Course policies

Mask Policy due to COVID:

• When in the classroom, you must wear a mask that covers your mouth and nose at all times.
• If you are unable or unwilling to wear a mask in the classroom, then please attend the class online via Zoom.
• If you forget your mask or it does not meet these requirements, you will be asked to leave the classroom immediately. You may not return until you meet the requirement.
• If you miss a graded assessment due to being asked to leave the classroom for not having a proper mask, you will receive a zero on the assessment.
• Eating food is not allowed in the classroom. Please exit the classroom and eat outside, if you must. If you are thirsty, you can drink a beverage briefly, but you must put your mask back on quickly.
• If a student does not comply with the requirements or the instructor's direction, the instructor will immediately cancel the remainder of the class session and inform the dean's office, which will work with the Student Records office to issue a failing grade (F) for the course regardless of when in the semester the incident occurs. The dean's office will also inform the Office of Student Conduct.

COVID and Sickness policy:

• If you are sick or COVID positive, do not attend the class/lab in person until you have recovered. Instead attend online via zoom, if you can.
• If you miss a submission deadline or test due to a medical reason, please inform me as soon as possible so that we can make alternative arrangements.
• Due to the current pandemic situation, you will not be asked to document your illness.
• It is considered a violation of the academic honesty code if you abuse this policy for non-medical reasons.
• The instructor will not answer any questions in person at the end of the class to avoid crowding at the front of the classroom. Please send your questions by email or join one of our daily Zoom office hours.

Students with disabilities: If you have a disability that may impact on your ability to carry out assigned course work, I would urge inform me at the earliest and also to contact the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), http://ssd.binghamton.edu/ Phone: (607) 777-2686. Kindly bring a letter to me from the SSD indicating your need for academic accommodations within the first two weeks of the class. I will work with you and the SSD to make any necessary accommodations.

Managing Stress: If you are experiencing undue personal or academic stress at any time during the semester or need to talk with someone about a personal problem or situation, I encourage you to seek support as soon as possible. I am available to talk with you about stress related to your work in my class. Additionally, a wide range of campus resources are available to provide help, including:

• University Counseling Center: 607-777-2772
• Dean of Students Office: 607-777-2804
• Interpersonal Violence Prevention: 607-777-3062
• Office of International Student and Scholar Services: 607-777-2510

Academic Integrity: Please read carefully.

• "Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching." - C.S. Lewis
• What is Cheating in this course?
  • Submitting work that you have not completed yourself.
  • Helping other students complete work that they have not done themselves.
  • Signing attendance for your classmates who are not present in class.
• Academic Integrity Policies:
  • Letter from CS faculty to students, which explains why Academic Honesty is taken seriously in our department and the University.
  • Watson Engineering College's Academic Honesty Code, which explains what is considered cheating and the consequences of cheating.
  • University's Student Academic Honesty Code
• Your responsibility:
  • Do your own work.
  • Don't do others' work.
  • Don't ask/give solutions, including code.
  • Don't copy code or any other material from the Internet.
  • Protect your code: Change permissions of your work directory to 0700 (chmod 0700 <directory>;).
  • When you are stuck or don't understand something, ask the instructor or TA for help.
  • It is better to submit your own partially working code (and get partial credit), than to submit someone else's perfectly working code (and get an F).
  • Ask the instructor before you collaborate on anything.
  • Tell the instructor/TA if you observe cheating in the class.
  • Use your common sense: if it doesn't feel right, its probably cheating.
• Our responsibility:
  • We will emphasize the value of academic integrity regularly in this course.
  • We will conduct individual interviews to have you to explain any work that you submit. Grades will be based on both the submitted work and satisfactory explanation during the interview.
  • We will use Moss, a tool for detecting plagiarism in programs. It is highly effective at detecting similarity in the logical structure of any two pieces of code, even if variable names, formatting, or comments have been changed.
• Consequences of cheating:
  • Cheating can lead to an F grade in the assignment, test, or even the entire course.
  • We will forward evidence of cheating to the Watson Dean's office, which may record the incident in the student's file and/or take disciplinary actions. Please read the Watson College policy linked above for detailed consequences of cheating.

Attendance: Attendance is not mandatory but is strongly encouraged (either in-person or online) along with active class participation. There is a strong correlation between regular attendance, active participation, and good grades.

Announcements: Announcements will be made either during the class OR through emails. Missing any announcement due to not attending the class or not checking your emails is not a valid reason for missed work or examination.

Makeup exams: Makeup exam will be given only for medical emergencies or jury duty or according to university's final exam policy. Please do not ask for exceptions to this policy, such as for travel or interviews.

Late Assignment Submission: 10% penalty off total score for each 24 hours that your assignment is late. That means: Less than 24 hours late - 10% penalty. 24 to 48 hours late - 20% penalty. and so forth till the score reaches 0.

Incomplete Grades (grade of 'I'): The grade of 'I' will not be given, except due to medical emergency or jury duty. In this case, the missed work must be made up within a timeframe agreed upon with the instructor.

Grade Changes: Grade on an assignment, quiz, or exam will not be changed unless there is a grading error on part of the instructor or the TA. Extra credit work will not be offered to raise individual grades.