Syllabus

Grading Policies

Grade Breakdown

Your grade is composed of the following components:

Grading Scale

All your grade components will be added up with the percentage weights indicated and result in a single number. This number will determine your letter grade, according to the following scales:

General Rules

Any questions, concerns, or misgivings regarding a specific grade must be raised within one week of the release of the grade. After one week has passed, the assigned grade is considered accepted and no further complaints will be considered.

iClickers

Short quizzes are conducted during lectures using iclickers (50% participation, 50% correctness). An iclicker remote can be purchased from any of the bookstores, and must be registered on Compass, under the tab "Register i>clicker". You need to register your iclicker by the end of Week 2, when the iClicker roster will be synced for the last time. Not all lectures will have iclicker use for credit. The specific lecture dates when iclicker use will be for credit are highlighted in the lecture schedule. Your lowest three scores will be dropped. These drops should be reserved for unexpected occurrences such as sickness or a family emergency.

You may not share your iclicker with another student in this course, even if they are in the other section of the course. Doing so may result in you not receiving iclicker credit.

iClicker Opt-Out

If you wish, you may choose to opt-out of iclickers by completing the iclicker opt-out form by 11:59PM on Monday, September 10, 2018. Opting-out is permanent, and you will not be allowed to reverse your decision for any reason. By opting-out, you are choosing to not have 4% of your overall course grade allocated to iclickers and instead that 4% will be allocated to your final exam grade (i.e., your final exam grade will be 34% of your overall course grade).

Piazza

We will be using Piazza for communication. The course staff will post important announcements on Piazza and it is your responsibility to monitor Piazza for these announcements. If you have a question or a concern, please post it on Piazza. Most questions can be posted publicly. However, if you are asking a question about your grades specifically or some other private matter, you may post the question/note privately. Specifically, do not post answers (answers, plots, code etc.) publicly on Piazza.

Please do not email the course staff, but post on Piazza instead. This is both to assist other students who may have similar questions and to ensure you receive the fastest response possible by making it visible to the entire course staff.

We will not debug code via Piazza. If you need assistance debugging your code, please come to office hours.

Homework

Weekly online homework sets will be assigned via PrairieLearn. The due dates are indicated in the lecture schedule and in the class calendar. Each homework is due at 8pm on the due date.

The weekly homework assignments will consist of 2 separate types of problems: coding problems and quiz-like problems.

These assignments place an emphasis on mastery. The idea is to keep doing questions until you master the underlying concept or method. Once you do, you should be able to answer these questions very quickly.

The way this works in PrairieLearn is that each question has a value, a point total, and a point maximum. If you answer a question correctly, two things happen:

1. The point total increases by the value, until you reach the point maximum.
2. The value increases (2x, 3x, 4x, etc.).

If you answer a question incorrectly, one thing happens:

1. The value goes back to what it was originally (1x).

This system rewards repeated correct answers, which tend to demonstrate mastery. There is no penalty (other than resetting the value) for answering a question incorrectly, so don't be afraid to submit an answer. Similarly, don't be afraid to keep doing a question after you reach the point maximum - your point total will never go down!

If you click on the "?" just to the right of the line about available credit, you'll see all the dates associated with this homework. In particular, it says:

* You can receive 100% until Main End Date
* You can receive 50% until Extended End Date (two days later)
* You can receive 0%, but can keep doing problems as practice
  for the rest of the semester.

Note that your score will never go down. For example, if you achieve 90% by the Main End Date, you won't be able to increase your score after that time, but you won't be penalized for not reaching 100% - your score will remain 90% forever. On the other hand, if you achieve only 30% by the Main End Date you will be able to increase your score after that time (to a maximum of 50%) until the Extended End Date.

Machine Problems

Machine problems (MPs) will be due periodically throughout the semester (approximately every other week). The due dates are indicated in the lecture schedule and in the class calendar.

General MP Policies

• Each MP is due at 8pm on the due date.
• MPs are automatically submitted shortly after the deadline. You do not need to (and cannot) manually submit your entire homework assignment.
• No late MP submissions will be accepted after the assignments are automatically submitted.
• For MPs requiring manual grading, we will post a note on Piazza when the MP grades are released in the gradebook (on Relate). Although you may see intermediate feedback during the grading process, grades are subject to change during the grading process. Please refrain from posting questions regarding your grade until after the MP grades have been released.

MP Coding Policies

• For machine problems, it is your responsibility to ensure that your code runs without errors and produces the desired output on Relate. The course staff will not change your code or reopen your homework submission to correct mistakes.
• Some portions of machine problems may be randomly generated. To ensure your code is truly correct, we recommend submitting your code at least 3 times and verify you get the full points each time.
• Machine problems may be fully automatically graded or partially automatically graded and partially manually graded. You can see the score for the automatically graded portion of the problem by pressing "Submit answer for feedback". You will see no feedback for the manually graded portion of the problem.
• All plots should be clearly titled, labeled, and have legends as appropriate. Failure to do so may result in loss of points.

Collaboration on Homework Assignments and MPs

• You may discuss your approach (but not your code) with your peers. All parts of each homework set or machine problem must be your own work. You must have typed/written every part of your homework yourself. In some cases, code/pieces of work from elsewhere may be allowed--if so, this will be stated in the instructions. In that case, you must acknowledge the source.

• If we notice that your work has considerable overlap with someone else's (and we do check), the both of you should be ready to have an unpleasant conversation and face penalites as provided by campus rules regarding academic honesty.

Quizzes and Final Exam

There will be 6 quizzes throughout the semester and a longer final exam. All quizzes will be completed on PrairieLearn. This course uses the College of Engineering Computer-Based Testing Facility (CBTF) for its quizzes and final exam. There will also be one review quiz (Quiz 0) at the start of the semester (completed on PrairieLearn), that is not included in the quiz portion of your final course grade (see details below on how it affects your grade.).

Please familiarize yourself with the policies of the CBTF. The policies of the CBTF are the policies of this course, and academic integrity infractions related to the CBTF are infractions in this course.

Any problem with testing in the CBTF must be reported to CBTF staff at the time the problem occurs. If you do not inform a proctor of a problem during the test then you forfeit all rights to redress.

Quiz 0 (Linear Algebra Review)

In the second week of the semester, there will be a review quiz over linear algebra. Quiz0 will replace your lowest homework score, only if it is higher. It will not contribute to the quiz component of your final course grade. It cannot hurt your grade in any way.

There will also be a pracitice quiz0 that is not for credit. The purpose of the practice quiz0 is for you to review background course material before quiz0 and to learn more about what a PL quiz will look like in the CBTF and how they function. Note: as there will be homework assignments before later quizzes, there will not be practice quizzes for the other quizzes.

Taking Quizzes / Final Exam

• You must take your quizzes as scheduled with the CBTF, and only on the scheduled day and time. If you do not take the quiz (e.g. by not scheduling an appointment, by not reporting to the facility at the scheduled time, or by not performing the required work), the quiz will be counted as a zero.

• There will be no exceptions to this scheduling policy except in cases of severe emergency (e.g., loss of life or limb). Examples of events that do not qualify as emergencies include (but are not limited to): transportation problems, conflict with work schedule, important family vacation, or computer problems. The policies of the facility apply during each quiz for aspects such as late arrival and emergency closures.

• See the below section for appropriate documentation required for quizzes missed due to university-approved activities.

• If you miss a quiz for any reason and you realize you missed it while it is still within the quiz period, then you must contact the CBTF proctors immediately. If it is sill within the quiz period, then depending on the circumstances and pending availability, you may be able to reschedule. If you fail to contact the proctors immediately, then you forfeit the opportunity to take the quiz.

• No aids other than a writing utensil and paper provided by the facility are allowed in the CBTF. In particular: If you are seen near a phone, MP3 player or other digital device (turned on or not--it does not matter) during an quiz/exam, you will receive a grade of zero for the assessment.

• Extended illnesses or emergencies should follow the policies outlined by the Office of the Dean of Students.

• Only quizzes taken in accordance with these rules will receive credit. Any deviation from these rules will lead to the quiz in question being assinged a grade of zero.

• You are not allowed to discuss the quiz with other students during the quiz period. Please refrain from discussing the questions until after the quiz period ends.

Reviewing Quizzes

When you finish your quiz, you will see the correct answers and your score on the quiz. As you are reviewing your quiz at the end, please take a mental note and memorize any questions you have regarding the quiz as you will not have access to the quiz once you leave the CBTF.

After the quiz period has ended, you may come come to office hours the following week (Monday-Friday) and ask specific questions regarding the quiz. After the Friday following the end of a specific quiz period, no additional questions regarding the quiz will be addressed. You will need to bring specific questions about the quiz as the TAs and CAs will not open your quiz and go through it with you.

Absences

1. Excuses from assessments will only be given in the following circumstances:

   A. Illness

   B. Personal crisis (e.g. car accident, required court appearance, death of a close relative).

   C. Required attendance at an official UIUC activity (e.g. varsity athletics, band concert).

2. In all cases you must fill out the excused absence request form and upload the appropriate documenation.

3. In cases (A) or (B) an official excuse letter from the (Dean on Duty) must be uploaded with the form within 2 weeks of the due date of the missed assessment, no later than reading day. In cases of extended or unusual illness, late submission of excuse documentation will be considered.

4. In case (C) an official letter from the designated university official must be uploaded at least one week prior to the due date of the missed assessment.

5. Notwithstanding the above, at your professor's discretion you may be required to make up any excused work or attend substitute instruction or assessment.

Registration

As of now, there are currently open seats in the course. If you are interested in taking the course, please officially register for the course.

CS 357 is, unfortunately, too popular for its own good, leading to annoyances like waitlists and sections with controlled access.

If there are no open seats in the course, but you intend to register once open seats become avaiable, we are usually happy to give provisional access for you to complete the work while you attempt to register. If you would like temporary access to the course website while you attempt to register, please post a private note on Piazza.

If you choose to make use of this, you will be held to the same standard as every other student that is officially registered for the class, and, at the discretion of the instructor, work you do as part of this 'unofficial' participation may be eligible for class credit if you later become officially registered.

However, please keep the following two things in mind:

1. While it is quite likely that spots will open up as the semester continues, we are unable to promise that this will happen.

2. As long as you are not officially signed up (check with the academic office in 1210 Siebel if you're not sure), you will not receive university credit for the work you are doing.

In particular being "enrolled" in the course on this site has no administrative significance to the university. What matters is enrollment as shown in the UIUC self-service application.

Accommodations

If you have accommodations identified by the Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services (DRES), please post a private note on Piazza with your DRES LOA.

If you have accommodations for exams, please take your Letter of Accomodation (LOA) to the CBTF proctors in person before you make your first quiz reservation. The proctors will advise you as to whether the CBTF provides your accommodations or whether you will need to make other arrangements with your instructor.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity, harassment, and discrimination: Academic integrity infractions, harassment, and discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated. See the University's Student Code, Article 1, Part 4. Please see the Students’ Quick Reference Guide to Academic Integrity for more details.

Please see the departmental Honor Code for details on integrity and procedures.