Policies

Grading

Homework Assignments

30%

Labs and Quizzes

15%

Mid-term Exams (2)

30%

Final Exam

25%


Grading Policies

Labs
Your lab grade is based upon your attendance in lab, participation in individual and group lab activities, and completion of assigned lab projects. Each lab period you will be given an assignment which must be started in class. During class time you may consult with other students or the TAs if you need help on the lab. Because labs involve group work experiences, you are expected to attend and participate as part of a group, and not work alone outside the lab.

All lab assignments will be posted on WebCT. There you will find instructions for each lab, along with questions that you must answer. You will submit your answers through WebCT as well.

If you cannot finish a lab, you may complete the lab at home. Simply save your work on your WebCT account and resume it over the weekend. Your completed work must be submitted (on WebCT) before Sunday at 11:55 PM.

Students must keep electronic copies of all programs completed as part of the labs on their home machine or on their Drexel domain space. Programs written in one week's lab may be required as starting points in later labs. If you do not have your old work, you may have to complete the old labs over again!

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Assignments
All assignments will be posted with a due date and a late due date. Assignments received by the due date will earn full credit. If you miss the due date, you have until the late due date to submit your assignment. Late assignments will be penalized 15% of the full value of the assignment. (e.g. a 150 point assignment will be penalized 22.5 points). Once the late due date has passed, the assignment will not be accepted for credit.

Note that some assignments have extra credit options available on them. Assignments that are turned in late are not subject to extra credit considerations. That is, extra credit will not be counted on any late assignment.

All written material must be prepared on a word processor and submitted electronically via WebCT.

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Extra Credit
Extra credit will be available occasionally on various assignments and exams throughout the term. Since these opportunities for improving your grade are a planned part of the course, there will be no "special" or "by request" extra credit assignments at the end of the term.

Assignments that are turned in late are not subject to extra credit considerations. (See Assignments above).

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Near Misses and Grade Corrections

Because all grading schemes are error-prone, you must double check all your grades. It is your responsibility to:

  1. Keep all graded assignments so that we may compare our records with yours.
  2. Check all exams grades to make sure you have been given credit where credit is due. Also check for addition errors in your final point total.
  3. Inform us immediately if you detect any errors. Waiting until after the end of the term is too late!

At the end of the term, your instructors will review each and every student grade and assign a letter grade based upon the traditional 10 point scale. However, for grades near the cut off points (on both sides) , the instructors will carefully review the student's performance and possibly raise or lower the grade based upon the following criteria:

  1. Lab Performance and Attendance. Students who attend lab and complete all of the lab assignments will be looked upon more favorably than students who do the some of the labs, or have sporadic attendance.
  2. Homework Promptness. Students who turned all their assignments on time will be looked upon more favorably than students who frequently turn assignments in late.

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Special Circumstances.
Your instructors do appreciate that unforeseeable and/or uncontrollable personal issues or other circumstances may arise during the term that may make it difficult or impossible for you to complete assigned work and/or exams on time. However, it is your responsibility to inform your instructors concerning your circumstances as soon as possible when such circumstances arise and certainly before the end of the term.

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Academic Honesty

The university's Academic Honesty policy is in effect for this course. Please read Section 10: "Academic Honesty" in the Drexel University Student Handbook to make sure you are familiar with this policy. An electronic version of the Student Handbook appears on the Drexel CD. To find this material online, visit the university's online handbook and read the section on Academic Honesty at http://www.drexel.edu/studentlife/studenthandbook2002/Judicial/acadhon.html .

You must be the sole original author of all assignments and examination solutions in their entirety, unless the instructor explicitly instructs you otherwise in written directions on an assignment or exam. Except where specifically assigned, collaborative work is a violation of academic honesty in this course. You are not to examine or use code/written solutions belonging to someone else, nor may you let anyone else examine or copy your code/written solutions.

Students found in violation of the Academic Honesty policy may be asked to submit additional or alternative assignments, receive no credit for a questionable assignment or exam, or possibly receive a failing grade for the course.

Students having difficulty fulfilling the requirements for an assignment without outside help are to seek assistance from a teaching assistant or instructor, not from another student or knowledgeable person.

It is your responsibility to avoid violating the university's policy. If you are unclear as to what the policy means in a particular situation, ask the instructor for clarification before you hand anything in.

See the examples below for clarification of this policy.

Examples

The following are acceptable:
  • Using code provided in lecture: include comments that cite the source.
  • Using code provided in the class textbook: include comments that cite the source.
  • Code developed jointly with instructor or teaching assistants assigned to this course.
  • Discussing algorithms or possible approaches to writing your program, WITHOUT discussing particulars of the code.
  • Discussing how to resolve errors, WITHOUT discussing particulars of the code.
These are NOT acceptable:
  • You borrow a printed or electronic copy of a friend's assignment, and use it for "inspiration".
  • You give a printed or electronic copy of your assignment to somebody else.
  • You "find" a printed copy of somebody's program in the trash, on a lab machine, on their hard drive, etc., and use it for "inspiration".
  • You pay a "tutor" who writes the assignment for you.
  • You and a friend together write one assignment, then create separate modifications to be handed in.
  • You and a friend write certain portions of the assignment individually, but collaborate on other portions of the assignment.

Harassment and Discrimination

The University considers as harassment the treatment of, or behavior toward, a student or group of students or University employee or group of University employees that is so abusive as to display a discriminatory hostility, intimidation, or that has the intent or effect of substantially or unreasonably interfering with an individual's educational performance or living environment on the basis of race, ethnic ancestry, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, or physical or mental disability. Harassment is a violation of the standards of conduct required of all members of the University community and is strictly forbidden.
All students should consult the student handbook and review the policies on harassment and discrimination in Section 9: Part 1. Faculty and TAs will report incidents the University Judicial Officer (See Sections 7 & 8 of the student handbook) on the first offense. Students who feel that they are the victims of harassment should immediately report the incident to the Office of Judicial Affairs (215 Creese Student Center -- (215) 895-2506/2507).

Cell Phones, etc.

Classroom Policy

Use of cell phones and pagers during class is disruptive to other students and the instructor. If you must bring your phone or pager to class, make sure you turn the ringer off. If you need to take or make a call, quietly leave the room.

Students who bring laptops to class should turn the sound off. Start-up and shutdown music, dialogue and error alerts, and instant messaging sounds are disruptive.

Exam Policy

Cell phones, pagers, PDAs, laptops and some calculators can be used to communicate with people and access Internet sites. Thus using any of these items during an exam is in direct violation of the academic honesty policies of Drexel University. Any use of a cell phone, pager, laptop or other electronic device during an exam is considered an act of cheating. Students are advised not to bring these items to exams to avoid misunderstandings. If you must bring any of these items with you to the exam, turn it off and keep it in your book bag. You may not make a call, receive a call or page, or otherwise keep any of these items "in plain sight."

Snow Closing

The university keeps a recorded phone message regarding school closing status for snow and other emergencies at (215) 895-MELT (6358).

Philadelphia radio station KYW 1060 AM announces school closings by number. The closing number for the University is 103; the number for evening classes is 2103. You can also find this information at

Information is also available at Drexel's home page on the World Wide Web,