Grading Policy

Grades will be determined as follows:

  • 25% Best five of six to seven Homework Assignments (number of assignments will be selected by instructor)
  • 10% Class participation including attendance, participation, and performance on impromptu quizzes
  • 20% Group Project
  • 20% Mid-Term Exam
  • 25% Final Exam

Class attendance is required. Participation is the opposite of sleeping, reading, checking email, instant messaging, etc. There are no make-ups for missed homeworks and quizzes although the worst will be dropped. Late homework may be accepted at the discretion of the instructor and TAs.

Policy on Collaboration and Cheating

All homework assignments in this course are to be done by you alone and your group project is to be done by only you and your group. Violation will result in a zero grade on that assignment and initiation of the formal procedures of the Academic Honesty Board. At the same time, we encourage students to help each other learn the course material. As in most courses, there is a boundary separating these two situations. You may give or receive help on any of the concepts covered in lecture or discussion and on the specific details of programming language syntax. You are allowed to consult with other students in the current class to help you understand the assignment specifications (i.e. the problem definition). However, you may not collaborate in any way when constructing your solution-the solution to homework assignments must be generated by you alone and the group project by your group working together without other collaboration. You are not allowed to look at or in any way derive advantage from the existence of assignment specifications or solutions prepared elsewhere. If you have any questions as to what constitutes unacceptable collaboration, please talk to the instructor right away. You are expected to exercise reasonable precautions in protecting your own work. Don't let other students borrow your account or computer, don't leave your program in a publicly accessible directory, and take care when discarding printouts.

Any acts of cheating and plagiarism will be reported to the University Academic Honesty Board. You are responsible for knowing, and will be held to, the University Academic Honesty Policy. This policy is available online:

http://www.umass.edu/dean_students/rights/acad_honest.htm

If you have questions about any of these policies please see the instructor.

Incompletes

An incomplete will be given only when documented, exceptional circumstances beyond your control have made it impossible to complete the assigned work before the end of the semester. It is your responsibility to contact the instructor regarding any such problems well before the end of the semester. Note that general rules of the University allow an incomplete only if most of the work has been completed satisfactorily before the end of the semester, so that the incomplete can be finished within the first four weeks of the immediately following semester. They further state that if a substantial amount of work remains undone then a retroactive drop should be obtained and the entire course repeated.

Auditing

Official auditors will normally be expected to complete either all of the homeworks plus a project or both of the exams and to achieve at least a C-level performance on whichever they choose to complete. Anyone enrolled for audit should contact the instructor early in the semester to discuss the requirements for receiving audit credit for this course. If the course is heavily over-enrolled, audits may not be possible.