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.

Handing in your written work

I’m still working on grading your Test #2 and I hope to have your grades to you by next week. As I mentioned, there were some problems having you submit your written work for Test #2 over email, so in the future, we’ll try something different. We’re all still just figuring these things out for the first time!

1. A single PDF document instead of several files

Many of you were able to use a scanning app to send me one PDF of all your written work, which worked very well. The main problems seemed to occur when individual photos were attached to the email, so I’m going to ask you to assemble the photos into one document yourself.

• • If you have an iPhone/iPad/iPod, you can use the Notes app to scan several pages;
  • you can also use the Adobe Scan app, the Dropbox app, or another scanning app;
  • you can also create a Microsoft Word document, import the images into the document, and save/print the document as a PDF;
  • if you have an iPhone or Android phone, you can use the Dropbox app to scan several pages…you might prefer this because we’re going to try using Dropbox instead of email.

If you are using a tablet and writing your work in something like Notability or OneNote, then please save your work as a PDF (I need the actual file, not just the link to it).

If you absolutely cannot turn several individual photos of your written work into a single PDF document because you don’t have the appropriate technology at home, just let me know and we’ll work something out.

2 . Shared folders instead of email Dropbox file request links

CUNY offers free Dropbox accounts for all students, faculty, and administrative staff. I’m creating folders for each of you in my Dropbox account and will share them with you soon. You can find information about setting up your free Dropbox account here. Notice that you’ll need your CUNY Login information to access your account; that’s the information I’ll be using to share the folders with you.

Edit 4/28: I’ll be sharing Dropbox file request links where you will submit your written work. You don’t have to have Dropbox to upload your files.

I recommend practicing scanning your written work and sharing it in Dropbox (once I’ve shared the folder with you) if you haven’t done it before so you’re not doing it for the first time when it’s really important to get it right.

Webwork Ask for Help

Don’t forget about the Webwork question-answer forum on the OpenLab. Often, a peer leader will be able to answer your question before I can. When you’re on the page for your Webwork problem, if you click the “Ask for Help” button at the bottom of the screen, that link will send you to the page on the forum just for that question, so you can read what people have asked before and their answers.  Every question you ask or answer is worth one participation point.

Tutoring

Drop-in tutoring is available from the math department. Scheduled tutoring is available from the ALC. I heard that the ALC is not very busy yet, so now is a great time to schedule a one-on-one appointment with a tutor. Here are the links for for drop-in and scheduled tutoring (also in the menu at the top of this page). If you make an appointment at the ALC, forward me the confirmation email for one participation point.

Test #3

I’ll post more details soon, but I wanted to give you a head’s up: I’m planning on splitting up Test #3 (green topics on the schedule) into Test #3a (light green) and Test #3b (dark green). Both parts will follow the structure of Test #2: there will be a timed Webwork component and you’ll share your written work according to the instructions above.

Test #3a will be given the week of April 27; Test #3b will be given the week of May 4.