This document outlines the main course policies for CSSE220.
Outside of normal class time, we the instructors are almost always able to assist you when we are in our respective offices.
Don’t try to be the "Lone Ranger" in this course, especially if you do not find the course easy. If you find that you have worked on something for 20 minutes without making any progress, it’s probably time to seek help! Software development is a team sport. The best programmers know that a fresh set of eyes can often spot a problem right away.
- The Learning Center is an excellent source of help for students who are taking CSSE 220 this term. The center has prepared a schedule of students who will serve as CSSE 220 assistants at different times. Be sure to visit the learning center whenever you need assistance and an instructor is not available.
- Sophomore residence (Percopo Hall) frequently has tutors available to help anyone with CSSE220
- The CSSE Labs often have student lab assistants who can help with 220
- Besides the instructors, in-class assistants, and other resources noted above, other students in the course can often be a great source of help. And they will also learn more as they explain things to you. Just be sure they don't give you answers instead of help in their desire to please you.
This book is especially good for students who would like some help with Java, as it introduces the language from scratch. It also covers the later topics of the course. That said, it's completely optional and just for folks who would like extra help.
In general, you should plan ahead and submit assignments on time. This course has no 'late day' policy and late assignments are generally worth 0 points unless you have made special arrangements.
However we understand that situations can arise. We handle all situations on a case-by-case basis. Here are some general guidelines:
- We expect to be notified as soon as is feasible. If you are very ill, we understand that that might be slightly after the assignment due date. For other situations, it's usually possible to notify us in advance.
- The usual extension we will provide is 24 hours. Occasionally we may allow 48 hours. More than that is very unlikely.
- We keep track of extensions per student and if you seem to be overusing the privilege we will stop allowing extensions.
- If the reason you are late is because you are having trouble completing the assignment (e.g. a bug you can't fix or just difficulty understanding) get help from an instructor. Don't assume that more time will fix the problem; plan to get help.
In classes quizzes cannot be made up. However, we will drop your 3 lowest quiz grades.
| Weight | Criteria |
|---|---|
| 5% | In-class quizzes |
| 30% | Homework, programming problems and projects, in-class exercises |
| 10% | Team project |
| 16% | Exam 1 |
| 16% | Exam 2 |
| 23% | Final Exam |
Final grades are also contingent on the following:
- You must earn a C grade on at least one exam in order to earn a C in the course.
- You must have a passing average on the exams in order to pass the course. This average is computed including the higher weight of the final.
- You must demonstrate that you can individually write and debug simple Java programs at the level of this course in order to pass. The exams will be the usual way to do this. The instructor reserves the right to change final grades when the average in a major category (homework, exams, project) differs significantly from the overall average.
- Attendance is required, if you miss more than 3 classes over the course of the term you must contact us.
- Please note that CSSE 230 has as a prerequisite a grade of C or better in CSSE 220
The following table provides the TENTATIVE breakdown for each letter grade. Note that to receive an “A” in this course, your final grade in the course must be 93% or higher. Also note that below 65% is failing.
| Letter Grade | Final Average |
|---|---|
| A | 93‐100% |
| B+ | 88‐92% |
| B | 83‐87% |
| C+ | 78‐82% |
| C | 73‐77% |
| D+ | 68‐72% |
| D | 65‐67% |
| F | 0‐64% |
If at any point, you are not comfortable in the classroom, for ANY reason, or you observe any behaviors by ANYONE (classmates, course assistants or your instructors) that may make the classroom climate feel less welcoming for students: please tell us.
Ways to do so include:
- Ask to meet with your instructor privately. Or, explain your concern to your professor after class or by email if you feel comfortable with that and the issue does not require a conversation.
- Talk with any instructor in the department with whom you feel comfortable.
- If you don't know any professors well, you might start with Professor Amanda Stouder, who has agreed to be an ombudsman to help ensure that our classroom climates are welcoming to all. Her office is Moench F218, phone 877-8138, email stouder AT rose-hulman.edu Or Professor Shawn Bohner, who has also agreed to be an ombudsman to help ensure that our classroom climates are welcoming to all. His office is Moench F224, phone 877-8685, email bohner AT rose-hulman.edu.
- The department chair, Professor JP Mellor, is a good choice if you feel that your instructor is not addressing your concerns appropriately. His office is Moench F228, phone 877-8085, email mellor AT rose-hulman.edu.
- All your professors will do their utmost to ensure your confidentiality, but sometimes you might feel the need to say something anonymously. You can do so via the link on our class' Moodle page labeled Anonymous Feedback. All we ask is that you not use it just to vent when you are momentarily frustrated. Take a deep breath, count to 10, and if you still want to express a concern, by all means use the Anonymous Feedback tool in Moodle.
- Know your campus resources beyond the CSSE department as well. These include your faculty advisor, your RAs and SAs, and the Office of Student Affairs.
- Or, if you want to express concerns in a completely confidential way, the Student Counseling Center is an excellent resource.
You can do your part to ensure a welcoming, professional classroom climate by:
- Speak to your classmates, course assistants and instructors with courtesy and professionalism. The classroom atmosphere is informal, but avoid off-color jokes, rude language, suggestive images on your laptop or screen, or just about anything that might offend someone.
- Be supportive of your classmates. Offer help where appropriate. Help your classmates feel confident and welcomed.
- Project respect to classmates, course assistants and instructors. (And please tell us, as described above, if you feel anyone is being disrespectful of you or others in the classroom.)
- Avoid words and behaviors that might be perceived as confrontational or aggressive. Strive to avoid negative "you " phrases like "you are wrong " or "you need to ... ". Instead, use neutral "I/us " phrases like "I think that that approach is not right " or "Perhaps it would be helpful for us to ... "
- Whenever possible, arrive to class on time. (Your instructor may assign penalties for tardiness or absence
- Set your phone to a "silent " mode, turn off notifications on your computer that might distract classmates, and display only appropriately professional images on your computer screen.
- Don't do anything that will detract from your learning or that of people around you. Such things include talking loudly, chewing gum noisily, and not taking adequate care of your personal hygiene.
- Restrict all your conversations in class to things related to the class, except for times when your instructor allows you to do otherwise (as in a between-periods break, for example).
- If you need to check email or do non-class-related things during class, try to sit in the back row so that you minimize any disruption of classmates.
- If you are experiencing issues that may make you less able to be respectful to others in the classroom, consider alerting your instructor to that fact. Additionally, we strongly encourage any student who is feeling stress or experiencing any sort of difficult issue to contact the Student Counseling Center. They are an excellent resource available to students for free.
Recall the Institute policy on academic misconduct:
Rose-Hulman expects its students to be responsible adults and to behave at all times with honor and integrity.
Exams and homework will be done on an individual basis except when explicitly noted. The simple rule of thumb for individual work is:
Never give or use someone else’s code or written answers.
Such exchanges are definitely cheating and not cooperation. The departmental statement on academic honesty has more detailed advice.
This policy INCLUDES sharing code after an exam has completed. Due to the nature of our exams, you will have access to your code after the exam time has completed. This means that if you share your code, someone else may try to commit is as theirs. Understand we have access to commit logs and can easily see when changes were made and who made them. Also, you may be asked if you can share your code with a friend after an exam so they can see how to do the problems. While this may seem okay (as the exam is over) we have seen cases in which a student will ask a friend to "see " their code, then commit it to their own exam repository as their own. If this behavior is discovered, we will be prosecuting both the person who committed the code AND the person who shared the code. If a friend wants to see how you solved a problem after an exam, wait at least until grades are submitted, or you are risking an F on the exam and possibly the class. This policy will by STRONGLY ENFORCED. The best thing to do in this case is to remind your friend of this policy, then suggest they speak to a TA or the professor so they can make sure they understand the code, which is much more important than just obtaining a copy.
This policy INCLUDES sharing code after graduating from this course. If your code is found used in some other students solution, after your have already completed this course - you will receive a retroactive F in this course.
We encourage you to discuss the problems and general approaches to solving them with other students. However, when it comes to writing code, it should be your own work (or the work of your group if it is a group or partner assignment). If you are having trouble understanding how some library code works or pinning down a run-time or logic error in your program, by all means talk to someone about it.
If you use someone else’s ideas in your solution (or any other work that you do anywhere), you have to:
- give credit to that person in the comment section of your program, and
- be sure that you understand it as well as if it were your own.
If you are ever in doubt about whether some specific situation violates the policy, the best approach is to discuss it with your instructor beforehand. This is a very serious matter that we do not take lightly. Nor should you.
You should never look at another student’s solution to get ideas of how to write your own code. Beginning the process of producing your own solution with an electronic copy of work done by other students is never appropriate.
The least possible penalty for plagiarism or cheating is a -100% on the assignment (that's negative points, not just 0 credit). In places where the cheating seems intentional, the penalty is an automatic F in the course. TO BE CLEAR: you can get an automatic F in this course if you are caught cheating on one small assignment, even one time.
These policies has been written and revised over several terms by Claude Anderson, Matt Boutell, Curt Clifton, Delvin Defoe, Micah Taylor, Mike Hewner, and Amanda Stouder.