First Year Experience Policies

  • Students are expected to abide by KSU’s Student Codes of Conduct.  Briefly this means:

    • All submitted work (labs, quizzes, assignments, quizzes and tests) must be your own work.  Written by you, without the use of AI, or other external help

    To help clarify what this means, we provide the following scenarios. The following are reasonable examples of permissible student interaction:

    • Discussing a lab assignment with other students
    • Discussing the course material with others in order to understand it.
    • Identifying bugs in a classmate's code (but not resolving those bugs for them).
    • Reviewing past semesters' quizzes and assignment solutions.
    • Showing your code to others only to help them identify problems in your code (you may not view other students’ solutions).
    • Using information found on an internet tutorial site or in a book for reference to help you better understand a concept (not to copy solutions from).
    • Whiteboarding solutions to a problem with your classmates or others using flow charts (but not actual code).
    • Working with a tutor (paid or not) to help you with the course (provided that the work you submit is exclusively your own. That is, the tutor should not be providing you solutions).

    The following are some examples of behavior that constitutes academic misconduct:

    • Viewing a solution to your assignment prior to submitting your own.
    • Asking a classmate to see their solution to a problem before submitting your own.
    • Submitting a staff or faculty member’s solutions or example code as your own.
    • Failing to cite with comments the origins of code or techniques that you discover outside of the course content.
    • Giving or showing a classmate the solution to an assignment.
    • Looking at someone else’s work during an exam or graded assignment.
    • Providing students with copies of upcoming tests/quiz questions.
    • Paying someone to complete work and submitting it as your own.
    • Using AI complete or aid in the completion of any lab, assignment, quiz, or exam
    • Searching for a solution to an assignment online or elsewhere.
    • Falsifying facts about events in order to receive extensions on coursework or readministration of coursework.
    • Splitting the course workload with other students.
    • Using any electronic device during an exam unless you have specific accommodations through Student Disability Services (you will need to take exams in the SDS office in order to use the specified device).
    • Collaborating and sharing materials related to assignments (including quizzes and exams) in a group chat (such as GroupMe).

    The following FYE test-taking rules are listed at the start of each exam.  Students found violating the rules may receive any penalty up to and including a 0 on the assignment or an F in the course.  Student may also be reported to student conduct and academic integrity (SCAI) for cheating.  

    • Student MAY NOT use notes, books or any resources (including Internet based "study" sites).
    • Student MAY NOT use calculators during the test.
    • Student MAY NOT use any electronic devices (including but not limited to: earbuds, headphones, cell phones, tablets, laptops, watches, etc.) that can be used to look up or store answers.
    • Student MAY NOT leave the view of the camera.  Doing so will automatically be considered cheating and the student will receive a grade of zero on the exam.
    • Student MAY NOT use AI.

  • If you have an accommodation plan with Student Disability Services, and you wish to use those accommodations for an exam in this class, you must discuss it with your instructor at least a week prior to the exam.  

    For lecture exams you must meet with your instructor to ensure any time accomidations are in place.  For your lab, you must meet with your GTA a week ahead of the exam and schedule a time/place where you'll take the exam.  If you have a time extension you will typically not be able to take it with your regular class as the rooms are booked back to back.  If you fail to discuss it with your GTA will will not get your accomidation and will only have the standard time on the exam.

    If you decide to take your exam at the SDS office, your exam must be scheduled for the same day and time that the test will be administered in class unless you have a documented scheduling conflict with another course.  Please note that appointments must be scheduled a minimum of 5 business days in advance of the exam.  Failure to make the appointment in advance may result in you sitting the exam without accommodations in the traditional classroom setting.

    Information on testing with SDS
    Additional information about Disability Services Procedures for Testing is available here.

    • Quizzes/Lab Exams

      Late Work Will Not Be Accepted and Make-ups will not be allowed for non-final exams (1).

      The final exam will replace any missed non-final exam grades.  Any non-final exams that were missed will appear as a 0 in our systems until the final exam is taken.

      If a student does better on Test 2 than they did on Test 1, Test 2 will replace the grade for Test 1.  Likewise if a student does better on the Final Exam than they did on Test 2, the FInal Exam grade (after any bonus points are added) will replace Test 2.  If a student does better on the final than both Test 1 and Test 2, it'll replace both lower grades.

      If a student must miss the final exam due to a documented acceptable emergency (hospitalization or death of immediate family member), a make-up final will be allowed (1)(2).  To coordinate this, the student must contact the instructor within three days of the final exam. It is the student's responsibility to coordinate the make-up final in a timely manner (within one week of the date of the exam).

      (1) Students who must be away on military orders or KSU athletes who must be away at university sponsored events may be allowed a make-up exam, provided the student contacts her/his instructor in advance of the exam and provides official documentation.

      Handling Technical Issues During Exams

      A student who experiences a computer technical issue while taking an online exam via d2l should do the following:

      the student should attempt to troubleshoot the issue
      if troubleshooting fails, the student should disconnect from the exam and immediately restart the exam.  In such cases, d2l usually allows the student to reconnect where she/he left off.
      the student should immediately (within 15 minutes) contact the instructor to notify the instructor of the technical issue and to provide the instructor.

    • Lab Exercises and Lab Assignments:

      Late Work Will Not Be Accepted and Make-up Lab Exercises Will Not Be Allowed.  

      For all students, the lowest lab exercise grade will be automatically dropped.  

  • Students may earn up to 5% extra credit on their final exam score by attending CCSE Tutoring or GTA office hours.  For each visit to the CCSE Tutoring center, or official GTA office hours (from the first official day of class, through the last official day of class per the KSU academic calender) will earn students 0.5% bonus on their final exam score in lecture (and lab if applicable).  For example, a student taking CSE1321 and CSE1321L, who visits the tutoring center 10 times will earn 5% added to both the lecture final exam, and their lab final exam. 

    The CCSE tutoring center is staffed by undergraduate students just like you, they recently passed CSE1321 and CSE1322 with an A and are there to help you with your labs, assignments, quizzes, or just to explain material you didn't understand in Lecture/Lab.  You can make appointments by clicking the CCSE Tutoring link on the left of this page.  Appointments are typically 30 minutes in duration, and can be held either in person (Marietta Campus - Atrium Building room 2119), or online in MS Teams.  You can also just drop in, and the first available tutor will help you.  There is no charge for the CCSE Tutoring center, it's a great resource!

    In all lecture classes, students will take weekly quizzes.  We automatically drop the lowest quiz score of the semester, and average the rest.  The quizzes are worth (25% in CSE1321,CSE1322), (20% in CSE1101).  Thus to calculate your quiz score, add together your score on each quiz.  Subtract your lowest score, then divide by one less than the number of quizzes in that class.

    You'll take Test 1, Test 2 and a Final test.  In CSE1101 they are worth 20% each, in CSE1321 and CSE1322 they are worth 25% each.  If your grade on Test 2 is higher than your grade on Test 1, Test 2 will replace Test 1.  If your grade on the Final exam is higher than your grade on Test 2, your grade on the final exam (including any bonses) will replace your grade on Test 2.  Thus it's possible for your final exam to replace both Test 1 and Test 2 if you do better on the final.  Test grades are not replaced if a student is caught cheating on an exam.

    To calculate your lab grade:

    Average your lab exercise grades (the lowest is dropped).  These are worth 10% of your overall grade.
    Average your assignment grades (the lowest is dropped).  These are worth 35% of your overall grade
    Average your attendance quiz grades in lab.  These are worth 5% of your overall grade.
    Your midterm grade is worth 10%
    Your final exam grade is worth 40%.  Note, if your final exam grade is higher than your midterm grade, it replaces your midterm grade. 
    All bonus points for Tutoring are added to your final exam grades, before we do replacement of Test1, Test2 or Midterms.

    An overall grade of 89.5% or higher will result in an A.  LIkewise 79.5% or higher will result in a B etc.  

    We will not round twice, nor is there any additional bonus points availble beyond the tutoring bonuses listed above.  Thus a score of 89.49% will result in a B not an A.

    It is the responsibility of the students to calculate their overall grades.

  • Regrade requests for coursework must be submitted within 3 business days of being published.  Due to the shorten timelines, regraged request windows on the final exam may be shorter.

    For items in Gradescope (e.g. exams), the regrade request must be done via Gradescope.  Regrade requests should be submitted per question and abide by the communication policies of KSU.  You will receive an email from Gradescope (to your KSU student email) when grades are published.  When requesting a regrade, please understand that the entire question will be re-evaluated and scored accordingly.  Students can gain or lose points based on this new evaluation.

  • On-Campus sections:

    The numbers don't lie:  students who attend classes routinely consistently make better grades in our program.  Skipping classes, routinely arriving late, being present in body but not in mind--all of these will prevent you from earning the grade you want.  Come to class.  Come to learn. 

    Remember, too, talking with your classmates (about material unrelated to lecture), using electronic devices for unrelated tasks, etc. are disruptive behaviors that may result in you being asked to step out so you do not impact other students' experiences. 

    If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to catch up on the material you missed. 

    Lab attendance:

    Three times during the semester your GTA will surprise you with a quiz.  These will not be announce ahead of time.  The quizzes are mostly surveys about how the class is going for you, but they are collectively worth 5% of your lab grade.  If you are not present in lab, you will not earn those points.  As such you must attend lab each week.  The quizzes may be given at any time in lab, thus you must stay until the end.

    Online sections: 
    Online learning requires active engagement.  Students should plan to log into the course at least three times a week to check for announcements in addition to completing coursework by the deadlines.  If, for some reason, this isn't possible for you, please contact your instructor as soon as possible to discuss your situation.  Asynchronous students will be given a week to complete the attendance quizzes.  Again, no advanced notice will be given on the dates of these quizzes.

  • For CSE1101, CSE1321 and CSE1322 lecture, some exams are administered online using Lockdown Browser with Monitor.  A webcam is required.  

    For CSE1321L and CSE1322L Lab, most students will take their exams (midterm and final) in-person.  Students registered for an in person section will take their exam during their regularly scheduled lab time on the week of Midterms and Finals.  Students registered for online-synchronous courses will take their exams during their regularly scheduled meeting time on the Marietta campus in a room which will be announced in their section.  Students registered for online-async courses will take their exams during a 24hr period in lockdown browser with monitor (webcam required).

    No IDE is available during lecture exams.  However, students taking lab exams in person can use the official IDE of the course on the lab computer.  Online async students will be provided a base web IDE.  Note, no IDE is needed to complete the exam, we are not grading for syntax perfection, but rather for your understanding of the algortihm.  If you run into technical problems with your IDE during the exam, you must move on without it as it's not required.

  • We encourage all students to initially speak with their instructors as an initial step in resolving any classroom/lab issue. Instructors are your best option for improving anything with which you are having difficulty in your classes.  

    Below is the FYE "Chain of Command" for issue resolution, which students must follow:

    Labs:

    Lab instructor (GTA)
    Head GTA (Austin Krusemark)
    FYE Program Coordinator (Prof. Enda Sullivan)
    Department Chair (Dr. Michelle Zhu)
    CCSE Dean (Dr. Darryl Ahner
    Lectures:

    Lecture instructor
    FYE Program Coordinator (Prof. Enda Sullivan)
    Department Chair (Dr. Michelle Zhu)
    CCSE Dean (Dr. Darryl Ahner)

  • All emails must be sent from your KSU email account (@students.kennesaw.edu) and include the CRN number for your course in order to guarantee a response.  The official channel of communication (e.g. KSU email or D2L) will be specified in your course syllabus.

    You are expected to be courteous and respectful to all members of the FYE team in your communications in class and online. Students are expected to follow the Core Rules of Netiquette www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html.

  • The use of electronic devices will be limited to note-taking unless a class activity specifically requires the use of an electronic device. Video games and media streaming (YouTube, etc.) during class is expressly prohibited. 

    If you are using an electronic device the classroom for anything other than the current classwork, you may be asked to step outside until you are ready to participate in class.

    Cell phones should be on silent and put away.  If you need to take a call or send a text, please excuse yourself from the classroom.  This is college.  We all have busy lives, and you are free to handle whatever may arise (without disrupting class). 

    If you are on your cell phone for any reason, you will be asked to put the device away or step outside until you are ready to participate in class.