Course policies

All students signed the Community Responsibility Acknowledgement (CRA). Your agreement to the public health measures in the CRA is a condition of physical presence on the campus this fall. Included in that commitment were requirements for wearing masks in all IU buildings and maintaining social distancing in all IU buildings. Both are classroom requirements.

Both requirements are necessary for us to protect each other.

Therefore, if a student is present in a class without a mask, the student will be asked to put on a mask and I will report the student to the Division of Student Affairs: Office of Student Conduct.

• If a student refuses to put a mask on after being instructed to do so, the instructor may end the class immediately, and contact the Office of Student Conduct. Violation of the mask rule is a threat to public safety within the meaning of the Summary Suspension Policy.
• If a student comes to class without a mask twice, the student’s final grade will be reduced by one letter (e.g., from an A to a B, for instance).
• If the student comes to class without a mask three times, the student will be withdrawn from the class without refund of tuition and reported to the Office of Student Conduct.
• If Student Conduct receives three cumulative reports from any combination of instructors or staff members that a student is not complying with the requirements of masking and physical distancing, the student will be summarily suspended from the university for the semester.
• When class is over, students must continue to wear a mask until they have left the building, not as soon as they leave the classroom.

The grading scale ranges from 0(0%) to 6(150%). Here's how we grade your homework.

(define grade
  (λ (hw)
    (cond
      [(not-submitted? hw) 0]
      [(does-not-compile? hw) 0]
      [(from-C311-or-A596? hw)
       (+ (cond
            [(horrible? (get-regular-parts hw)) 1]
            [(acceptable? (get-regular-parts hw)) 2]
            [(good-job? (get-regular-parts hw)) 3]
            [(perfect? (get-regular-parts hw)) 4])
          (cond
            [(not-perfect? (get-brain-teasers hw)) 0]
            [(perfect? (get-brain-teasers hw)) 1])
          (cond
            [(dan-could-do-better? (get-dessert hw)) 0]
            [(dan-couldn't-do-better? (get-dessert hw)) 1]))]
      [(from-H311-or-B521? hw)
       (+ (cond
            [(horrible? (get-regular-parts hw)) 0]
            [(acceptable? (get-regular-parts hw)) 1]
            [(good-job? (get-regular-parts hw)) 2]
            [(perfect? (get-regular-parts hw)) 3])
          (cond
            [(not-acceptable? (get-brain-teasers hw)) 0]
            [(acceptable? (get-brain-teasers hw)) 1]
            [(perfect? (get-brain-teasers hw)) 2])
          (cond
            [(dan-could-do-better? (get-dessert hw)) 0]
            [(dan-couldn't-do-better? (get-dessert hw)) 1]))])))

The quality of your work is judged both in terms of correctness and style. You should aim for a grade of 3 or better on the assignments. If you receive a lower grade, make sure to carefully revisit that assignment before the following exam. We encourage you to contact an instructor for help, even on past assignments.

You should make every effort to turn in assignments on time. If you're really struggling with an assignment, it's better to turn in whatever you do have and get help from an instructor.

Assignments that cannot be compiled in Racket and execute the student test file (for instance, due to an unmatched parenthesis) without warning or exception will receive an automatic 0. Note that compilation errors are different from runtime errors: a runtime error occurs while your code is being run, while a compilation error means that your code is not even valid Racket code. (Runtime errors are bad, but compilation errors are really bad.) To help avoid this, you should make sure your submission passes our provided student tests.

A596 and C311 students should complete all of the standard homework assignments. For you all, the Brainteasers and Just Desserts are extra credit and are not required. Extra credit will not be given unless all normal problem definitions show substantial effort.

B521 and H311 students must seriously attempt all standard homework problems and brainteasers on the assignments in order to receive full credit. The Just Desserts sections are not required, but are intended to be fun.

• Q: Do you accept late assignment submissions?
• A: NO.

• Q: Will any assignments be dropped?
• A: NO.

• Q: What do I need to do to earn a 4 on an assignment?
• A: For each homework assignment, we typically give a 4 grade to a handful of submissions that are exceptionally good. Often this means giving a serious attempt at optional problems included with the assignments. Sometimes, it just means doing work that is above and beyond the basic requirements of the assignments. Proper indentation, formatting, etc. all add into these calculations.

• Q: Is a 3 a bad grade?
• A: Definitely not; a 3 is a good grade. If you earn an 3 on every assignment and do well on the exams, you'll do very well in the course. However, earning a 4 on some assignments can offset a lower grades elsewhere.

• Q: What is the relative importance of exams versus assignments in the calculation of grades?
• A: Assignments typically account for about half of your grade, but are more important in terms of exam preparation. Exams focus larely on the material covered in homework assignments, and presuppose you've completed the homework assignments and *thought* *hard* about them.

• Q: Are there any curves for exams/final grade?
• A: Yes. In general, if you get 75% from homework and exams, then there should be absolutely no worry about your final grade.

Homework assignments must be completed individually. You may discuss the material with other students, but all written work, including code, must be your own. If you discuss the assignment with anyone, you must include your collaborators' name(s) in writing in the assignment you submit.

We don't tolerate plagiarism. If submitted work doesn't appear to have been completed alone, the instructors may take further measures as appropriate under the campus' Academic Misconduct policy. We reserve the right to meet privately with individual collaborators to ensure sufficient understanding.

Students often find office hours to be a useful tool for out of class help in completing homework assignments. You should consider making use of them too.

C311 H311 and A596 courses have lab sections.

Exams are graded on a point scale, typically out of 100, without a curve. Exams offer bonus questions that can improve your score, potentially beyond 100 points.

Exams strictly must be completed alone. Make sure to avoid even the appearance of misconduct; keep your eyes on your own exam at all times, and do not leave objects such as papers or electronic devices exposed at your workspace. The instructors reserve the right to ask you to change desks before or during the exam, and any attempt at misconduct will be pursued under the campus' Academic Misconduct policy.