First Year Experience Policies

Academic Misconduct

Cheating and plagiarism are taken seriously.

(These policies have been adapted with permission from Harvard's Academic Integrity Policy.)

Students in the College of Computing and Software Engineering are expected to abide by KSU’s Student Codes of Conduct. This includes refraining from cheating and plagiarism. Additionally, we acknowledge that a certain amount of student interaction is expected, but any work submitted for credit must be your own. Students may not collaborate on any graded assignment unless explicitly given permission by the instructor (as in a group project). All work submitted must be entirely your own.  

To help clarify what this means, we provide the following scenarios. The following are reasonable examples of permissible student interaction:

  • Discussing a lab assignment with other students in English or another spoken language.
  • Discussing the course material with others in order to understand it.
  • Identifying bugs in a classmate's code (but not resolving those bugs for them).
  • Reviewing past semesters' quizzes and assignment solutions.
  • Showing your code to others only to help them identify problems in your code (you may not view other students’ solutions).
  • Using information found on an internet tutorial site or in a book for reference to help you better understand a concept (not to copy solutions from).
  • Whiteboarding solutions to a problem with your classmates or others using flow charts (but not actual code).
  • Working with a tutor (paid or not) to help you with the course (provided that the work you submit is exclusively your own. That is, the tutor should not be providing you solutions).

The following are some examples of behavior that constitutes academic misconduct:

  • Viewing a solution to your assignment prior to submitting your own.
  • Asking a classmate to see their solution to a problem before submitting your own.
  • Submitting a staff or faculty member’s solutions or example code as your own.
  • Failing to cite with comments the origins of code or techniques that you discover outside of the course content.
  • Giving or showing a classmate the solution to an assignment.
  • Looking at someone else’s work during an exam or graded assignment.
  • Providing students with copies of upcoming tests/quiz questions.
  • Paying someone to complete work and submitting it as your own.
  • Searching for a solution to an assignment online or elsewhere.
  • Falsifying facts about events in order to receive extensions on coursework or readministration of coursework.
  • Splitting the course workload with other students.
  • Submitting work for this class that you’ve submitted or will submit for credit in another course.
  • Submitting work for this class that you’ve completed for pay (for a job, internship, etc.).
  • Using any electronic device during an exam unless you have specific accommodations through Student Disability Services (you will need to take exams in the SDS office in order to use the specified device).
  • Collaborating and sharing materials related to assignments (including quizzes and exams) in a group chat (such as GroupMe).

The following FYE test-taking rules are listed at the start of each exam.  Students found violating the rules will be penalized twenty-five (25) points for not adhering to the stated rules, and the student may also be reported to student conduct and academic integrity (SCAI) for cheating.  

  1. Student MAY NOT use notes, books or any resources (including Internet based "study" sites).
  2. Student MAY NOT use calculators during the test.
  3. Student MAY NOT use any electronic devices (including but not limited to: earbuds, headphones, cell phones, tablets, laptops, watches, etc.) that can be used to look up or store answers.
  4. Student MAY NOT leave the view of the camera.  Doing so will automatically be considered cheating and the student will receive a grade of zero on the exam.

Accomodations and SDS

If you have an accommodation plan with Student Disability Services, and you wish to use those accommodations for an exam in this class, you must make an appointment to take the exam in the Disability Services Office.  Because of our large class sizes, it is not feasible to provide the accommodations in the classroom or department. 

Your exam must be scheduled for the same day and time that the test will be administered in class unless you have a documented scheduling conflict with another course.  Please note that appointments must be scheduled a minimum of 5 business days in advance of the exam.  Failure to make the appointment in advance may result in you sitting the exam without accommodations in the traditional classroom setting.

Students register for an appointment through OwlAccommodate.  You may take your exam on either campus. 

Information on testing with SDS

Additional information about Disability Services Procedures for Testing is available here.

Late Work, Exam, and Make-up Policies

  • Late work will not be accepted.  If you have unforeseeable, documented circumstances that prevent you from completing an assignment (a lengthy hospitalization, family emergency, military orders, or similar), you must contact your instructor as soon as possible to discuss the situation.

    If you must miss an exam due to a documented, legitimate reason (as above) a make-up exam will be administered. 

    It is your responsibility to coordinate late work submission/make-up exams in a timely fashion (within one week of the date of the assignment/exam).  Documentation must be provided prior to the administration of a make-up exam.

  • Lecture Quizzes

    Late Work Will Not Be Accepted and Make-up Quizzes Will Not Be Allowed.  For all students, the lowest quiz grade will be automatically dropped.  However, if a student must miss a second quiz due to a documented acceptable emergency (hospitalization or death of immediate family member), the student may be allowed to drop a second quiz and have her/his final quiz grade calculated using the remaining quizzes.  For example, if there are 8 quizzes and a student is allowed to drop a second quiz, the student's final quiz grade will then be calculated using 6 quizzes instead of 8.

    If a student must miss a second quiz due to a documented acceptable emergency, it is the student's responsibility to notify the instructor within one week of the date of the quiz.

     

    Lab Exercises

    Late Work Will Not Be Accepted and Make-up Lab Exercises Will Not Be Allowed.  For all students, the lowest lab exercise grade will be automatically dropped.  However, if a student must miss a second lab exercise due to a documented acceptable emergency (hospitalization or death of immediate family member), the student may be allowed to drop a second lab exercise and have her/his final lab exercise grade calculated using the remaining lab exercises.  For example, if there are 14 lab exercises and a student is allowed to drop a second lab exercise, the student's final lab exercise grade will then be calculated using 12 lab exercises instead of 14.

    If a student must miss a second lab exercise due to a documented acceptable emergency, it is the student's responsibility to notify the instructor within one week of the date of the lab exercise.

     

    Lab Assignments

    Late Work Will Not Be Accepted and Make-up Lab Assignments Will Not Be Allowed.  For all students, the lowest lab assignment grade will be automatically dropped.

    CSE1321L Students

    Given the limited number of lab assignments in CSE1321L, if a CSE1321L student must miss more than one lab assignment due to a documented acceptable emergency (hospitalization or death of immediate family member), the student should speak with her/his academic adviser to discuss dropping the course (if before the withdrawal deadline) or obtaining a hardship withdrawal (if after the withdrawal deadline).

    CSE1322L Students

    If a CSE1322L student must miss a second lab assignment due to a documented acceptable emergency (hospitalization or death of immediate family member), the student may be allowed to drop a second lab assignment and have her/his final lab assignment grade calculated using the remaining lab assignments.  For example, if there are 13 lab assignments and a student is allowed to drop a second lab assignment, the student's final lab assignment grade will then be calculated using 11 lab assignments instead of 13.

    If a CSE1322L student must miss a second lab assignment due to a documented acceptable emergency, it is the student's responsibility to notify the instructor within one week of the date of the lab assignment.

     

    Lecture/Lab Exams

    Late Work Will Not Be Accepted and Make-ups will not be allowed for non-final exams (1)(2).  The final exam will replace any missed non-final exam grades.  Any non-final exams that were missed will appear as a 0 in our systems until the final exam is taken.

    If a student takes all non-final exams, the lowest non-final exam grade will be replaced by the final exam grade if the final exam grade is higher than the lowest non-final exam grade.

    If a student must miss the final exam due to a documented acceptable emergency (hospitalization or death of immediate family member), a make-up final will be allowed (1)(2).  To coordinate this, the student must contact the instructor within three days of the final exam. It is the student's responsibility to coordinate the make-up final in a timely manner (within one week of the date of the exam).

    (1) Students who must be away on military orders or KSU athletes who must be away at university sponsored events may be allowed a make-up exam, provided the student contacts her/his instructor in advance of the exam and provides official documentation.

    (2) A student who experiences a computer technical issue while taking an exam may be allowed a make-up/retake exam, provided: 1) the technical issue occurred while the student was taking the exam,  2) the student immediately contacted the UITS helpdesk to resolve and document the issue (see "handling technical issues during exams" below), 3) the student immediately, within15 minutes, notified the instructor of the technical issue and provided documentation.

    Handling Technical Issues During Exams

    A student who experiences a computer technical issue while taking an online exam via d2l should do the following:

    1. the student should attempt to troubleshoot the issue
    2. if troubleshooting fails, the student should disconnect from the exam and immediately restart the exam.  In such cases, d2l usually allows the student to reconnect where she/he left off.
    3. the student should immediately (within 15 minutes) contact the instructor to notify the instructor of the technical issue and to provide the instructor the helpdesk documentation.

Grade Calculation

It is the responsibility of the students to calculate their overall grades.   

Exam Regrade Requests

Regrade requests for coursework must be submitted within 3 business days of being published (1).  If a student states that she/he took the exam but no grade was issued (i.e. the exam is missing), the student also must advise the professor within 3 business days of grades being published. The professor will then begin investigating to determine what happened.

For items in Gradescope (e.g. exams), the regrade request must be done via Gradescope.  Regrade requests should be submitted per question and abide by the communication policies of KSU.  You will receive an email from Gradescope (to your KSU student email) when grades are published.  When requesting a regrade, please understand that the entire question will be re-evaluated and scored accordingly.  Students can gain or lose points based on this new evaluation.

(1) During final exams, due to the shorten grading timelines, regrade requests deadlines may be less than three days.  Students will be notified of these shortened regrade request deadlines when the final exam grades are published for student review.

Attendance

On-Campus sections:

The numbers don't lie:  students who attend classes routinely consistently make better grades in our program.  Skipping classes, routinely arriving late, being present in body but not in mind--all of these will prevent you from earning the grade you want.  Come to class.  Come to learn. 

Remember, too, talking with your classmates (about material unrelated to lecture), using electronic devices for unrelated tasks, etc. are disruptive behaviors that may result in you being asked to step out so you do not impact other students' experiences. 

If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to catch up on the material you missed. 

Online sections: 
Online learning requires active engagement.  Students should plan to log into the course at least three times a week to check for announcements in addition to completing coursework by the deadlines.  If, for some reason, this isn't possible for you, please contact your instructor as soon as possible to discuss your situation.

Proctored Exams (Online Async)

Face-to-face students are used to having their instructors proctor their exams in person. Online students are also required to have their exams proctored. This will be done via Respondus LockDown Browser with Monitor. A webcam is required. Additional information will be provided by your instructor.

FYE Chain of Command

We encourage all students to initially speak with their instructors as an initial step in resolving any classroom/lab issue. Instructors are your best option for improving anything with which you are having difficulty in your classes.  

Below is the FYE "Chain of Command" for issue resolution, which students must follow:

Labs:

  1. Lab instructor
  2. Lab "Instructor of Record" (check with your lab instructor)
  3. Course Coordinator (CSE1321 - Prof. Nick Murphy, CSE1322 - Prof. Dmitri Nunes Dias Fernandes)
  4. FYE Program Coordinator (Prof. Enda Sullivan)
  5. Department Chair (Dr. George Markowsky)
  6. CCSE Dean (Dr. Sumanth Yenduri)

Lectures:

  1. Lecture instructor
  2. Course Coordinator (CSE1300 - Prof. Douglas Malcolm, CSE1321 - Dr. Ermias Mamo, CSE1322 - Prof. Betty Kretlaw)
  3. FYE Program Coordinator (Prof. Enda Sullivan)
  4. Department Chair (Dr. George Markowsky)
  5. CCSE Dean (Dr. Sumanth Yenduri)

Communication Policy

All emails must be sent from your KSU email account (@students.kennesaw.edu) and include the CRN number for your course in order to guarantee a response.  The official channel of communication (e.g. KSU email or D2L) will be specified in your course syllabus.

You are expected to be courteous and respectful to all members of the FYE team in your communications in class and online. Students are expected to follow the Core Rules of Netiquette www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html.

Electronics and Classroom Behavior

The use of electronic devices will be limited to note-taking unless a class activity specifically requires the use of an electronic device. Video games and media streaming (YouTube, etc.) during class is expressly prohibited. 


If you are using an electronic device the classroom for anything other than the current classwork, you may be asked to step outside until you are ready to participate in class.

Cell phones should be on silent and put away.  If you need to take a call or send a text, please excuse yourself from the classroom.  This is college.  We all have busy lives, and you are free to handle whatever may arise (without disrupting class). 

If you are on your cell phone for any reason, you will be asked to put the device away or step outside until you are ready to participate in class.