updated on 08/17/2023
School of Computing & Design
Policies and Student Support
Academic Integrity Policy Implementation Plan - SCD
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Cooperative Learning Center (CLC)
Veterans and Active Duty Personnel
This program depends heavily on your participation. Your commitment, preparation, and engagement help us to think and learn together. If you do not engage, you deprive yourself of the learning and growth that result from hard work and collaboration. You also deprive your colleagues of your insights and experiences. Lateness, poor participation in assignments and discussions, or poor communication with instructors or your colleagues will negatively impact your grade.
Specifications for each assignment will be available on Canvas. Assignments are due no later than the posted due date. You are responsible for turning in work on time, as posted. Sometimes personal situations will arise and, on occasion, students may not be able to meet assignment deadlines. Should that occur, students are required to contact their professors as soon as possible, ideally prior to the deadline itself. Some reasons will be accepted, such as military deployment or illness, but others, such as family vacation or forgetting, will not. With the exception of fully documented medical (or similar) reasons, the decision to accept late work is at the sole discretion of the instructor.
Academic integrity is of central importance to an education at CSUMB. The core of this integrity resides in the scholastic honesty of the CSUMB community, and therefore, is the responsibility of all students and faculty to uphold and maintain. Forms of academic dishonesty include: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and collusion in any of these activities. Plagiarism-presenting someone else's work or ideas or Artificial-Intelligence-generated content as your own without full acknowledgment. We value informal resolution of academic integrity allegations; however, students discovered to have engaged in academic dishonesty will be sanctioned. View the Academic Integrity Policy. Each incident and the student's name will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct.
Academic integrity includes both behaviors that are personal choices which hinder your learning as well as forms of dishonesty which may result in academic sanctions. Learning takes place within an atmosphere of trust and respect. The following behaviors break down said trust and respect and create barriers to your learning:
While the above behaviors can affect your grade and your learning experience, they are personal choices (though we do understand that circumstances out of your control may be the cause of these choices). Other behaviors, however, move beyond 'choices' and breach academic rules and regulations, and even laws. These include:
Approved in March 2021
1). Instructor identifies major exams/assignments/projects for their own classes
2). First violation on a major item results in a fail grade for the class
3). First violation on a non-major item results in dropping 1-2 letter grades (instructor decides based on assignment weight and severity of the violation).
4). Second violation on a non-major item results in a fail grade for the class (this could be a different class than where the first violation happened)
5). All instructors should emphasize this in their classes in the hope of reinforcing this message over time.
6). All violations will be reported to the Chair and the Student Conduct Office (this has been the case for a long while anyway).
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. 132g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Learn more at: https://csumb.edu/policy/family-educational-rights-and-privacy-act-ferpa
CSUMB is committed to providing excellent and innovative curricula and educational opportunities to its students. To help us maintain quality academic offerings and to conform to institutional and professional accreditation requirements, the University and its programs regularly evaluate student work to assess student achievement of learning outcomes. CSUMB obtains, evaluates, and retains samples of student work from designated assignments in representative courses. This work includes, but is not limited to, papers, exams, creative works, recordings of oral presentations, or portfolios developed and submitted in courses or to satisfy the requirements for degree programs. Instructors will inform students which assignments will be designated for assessment purposes. Instructor and student names will not appear in any assessment results and assessment results will have no impact on student grades, instructor evaluations, or instructor employment.
Students have until the first day of class to drop a course.
Authorized withdrawals after the add/drop period may be assigned only for serious and compelling reasons. CS Online students, please work with Kayla Rolicheck (kayrolicheck@csumb.edu) if you need to drop and/or to see if your situation qualifies for an Authorized withdrawal. MIST Online students, please work with Ryan Eller (reller@csumb.edu).
The instructor shall issue a designation of "Withdrawal Unauthorized" (WU) when a student did not properly withdraw from the course and also failed to complete course requirements. The symbol "WU" shall be identified as a failing grade in the transcript legend and shall be counted as units attempted but not passed in computing grade point average.
Students with a compelling reason that prevents them from completing classwork within the 8-week window may qualify for an Incomplete. For an Incomplete, students must, by Week 7:
Students with Incompletes have up to one year to complete the course requirements. An Incomplete Contract with a clear timeline of completion must be filed and adhered to.
Students shall have the right to appeal the final course grade issued by an instructor(s) if the student has reason to believe that the grade is based on any of the grounds set out in section 4.00 of this policy. Grades assigned due to student misconduct are not eligible for appeal.
Prior to filing a grade appeal, the student shall make every attempt to resolve the grade dispute with the instructor through the Departmental review process described in section 5.1.1.
Any student has the right to file a grievance when he/she feels unjustly or improperly treated by the University. A grievable action is defined in Section 3.00. The process set out here is not intended to initiate disciplinary action against a member of the faculty, staff, or administration, or to alter University policy.
In the School of Computing & Design, you will engage in online discussions. The purpose of these discussions is to have students interact with one another, promote the online community, and enhance your learning experience. Though conversations are virtual, the participants are not. Your fellow classmates deserve and expect the same respect and courtesy from you as you deserve and expect from them. Visual and auditory context clues such as facial expressions and voice inflections are not visible in online discussions. Communicating clearly, effectively, and respectfully solely through text requires you to be mindful of the way you approach online conversations.. To help you, here are the “Netiquette” ground rules to keep in mind for all online communication in the program:
Participate. This is a shared learning environment. No lurking in the cyberspace background. It is not enough to login and read the discussion thread of others. For the maximum benefit to all, everyone must contribute.
Report Glitches. Discussion forums are electronic. They break. If for any reason you are having difficulty participating, please call, email, or otherwise inform me of the issue. Chances are your classmates are experiencing similar issues.
Help Your Classmates. You may have more experience with online discussion forums than the person sitting next to you. Give them a hand. Show them it’s not that hard. They’re really going to appreciate it!
Respect Your Classmates. Read everything in the discussion thread before replying. This will help you avoid repeating something someone else has already contributed. Acknowledge the points made with which you agree and suggest alternatives for those with which you don’t.
Be Brief. You want to be clear—and to articulate your point—without being preachy or pompous. Be direct. Stay on point. Don’t lose your readers in an overly wordy sentence or paragraph.
Respect Diversity. We live in a multicultural world. Use no language that is offensive—or could be construed as such—toward others. Racists, sexist, and heterosexist comments are unacceptable, as are derogatory and/or sarcastic jokes directed at religious beliefs, disabilities, and age.
No YELLING! Be friendly. Using bold, uppercase letters is bad form, like yelling at somebody, NOT TO MENTION BEING HARD ON THE EYE.
Proper Writing Style. Write as if you were writing a term paper. Correct spelling, grammatical construction and sentence structure are expected in every other writing activity associated with scholarship and academic engagement. Online discussions are no different.
Cite Your Sources. If your contribution to the conversation includes the intellectual property (authored material) of others, e.g., books, newspaper, magazine, or journal articles—online or print—they must be given proper attribution. Please post the link so we can all go visit it but also get in the practice of a proper citation using APA guidelines.
No Flaming! Criticism must be constructive, well-meaning, and well-articulated. Rants directed at or about any of your classmates are simply unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The same goes for profanity. The academic environment expects higher-order language.
Emoticons and Acronyms. The rise in social networking and text messaging popularity has spawned a body of linguistic shortcuts that are not part of the academic dialogue. Please refrain from :-) faces and c u l8r’s.
Use Appropriate Language. Language is your only tool in an online environment. The electronic footprint you leave behind is strictly verbal. Be mindful: your classmates' perception of you is one of your own making. Once you’ve hit the send button, you'll find your statements harder to retract. Review your written posts and responses to ensure that you’ve conveyed exactly what you intended. This is an excellent opportunity to practice your proofreading, revision, and rewriting skills—valuable assets in the professional world for which you are now preparing.
Hints. Read your post out loud before hitting the send button. This will tell you a lot about whether or not your grammar and sentence structure are correct, your tone is appropriate, and your contribution is clear. Take time writing your post, do your best, do not wait until a few minutes before it is due. Take pride in your work and contributions.
This Netiquette guide was adapted from The Institute for Learning and teaching. Colorado State University.
Guidelines for Professional Communication
The class environment also provides a trial ground for practicing professional conversational conduct.
Faculty have the authority to sanction and report any students who consistently disregard any of the above expectations. Such infractions will result in disciplinary action including (but not limited to): receiving reduced or zero points for attendance and/or participation; being asked to leave the classroom; and/or being asked to report to the department office.
The CLC provides one-on-one and small group tutoring to all students in the areas of world languages, mathematics and statistics, sciences, technology and writing.
The Center collaborates across departments to help build an effective and comprehensive student support infrastructure on campus. CSS works closely with all students to ensure their success and provides them with the opportunity for academic coaching, skills development, student success workshops, referral services, and mentoring.
The Financial Aid office is your one-stop shop for information on FAFSA, student loans, grants, scholarships, and other topics around paying for school.
The School of Computing & Design is committed to making courses accessible to everyone. If you are a student with a disability that may impact your performance in this course, please make an appointment with Student Disability Resources before or in the very beginning of each term to discuss your needs and accommodations. Once you have enrolled in your next course, you must share your accommodation requirements with the instructor within the first two weeks of class. This is a confidential service.
Veterans, active duty military personnel with special circumstances (e.g., upcoming deployments, drill requirements, disabilities) are welcome and encouraged to communicate these, in advance if possible, to the instructor.
Note: Although all CSUMB students are entitled resources, be advised that some may require students to visit campus to use them. Please visit each link to learn more.
Center for Advising, Career, & Student Success
Early Outreach & Support Programs
Exercise is Medicine on Campus
Library Affordable Learning Initiative
Student Engagement and Leadership Development
Technical Support for Students
TItle IX/Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation