Grading

Evaluation criteria (tentative)

The course is a project course with no exams or finals.

5% Hello Video Games  - Introductory Individual Assignment 

3% Video Game Pitch  - Team/Individual (bonus for larger teams)

4% Written individual progress reports - Each student is expected to submit a written report documenting their and their team members contiribution to each milestone in the team project (including proposal and final game).

88% Team Project.   Project done in teams of 6 (other team sizes accepted in special circumstances).

Project grade breakdown:

            Game proposal (7%)

            4 Game Progress Milestones (14% each)

            Final project assessment: 25%

            Extra bonus marks will be provided for award winning projects (based on jury/public feedback).

Team vs individual grading: for progress and final project assessments a student's grade will be based on both team progress and their personal contribution (assessed via face-to-face grading, self-assessment, and peer-assessment). The personal contribution will serve as a scale factor on the team grade (with 1 being average contribution, higher values reflecting above average contribution, and lower ones reflecting less than average one).

Assignment Grading: There will be face-to-face grading for the assignments where the student will sign up for a slot to demo the work to the grader. You will be asked to explain the algorithms used in your program to the grader. If you cannot explain an algorithm, at the discretion of the grader, you will not receive credit for the entire assignment or part of it.

Milestone and Final Project Grading: There will be face-to-face grading for the milestones and final project where the team will sign up for a slot to demo the work to the grader. ALL team members must be present during grading. Each team member will be asked to explain the algorithms used in their parts of the code to the grader. If you cannot explain an algorithm, at the discretion of the grader, you will not receive credit for the entire milestone or part of it.

Attendance: Attendance and active participation in all lectures and other in-person activites is expected. You are responsible for knowing all material presented and any advice provided there. Most lecture material will be made available online. However, there is no guarantee that everything covered in lectures and elsewhere will be in the posted material.

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Late milestones

It is important that assigned work be completed on time, because subsequent milestones depend on your comprehension of earlier work. To allow for unforeseeable circumstances, each team will be allowed three days of grace during the term, which can be used on any project milestones or final project submisson  with no explanation required. Use these as you wish to help manage your time, but use them wisely. It is strongly recommended that you do not use all your grace days early in the term. You can use all three on one task, or spread the days across multiple tasks.

Once your grace days are all used, late milestones will receive a grade of zero. Exceptions to this late policy will be made only with advance approval from the instructor; or medical, emotional, or other problems documented in writing as below.

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Severe Illness or Other Problems

See the UBC Policy on Academic Concession.

Documentation of Severe Illness or Other Problems: It is the responsibility of the student to provide adequate documentation of the situation and to inform the instructor in a timely manner so that the necessary appropriate action can be taken. Often assignments will be granted no-penalty extensions, but all cases are subject to the instructor's discretion. Usually it is expected that the student will provide a written explanation of the situation to the instructor within three days of returning to the University after any absence or period of illness or other problem. In no case will documents be considered more than seven days after a student has returned to the University. A written explanation must be submitted along with supporting documentation (i.e. a doctor's note in cases of illness); talking to or emailing the instructor is not an acceptable substitute for submitting the required supporting documentation.

Late/Missing Milestones: One of the following courses of action will be taken after receipt of appropriate documentation of the situation.

• At the discretion of the instructor, the student/team will be allowed to turn in a milestone late.
• Alternatively,at the discretion of the instructor (for example, when the delay is too significant), the student/team will be excused from completing that milestone and will receive their average grade on a reduced size project as a fill-in mark.

If the missed work is a significant portion of the term mark, then a standing of AEGROTAT may be awarded, as provided for by the University's policies. Students will be consulted before a course of action is chosen, but the final decision will be that of the instructor.

 

Religious Holidays: Students who are scheduled to attend classes or write examinations on the holy days of their religion must notify the instructor in writing three weeks in advance of the religious holiday they wish to observe. The instructor will provide opportunity for students to make up the missed work or examination without penalty.

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Plagiarism and Cheating

Read the Computer Science Department's Guidelines and Practices Regarding Collaboration. Consult the University's policies and procedures regarding academic offenses for more information on plagiarism and the penalties sanctioned by the University.

Collaboration

Collaboration outside the team without explicit instructor permission is not allowed. As explained in the CS collaboration guidelines, general discussion of programming and algorithms is allowed. However, source code may not be shared: all forms of reuse, such as electronic copying of a current or former student's source files, typing in source from a printout, or typing in source read from another student's screen, when done outside your team, will constitute an act of plagiarism in the context of CPSC 436D.

Citation

You are expected to cite all sources of inspiration (Internet or book or human) in your writeups. Acknowledging your sources of information in writing is the best way to avoid grey areas of possible academic misconduct. You do not need to cite anything covered in lecture or in the assigned readings, or discussions with the instructor or TAs. You should cite all other sources in writing: either at the end of the README documenting your program for the programming part of the assignments, or in a list at the bottom of the written part of the assignment. In the case of written assignments, any people with whom you have had extended discussions should be listed at the bottom of the paper that you turn in. Casual discussions of a few minutes do not need to be documented, but study groups do. The Web is full of fantastic resources for students: detailed tutorials with well-annotated source code; archives of mailing lists and newsgroups that contain programming questions and answers; and explanations of how to avoid, fix, or work around common (or uncommon) errors. You are welcome to use these resources responsibly, as long as you cite the sources. For example: if you looked at code fragments from the Web or from other books, list the Web sites or book titles in the References section of your README. Looking on the Web for ideas and information is permitted and encouraged. Even looking at sample graphics code is permitted, but simply copying that code and handing it in as your own is not. You will be asked to explain algorithms during the face-to-face grading slots, if you are not able to do so you will not receive credit for all or part of the assignment.

Due Diligence

In the context of CPSC 436D, every student is held responsible to ensure that:

• his or her files (which contain material the use of which, by another student, would constitute an act of plagiarism as herein defined) are inaccessible to other students,
• current or out-of-date hardcopy of her or his files (which contain material the use of which, by another student, would constitute an act of plagiarism as herein defined) is inaccessible to other students, and
• communication with other students does not include information the use of which, by another student, would constitute an act of plagiarism as herein defined.

Failure to comply with any of these responsibilities, either knowingly or through negligence, will also be considered an act of plagiarism indistinguishable from that of the other student(s) and subject to the same penalties.

Cheating

Cheating includes, but is not limited to: falsifying any material subject to academic evaluation; having in an examination any materials other than those permitted by the examiner; and using unauthorized means to complete an examination (e.g. receiving unauthorized assistance from a fellow student); giving somebody else money to complete course assignments instead of doing them yourself.

Penalties

The first offence within the context of CPSC 436D (across all years, terms, etc.) shall cause the student and their team to receive a mark of 0 for all affected milestones, and the Chair of the Undergraduate Affairs Committee will receive a report detailing the particulars of the case. Further disciplinary action may be undertaken by the department, faculty, or university.

A second offence within the context of CPSC 436D (across all years, terms, etc.) shall cause the student to receive a grade of 0 for the course, the student will not be permitted to enroll in further offerings of CPSC 436D, and the Chair of the Undergraduate Affairs Committee will receive a report detailing the particulars of the case. Further disciplinary action may be undertaken by the department, faculty, or university.

Students not enrolled in CPSC 436D who are involved in a 436D-related plagiarism incident will not be permitted to enroll in future offerings of CPSC 436D, and the Chair of the Undergraduate Affairs Committee will receive a report detailing the particulars of the case. Further disciplinary action may be undertaken by the department, faculty, or university.

Although the instructor reserves the right to exercise leniency as she sees fit, the instructor usually considers cheating to be an insult to all other course participants, and aggressively prosecutes cheaters in order to create a level playing field where individual efforts are rewarded appropriately.