Grading

Assessment Breakdown

Total: 100%.

Attendance at seminars is mandatory and participation is part of your overall mark. The participation grade will be marked as a combination of your in-seminar participation, your project critique contributions, peer feedback, and your participation in class surveys (e.g., pre-flight and midterm surveys).

Academic Honesty Policy

Please note that we enforce these policies vigorously. While we hate wasting time with these problems, we have to be fair to everyone in the class, and as such, you are advised to pay attention to these rules and follow them strictly.

Collaboration is a very good thing. Students are encouraged to work together and to teach each other on appropriate course components (n.b., not for individual essays). On the other hand, cheating is considered a very serious offence. Please don’t do it! Concern about cheating creates an unpleasant environment for everyone. You will be automatically reported to the Vice-Dean of Academic Affairs if you are caught; no exceptions will be made for any infractions, no matter how slight the offence.

So how do you draw the line between collaboration and cheating? Here is 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 enforcing the policy vigorously and strictly.

You should already be familiar with the University’s NUS Code of Student Conduct (Office of Student Conduct, NUS). If you haven’t yet, read it now.

The Pokémon Go Rule: You are free to meet with fellow student(s) or AI agents 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 (i.e., individual essays in CP4285). After the meeting, engage in a half-hour of mind-numbing activity 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.

The Freedom of Information Rule: To assure that all collaboration is on the level, you must always write the name(s) of your collaborators on your submission. Failure to adequately acknowledge your contributors is at best a lapse of professional etiquette, and at worst it is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form of cheating.

The No-Sponge Rule: In intra-team collaboration where the group, as a whole, produces a single product, each member of the team must actively contribute. Members of the group have the responsibility (1) to not tolerate anyone who is putting forth no effort (being a sponge) and (2) to not let anyone who is making a good faith effort fall through a crack (to help weaker team members come up to speed so they can contribute). We want to know about dysfunctional group situations as early as possible. To encourage everyone to participate fully, we make sure that every student is given an opportunity to explain and justify their group’s approach.

The Pokémon Go Rule and Freedom of Information Rule are adapted from Surendar Chandra’s course at the University of Georgia, who in turn acknowledges Prof. Carla Ellis and Prof. Amin Vahdat at Duke University for the original policy formulation. The origin of the rule, known as the Gilligan’s Island Rule, can be traced to Prof. Dymond at York University (1984). The No-Sponge Rule is adapted from the same tradition.

AI Use Policy

This course follows the NUS Policy for Use of AI in Teaching and Learning (NUS Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, 2024). The course-specific application of that policy is as follows:

For the Group Project, if you do not document your AI use, it implies that you did not use AI; any doubts we have may be investigated and prosecuted. For Individual Essays, an AI declaration is mandatory regardless of whether AI was used; failure to submit a declaration will be treated as a policy violation. Your submission of work and your e-signature during submission acknowledges your compliance with and understanding of these rules.

Where in doubt, please raise your concerns with Min before attempting any potentially non-compliant actions. Unfortunately, we have had to prosecute and fail students who have not obeyed these rules.

Late Submissions

We do not accept late submissions for essays or project milestones unless you have a valid reason (e.g., medical certificate). Please contact Min as early as possible if you anticipate difficulties meeting a deadline. Extensions will be granted at Min’s discretion.