General Course Information

Prof. Roy B. Levow

This page contains general information that applies to many courses that I teach.  Information is available on the following topics.

Seeking assistance

From time to time you may find that you are stumped by a programming problem.  Don't panic!  Help is available from Dr. Levow or one of the graduate assistants assigned to the course, if any, either in person during office hours or through email.  When you seek help, you must provide the a current copy of all of your program code and any output that you can obtain (all compiler messages for compilation errors; all output for run-time errors.)  If the problem is with design rather than coding, you must provide pseudocode for your design ideas, not code.  If you seek help without these essential items, assistance may be delayed until you provide them.  If you are seeking help by email, your message should contain a statement of the problem and include the above items as attachments.
 

Email identity

If you use email to seek personal information, you must use an account that I can definitively identify as yours.  Usually this means it must be an FAU account though there are instances in which I may be able to confirm the owner of another email address.  This is because I am obligated to keep your personal academic information confidential and in general it is not possible to reliably confirm the owner of an email address.
 

Individual work

Programming and other assignments should be completed by each student on their own. It is expressly forbidden for students to collaborate on assignments without the permission of the instructor. A few friendly pointers and a bit of advice is fine, but "borrowing" or copying another's work is grounds for punitive action, including a failing grade on the assignment or for the course and on a second occurrence possible dismissal from the University.
 

CSE Unix accounts

You must have a CSE Unix account.  To obtain this account you must first activate your FAU Active Directory account.  You can find instructions on the web at http://www.cse.fau.edu/Resources/pluto.html
 

Program submission

The method for program submission will be specified for each assignment.  One or more of the following may be required

Late penalties

Assignments are due at the start of class on the assigned date unless otherwise indicated.  In most cases late work will be accepted with a penalty of 5 points for the first day plus 4 for the second, 3 for the third, 2 for the fourth, and one for each additional day, assessed.  The official submission time for programs will be the time they are submitted with hwroy; printed materials should be submitted as soon after that as is practical.  
 

Exceptions and extensions

Exceptions to course requirements and extensions on deadlines will be granted only where documentation of an exceptional circumstance beyond the student's control is provided.
 

Incompletes

The Undergraduate Catalog says the following.
A student who is passing a course but has not completed all the required work because of exceptional circumstances may, with the approval of the instructor receive a grade of Incomplete (I). ...  It is not to be used to allow students to do extra work subsequently in order to raise the grade earned during the regular term.
When a student receives an incomplete they are given a specific period of time, not to exceed one year, to complete their work.  If it is not done in that time a grade will be recorded based on work completed, with zero for work not done.

University policy prohibits a student from retaking a course in a subsequent term without paying tuition in order to satisfy and incomplete.  Students taking incompletes are expected to be able to complete the remaining work in the course promptly and in a period to time corresponding to time lost during the term.

I follow these rules and will give Incompletes only where there is documentation to support the exceptional circumstances.

Academic Irregularities

Cheating can take many forms including obtaining or giving unauthorized information and submitting as one's own the work of another. Any academic irregularity in my classes will be dealt with according to University policy detailed in the Florida Administrative Code, Section 6C5-4.001. The penalty can range from a zero on the particular piece of work to failure for the course.
 

Last update:  11 September 2005