COMS W4119 - Computer Networks
Professor Dan Rubenstein
Spring 2006
Grading Policy
Your grade consists of:
- 10% Homework: Unless otherwise specified, homework will
be due one week after it is assigned and should be turned in by
beginning of class. At that time, a physical copy of the assignment
must be received (CVN students have an additional 24 hours to send in
their homework). If you will not attend class on that day, you should
slide the homework under my office door (CEPSR 816) by 9am on the day
it is due. Before class but after 9am, I will collect the homeworks
from my office. On-campus students: E-mailed/faxed homework and late
assignments will not be accepted unless approved in advance.
Approval will only be given under extreme circumstances. You are
expected to produce your work in a timely manner.
You may discuss and work on questions with other students in the
class. However, you should write your solutions on your own. In
other words, if I were to later ask you to re-derive one of your
homework solutions or to solve a similar problem when you were without
your friends, you should be able to do so or have a clear
understanding of how to approach the problem. This can only be
learned by doing, so you should do your homework.
- 15% Programming Assignments: same rules as homework.
You should write your own code. Note our ability to check the
compiled code for similarities.
- 30% Mid-term March 8 in-class, closed book, no calculators.
- 45% Final May 10, 9am-12am, 535 Mudd, closed book, no calculators.
Exams: I try to test your understanding of a concept, and not
just straightforward regurgitation of formulae, i.e., why
certain rules, laws, and techniques hold and are used. Hence, I try
to design the midterm and final questions to test your understanding
of the concepts, not your memorization skills. I realize that some
memorization will undoubtedly be required, but hopefully the memorized
concepts will be those that can be re-derived via your intuition. I
usually take a problem covered in class and put a small ``twist'' on
it, so that blind application of the method won't work, but if you
have the kind of understanding I am looking for (e.g., the kind that
the inventor of the method had), you will know how to adapt the
method.
A note on effort: Your grade will mainly be a reflection of how you
perform on the midterm and final. Homework grades don't have much of
an effect, as long as homework is turned in (i.e., most students
typically get most of the problems right). You should do the
homework so that you learn the material. If you find yourself
copying or getting solutions from someone else without putting in the
effort of solving them yourself, you'll probably find yourself doing
poorly on the exams. You won't get much sympathy from me if you come
crying to me at the end of the term that you did well on the homework
yet poorly on the midterm and final.
If you are a bad test-taker, there is hope! Show me (i.e., in office
hours and class) that you understand what is going on, and I take that
into account when assigning the final grade.
How much I care about helping students is directly proportional
to how much you seem to care about the class (i.e., via attendance,
homework, coming to office hours). I have nothing personal against
students who think the class is a waste of their time or think they
have better things to do with their time. I also have lots to do
besides teaching, and will only make the extra effort for those
students who earn it by putting in the extra effort themselves
(active in class, active at office hours).
Cheating
In short: don't do it. Be warned now - I take cheating very
seriously. If you are caught cheating on the midterm or final, you
will fail the class and I will likely take additional action which can
result in your suspension or expulsion from Columbia. It's not worth
putting yourself in this position.
If a grade is that important to you then you should be putting in the
extra effort, i.e., reading the book, coming to office hours, etc.
You must use common sense about when to
collaborate / use notes / calculators, etc. If you are unsure of a
policy, you should ask me or the TAs first before doing something
you (and I) might consider unethical. Both I and the TAs
will be putting a lot of time into teaching you this course. Our goal
is to teach you the material. Grades on homeworks, midterms, and
finals are not only a means to evaluate you, but also a means to force
you to learn the course material.
If you do your own work but facilitate someone else's cheating, you
run a risk of getting in trouble as well. This is because you run the
risk of having me determine who copied from whom. If you feel that
someone is pressuring you to help them in a way that makes you
uncomfortable, come talk to me / send me e-mail. You should feel free
(and actually I would encourage you) to
- Discuss homework problems / give hints / work together through a
part of a problem that you are stuck on
- Study for the midterm / final together