Policies

Assignments and Late Penalties

Students are expected to do all assignments. There are two types of assignments: tutorials and the final project milestones. An assignment submitted after the due date/time, but within 24 hours of it, costs one point off the student’s final average. An assignment submitted between 24 and 48 hours late costs two points. And so on. So, a failure to submit a single assignment until 10 days after it was due will cost a student 10 points off their final average.

Late penalties are assigned on the basis of the official Canvas submission time. “It was 11:59 on my laptop” is not an argument; Canvas’s clock is the clock.

Tutorials are designed to take 5-7 hours to complete per week. If you are spending more than 10 hours per week on assignments, please let me know. I will work with you to reduce your workload. There are neither quizzes nor exams. Some students spend very little time on final project milestones, preferring to cram the work on at the end of the class. Others spend a lot of time on them. The final project can only be as good as you make it.

Extensions

I do not offer extensions per se. Instead, each student has 5 free points added back to any accrued late penalties. So, if a student submits an assignment 7 days late, he will lose 7 points off his final average, but then have 5 points added back to that penalty, for a net loss of only 2 points. Key advice: Turn in your assignments on time during the first few weeks of the class. You may need the late days later.

Attendance

You expect me to be present for class. I expect the same of you. There is nothing more embarrassing, for both of us, than for me to call on you and have you not be there to answer. But conflicts arise. If you must miss class, email me beforehand explaining the situation. There is no need for a detailed reason. Afterwards, read the Preceptor Notes and consult with a classmate about what you missed. Failure to notify me, or missing too many classes even with notification, will affect your final grade.

Questions

All general questions should be first placed on the class Discord in an appropriate channel. Students are encouraged to answer each other’s questions. If you have a question which is not appropriate for the Discord, please email me at dakane@ncf.edu. I try to respond to emails within 24 hours, but usually much sooner.

Names

Our class is a community, and community begins with names. Introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you. They will be your partner for today. Sit with a new person each class. Also, introduce yourself to the students sitting around you. During class, I will, randomly, ask several students to introduce me, both to their partners and to the students sitting around them.

Major Emergencies

We are not monsters. If you are hit with a major emergency — the sort of thing that involves your advisor or the Dean of Students — we will be sympathetic. Come talk to me.

Computer Emergencies

We are not sympathetic about computer emergencies. Your work lives on GitHub and your Codespaces run in the cloud, so it does not matter if your laptop explodes. If it does, you will lose only the work since your last push — and you can continue from any computer on campus. Push early, push often.

Working with Others

Use AI for everything — that is part of what this course teaches. Working with other students is different: you are encouraged to discuss assignments and to help each other get unstuck, but every character you submit must be typed (or AI-generated) in your own session, in your own repo. Copy/pasting another student’s work is plagiarism and will result in failing the course. Similar answers are expected; identical answers are a problem.

Accessibility and Accommodations

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, New College of Florida will provide classroom and academic accommodations to students with documented disabilities. Students in need of academic accommodations need to contact and register with the Accessible Learning Center (ALC). Once registered, students will receive a letter of eligibility outlining their approved accommodations, as well as relevant information, forms, and processes. Students are responsible for sharing this letter with their instructors. It is encouraged that students and instructors collaborate throughout the semester to ensure the effective implementation of accommodations.

Accessible Learning Center Contact Information:

Exceptions

There may be a reason why you can’t adhere to a class policy. Whatever the situation, please come talk to me. I am sure we can work something out. I will do whatever it takes to allow every NCF student to thrive in this class.