Email Lists and Policies: Difference between pages

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The CS faculty maintain a variety of email lists used to send announcements and keep in touch with the CS students and faculty. Each is described briefly below. Click on the link to a list if you wish to subscribe to the list or modify your subscription, or send email to Jeff Kinne at jkinne@cs.indstate.edu.
This page contains common CS course policies that all faculty teaching CS courses should follow. Note that this page is written from the perspective of the faculty member (i.e., the faculty member should do ___).


For those authorized to send email to the lists, you send email to the name of the list followed by @cs.indstate.edu. So to send email to the CS undergraduate students, you would compose a message to cs-ugrads@cs.indstate.edu. If you are not authorized to send a message to the list, it will be automatically ignored by the email system.
=CS Common Course Policies=


== Students (cs-ugrads, cs-grads, cs-courses) ==
'''Note: as of August 6, 2025, these policies are a draft and need to be approved by the CS faculty still.'''
cs-ugrads and cs-grads are used to contact Computer Science majors (both undergraduate and graduate) about events in the department, job opportunities, etc. The lists are updated each term to include the currently enrolled and active majors of the department. There is one list each for: cs undergraduate students, cs graduate students.  cs-courses is updated each term to be all students taking any CS courses (whether the student is a CS major or not).


Note: students do not need to sign up for these lists as long as you have declared your major by the beginning of the semester; if you have, you are automatically put on the appropriate email lists.
== Part Time Faculty ==
Part time faculty are assigned a full time CS faculty member as a "support faculty member". The support faculty member should be added to the canvas course, should review the course syllabus/plan, should have a brief discussion about the course before the term starts, should visit the class some time within the first week or two of the course to make sure everything is going along properly, and will write up an evaluation of the course


The list pages are at<br>
== Talk About Academic Integrity in the First Class ==
http://cs.indstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/cs-ugrads/<br>
Please take a few minutes during your first session to explain clearly to students:
http://cs.indstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/cs-grads/<br>
* Using AI tools (or any kind of cheating) without permission will lead to an automatic F in the course.
http://cs.indstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/cs-courses/
* A formal academic misconduct report will also be filed.
* There are no second chances; this applies whether it happens early or late in the semester.


== Jobs (cs-jobs) ==
== Include in the Syllabus ==
This email list is used to pass on potential job opportunities - internships, full time positions, etc.  Current CS students and alumni are welcome to join the list to receive these notices. Previously job notices were sent to the other email lists, but going forward they will only be sent to cs-jobs.  '''This is an opt-in list - you need to sign up for it.'''  The list page is at http://cs.indstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/cs-jobs/
Make sure your course syllabus clearly states:
* Whether or not AI tools are allowed (and in what context)
* What counts as academic dishonesty
* What the penalties are (e.g., failing grade, official report)


== Alumni (cs-alumni) ==
== Design Assignments That Encourage Real Learning ==
This email list is used to contact CS alumni about job opportunities or anything else that would be relevant to alumni. The list is updated each term to include those who have graduated. The list page is at http://cs.indstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/cs-alumni/
Try to create assignments that:
* Require students to think through the course material, not just paste questions into ChatGPT
* Ask for short explanations or reflections along with code
* Pull from class content that may not be handled well by AI tools (make it a little harder for someone to rely entirely on AI without understanding what they are doing)


== Chat (cs-chat) ==
== Keep Exams Secure ==
This email list is used to allow CS students to communicate with each other. Students who are added to cs-ugrads and cs-grads are also added to this list. The difference is that students can post to the list - questions, announcements, etc. - and faculty in general do not look at the messages. Students can ask for advice on courses, inquire about used books, notify others of free food in the lab, organize a study group, ask about advice for restaurants or where to live, etc. You should not post anything that is illegal, inflammatory, or inappropriate. The list is moderated by CS student officers of the ACM club, and faculty will be notified of anything inappropriate. New graduate students will need to add their ISU email address to the list - go to the list page to add yourself to the list.  You can only post to the list using your ISU email address, and you would send your message to cs-chat@cs.indstate.edu. The list page is at http://cs.indstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/cs-chat/
For exams, we ask that you:
* Hold them in person whenever possible, using pen and paper
* If the exam is online or needs to be submitted to Canvas, please use a Lockdown Browser, and consider quick follow-ups (like asking a few students to explain their answers)
* Do not allow phones, laptops, or any smart devices during the test (This helps make sure students are actually doing the work themselves)


== Faculty ==
== Encourage Learning Over Shortcuts ==
This email list is used to contact Computer Science faculty. The list is managed (not open to subscription requests). The mailing list is cs-faculty.
Throughout the term, remind students that:
* Sticking to the material in the course is enough to succeed
* Relying too much on AI now can hurt them later (especially in interviews or real jobs)
* Practicing with their own code or answer, even when it is messy or incomplete, is still the best way to learn


== Maintenance ==
== What to Do If Someone Cheats ==
Terse information on what the one maintaining the email lists does...
If you discover that a student has used AI or cheated:
* When adding or removing from lists, you normally use the "Membership Management" link and then either "Mass subscription" or "Mass removal". There are messages setup already so you don't need to type anything into the notes on those forms.  You also normally want to select to notify the subscriber but not the list manager.
* Please report it right away and assign the student an F in the course
* cs-alumni - mass subscription for all who earned degrees in the previous term. Do this after degrees are posted (1-2 weeks after grades are due).
* Let the chair know what happened
* cs-ugrads, cs-grads - mass removal of all who graduated, mass subscription of all majors. Update these when updating cs-alumni, and also about every week leading up to the start of the term and after the last day to add classes.
* Submit an academic misconduct form (we can help with that if needed)
* cs-courses - mass removal of all from the previous term, mass subscription for all registered for the coming term. Update these starting a few weeks before the term, and about once per week until after the last day to add classes.
 
* cs-faculty, cs-assistants - updated once per term or year as staffing and GA positions change.
== Projects ==
* cs-chat, cs-jobs - these are opt-in, so all that needs to be done is approving or denying subscription requests (approve any request from an @sycamores.indstate.edu or @indstate.edu email address).
Courses should have students do work that is more than "just" vocab, multiple choice questions, etc. For the majority of courses this will involve programming. For some courses this will be proofs/algorithms, system analysis/design, or other work of this nature. Courses should generally have a number of these types of assignments, with students working on these types of assignments at least half of the weeks in the semester.
You can get to the administrative interface from the links above. For removing all from a list, you can use scripts to do this, or you can copy/paste the entire membership list into excel, then copy/paste the email column into the "mass removal" form in the web interface.
 
== University Policies ==
Reminder of some key university policies: respond to student questions with 2 business days, submitted work is graded within 2 weeks (though faster is better), syllabus submitted to department chairperson and admin by the first day of lecture, 3 week attendance reporting, interim grades after the 6th week, no exams during study week.
 
== Interim Grades ==
Interim grades are assigned after the 6th week of class. This means that there should normally be a significant number of assigned and graded work by the end of the 6th week. These should not be all bunched up in the 6th week; normally there should be graded work by the 3rd week of classes (preferably sooner).
 
== Online courses ==
* Courses that are asynchronous online should have videos for some of the content, normally at least 1/2 as many hours as there would be lecture hours (at least 1/2 of 45 hours for a 3 credit course). Exceptions should be discussed with the support faculty and approved by the chairperson.
* Faculty should respond to student questions within 24 hours during the work week.
* Faculty should be available to meet with students by appointment (and respond promptly to requests).
* Only the following are approved to take CS courses online: distance students, face to face student who needs to take another course that is at the same time as the CS course (and cannot avoid taking both courses in the given term).
 
== Face to Face Courses ==
* Students in face to face courses are required to take exams in the classroom.
 
==Lab Help==
See https://cs.indstate.edu/wiki/index.php/Unix_Lab_and_Help

Revision as of 16:58, 8 August 2025

This page contains common CS course policies that all faculty teaching CS courses should follow. Note that this page is written from the perspective of the faculty member (i.e., the faculty member should do ___).

CS Common Course Policies

Note: as of August 6, 2025, these policies are a draft and need to be approved by the CS faculty still.

Part Time Faculty

Part time faculty are assigned a full time CS faculty member as a "support faculty member". The support faculty member should be added to the canvas course, should review the course syllabus/plan, should have a brief discussion about the course before the term starts, should visit the class some time within the first week or two of the course to make sure everything is going along properly, and will write up an evaluation of the course

Talk About Academic Integrity in the First Class

Please take a few minutes during your first session to explain clearly to students:

  • Using AI tools (or any kind of cheating) without permission will lead to an automatic F in the course.
  • A formal academic misconduct report will also be filed.
  • There are no second chances; this applies whether it happens early or late in the semester.

Include in the Syllabus

Make sure your course syllabus clearly states:

  • Whether or not AI tools are allowed (and in what context)
  • What counts as academic dishonesty
  • What the penalties are (e.g., failing grade, official report)

Design Assignments That Encourage Real Learning

Try to create assignments that:

  • Require students to think through the course material, not just paste questions into ChatGPT
  • Ask for short explanations or reflections along with code
  • Pull from class content that may not be handled well by AI tools (make it a little harder for someone to rely entirely on AI without understanding what they are doing)

Keep Exams Secure

For exams, we ask that you:

  • Hold them in person whenever possible, using pen and paper
  • If the exam is online or needs to be submitted to Canvas, please use a Lockdown Browser, and consider quick follow-ups (like asking a few students to explain their answers)
  • Do not allow phones, laptops, or any smart devices during the test (This helps make sure students are actually doing the work themselves)

Encourage Learning Over Shortcuts

Throughout the term, remind students that:

  • Sticking to the material in the course is enough to succeed
  • Relying too much on AI now can hurt them later (especially in interviews or real jobs)
  • Practicing with their own code or answer, even when it is messy or incomplete, is still the best way to learn

What to Do If Someone Cheats

If you discover that a student has used AI or cheated:

  • Please report it right away and assign the student an F in the course
  • Let the chair know what happened
  • Submit an academic misconduct form (we can help with that if needed)

Projects

Courses should have students do work that is more than "just" vocab, multiple choice questions, etc. For the majority of courses this will involve programming. For some courses this will be proofs/algorithms, system analysis/design, or other work of this nature. Courses should generally have a number of these types of assignments, with students working on these types of assignments at least half of the weeks in the semester.

University Policies

Reminder of some key university policies: respond to student questions with 2 business days, submitted work is graded within 2 weeks (though faster is better), syllabus submitted to department chairperson and admin by the first day of lecture, 3 week attendance reporting, interim grades after the 6th week, no exams during study week.

Interim Grades

Interim grades are assigned after the 6th week of class. This means that there should normally be a significant number of assigned and graded work by the end of the 6th week. These should not be all bunched up in the 6th week; normally there should be graded work by the 3rd week of classes (preferably sooner).

Online courses

  • Courses that are asynchronous online should have videos for some of the content, normally at least 1/2 as many hours as there would be lecture hours (at least 1/2 of 45 hours for a 3 credit course). Exceptions should be discussed with the support faculty and approved by the chairperson.
  • Faculty should respond to student questions within 24 hours during the work week.
  • Faculty should be available to meet with students by appointment (and respond promptly to requests).
  • Only the following are approved to take CS courses online: distance students, face to face student who needs to take another course that is at the same time as the CS course (and cannot avoid taking both courses in the given term).

Face to Face Courses

  • Students in face to face courses are required to take exams in the classroom.

Lab Help

See https://cs.indstate.edu/wiki/index.php/Unix_Lab_and_Help

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