Academic honesty class policy

We’ve discussed what it means to submit your own work for this class several times, both in person and during online classes, yet there have still been multiple violations. I want to make it clear what is allowed and what is not allowed in our class and what the punishment for breaking the rules is.

Unless otherwise indicated, tests and assignments are now open book and open notes. You may use any notes you have taken for this class and you may use what’s in your textbook.

You may work together on homework assignments but you may not work with anyone else during a test. You may not consult automated problem solving websites or apps on assignments or during a test. This includes anything where you plug in the question and it spits out an answer and/or step-by-step solutions. This also includes Google.

If your work for a Test #2 question suggests outside help, you will receive an automatic zero for that question. If you want to dispute this grade, you must make an appointment to discuss it with me.  It will be your responsibility to convince me it’s your work and only your work. This will be your final warning.

If a your work for an upcoming test or exam question suggests outside help, you will receive an automatic failing grade for the course and a report will be filed with the college’s Academic Integrity Committee.

Some comments
  1. Remember that this semester, you will have the option to change your letter grade for a course to credit/no credit (by a certain deadline). Earning a  D grade means you’ll receive credit, just like if you earned an A grade. By committing academic dishonesty, you are giving up the option of receiving any credit for the work you have done this semester.
  2. I know it’s tempting when you’re taking an exam at home to reach out for outside help. This is natural, especially when you’re already under so much stress and you know your classmates have been cheating. Their cheating will be caught and it will be punished. Committing what feels like a small transgression is a slippery slope, though, and could lead to your being expelled from the college (I’ve seen this happen) so please resist the temptation.
  3. You need to make sure that your work doesn’t even *suggest* outside help. That means that, for example, if you consult an app that solves the problem for you, and you change things around to try to make it look like your own work, you’ll still be found in violation. You may as well just write your own work.
  4. For upcoming tests, part of your grade will come from a post-exam one-on-one oral interview with me. You will need to explain your thinking to me, not just read what you wrote (I’ll have a copy I can read for myself). This point here is not to catch you cheating, it’s to prevent you from cheating in the first place. Make sure that you understand every single thing you’re writing down and can explain your thinking to me. If you didn’t come up with it yourself, you won’t understand it well enough to explain.
  5. We’re all still getting used to this new way of doing things. If you committed a violation in the past, you can take the punishment and move on. I will not hold this against you. I’m still experimenting with the structure of tests and assignments that stay true to our original course, but take some stress off you. Please don’t make me regret these experiments by turning work that is not yours.
  6. I have the same apps you do. Please don’t pay $9.99 per month just to get caught cheating and fail the course.