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The grading for this class will comprise of the following continuous assessment milestones and a final exam. Two comprehensive homework assignments (more like mini-projects) will be done by students. The final, accounting for 40% of the grade, will assess the students' knowledge of the breadth of the material covered in the course.

Both homework assignments have roughly the same amount of workload but are unevenly weighted. The better of the two assignments is weighted an additional 5% more in your final calculated grade for the class (30% instead of 25%). This is because we realize that students have imbalanced workloads throughout the semester. If you have less time during one of the homework assignment periods, you may be able to compensate by working harder on the other assignment for which you have more time.

Description Percentage
Assignment A (The better of Homework 1 and 2) 30%
Assignment B (The worse of Homework 1 and 2) 25%
Final Exam (open book) 40%
Total 95%

Participation

Although attendance is not required, participation is. Participation will account for the remaining 5% of your grade. In-class and out of class participation are equally weighted; if you prefer to contribute to the class discussion offline (in the forum) rather than online, that is fine as well.

Participation is very helpful for your teaching staff too. Without it, we have very little idea whether you understand the material that we've presented or whether it's too difficult or trivial. Giving feedback in the form of questions, discussion provides us with a better idea of what topics you enjoy and which you are not too keen on.

Your teaching staff will try their best to provide you with detailed assessment marks within three weeks of the submission due date. You are welcome to debate/argue for any extra/missing points that you feel that you deserve within one week after the initial grades have been released. Due to time constraints on finalizing grades, grade appeals beyond this time may not be entertained.

Academic Honesty Policy

Collaboration is a very good thing. Students are encouraged to work together and to teach each other. However, in this class, you are expected to do individual assignments.

On the other hand, cheating is considered a very serious offense. Please don't do it! Concerns about cheating creates an unpleasant environment for everyone.

So how do you draw the line between collaboration and cheating? Here's a reasonable set of ground rules. Failure to understand and follow these rules will constitute cheating, and will be dealt with as per University guidelines. We will be policing the policy vigorously.

You should already be familiar with the University's academic code. If you haven't yet, read it now. Additionally, I use the World of Warcraft rule (originally called the Gilligan's Island Rule, except that I've had to update it since most students have not heard of Bob Denver before) to govern how I'd like students to treat their collaboration and academic honestry.

The World of Warcraft Rule: This rule says that you are free to meet with fellow students(s) and discuss assignments with them. Writing on a board or shared piece of paper is acceptable during the meeting; however, you may not take any written (electronic or otherwise) record away from the meeting. This applies when the assignment is supposed to be an individual effort. After the meeting, engage in a half hour of mind-numbing activity (like playing a online game of Warcraft (using a legal registered copy of course!), before starting to work on the assignment. This will assure that you are able to reconstruct what you learned from the meeting, by yourself, using your own brain. (P.S. - I am not endorsing Blizzard Entertainment's games nor am I affiliated with them. Substitute your own non-academic activity here)

Late Submissions

All assignments are due to IVLE by 11:59:59 pm (Singapore time) on the due date. These penalties are very strict, so plan to finish on time. Excuses will not be tolerated, and no exceptions without a medical certificate will be made. These are intentionally harsh so that a) I can return your assignments in a reasonable time (I usually have to wait for all assignments to be turned in before starting grading) and b) so that you can plan your other time effectively (sometimes there's nothing worse than getting an extension). The following penalties will apply for late submissions:

Min-Yen Kan <kanmy@comp.nus.edu.sg> Created on: Mon Dec 1 19:36:22 2003 | RCS: $Id: syllabus.html,v 1.2 2004/08/11 06:00:38 kanmy Exp kanmy $ | Version: 1.0 | Last modified: Thu Aug 14 12:29:58 2008