Subject: Assignments

(This message is being sent to all CPSC 826 students)

I was reviewing my teaching evaluations from the last time I
taught this course in the hope of avoiding pitfalls I fell
into last time and I noted a few people complained that my
grading policy was unfair because:

1 - "I worked with a slack teammate who made me do all the work
     and then he/she got a good grade based on my work."

This is bad and should NOT happen.  Unfortunately I can do
nothing to prevent it because I don't have hidden cameras
or microphones or other ways to snoop. However, if you feel
this is happening to you, you can stop it quite simply.
Just FIRE your teammate.  If you can't quite bring yourself
to do that, you can let me know, and I'll fire the teammate
for you.  Fired teammates have a right to the project code
at the time the firing takes place,  but then are responsible
for completing the project on their own.  Assuming they made
little contribution, completing the project will prove quite
challenging and the unfair awarding of credit will go away.

2 - "Other teams were ---

     Engaged in illegal inter-team collaboration"..
     Using illegal resources obtain from people who and
     previously taken the course"...
    "Observed dumpster diving and stealing code listings"...

This is FAR worse because it involves INTENTIONAL cheating...
and not just terminal laziness.  In some cases I am able to
detect this by running automated code checking tools, but
these are not foolproof. If you note this occuring
and report it to me I will "counsel" the offenders and will
preserve your anonymity if you wish.  If you have evidence
that will stand up in student honor court, I will be pleased to
charge the offenders with academic dishonesty.  If someone
is intentionally cheating in the course, it IS grossly unfair
to the honest students and I will DO MY BEST to eliminate it
(or them) from the course!