CMPSCI 677: Off-campus student policies

Instructions for submitting homework

(Off campus students only )

The following information is being provided to help coordinate the speedy grading and return of assignments to off-campus students. Please direct any comments or questions about the information below to me (Prashant Shenoy).

• Teaching Assistants.
  Our TAs for the course will be Puru Kulkarni (purukulk [AT] cs.umass.edu) and Bhuvan Urgaonkar (bhuvan [AT] cs.umass.edu)
  phone: 413-545-0067 and 413-545-4753
  

  You may find it most convenient to communicate with Puru, Bhuvan and me using email. Please send course submissions, queries and related emails to all three of us, to get a quicker response and so that atleast one of us can evaluate or check your submission/query.

• Mailing in your homeworks and exams. Please keep a photocopy copy of anything you send in. Things can get lost in your company mail, in US mail, or in the UMass mail.
  

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  You can mail me your assignments and exams (by US mail or email), or you can Fax them to VIP. Please do not fax your assignment to the Computer Science department, as it is likely to get lost. Mailing address:
  Prashant Shenoy
  Department of Computer Science
  University of Massachusetts
  Amherst, MA 01003
  shenoy [at] cs.umass.edu
  

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  If you email your assignments, please use ASCII, postscript or pdf formats. Please also do not submit Word, Wordperfect files, or the like.

• Due Dates. Due dates will generally be one, or one and a half, week(s) following the day during which you either viewed the last lecture covered in the homework assignment or received the homework (whichever is later). Late homeworks will be assessed a penalty of 10% per day late.

  I'm hoping the above timing will allow you considerable time and flexibility in completing the assignment. I appreciate the fact that off-campus students have to juggle a job (which is often more than full-time), a family, one or more courses, and other things. However, Please try to complete the assignments ASAP -- the sooner you send in the assignment, the sooner it will be graded and the sooner it will be returned to you. If you need an extension, you need only contact the TA to arrange an extension.

• As always, comments about how we might further improve the process of collecting, and grading homeworks from off-campus students (and any other aspects of the course as well) are always welcome.

Incomplete Policy

(Off campus students only )

Due to many factors, it is occasionally necessary (although by no means desirable) for an offcampus student who can not finish the course material with the semester to take an incomplete (I grade) in the course. I would stress that this should be avoided at all costs -- neither you nor I want an unfisnished course hanging over our collective heads.

In order to be granted an incomplete, an off-campus student must:

• complete at least half of the course (i.e., the midterm and all assignments up through the midterm) before the end of the semester
• must obtain the instructor's permission before the end of the semester and work out a schedule for completion.