CMPT 376 (Spring 2008): Course policies

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Class attendance and participation

Attendance in class is expected. A portion of your grade (see the assignments page) is based on class participation. I understand and expect that illness, family issues and the occasional ski trip will take you out of class sometimes. And if you're violently coughing and sneezing from a cold, it's probably in everyone's best interest that you not come to class. But absences should only be occasional. In-class exercises and discussions will be crucial in mastering the skills. Ultimately, you learn to write by writing. The class sessions will be one of the ways you get that practice. Your absence can also affect the educational experience of your classmates, as students will sometimes critique each others' writing in class.

E mail policies

I encourage students to submit questions and comments by e-mail. I strive to respond within 24 hours of reading your mail, although I do not guarantee that response time. Note that I often do not read email on weekends or holidays, and only review messages a few times a day on weekdays.

I will only pay attention to emails that meet the following standards:

The subject line of any course-related email should begin CMPT 376:
In addition to the prefix (above), always put a relevant subject line on your message. I will delete unread any mail without a subject line. A good subject line would read something like:

CMPT 376: Number of scenarios for first design.

Furthermore, if you are starting a new thread, indicate that with a new topic. I get upset when an e-mail with a subject line "Re: midterm schedule" turns out to be about some unrelated issue. And when I get upset I usually delete the message without replying...
Do not use chat-mode abbreviations such as "u" for "you", "2" for "to" or "too". Write out your words.
Don't send an e-mail about an assignment at 20:00 the night before it's due. I probably won't even receive it until after class and even if I do receive it I won't bother replying.
All requests or discussions about grades or special considerations must be done face to face, either after class, during scheduled office hours, or by appointment. I will not consider any requests made via e-mail.

A general rule about social communications, including email: In any communication, you have the choice to minimize the effort you put into it (usually at the expense of requiring more effort from the recipient) or putting more effort into it so it is easier for the recipient. The tradeoff you make will vary depending upon your relationship with the other person, who is going to gain from the communication, and many other factors. Communication styles that are fine for casual interaction with friends are inappropriate for more formal contexts. Most of the above guidelines are simply asking you to put a bit of upfront effort into your email so I can read and reply more easily and effectively.

Assignments

Assignments must be turned in by the start of the class session they are due. Assignments will not be accepted after the due date.

Check carefully whether the assignment is to be submitted in paper or electronically via WebCT. I will likely ask for both kinds of submissions at various times in the course.

Ensuring academic honesty

Simply put, cheating is a process where one student gains a temporary advantage by hurting the other students in the class. In fact, it hurts all students who have earned degrees from this university. If your marks and degree claim that you know more than you really do, employers will figure out the gap quickly enough and devalue degrees from SFU. In this way, cheating by one student hurts every student.

While you may be able to fool professors into thinking your accomplishments are higher than they really are, it's harder (although admittedly possible) to get away with that in the workplace for very long after you graduate. As a computing professional, your work will ultimately affect the comfort and possibly the safety of of many people. It takes hard work to learn the skills of this profession and more hard work after graduation to learn to apply them to solve real problems. Cheaters seek the privilege of taking a job, even though they haven't earned that privilege by learning the necessary skills. As a result, they risk injuring the users of their products financially, emotionally, and even physically. They violate the trust of both their employers and the customers who buy products from their employers.

If I detect a case of academic dishonesty, I will deal with it according to the University procedures for academic dishonesty and misconduct.

The stakes in cheating are high, far beyond the relatively small issue of grades or whatever punishment the University might give if you're caught.

Plagiarism and assignments

It is crucial that each assignment reflect the work of the individual or team that submits it. I will consider any traces of plagiarism---the unattributed copying of someone else's work---an instance of academic dishonesty.