Grading Policy

Class Participation. Active class participation is expected of every student who wants to succeed in the course, and includes (but is not limited to) attendance, participation in class discussions, and completing lab tasks and quizzes. Please note that if you miss class for any reason, it’s your responsibility to obtain the class notes and topics from fellow peers (Courselore can be a resource here!).

Final Grades. Your final grade for the course will be computed as a weighted average of several components. The relative weight of each component is shown below:

• Assignments: 15%
• Quizzes: 5%
• Midterm I: 15%
• Midterm II: 20%
• Final Exam (during exam period): 25%
• Participation:
  • Labs: 10%
  • Team Work: 5%
  • Course Etiquette: 5%

There is no arbitrary limit on the number of A’s, B’s, C’s etc., and every student will be assigned the grade they earn and deserve according to the grading standards of the college.

Extra Credit. Problems/work labeled “extra credit” will be factored in at the end of the semester. We do not disclose how these will affect your grade, though you can expect they will be especially helpful for students on the border between two grades.

Late Policy

Late Passes. We offer every student 3 x 24-hour late passes.

• Each late pass may be applied to delay one assignment deadline by 24 hours within the semester.
• Any number of available passes may be applied to any assignment deadline. No work is accepted past the end of the final exam period, regardless of available late passes.
• Late passes are not transferable, reusable, or divisible.
• After your late pass budget is exhausted, each additional 24-hour delay in assignment submission is assessed a late penalty that subtracts 10% of the maximum assignment grade from your awarded grade on that assignment.
• To use a late day, you must fill out this form before the assignment deadline.

Extenuating Circumstances. If an emergency prevents you from completing an assessment/assignment as scheduled, we can make accomodations that support you in collaboration with your class dean and/or health services. This sets a common standard for all students and ensures you are getting the support you need.

Missing Class. If you know you will need to miss class due to illness or family emergency, let the course instructor know. Together, we can figure out how to proceed.

Collaboration, Resource, and AI Policy

Overview. We believe that collaboration fosters a healthy and enjoyable educational environment. For this reason, we encourage you to talk with other students about the course material and to form study groups. Programming assignments in this course can be challenging. Also, teamwork and large-scale collaboration is the norm in the CS industry. Given this, some of the assignment work is required to be done paired with a partner from the class, while some is required to be done individually. In each assignment tasks will be clearly marked as either “individual” or “pair-programming.”

• On individual assignments, students are encouraged to discuss high-level ideas, draft pseudo-code together, and discuss debugging strategies. However, students cannot write code together, look at each other’s code, etc. Every student must submit their own original work.
• On pair-programming assignments, the two team members must work closely together on the pair-programming tasks, and turn in a single copy of work they did together.
• On exams and quizzes, we do not allow collaborations of any kind.

Crediting Collaborators. On every problem you discussed with another peer, whether on the individual or pair-programming assignment, you must credit them. That is, you must list their name at the top of your file.

Using existing materials. Students may use any code covered in class, lab, or in the textbook. Students may also reference code from standard helpful sources, like Stack Overflow (though in these cases, cite where the code came from). For websites like Stack Overflow, students may only use it for debugging—e.g. looking up errors you encounter, etc. However, googling for the solutions (e.g. “how to reverse a string in Java”) is not acceptable. Finally, students may not use code from any other source, including Generative AI (discussed more below), and students may not use solutions to previous CS230 materials. If you’re unsure whether a source is ok to use, please ask us before using it.

Pair-programming tasks are subject to the following ground rules:

• Each team member has to read the assignment problems, think of how to go on solving it, and sketch some solutions, before meeting with their partner.
• While working together, the work must be a true collaboration in which each member of the team will carry their own weight. Under our pair-programming paradigms, it is not acceptable for two team members to split the work between them and work independently.

This semester, the instructors will assign partners for each pair-programming assignment. It is your responsibility to reach out to your partner early and arrange times to meet and work on the assignment, keeping in mind the rules above. Sometimes it’s hard to find times to meet, but we expect a good-faith effort. Specifically, we expect that you:

• Contact your partner ASAP
• Make a good-faith effort to work together
  • Doing the same thing at the same time
  • Not divide-and-conquer
• If you visit OH solo, share the hints with your partner. Don’t work on the assignment solo (this includes during OH).
• Contact us if your partner is not cooperative. (We might be able to re-match you).

In general, teams are allowed to discuss assignment tasks with other teams and exchange ideas about how to solve them. Your team can collaborate with another team in the same way an individual can collaborate with another individual, as per the rules above. If you’re unsure whether a certain behavior is in accordance with policies and expectations, please ask us before collaborating.

Generative AI. You are free to use generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) for the following use cases:

• You can test your knowledge of the material.
• Use it as an aid to understanding concepts from class.
• Ask generative AI to produce questions for you as you study CS230 materials.
• Practice asking for help. If you are unsure about what to ask of a TA or instructor, you may start formulating your question with generative AI and come to the CS230 team when you have identified your knowledge gap.

However, please note that Generative AI models

• Can produce incorrect information in a very believable way, if you take the output of generative AI for its word you might learn incorrect information.
• Are trained on old information and might not have the most up-to-date information that we discuss in class.
• Are trained on large volumes of data from the internet and the ethics of its usage and proper attribution to originators is a controversial topic.

Finally, to make sure the use of Generative AI does not compromise your learning experience, do not use it to:

• Generate code of any kind.
• Solve problems on your homework.
• Summarize assigned readings.

If you’re unsure whether how you want to use generative AI, please ask the instructors before using it!

Honor Code. We consider violations of this collaboration policy as honor code violations. If you find yourself, for whatever reason (stress, mental health, life circumstances, etc.), thinking about violating these policies, please come talk to us before you do—we want to help you feel happy and proud of your learning and growth. As more examples of honor code violations, consider:

1. Writing a program together with someone not part of your team and turn in two copies of the same program.
2. Copying code written by your classmates
3. Reading another student’s or team’s code
4. Viewing assignments and exams and solutions from previous offerings of CS230
5. Making any of the assignments, exams and solutions available to others online or off-line
6. Use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT or Github Co-pilot or any other language generation model to assist in completing assignments/exams.

In keeping with the standards of the scientific community, you must give credit where credit is due (i.e. write their names at the top of the file). If you make use of an idea that was developed by (or jointly with) others, please reference them appropriately in your work. It is unacceptable for students to work together but not to acknowledge each other in their write-ups.

Accessibility and Disability

Every student has a right to full access in this course. If you need any accommodations for CS 230, please contact Wellesley’s Disability Services. You should request accommodations as early as possible during the course, since some situations can require significant time for accommodation design. If you need immediate accommodations, please arrange an appointment with me as soon as possible. If you are unsure but suspect you may have an undocumented need for accommodations, you are encouraged to contact Disability Services. They can provide assistance including screening and referral for assessments. Disability Services can be reached at disabilityservices@wellesley.edu, at 781-283-2434, or by scheduling an appointment online.

Religious Observance

Students whose religious observances conflict with scheduled course events should contact the instructors in advance to discuss alternative arrangements. You may do this through the Wellesley College Religious Observance Notification System if you prefer.

Policies on Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct

Wellesley College considers diversity essential to educational excellence, and we are committed to being a community in which each member thrives. The College does not allow discrimination or harassment based on race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, pregnancy or any other protected status under applicable local, state or federal law.

If you or someone you know has experienced discrimination or harassment, support is available to you:

• Confidential Reporting: Students can report their experiences to Health Services (781-283-2810); Stone Center Counseling Service (781-283-2839); or Religious and Spiritual Life (781-283-2685). These offices are not required to report allegations of sexual misconduct to the College.
• Non-Confidential Reporting: You can let either of your CS 230 instructors know. As faculty members, we are obligated to report allegations of sex-based discrimination to the Non-discrimination/Title IX Office.
  • You can report directly to the Non-discrimination/Title IX Office (781-283-2451) to receive support, and to learn more about your options for a response by the College or about reporting to a different institution.
  • You can report to the Wellesley College Police Department (Emergency: 781-283-5555, Non-emergency: 781-283-2121) if you believe a crime has been committed, or if there is an immediate safety risk.