CS771: Course Policies

If you are a UG student, please read DXGC = DUGC and SXGC = SUGC while reading the policies given below. If you are a PG student, please read DXGC = DPGC and SXGC = SPGC while reading the policies given below.

Assessment

The assessment of students crediting this course shall be performed on the basis of performance in various components of the course.

• 20%: Quizzes (2 quizzes, each worth 10%)

• 30%: Assignments (3 assignments, to be done in groups of 5)

• 20%: Mid-sem Exam (scheduled by the DoAA)

• 30%: End-sem Exam (scheduled by the DoAA)

The two quizzes are tentatively scheduled to be conducted on February 01, 2023 (Wednesday) and March 29, 2023 (Wednesday).

Practice Problems: the course notes (and sometimes lecture slides as well) contain practice problems to help students assess their progress in the course as well as prepare for upcoming quizzes and examinations. These problems need not be submitted will not be graded.

Open-notes and Cooperation Policy

The course encourages students to discuss amongst themselves and learn cooperatively, as well as wishes to avoid promoting rote learning. However, to ensure that these liberties are offered in an orderly manner, the following rules would be followed

1. All quizzes/exams will be open handwritten notes. This means you can bring a notebook containing notes that you have written yourself. However, no printed/photocopied material will be allowed in quizzes/exams.

2. All electronic material (e.g. mobile phones, laptops, iPads, e-readers, tablets and others) are disallowed during quizzes/exams (please see policy on use of unfair means below).

3. All quizzes/exams must be attempted by all students individually. No cooperation will be tolerated during these (please see policy on use of unfair means below).

4. All assignments would be attempted by students in groups of 5. Students within a group are expected to freely collaborate and solve the assignment jointly. However, extensive cross-group collaborations are discouraged.

5. It has been common experience in the past that if two groups discuss extensively, the submissions they produce (even if the code or report is written separately) look so alike that they get flagged for cheating/plagiarism. Avoid extensive discussions outside your own group.

Drop Policy (Course)

Students who choose to drop the course must get their drop applications approved by the instructor before March 24, 2023 after giving proper reason for said drop.

1. Course drop applications must be filled out on the standard SXGC course-drop form or else be requested via Pingala. If applying via Pingala, please send an email to the instructor or else meet the instructor personally explaining the reason for dropping the course.

2. March 24, 2023 is a senate-approved deadline. There is no chance of processing drop requests after this deadline.

3. The instructor cannot ensure the approval of a course drop application by the DXGC convenors or the SXGC.

4. In the past, students who have not put in serious and demonstrable effort in a course have often had their drop applications rejected.

Absentee, Make-up, and Proration Policy

Students are expected to attend all discussion sessions even though there will be no attendance taken during discussion sessions.

1. There will be no make-up assignments, make-up quizzes or make-up mid-sem examination.

2. There will however, be a make up end-sem examination conducted on a date scheduled by the DoAA. This is available to students who miss the end-sem exam for medical reasons. In order to appear for the make-up end sem exam, an application must be approved by the instructor and the SXGC. The DoAA usually announces the procedures on how to make such an application towards the end of the semester.

3. Students who fail to submit an assignment will simply get a zero on that assignment. There is no scope of proration for missing assignment submissions. This is because sufficient time is given for completing assignments. Moreover, assignments are to be done in sizeable groups.

4. Students who miss quizzes or the mid-sem exam for valid reasons (see list of reasons below) will be permitted to have their missed quiz/exam prorated as per the following policy

   1. Prorating quiz 1 using the mid-sem exam

   2. Prorating quiz 2 using the end-sem exam

   3. Prorating the mid-sem exam using the end-sem exam

5. There will be no multiple prorations – an exam can only be used to prorate at most one other exam/quiz. For example, a student missing both the mid-sem exam and quiz 2 may get their mid-sem exam marks prorated using the end-sem exam (if their reason for absence is valid), but will continue to get a zero in quiz 2.

6. There will be no cascaded prorations – an exam that is itself prorated, cannot be used to prorate another quiz/exam. For example, a student missing both quiz 1 and the mid-sem exam may get their mid-sem exam marks prorated using the end-sem exam (if their reason for absence is valid), but will continue to get a zero in quiz 1.

7. Valid reasons for requesting proration include (among others)

   1. Medical reasons for absence on the day of exam/quiz. In order to be eligible for this, a student must produce a medical certificate and an approval of leave from the SXGC

   2. Representing IIT Kanpur at external events. In order to be eligible for this, a student must produce a letter of recommendation from either the DoAA or else the faculty incharge for that activity (for example, the SPEC chairman for sporting activities, the DoSA for cultural activities, etc). Please note that letters of recommendation from student heads (e.g. club secretaries, Gymkhana president etc) will not be admissible.

Use of Unfair Means

The use of unfair means by any student/group would be punished by various means including but not limited to – grade deductions, award of F-grade, referral to institute disciplinary committees, etc. The following document would be consulted while deciding the penalty.

Department Anti-Cheating Policy [link]

1. Use of electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, smart watches, wireless headsets is not allowed during quizzes/exams and will count as cheating.

2. Copying code or other material from the Internet in quizzes/exams is not allowed and will count as cheating.

3. Copying code or other material from other groups in assignments is forbidden and will be considered cheating.

4. Certain assignments prohibit use of internet material whereas others allow free use of material from the internet. Use of internet material in an assignment where use of such material is forbidden will be considered cheating.

5. Students/groups willingly allowing their work to be copied during assignments/quizzes/exams will be penalized equally as those students/groups who were copying from them.

6. Any form of harassment, intimidation, unfair lobbying, and activities with malicious intent in general, will be strictly dealt with.

7. The institute has a no-tolerance policy towards ragging and sexual harassment.

8. Students involved in the use of unfair means will be disallowed from dropping the course.

Some helpful tips: You should keep in mind the following points to save yourself and your friends from penalties.

1. Read-protect your local directories on turing.cse (for CSE students) and CC servers (for all students) so that others cannot copy from your directory.

2. Please logout from/lock your computer whether it be your personal computer or a lab computer, after you are done using the system. Please do not leave after just closing the browser or else turning off the screen since this allows others to intrude into your account.

3. Do not share your CC/CSE/Google etc passwords with anybody - whether it be your friends or wingmates. You will be held responsible for activities conducted using your accounts.

4. Do not leave printouts, notes etc. containing your code/assignment material unattended.