The CIS department has established a set of standard policies for all classes; these policies are documented in CIS Class Policies.
Students must do their own work. Working in teams on individual assignments, turning in "modified" assignments from previous class projects, documents authored by another, or viewing another student's exams during testing all constitute academic dishonesty. Please refer to the GSU Student Handbook for a more complete description of activities deemed to constitute plagiarism and cheating and for the possible penalties for such activities. Please note, faculty members are required to notify the univeristy of any occurance of cheating, no matter how trivial.
Students are encouraged to discuss what is expected for an assignment and background knowledge concerning assignments. However, students must do their own individual assignments. In addition to the explicit assignment listed, students should complete readings and assignments before class. Additionally, each student must contribute to the class discussion during the term (this includes electronic discussions). Spirited and thoughtful participation is encouraged.
As part of this class, you may be required to work in a project team. Group work is an integral part of corporate life in computer-related professions. The ability to work, negotiate, and compromise with others are all important skills. Group work is demanding. It requires a significant commitment of time and effort. For group projects, expect a substantial commitment of evening and week-end work. While working on a group project, expect to meet two or three times a week for a half hour to a couple of hours.
Successful group work requires a fair and equitable environment as to the participation and the distribution of work. Not all groups function smoothly or equally. Occasionally one or two individuals in the group do all the work while the other members "coast". This is not desirable for two reasons. First, the "coasters" are not learning new skills and are not fulfilling the requirements of the course. Second, the few individuals who are working share an unequal part of the work burden and do not learn the skills necessary to resolve team difficulties.
To facilitate smoothly running teams, every team member will evaluate every other team member at the completion of the group's work. From these evaluations, the professor will create a team factor. Your individual team score will be determined by multiplying the group's team score by your individual factor. A normal factor is 1. Non-participating team members will receive a factor of 0, while those that do the work left by "coasters" will receive more than 1 (e.g., 1.05). Hence, the team evaluations will substantially impact your grade. Good group relations and performance is therefore essential!
There are occasions when groups do not develop a successful working relationship. Team members are responsible to inform the instructor in such cases. In some circumstances, team members may be fired (i.e., dropped from the team) or opt to resign. This is a dramatic situation as the individual will still be expected to complete the entire team project alone! Accordingly there is a strong incentive to make your team work.
Conditions for 'firing' a team member include, but are not limited to:
All assignments must be professionally submitted. Work must be word processed (spell checked, and grammar checked), or completed using appropriate computerized tools (e.g., CASE tool). Unless specified otherwise, assignments should be either: (1) online, or (2) Stapled or bound with a cover sheet that has room for grading comments.
Additionally, each assignment may call for special formatting and presentation; read the individual assignment descriptions very carefully; you may want to check-off each item as you finish it to ensure that assignments are done properly.
All assignments are due on the specified date! (That's why it's called a due date.). Assignments turned in electronically (e.g., via email or linked to a home page) are due before midnight of the due date. (Do not alter electronic assignments after their due date!. Instead, you may submit revisions if you wish.) Late assignments will receive a zero (0)—absolutely, positively, no exceptions!
Students are expected to attend all classes and group meetings, except when precluded by emergencies, religious holidays or bona fide extenuating circumstances. In such cases, always notify the instructor prior to missing class. You will not have the opportunity to make up in-class work. Additionally, class participation is important and accounts for a part of your grade. If you have an unusual situation that will affect class attendance notify the instructor.
Learning from others is one of the reasons we teach in groups. You must add to the classroom experience to receive credit. In addition to the typical classroom discussion, you can add to our collective learning experience in a number of ways.
Participate in classroom discussions by:
As part of class, we will discuss your individual and
group projects that are part of the student homework.
To ensure that you are prepared to contribute significantly to these
discussions, do the following:
Be aware that you may be called on
to present your project!
You will be graded according to the guidelines presented in the following list.
Class participation is important and necessary. Students often comment that the knowledge of their peers provides considerable value added to the course content. While precise grading is not possible, relative grading is, based on the following hierarchy:
A - is always prepared when asks; demonstrates insight into the assigned material, adds broad value or a good insight to the discussion when volunteering to respond.
B - generally prepared when asked; volunteers responses that are mostly on the mark and/or add some value to the discussion.
C - infrequently prepared and/or volunteering answers; when asked able to respond to questions without too much prompting.
D - infrequently prepared; not familiar with material; rarely volunteers and/or volunteers information which is generally off the mark. Often absent.
E - frequently unprepared and/or absent.
Points are assigned as follows:
· 1 pt for each day that you attend lecture (not exams, etc.)
·
Up to 3 pts for each class period in
which you make a substantial contribution.
(Usually, with a maximum of 4 times a term.)
See the syllabus for the total possible participation points. Typically, a roll sheet will be circulated at the beginning of class. Place your name on it to receive your 1pt for attendance. Place a star (*) next to your name if you feel that you are ready to be called on to make a “substantial contribution”.
It is possible for every student to receive an 'A' grade. However, many classes obtain a typical bell curve distribution. The initial curve, based on a percentage of points is:
Everyone starts with 0% and should seek the goal of 100%
A 'W' grade will be assigned if a student withdraws before the middle of the semester while maintaining a passing grade. A 'WF' will be assigned if a student withdraws before the middle of the semester while doing failing work OR after the middle of the semester.
You must have an Internet email account. You may wish to obtain an account from GSU's "PantherNet" at the Wells Computer Center's Client Services (bring your Student ID). You should, at the same time pick up (free) material on use of the Internet, your account and the use of email (Pine). At the same time, you should complete the form necessary to "register" you with GSU's electronic phonebook using the WWW (www.gsu.edu). This, in turn will let you use a much simpler email id, e.g. yourname@gsu.edu, which can then be directed to whichever account you prefer to receive email at (at home, at the office, using the University computer, etc.).
Any student who purposefully damages or reduces the capacity of the University's computing resources will be prosecuted. Moreover, any student who purposefully damages or reduces the capacity of the Internet will be prosecuted under all local, State, and Federal laws which apply. Examples of damage include, but are not limited to, viruses and worms.