Common Course Policies

The following policies are applicable to all courses I teach and form a part of the syllabus for each course.

Academic Integrity

The Coastal Carolina University Academic Integrity Code will be enforced. Any student found to be in violation of the Academic Integrity Code in this course will be assigned a penalty ranging from a zero on the item in question up to and including a course grade of FX.

Specific policies for this course are as follows:

1. Unless otherwise stated, you MAY work together on all activities in this class, provided you are actually engaged in mutual study of the material and not simply copying answers from, or giving answers to, someone else. Cheating will be suspected if two or more people are working together, but one person has already completed the work.
2. You MAY NOT work together on any course activity that is clearly marked as requiring individual effort. Working together on such activities is considered cheating and will result in penalties for all involved students, no matter how minor the involvement.
3. Submitting work that is not your own (for example, screenshots taken by someone else) is cheating.
4. Giving someone else your work (for example, your screenshots for a particular assignment), even if they promise not to submit it as their own, is cheating. The amount of work shared, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, is irrelevant.
5. Using material from the Internet without citing the source may be cheating, depending upon the circumstances. If in doubt, cite the source.
6. Letting someone else take any part of this course for you (whether paid or not), soliciting someone else to take any part of this course for you (whether offering money or not), or offering to take any part of this course for someone else (whether paid or not) are flagrant examples of cheating and will result in an FX course grade.

Attendance

When required to report absences, the professor will take attendance and report absences per University policy. However, attendance is not graded. For online and hybrid courses, missed course activities count as absences per the University Distance Learning Policy.

Communication Policy

I will normally reply to email within 1-2 business days. Email received over the weekend or on a holiday may not be returned as quickly. Note that I’m usually much quicker at responding to email than to telephone calls and voicemail. I can generally only return voicemail messages when I’m in the office.

If you have an urgent message, and I am unreachable, please contact Mrs. Melanie McKeefery, Computing Sciences Administrative Specialist, at 843-349-2116.

Disability Accommodations

Per University policy, accommodations can only be granted through Accessibility and Disability Services. Please ensure that the professor receives your accommodation letter within the first week of class (or as soon as possible, if accommodations are granted in the middle of a semester).

Grading Procedures

All work will be graded on a 100-point scale. The number of permitted attempts for each activity will be noted in the activity description.

Grading Scale

Final averages will be converted to letter grades using the standard 10-point scale:

Averages will be rounded to the nearest whole number before applying the conversion.

Laptop Requirement

All students taking this course are required to have access to a computer. A laptop is recommended for portability. If this class has any in-person meetings, bring your laptop with you to class. Minimum specifications may be found at the Department of Computing Sciences Computing Requirements page.

Students taking this course remotely will need access to a high-speed Internet connection. A major Web browser (Firefox or Chrome/Chromium) is also required.

Late Work

Activities that support due dates will have two deadlines: the due date, and the Hard Deadline at the end of the course. The Hard Deadline is listed on the course syllabus, near the top. Any work submitted between the due date and the Hard Deadline will be considered late and will incur a 30% grade penalty. No work will be accepted after the Hard Deadline! Zero grades will be assigned for missing work at the end of the semester.

For activities that do not support due dates (such as Moodle quizzes), the activities will close at the Hard Deadline and will not be accepted late.

Online Etiquette

When posting in any course discussion forum, keep your posts concise but complete. Write out words, and do not use text message abbreviations. Use proper capitalization, run spell check, use proper punctuation, and keep your language appropriate for the academic setting. Do not engage in disrespectful behaviors, such as flaming or making inappropriate or offensive comments.