Policy on the use of Generative AI:

Students may use generative AI tools like ChatGPT for coursework, provided they follow these guidelines: Properly cite the AI tool used, including the version and date. Indicate which parts of the work were generated by AI through appropriate citations. Ensure that the work reflects personal understanding and analysis, as plagiarism, including uncredited AI-generated content, is prohibited. Use AI tools responsibly and ethically, in line with academic integrity policies. If students are unsure about how to use or cite AI tools, they should seek guidance from the instructor.
Students must strictly follow the homework/lab template provided on Canvas/GitHub. Failure to do so will result in a report of academic integrity violations, and a case will be filed with the university's FAIR system (link). For any questions, contact the instructor before the deadline.

Cheating and Academic Integrity

We take cheating very seriously.

The Student Code defines cheating as "Using or attempting to use in any academic exercise materials, information, study aids, or electronic data that the student knows or should know is unauthorized" (§1-402(a)) and notes that "Substantial portions of the same academic work may not be submitted for credit more than once or by more than one student without authorization." (§1-402(a)(4))

The student code also disallows facilitation of cheating, prohibiting "Helping or attempting to help another to commit an infraction of academic integrity, where one knows or should know that through one’s acts or omissions such an infraction may be facilitated." (§1-402(c))

How might cheating arise in a class like ECE 120? If two people work together on a homework or lab assignment and hand in the same, or a substantially similar solution, that would be "Substantial portions of the same academic work." If you need help and, during the course of helping you debug, a friend gives you a few lines of code, this is "using... information... known to be unauthorized." Letting someone else do your homework or write code for you is absolutely a violation.

Cheating is an offense to the entire academic system: you, your classmates, and the course staff. It creates extra work for the course staff, it creates grading imbalances for your classmates, and it prevents you from learning the material that the rest of your academic career is built on. We will take cheating very seriously. If we catch you cheating, helping someone cheat, or not reporting cheating that you know of, the incident will be reported to the College.

Guidelines for Authorized Assistance

Homework and software lab assignments will be graded individually. Students can receive assistance, but they should not view another student's homework solutions or code and may not write homework solutions and code for others. Students should not post their code or problem solutions electronically. We recommend that students discuss flow charts and algorithms, but write their own code by themselves. Similarly, students are welcome to discuss homework assignments with peers, however, they must write up their final solutions on their own.

Hardware labs are individual activities.

Exams are individual assignments. Students are not authorized to receive assistance from each other.

If you are confused about what exactly is or is not permitted, please ask the course instructors for clarification. Confusion or ignorance of the rules is not an excuse.

Penalties and Consequences :

If you are caught cheating (as defined in the course policies) on any assignment, including but not limited to labs, homework, or exams, a FAIR will be filed, the assignment will receive an undroppable 0, and your overall course grade will be reduced by one full letter grade.

If you are caught cheating a second time, you will receive a failing grade (F) for the course.

For example, let's say you are caught cheating on HW3, your grade on HW3 will be nullified, the drop policy does not apply, and your overall course grade will be reduced by one letter e.g. an A- becomes a B-. If you are later caught cheating on HW6, you automatically fail the class. If you are caught cheating on HW3 and HW6 at the same time, you will also automatically fail the class, despite the fact that you were notified of both violations at the same time.