Course Policies
Last updated: Wed, 8 Sep 2021 16:47:56 -0400
This page describes the policies of the course. Please read it carefully.
1 Academic Honesty
Students are expected to follow the UMB Academic Honesty Policy, as described in Appendix B of the Student Code of Conduct document.
In particular, note the list of Academic Honesty Violations.
Violations may result in failing grades, loss of course credit, and will be reported to your department and the Dean of Students (DoS) Office.
2 Collaboration Policy
All submitted work be must your own, i.e., written from scratch, in your own words.
Discussing homework with other students, however, is allowed and encouraged.
You may also consult other reference sources to learn course materials, with the exception of "tutoring" sites like Chegg or Course Hero. We will be monitoring these sites for infractions.
README
the names of other students you worked with; and
any books or websites you consulted (other than the textbooks).
how long you spent on the assignment.
Violations
Again, all submitted work be must written from scratch in your own words.
(1st offense) loss of credit on the problem and a warning,
(2nd offense) zero for the assignment and reported to the department and school,
(3rd offense) failing grade for the course.
3 Distribution of Course Materials
Course materials may not be distributed without permission from the instructor.
This means you may not post homework questions to mailing lists or websites like Stack Overflow, Chegg, Course Hero, etc.
Infractions will be considered academic honesty violations.
4 Grading
Grades will be computed at the end of the semester according to the following criteria:
Grade Components
Homework assignments: 80%
This component of the grade will be computed by totaling all earned points on assignments and dividing by the maximum possible homework points.
Note: The lowest homework grade will be dropped before final grade calculation.
Quizzes: 5%
This component of the grade will be computed by totaling all earned points on quizzes and dividing by the maximum possible quiz points.
Class Participation: 15%
This part of the grade will be based on attendance, participation in lecture discussions and chats, office hour attendance, discussion board posts and responses, and the instructor’s assessment of a student’s overall engagement in the course.
Letter Grades
A range: 90-100
B range: 80-90
C range: 70-80
D range: 60-70
F: < 60
Note: each of the ranges may be further split into the standard plus/minus divisions, at the instructor’s discretion.
5 Homework Submission Policy
Homework is submitted to Gradescope, under the appropriate assignment label.
Homework solutions may be resubmitted as many times as needed, up to the deadline.
In addition to your solution files, each homework submission must include a README file with the following information:
Time spent (in hours) on the assignment,
The names of other students you worked with,
and any other books or websites you used.
See the Collaboration Policy for more details.
6 Late Policy
Homework is due (typically) Sundays at 11:59 EST.
In general, late homework is not accepted, for many reasons:
It is disruptive to the course. For example, we may discuss or present solutions in lecture right after a homework is due. Having to rearrange a course because of a late assignment is unfair to other students in the class.
It takes up staff resources. Having to deal with late homework means less time for office hours, discussion boards, etc.
Finally, because homework is assigned continually, a late submission will cause work to overlap with subsequent assignments, making it difficult to catch up.
Of course, unforeseen things will happen. Therefore, we’ve adopted the following rules:
Over the course of the semester, you can use up to three late days. These can be allocated however you want (all to one assignment, one to each assignment, etc.).
We strongly prefer you not use more than one per assignment, because it disrupts grading; nevertheless, if you do need to take more than a day on an assignment, you can.
Don’t ask for permission; don’t tell us your reason: any time you miss the submission deadline, we will assume you are using a late day. Each part of a day that you are late counts as a full day. However, if you take more than one day, you must inform us (post a private message on the forum) so we can keep track of your submission.
No exceptions allowed unless you have a Dean’s Note indicating family/health emergency.
Note: The course has enough homeworks that missing one is probably not going to affect your course grade too much (and the lowest grade is dropped anyways). It is far worse to fall behind. Therefore, if you miss a deadline, you may be best off catching up with the content (through class or talking to course staff) and moving on.
7 Lecture Policy
Lectures meet online via Zoom.
For security reasons, the University requires accessing Zoom lectures via Blackboard.
Lectures will be recorded and posted to Blackboard/Echo360.
Keep audio muted unless speaking.
Please be presentable. Though video is not always required, it would be nice if a student could turn it on when speaking. This way I can still get to know each of you, even in a virtual setting.
8 Quizzes
Each lecture will usually be accompanied by a very short quiz (one or two questions).
Though they are graded and worth a small fraction of the final grade, their primary intent is to help students pay attention in lecture and to make sure everyone is caught up on at least the most basic course topics.
All quizzes are open book but you will only have a few minutes to complete it.