CMPUT 404

Communication Expectations

Ask questions well before Assignment due dates. Although you have nothing to lose by trying, realize that while the course staff try to provide as much support as possible, they are not obliged to answer last-minute questions (i.e., those within less than 2 business days from the assignment due date).

Please be polite, courteous, and professional. Follow the online etiquette guidelines.

We will not tolerate harassment, bullying, threats, intimidation, insults, lying, or creating any kind of environment that might discourage participation. Any such behaviour is a violation of the Student Conduct Policy and subject to sanctions. Plagiarism, cheating, and lying are also violations of the Student Academic Integrity Policy, and will be subject to sanctions.

Where to get help?

Absences Extensions

• Absences
  • Missed final exam:
    • Request a deferred exam from your faculty (Faculty of Science, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Business, etc.)
  • Missed assignment/lab/project/quiz/lecture... everything except final exam:
    • Fill in the absence declaration form within 2 days of absence.
• Extensions
  • No individual extensions are ever granted for any reason.

Exams Assignments Quizzes Labs Participation Projects

• Question about exam/assignment/quiz/lab/participation
  • Before due date / not due yet: Discussion Forum
  • After due date / already due: Contact instructor form
• Due dates: Discussion Forum
• Requirements: Discussion Forum
  • What to submit: Discussion Forum
  • When to submit: Discussion Forum
  • How to submit: Discussion Forum
  • If something needs to work: Discussion Forum
  • If something can be skipped: Discussion Forum
  • How many of something needs to be finished: Discussion Forum
  • When something needs to be finished: Discussion Forum
  • User stories: Discussion Forum
  • Functionality: Discussion Forum
  • Whether something needs to be included: Discussion Forum
  • Whether something is allowed: Discussion Forum
  • Whether something is forbidden: Discussion Forum
  • What you should study: Discussion Forum
  • How you can get points: Discussion Forum
  • How something is going to be graded or marked: Discussion Forum
• Anything where another student might have the same question: Discussion Forum
• Questions about the material covered in lecture/labs: Discussion Forum
  • What to study: Discussion Forum
• Individual help with assignments/projects/studying:
  • Debugging help: Labs / Office Hours
  • Stuck on assignment/lab/project: Labs / Office Hours
  • Need help with code: Labs / Office Hours
  • Need help getting something working: Labs / Office Hours
• Personal questions: Contact instructor form
• Complaints: Contact instructor form
• Request for grade change: Contact instructor form
  • TAs are not allowed to change marks, even if they're the one who marked it. You must contact the instructor if you need a mark changed.

Discussion Forum

Questions related to the course and course material, especially if the answer could help another student!

🚀 Posting to the discussion forum increases your changes of a quick response since any of the course staff or your classmates are able to answer. 🌠

Unless your question is personal (E.g., you are feeling unwell and require an EA, you have a question about your mark), all questions should be posted on the Discussion Forum first. Please do not share code from your implementations (configuration settings are OK).

• Do not post your code.
  • Configuration settings are OK.
• Do not post your solutions.
• Post only questions related to this course.
• Be polite, this is not a complaint forum.
• Follow the online etiquette guidelines.

The discussion forum is on the eClass.

Labs Office Hours

• You can get help during the labs!
• You can attend the office hours of a TA.
• You can attend the office hours of your instructor.

If your question is related to implementation/configuration issues in the projects/assignments, the TAs are best suited to help you. You can attend TA office hours remotely. TAs do not provide help outside of Labs and Scheduled Office Hours.

If your question is related to content covered in class, and you need further explanation, please post on the discussion forum.

TAs are not allowed to change your marks. If you disagree with your marks, contact instructor instead.

Instructor Office Hours

• Instructor office hours is in the course outline.
• Do not email instructor, use the Contact instructor form, instead.

TAs

If you need help with your projects/assignment code, or help to get something working, the TAs are best suited to help you.

• You can attend TA office hours remotely.
• Do not email TAs, unless you're having a hard time joining their Zoom/Meet.
• TAs do not provide help outside of Labs and Scheduled Office Hours.
• Please be polite and courteous.
• TAs will not re-grade your work or deal with extensions, excuses, illness, etc.

TA office hours are on the eClass.

Contact Instructor

Do not email the instructor. Use the contact instructor form.

Replies may take several days because there are hundreds of students. Currently, there are more than 600 students. If you are asking about something that isn't due yet (before due date) please ask a TA instead, or use the discussion forum. You might not get a response before the due date. You will not get an extension, even if the instructor does not reply before the due date.

Wellness Supports

Here are a few key places to connect with resources:

Safety and Security for Students

UA's Safety and Security for Students page.

Protective Services 780-492-5050

Physical Well-being Supports

• Campus Food Bank 
• WECAN Food Basket (affordable groceries)
• Campus and Community Recreation 
• Campus and Community Recreation YouTube Channel
• Weekly free mindfulness and yoga class through Counselling & Clinical Services
• Use a treadmill desk when studying in the library

Mental Health Supports

All mental health & wellbeing supports offered to undergraduate students are listed on the Health + Wellness page, including options for peer support programs, medical care, and other wellness programs open to you. Counselling & Clinical Services also offers a range of workshops for you to learn how to be a peer support for other students. 

If you are unsure how to access a resource, please contact the Office of the Dean of Students for a full listing of services.

Need Help Now?

It's normal for us to have different mental health experiences throughout the year. Know that there are people who want to help. You can reach out to your friends and access a variety of supports available on and off campus at the Need Help Now webpage or by calling the 24-hour Distress Line: 780-482-4357 (HELP).

If you or someone you know is in need of immediate assistance, please reach out to a friend, professor, or staff member. Find a list of immediate support services here.

Student Self-Care Guide

This Self-Care Guide, originally designed by the Faculty of Native Studies, has broader application for use during students’ learning. It provides some ideas and strategies to consider that can help navigate emotionally challenging or triggering material.

🤝 Get involved, make friends, and thrive! 🤝

Building a strong social network can greatly benefit your mental health.

• Students Groups: BearsDen is a one-stop online spot for all student groups on campus. Students can search for events or groups that suit their interests.

• Campus Events: Campus events are posted by a variety of groups. Commonly, students can find events on uab.ca/events, uasuevents.ca, or go to their respective faculty association's web page for upcoming events.

Where to NOT get help

Do not ask for help on sites such as Discord, Telegram, WeChat, Snapchat... Ask on the Discussion Forum instead! Or ask a TA!

The only official communications are:

• University of Alberta Google Apps (forms / gmail / etc.) (you must be signed in with your CCID)
• eClass
• Canvas University of Alberta (future)

Additionally, you can submit assignments/projects/labs/participation on GitHub Classroom and Mentimeter, but do not use them to ask questions.

The instructor/TA are not responsible for and completely disown any unofficial communications.

People on unofficial discussion forums such as discord sometimes lie. There is no way to verify the people on Discord are even actually in the class. Previously on unofficial communications like Discord:

• Multiple times, someone lied about a due date was later than it was, leading to students missing deadline and getting a zero.
• Multiple times, Someone lied about something being required that was not, leading to students doing extra work for no reason.
• Multiple times, Someone lied about something not being required that actually was, leading to students failing assignments.
• A student gave someone on discord access to their computer, leading to money from their bank account being stolen.
• Multiple times, someone lied about an instructor retiring when they actually weren't.
• Someone lied about something being impossible, when it was actually easy, leading to multiple students doing a bunch of extra work.
• Multiple times, someone pasted code, leading to Plagiarism sanctions against multiple students by the University such as grade reductions, academic probation, being denied graduation.

Multiple lies like the above happen on Discord or another unofficial site for this class every semester.

Behaviour such as harassment, bullying, threats, intimidation, insults, racism, lying are still subject to sanctions by the Student Conduct Policy and the Student Academic Integrity Policy. However, because the instructor and University has no control of these platforms we also do not have any way to stop or control harassment, bullying, threats, intimidation, insults, racism, lying.