Syllabus Addendum

Course Policies for

Computer Programming in the Web Era

ITEC 334 - Fall 2009

Professor: J. Alberto Espinosa

 

Last updated on 8/19/09

Individual Work | Lateness | Attendance
Academic Integrity | Busineslike Behavior | Re-grade | Back to Syllabus

Introduction

This page describes important policies that will be enforced in this course. The main objective of these policies is not to establish rigid rules, but to outline responsibilities and expectations about both, students and your professors.                                                                                                         

Individual Work

All individual assigments must be completed individually and each student must turn in his/her own work. Students are not allowed to help or receive help from others in individual assignments, except as explicitly allowed by the instructor. Any work that is copied from others, all or in part, will receive a grade of 0 in the respective assignment and referred to the dean's office, as required by American University's Academic Integrity Code, except as explicitly allowed by the instructor.

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Lateness on Assignments

Unless otherwise specified by the instructor, assignments must be turned in at the beginning of class on their respective due date.  The penalty for late submissions is a 10 point deduction for each day (weekday or weekend day) that the assignment is late.  However, no further assignment submissions will be allowed when and if a solution to the corresponding assignment has been distributed to the class. This policy will be strictly enforced!  When assignments are required to be turned in electronically (by posting your web sites, e-mail or Blackboard's Digital Dropbox), technical difficulties while posting your work will not be accepted as valid excuse for lateness, unless your instructor has agreed otherwise in advance. All web posting problems must be resolved before the due date, or at least discussed with your professor.

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Attendance and Participation

Attendance is mandatory in this class. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class session and after each break. Experience and the statistics for this course show that many academic problems observed with students can be attributed to low attendance. Historically, students with high attendance do substantially better in the course than those with low attendance. Attendance will be more heavily weighted in special class sessions involving guest speakers, case discussions, and other similar events. Similarly, attendance to lab sessions will be monitored more strictly since there will be important work you need to complete during the lab session, which will be graded. Your attendance grade will be based on the percentage of class and lab sessions attended, but this grade will be adjusted upwards or downwards depending on your participation. Additional points will be awarded to students for quality participation during class, particularly during discussions (e.g., case) or presentations by invited speakers. On the other hand, points will be subtracted from the attendance grade non-businesslike behavior.  Students who arrive late without prior authorization from the instructor will receive partial or no attendance credit, depending on how late they arrived. Students who leave class early without prior authorization from the instructor will receive no attendance credit for that day. Frequent unauthorized late arrivals or early departures will be penalized with negative participation points for non-businesslike behavior.

Click here for further details on attendance and participation.
Click here to see examples of how to earn participation points.
Click here to see examples of non-businesslike behavior that carry negative points.
Click here to see special rules for lab sessions.

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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY

Academic integrity, the body of ethical standards, practice, and behavior, is paramount in higher education and essential to effective teaching and learning. As a professional school, the Kogod School of Business is committed to preparing our students and graduates to value the notion of integrity.

Standards of academic conduct are governed by the University’s Academic Integrity Code. By enrolling in the School and registering for this course, you acknowledge your familiarity with the Code and pledge to abide by it. All suspected violations of the Code will be immediately referred to the Office of the Dean and disciplinary action including failure for the course, suspension, or dismissal may result.

Additional information about the Code (i.e. acceptable forms of collaboration, definitions of plagiarism, use of sources including the Internet, and the adjudication process) can be found in a number of places including the University’s Academic Regulations, Student Handbook, and website at www.american.edu/academics/integrity. If you have any questions about academic integrity or standards of conduct in this course, please discuss them with your instructor.

Violations of the code include, but are not limited to: cheating in exams, copying parts of another student's homework, re-using papers presented in other courses, using any material prepared by others and submitting it as the student's own work, and using verbatim text materials from sources without quotes and appropriate citation references.

All homework assignments are individual.  While helping peers and getting help from others is allowed, you MUST complete your assignment INDIVIDUALLY and turn in your own work.  In other words, you can discuss these individual assignments and get tips from others, but students cannot copy any work, all or in part.  The exams are also individual.  Other assignments in the course will be conducted in teams.

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BUSINESSLIKE BEHAVIOR

Like all other courses you take at Kogod, this course is aimed at helping you prepare for your business careers. As such, it is important that all students exhibit a businesslike behavior in all coursework activities.  Any behavior that would be considered unacceptable at a business meeting or in business environment is also considered unacceptable in this class.  Non-businesslike behavior carries substantial penalties on the participation grade. Non-businesslike behavior that are considered unacceptable include, but are not limited to: coming late to class without prior consent from the instructor; leaving class early without prior consent from the instructor; leaving class temporarily in the middle of a lecture; laughing and chatting in class with peers; receiving cell phone calls or text messages during class; using chat software, e-mail or any other unrelated software during lab sessions; and making improper remarks or disrespectful comments to or about the instructor or peers.

Click here to see further examples of non-businesslike behavior.

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REGRADE POLICY

Mathematical errors adding points and computing grades should be reported (and will be corrected) immediately.  For re-grades involving content, students can request the instructor to re-grade any assignment or exam.  However, the following rules will apply: (1) students can only request one re-grade per assignment or exam.  Therefore, students are encouraged to review all their work carefully before requesting a re-grade; (2) the grade after one re-grade will final; (3) the instructor reserves the right to re-grade the entire assignment or exam, not just the portions subject of the re-grade request.  If grading mistakes are found in other parts of the assignment, the student may gain or lose further points, depending on the mistake.

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FURTHER DETAILS ABOUT ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION

The students' final attendance and participation grade will be:

  • A straight percentage of their attendance to class.
  • Plus extra points for quality participation during class
  • Minus points subtracted for non-businesslike behavior

About Extra Points for Participation

Extra points for participation will be given to students who actively participate in class, or outside the class, in a way that benefits other students and the course in general. Here are some examples:

  • Asking useful questions and making useful comments in class
  • Making sound suggestions for course improvements to the instructor
  • Attendance to special events annouced by the instructor
  • Active participation during class discussions
  • Quality participation and questions during external guest speaker talks and tours

About Negative Points for Non-Businesslike Behavior

Any behavior that is unacceptable in a business meeting is also unacceptable in class!! The severity of the penaly will higher when this behavior is more disruptive, more frequent or during guest talks. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Laughing or talking with peers in class when a lecture, discussion or presentation is in progress
  • Making comments or remarks that are inappropriate disrespectful to other students or the instructor
  • Using laptop computers during class discussion. Students who need to use laptops to take notes should notify the instructor in advance. Laptop computers can only be used to take class notes and to follow methods discussed in class. Students using laptop computers to work on assignments for this or other course, chat, use e-mail, browse the web, or anything else unrelated to the lecture material being dicussed in class will receive heavy penalties on their participation grade.
  • Using electronic mail, chat programs, or any other software during lab sessions that are not needed to complete the lab assignments
  • Disrupting the flow of the class in any way
  • Signing the attendance sheet and then leaving
  • Coming late to class without prior consent from the instructor
  • Leaving class early without prior consent from the instructor
  • Receiving cell phone calls or text messages during class. Heavier penalties will be applied if students respond to these calls or messages during class.

Special Rules for Lab Sessions

All class rules and policies apply to lab sessions to and attendance is also mandatory. In addition, students need to:

  • Arrive ON TIME. Late arrivals disrupt the flow of activities and will also affect your ability to complete the exercise on time.
  • Stay for the entire session, until they finish the assigned exercise, or until the instructor indicates that it is OK to leave. The instructor will give you permission to leave if you have successfully completed all the requirements for the lab session.
  • Work ONLY on the lab exercise assigned. The use of chat software, e-mail and any other software that is unrelated to the current lab work is not allowed.
  • Not answer cell phone calls. Cell phones must be placed on silent mode before the lab starts. Answering or making cell phone calls during the lab session is not allowed.
  • Listen to the instructor when he/she speaks. Lectures are minimized in the lab, but short lectures, explanations or quick instructions are often necessary. When the instructor is explaining or discussing something, you need to stop working with your computer and listen to the instructor.
  • Stay in synch with the instructor: with so many students in the lab, it is often difficult to keep everyone synchronized. When the instructor is leading you through some step-by-step instructions, it is important that you stay in synch with the instructor. If you find yourself falling behind, please raise your hand immediately.
  • Work individually. You are expected to complete the lab exercises (and homework) individually. Cooperating in lab exercises and homework assignments are a violation of AU’s Academic integrity code. Students often help their peers in the lab. This is OK, as long as the help is related to small issues about the use of hardware and software, but not on the exercises or homework specifics.