General
Don't cheat! It's a very, very bad idea. You won't learn the material
so you'll fail the exams in this course. Even if you barely squeak
by, you'll be lost in later
courses.
There's a good chance you'll get caught. The penalties can be very
serious: failing the class, having a letter of reprimand in your
university record, having a permanent notation on your transcript,
being suspended, being expelled. The UBC
policy on student conduct and discipline has more details on the penalties
for plagiarism.
I do regularly prosecute
students for cheating, even though it's traumatic for everybody
involved (including me), because I think it's very important to have a level
playing field for everybody in the course.
If you're feeling stressed, come talk to the instructor or the TAs to
get help - at the labs, or the posted office hours, or make an
appointment. Don't be afraid to come in and say you're confused, we're
here to help you get unconfused. Of course, it's good to come talk to
us before you're completely overwhelmed.
Course-Specific Academic Conduct Expectations
The work you turn in must be your own. You are not allowed to work in
teams in this course.
What's allowed
- discussing general approaches for assignments with
other students
- discussing the merits of a proposed solution with instructor or TAs
- using code provided by the instructor
- if you do have any significant discussion with other students about
a specific assignment:
- one-hour context switch rule: do not take any written notes, and then do
something else for an hour before you go back to work on your own.
Some folks call this the "Gilligan's Island" rule - but you can do
whatever you want during that hour break, it doesn't have to be
watching mindless TV!
- attribution: acknowledge your discussion by including a list
of their
names in what you hand in: either as comments at the top of the
code, or in a README file.
What's not allowed
- doing assignments together with other people and handing in the joint
work as your own
- getting or giving code to anybody else electronically (email, IM/chat)
- getting or giving code to anybody else on paper
- typing in code you see on another student's screen in the lab
- using code somebody else wrote in a previous term
- paying somebody money to do the assignments
- looking at somebody else's paper during an exam
- looking at unauthorized materials during an exam
If you share code with another person, that counts as cheating by both
people. Remember that you cannot control what happens after code
leaves your possession. Maybe they'll turn it in as their own work on
purpose. Maybe they'll turn it in as their own work by mistake. Maybe
they'll send it along to somebody else, who will then turn it in.
If you have any questions at all about a grey area, don't hestitate to
ask the instructor.
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Last modified: Wed Sep 5 09:56:26 PDT 2012