On this page:
Title IX
Students With Disabilities
Lecture Etiquette
Regrading
Lab Quiz Makeups
Collecting Lab Quizzes
FAQ

Course Policies and FAQ

This web page is deprecated.

Please see the main page for Fundamentals I.

Got a question about the course? Try looking through this page to find the answer before posting on Piazza. For the homework lateness policy please see the general information page. For style policies please see the style guide.

Title IX

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects individuals from sex or gender-based discrimination, including discrimination based on gender-identity, in educational programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance.

Northeastern’s Title IX Policy prohibits Prohibited Offenses, which are defined as sexual harassment, sexual assault, relationship or domestic violence, and stalking. The Title IX Policy applies to the entire community, including male, female, transgender students, faculty and staff.

If you or someone you know has been a survivor of a Prohibited Offense, confidential support and guidance can be found through University Health and Counseling Services staff and the Center for Spiritual Dialogue and Service clergy members. By law, those employees are not required to report allegations of sex or gender-based discrimination to the University.

Alleged violations can be reported non-confidentially to the Title IX Coordinator within The Office for Gender Equity and Compliance at: titleix at northeastern.edu and/or through NUPD (Emergency 617.373.3333; Non-Emergency 617.373.2121). Reporting Prohibited Offenses to NUPD does NOT commit the victim/affected party to future legal action.

Faculty members are considered "responsible employees" at Northeastern University, meaning they are required to report all allegations of sex or gender-based discrimination to the Title IX Coordinator.

In case of an emergency, please call 911.

Please visit this page for a complete list of reporting options and resources both on- and off-campus.

Students With Disabilities

Students with disabilities who wish to receive academic services and/or accommodations should visit the Disability Resource Center at 20 Dodge Hall or call (617) 373-2675. If you have already done so, please provide your letter from the DRC to your professor and/or head TA early in the semester so that we can arrange those accommodations.

Lecture Etiquette

We want the lectures to be worth their time for everyone. For you this means that we expect you to stick to standard etiquette rules: be on time; be considerate of others if you must leave during lecture; do not deprive others of their opportunity to learn, by creating distractions, etc.

One common distraction is for people to use laptops in class for anything other than taking notes on lecture material, and perhaps running small pieces of code in DrRacket. Surfing the web or indulging in other time wasters not only hurts you—it also annoys people around you, who want to follow the lecture.

Our laptop policy is that we discourage their use during lecture, but we will permit them for the purposes listed in the previous paragraph under “other than” only. (See also “Attend the lecture” on the Advice tab, for using laptops and code examples, and “Taking Notes in Class: Laptop or Not” on the Interesting Articles tab.)

This policy may be revisited during the semester if necessary.

Regrading

Sometimes mistakes happen, so if you are confused or concerned about your feedback, please don’t be afraid to reach out to a grader for further explanation. You must submit any requests for regrading at most 7 days after the homework feedback was released. The hope is that this policy will encourage you to look at your feedback earlier rather than later, and that it will save the course staff from having to regrade homework 3 during finals week.

When you have a regrade request you should first reach out to the tutor who graded your work. Their name will be attached to their comments on the handin server, and their email address is available here (in the "Staff" section of the page). If the tutor is unable to address your concerns you can approach the head TA of your lab to ask for further help. However, if you ask your TA first, they will only direct you to the tutor, so please go there first.

Lab Quiz Makeups

If you cannot make it to lab for some reason outside of your control (e.g. illness, you have to go to a funeral, etc.) please email your TA before lab, and we will find a time for you to make up the quiz. If you email us during or after your lab section we will not be able to give you a makeup quiz.

Collecting Lab Quizzes

We will return lab quizzes to you in the following lab (usually, 1 week later). If you do not attend that lab and you did not make us aware of your absence before lab, we will discard your quiz and you will not be able to collect it at a later date. It is a good idea to collect your lab quiz because if there is any issue with grading it can be corrected.

FAQ

I got a zero on the automated style grader. What should I do?

Please take a look at the feedback from the style grader. To do this, click the "Grader Output" text next to the style score on the submission page. Fix the errors that you see on that page and then resubmit. You can submit as many times as you like before the deadline. Please remember to submit early and often so you have time to fix any errors.

I submitted the wrong file to the handin server. What should I do?

If it is before the deadline please go into the handin server and re-submit. You can submit as many times as you like and only the most recent submission will be graded.

If it is after the deadline please email Rebecca MacKenzie with the following information:
  • Your name and your partner’s name if applicable.

  • A link to the submission on the handin server.

  • A concise explanation of the mistake and how it happened.

  • A concise explanation of why you did not notice the mistake before the deadline.

We cannot guarantee that we will be able to change your submission but this is the best way to check.

I submitted 0.000001 seconds after the deadline. Can you remove the late penalty?

The late penalty is an automatic process that is handled by the handin server. If you submit even just the tiniest bit after the deadline we can no longer consider your submission on time. We have to make a cutoff somewhere. If you also submitted before the deadline and would like us to consider that previous submission for grading instead, please email Rebecca MacKenzie with the following information:
  • Your name and your partner’s name if applicable.

  • A link to the submission on the handin server that you would like to be graded.

I am sick/injured/unavailable. Can I have an extension?

If it is before the deadline, please email Rebecca MacKenzie with the following information:
  • Your name and your partner’s name if applicable.

  • A concise explanation of why you require an extension.

You must CC your homework partner on this email since the response will also affect them. We cannot guarantee you an extension but we try to be accomodating when circumstances are beyond your control.

If it is after the deadline we can no longer grant you an extension.

How do I check my grades for the course?

There is an estimated grade available for you at all times on the handin server. For detailed instructions on how to check that please see the handin server guide here. However, this grade is only an estimate and should not be used as an absolute determination of your grade.

Will the grades in this course be curved? What are the grade cutoffs? Do you round up?

The grade cutoffs will be determined by the instructors at the end of the semester. Until then we cannot say for certain what your grade will be. However, the cutoffs tend to be similar to the standard and are guaranteed to not be higher. In addition you should have a good sense of how you are doing in the course overall based on your estimated grade on the handin server as well as your own experience of the course. Grades for this course (and your other courses this semester) will be posted on myNEU shortly after the semester’s exam period. Until then we cannot tell you what your letter grade will be. The only information we have is the estimate you see on the handin server.

When will X be graded?

The course staff work as fast as we can to get you your feedback. You should receive feedback on your homeworks within about a week of submitting them. Note: asking us when something will be graded does not speed up the process.

I’m having trouble with my partner. What should I do?

Working with another person isn’t always easy. It can be frustrating to try to explain your ideas to your partner, and it can sometimes feel like they are slowing you down. However, the ability to collaborate with others, and the skill to explain your ideas to someone else, is an essential skill both during your time at Northeasternm as well as while working in industry.

Here are some common problems that partners face:
  • Your partner is not doing their part of the work.

  • Your partner is doing too much of the work and is not letting you contribute.

  • Your partner is not showing up to agreed upon meeting times.

If you are facing any of these problems please try to work them out with your partner first. If your partner is unresponsive or does not change their behavior, please contact one of your lab TAs as soon as possible so we can get you a new partner.

Occasionally we face more serious problems. If you feel that your partner is harassing you in any way, or is creating a toxic environment when you are together, please contact (in this order) Rebecca MacKenzie, your professor, or the Associate Dean of Students. We hope this does not happen to you but if it does we hope you will talk to us about the problem so that we can find a solution as soon as possible. We will do our best to respect your privacy if you come forward with such an issue. Please see the Title IX section for more information about what that means. We will not ask you to reveal anything you are not comfortable sharing.