Course Policies
Switching Sections
You are expected to attend the section you are officially signed up for. That is where your attendance will be recorded.
- We do not allow unofficial section switching.
- If you can’t officially change your section through the registrar, we can’t help either!
Try posting (during the first week of classes only) on EdStem or any other social media group to check if someone is willing to swap sections with you. If there is a pair willing to swap sections, we can help by reaching out to the registrar.
Missing the Midterm Exam
You are entitled to a make-up exam if you miss the midterm exam, provided that:
- You provide a valid excuse.
- You inform your instructor within 3 days of the exam or the date of your medical report.
Valid Excuses
According to university regulations, a valid excuse is a medical report from a doctor (approved by the the university’s medical center) or a note from a Dean justifying your absence.
Missing the Final Exam
If you miss the final exam, you need to request a make-up exam and provide a valid excuse through the online registration portal. All requests for make-up final exams are handled by the Dean, not by the course instructor. The report must be submitted through the system within 7 days of the final exam.
Missing a Quiz
There will be a single make-up quiz during the last week of the semester for those who miss Quiz 1 and/or Quiz 2.
- To sit for this quiz, you need to get your instructor’s approval (who might request a valid excuse).
- If you miss two quizzes, the make-up quiz will be worth 10%. If you miss one quiz, the make-up quiz will be worth 5%.
If you know ahead of time that you will not be able to attend a quiz with your section, or if you miss the quiz due to an emergency, reach out to your instructor as soon as possible to see if you can be rescheduled to attend the quiz with another section.
Missing Other Coursework
If you have a valid excuse preventing you from submitting the practice exercises or self-assessment quiz for a certain week, reach out to your instructor and ask for the quiz or exercises to be rescheduled for the following week.
Late Submissions
The practice exercises and self-assessment quizzes are meant to keep you on track. Therefore, you will receive the 0.5% points if you submit them before the beginning of the following week.
- The practice exercises and self-assessment quizzes are always due by 11:59 PM on Saturday.
- You can still receive credit if you submit up to 8 hours late. This is automatically done and does not require any special request.
- You will not receive any credit for work submitted more than 8 hours late.
If you miss the practice exercises or self-assessment quiz on a week, make sure to attempt it as soon as you can. While you will not receive credit for it, it is very important for not falling behind.
Collaboration & Generative AI Use
You are allowed to interact with your colleagues and use Generative AI while solving the practice exercises and self-assessment quizzes (provided that you avoid plain plagiarism, as explained below). However, you are expected to exercise good judgment regarding when and how to collaborate and/or use GenAI. Your goal should be to learn and check your learning, not just to get the work done. Otherwise, you won’t do well in the proctored GenAI-free assessments.
Check the Programming with GenAI page for examples of healthy and unhealthy use of GenAI.
Plagiarism
- If you use an axe to cut a tree, you are the one who cut the tree (using the axe). Similarly, if you use GenAI to generate code, you are the one who generated the code using GenAI.
- However, you can’t come to a tree already cut by someone else and claim you are the one who cut it. Similarly, you can’t submit code generated by someone else and claim you are the one who generated it.
- Submitting code you did not generate for any coursework is a serious act of plagiarism and will be reported to the Dean.
According to the university regulations, the penalty for plagiarism is at least an F in the course.