General Syllabus and Course Policies
Harry S. Delugach
Instructor: Dr. Harry S. Delugach
Email: delugach@uah.edu
Web: http://www.cs.uah.edu/~delugach
Phone: (256) 824-6614
Office: Olin King Technology Hall (OKT) N-351
These are general guidelines; see the Canvas section for more specific information.
For some thoughts on teaching in general, see Thoughts On Teaching.
For preparing and submitting your work, see Submission Guidelines.
All Computer Science Department policies and procedures apply to this (and every) Computer Science Course. In case of any misunderstanding, the department policies apply.
Classroom Behavior
- Attend all class sessions unless prevented by circumstances beyond your control. See below for my policy on absences. If you are an online student, you are expected to view the recorded lectures, take notes, etc. as soon as possible after the class is recorded.
- Put all cell phones away, and make sure all devices are in a silent mode, unless you are participating in a real-time quiz. These are extremely disruptive to the instructor and to other students. Cell phone use during class (including text messaging and social media) is strictly prohibited. Your inattention is quite obvious to the instructor and fellow students. It will also tend to lower your grade.
- Come to class on time. Arriving late and/or leaving early are disruptive to your fellow students and to the instructor. If you must leave the classroom for urgent personal business, be aware that it WILL disrupt the class, no matter how "quiet" you think you are. Be considerate of your fellow students and your instructor. Note the actual class starting time as posted in the schedule; classes are not always scheduled to start exactly on the hour or half-hour.
Examinations, Homework Problems and Papers
Unless explicitly directed otherwise, open-book assignments are to be done by yourself, though you may use any resources such as class notes, the Internet, etc. The source of your information MUST must be explicitly identified in the work you turn in, unless it is from the class notes or textbooks. You'll be graded on the accuracy, completeness and clarity of your answers. You'll usually have an Canvas assignment available for turning in your assignments.
The use of AI-generated materials (e.g., ChatGPT) is subject to these same restrictions. These are NOT a special case. If you didn't write it, then it doesn't matter where it came from -- you must cite your sources just as any other external source.
Be sure to heed the Submission Guidelines in general and any course-specific guidelines.
If you feel there is an error in the grading of your assignments, you must bring them to the instructor's attention within one week after the assignment was graded and/or returned.
Use of electronic devices
At no time during an in-class closed-book examination are you allowed to have accessible a cell phone, camera, recorder, calculator, music player, laptop or any other device that could be used to record/playback/display course content or communicate with any person or network. Exceptions must be specifically granted by the instructor in advance. I reserve the right to enforce this rule as necessary. Protect yourself (and your grade) by placing all these things completely out of the way, or leaving them elsewhere during an exam.
Communication
Communication in courses using Canvas will generally be conducted through Canvas's email facility. Note that Canvas also has the capability to send messages to your official UAH email accouint.
I will send email to you through Canvas. Be sure to set up Canvas notifications so that you will receive them wherever you want them. You are responsible for READING email that is sent to your Canvas email account.
You may send me email from any email address you want, but I have no responsibility to remember/record/save them. If I cannot be certain that you are using an alternate address, I reserve the right NOT to respond (another person could be pretending they are you). Accuracy and reliability of forwarding addresses is entirely your responsibility. Note that you can have Canvas emails forwarded to more than one email account or your cell phone.
Materials to the student
Materials will be made available to the class in one or more of the following ways:
- Making materials available through Canvas or the Web. Materials on the Web will be in either MS Word (.docx) format or PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format; both of these formats are easily readable using free software.
- Announcement during class sessions.
- Email through Canvas and/or your official UAH email address (see above).
Materials for the professor
Students may contact the instructor by Canvas email (preferred), by UAH email, by telephone at the office phone, or through individual meetings. Email messages (other than in Canvas!) must have the course number (e.g., CS 650) in the subject line.The instructor normally responds to email several times a day. In general, office hours are available for "drop-in" meetings; however, there may be scheduled appointments during office hours. Students are discouraged from contacting the instructor at home unless (a) there is genuine need for immediate two-way communication AND (b) email or office phone would not be timely enough.
Emergency communication
UAHuntsville has implemented the UAlert emergency notification system. UAlert allows you to receive time-sensitive emergency messages in the form of e-mail, voice mail, and/or text messages.
Everyone who has a UAHuntsville e-mail address will receive emergency alerts to their campus e-mail address. In order to also receive text and voice message alerts, you are asked to provide up-to-date phone contact information. Participation in UAlert text and voice messaging is voluntary, but enrollment is strongly encouraged. You won’t be reached through UAlert unless you participate. The information you supply is considered confidential and will not be shared or used for purposes other than emergency notification.
To review your UAlert account, add or update phone and alternate e-mail addresses, and set the priority for your contact methods, please visit the UAlert web site: http://ualert.uah.edu.
Absences
You are expected to attend all class sessions unless prevented by circumstances beyond your control. If you have to miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed. If you know in advance that you must miss a class session, arrange with a trusted classmate to take notes for you and bring you up to date. It is a good idea to pre-arrange with a trusted classmate to take notes for you if you are unexpectedly absent.
Do not ask the instructor "What did I miss?" or "Did I miss anything important?" The instructor will just tell you to find out from your classmates. If there is a video record of the missed session, you may be able to view it. The instructor is under no obligation to repeat lecture material.
Special Accommodations
Disabilities. Your instructor would like to hear from anyone who has a disability that may require a modification of seating, testing, or other class procedures. Please see instructor after class or during office hours to discuss appropriate modifications. Please contact Disability Support Services, 317 Wilson Hall, at 256.824.1997 to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.
Temporary Situations. Occasionally students encounter personal or family (i.e., non-academic) situations that may temporarily interfere with their ability to perform in the class. Please know that I am sympathetic to these situations; however, I am not really qualified to decide if you need special consideration or special treatment, I am really only qualified to make academic judgements about your academic performance. Fortunately for me, there is an office on campus that can help you in such situations and they can guide me in how to handle your case. Tell the counseling center, Wilson Hall 317, (256) 824-1997 that I referred you. They are good folks to know.
Student Responsibility
You are responsible for all material covered in class. If you are going to miss a class, inform the instructor at least one week in advance and try to arrange for a classmate to take notes for you. It may be a good idea to arrange in advance for a "buddy" who will take notes in case you are absent without advance notice.
It is important for your instructor to be able to evaluate your performance in this course fairly and accurately. It is always expected that you will do your own work on all individual examinations, while neither receiving from nor giving assistance to others. It is also expected that on homework or other assignments, you will submit only your own work, except for external sources (properly referenced and cited) if explicitly permitted. See the UAH Code of Student Conduct for policies relating to students' rights, responsibilities and academic behavior. Please ask your instructor if you have questions or concerns about any of these policies or procedures. You are responsible for meeting these expectations, whether you have read them or not (so read them!).
I am personally, along with UAH, committed to the fundamental values of preserving academic honesty as defined in the Code. The instructor reserves the right to utilize electronic means to help prevent plagiarism. Students agree that by taking this course any assignment is subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com. Assignments submitted to Turnitin.com will be included as source documents in Turnitin.com's restricted access database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism in such documents. The terms that apply to the University's use of the Turnitin.com service, as well as additional information about the company, are described at http://lib.uah.edu/turnitin/.
last modified January 7, 2023