same source, and I routinely run a plagiarism-detection tool on all handins.
Problem sets are similar - there is enough room for variation in most solutions for it to be clear when solutions were derived from the same source.

Programming/problem solving techniques are often explained via examples - what's the difference between using an example and "copying the significant ideas and structure"?
Nothing - the whole point of examples is to provide the significant ideas and structure of the solution, with the idea that the details would be modified for the particular situation.

OK, then, so I can't use any examples because that constitutes plagiarism?!
No, not exactly. What is and isn't allowed is a matter of degree. Let's first define "example" and "solution":

• An example illustrates a technical point or problem-solving strategy, applied to a different problem instance than the one you are trying to solve. An example can't be used as-is to solve your specific problem, but can be adapted to address some aspect of the problem. For example, an example demonstrating the proper syntax for a while loop is OK to use when writing a program which involves a while loop (as long as the point of the problem isn't to write exactly the while loop given in the example).
• A solution gives a significant amount of the answer to your particular problem (or an extremely similar problem). Quantity is relevant here - you may view something as just an example (because it doesn't solve your exact problem), but if a single source covers most of what you need to do, it may well be what I consider a "solution".

Using "examples" (as defined above) is generally OK but using "solutions" is not.

There's a fuzzy middle ground here, and I'm still not sure exactly what is OK and what isn't.
Then ASK! - before you get into whatever situation you are wondering about. A few additional guidelines which may help:

• Any materials provided as part of the course (examples in the textbook, from class, and directly posted on the webpage) are acceptable to use/adapt (unless specifically forbidden, such as on exams).
• Any solutions written by another student (either this term or in previous terms) are not acceptable to use as "inspiration" or a guide when you are working on the same assignment. (Looking at someone else's work later, after the assignment has been handed in, is fine.)
• Use caution with materials from other sources - think "examples, not solutions" and ask if you have any questions. In fact, ask even if you are sure something is allowed. (Specifically looking through other materials to find solutions to problems you've been assigned is not acceptable.)
• Use common sense - the purpose of assignments is for you to practice and gain understanding of the material, and for you to demonstrate what you have mastered. If you are mostly just tweaking something written by someone else - even if you spend a lot of time renaming variables and inserting comments - then what you are turning in isn't your work.

The primary resources for this course are other students in the course (when allowed) and the instructor - during lab, during office hours, and dropping by or scheduling a meeting outside of office hours.

For more general help, such as with writing, study skills, or time management, you are encouraged to check out the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).

At Hobart and William Smith Colleges, we encourage you to learn collaboratively and to seek the resources that will enable you to succeed. The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is one of those resources: CTL programs and staff help you engage with your learning, accomplish the tasks before you, enhance your thinking and skills, and empower you to do your best. Resources at CTL are many: Teaching Fellows provide content support in 12 departments, Study Mentors help you manage your time and responsibilities, Writing Fellows help you think well on paper, and professional staff help you assess academic needs.

Study Mentors: The CTL resource especially valuable to students either just starting college OR adjusting to the demands of their choice of Major is the Study Mentor program. Study Mentors engage directly with each student in the process of adjusting to new academic demands: they help you find the time you need for both your academic and co-curricular activities, and can help you find strategies to accomplish the tasks in front of you and enhance your reading and study time. Study Mentors may be especially important for those of you who are involved in many activities, work on or off campus, are studying for Teaching Certification, graduate school exams, or prepping for fellowships, or who have one or more unusually demanding courses on your schedule. To meet with a Study Mentor, make an appointment via StudyHub on the CTL website.

If you are a student with a disability for which you may need accommodations, you should self-identify, provide appropriate documentation of your disability, and register for services with the Coordinator of Disability Services at the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). Disability related accommodations and services generally will not be provided until the registration and documentation process is complete. The guidelines for documenting disabilities can be found at the following website: http://www.hws.edu/academics/ctl/disability_services.aspx

Please direct questions about this process or Disability Services at HWS to Christen Davis, Coordinator of Disability Services, at ctl@hws.edu or x3351.

last updated: --Mon Aug 26 04:15:51 EDT 2019--
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