Queen's University is situated on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory.
Web page last changed: 2021-08-13. It will be frozen no later than 2021-09-03.
The Faculty of Arts and Science recommends or requires that certain prose be communicated to students, particularly in course syllabi. Since the wording is standard, we've collected it all in one place. Some instructors may choose to reference this material instead of incorporating it directly in their syllabus; it is every bit a part of the syllabus as anything listed directly.
Material applicable to all courses
Location and timing of final exams
Arts and Science Regulation 8.2.1 states
The final or mid-year examination in any class offered in any Term or Session (including on-campus and online classes) must be written at the end of the appropriate Term or Session at the time scheduled by the Examinations Office. The final examination schedule may not be changed once the schedule is posted.
The exam dates for each Term are listed on the Faculty of Arts and Science webpage under 'Important Dates'. Student exam schedules for the Fall Term are posted via SOLUS immediately prior to the Thanksgiving holiday; for the Winter Term they are posted on the Friday before Reading Week, and for the Summer Term they are individually noted on the Arts and Science Online syllabi. Students should delay finalizing any travel plans until after the examination schedule has been posted. Exams will not be moved or deferred to accommodate employment, travel/holiday plans or flight reservations.
Academic Considerations and Accommodations
Academic considerations and accommodations are two mechanisms for helping students in extenuating circumstances. If you have extenuating circumstances for missing a midterm or assignment deadline, or for long-term issues, see the Student Wellness website.
Accommodations for Disabilities
Queen's University is committed to achieving full accessibility for persons with disabilities. Part of this commitment includes arranging academic accommodations for students with disabilities to ensure they have an equitable opportunity to participate in all of their academic activities. The Senate Policy for Accommodations for Students with Disabilities was approved at Senate in November 2016. If you are a student with a disability and think you may need accommodations, you are strongly encouraged to contact Queen's Student Accessibility Services (QSAS) and register as early as possible. For more information, including important deadlines, please visit the QSAS website.
Academic Considerations
Queen's University is committed to providing academic consideration to students experiencing extenuating circumstances. For more information, please see the Senate Policy on Academic Consideration for Students in Extenuating Circumstances.
Each Faculty has developed a protocol to provide a consistent and equitable approach in dealing with requests for academic consideration for students facing extenuating circumstances. Arts and Science undergraduate students should consult the Faculty of Arts and Science protocol and the portal where a request can be submitted. Students in other Faculties and Schools who are enrolled in this course should refer to the protocol for their home Faculty.
If you need to request academic consideration for this course, you will be required to provide the name and email address of the instructor/coordinator. Please use the following:
Instructor/Coordinator Name:
Instructor/Coordinator email address:Students are encouraged to submit requests as soon as the need becomes apparent and to contact their Professors/Course Coordinators as soon as possible once Consideration has been granted. Any delay in contact may limit the Consideration options available.
Instructors may choose to apply principles of "universal design" so that no special additional measures need be taken to deal with considerations. For example,
- "Best N out of M" assignments or quizzes.
- Automatic grace period that applies to all students, regardless of considerations.
Instructors are not required to make any additional modifications for considerations if they use policies such as these. So for example the end of the grace period may be a hard deadline for which no additional extensions are allowed (that is, the 3 day considerations period applies to the original deadline, not the grace period deadline).
Academic Integrity
Queen's students, faculty, administrators and staff all have responsibilities for supporting and upholding the fundamental values of academic integrity; honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage. These values are central to the building, nurturing and sustaining of an academic community in which all members of the community will thrive. Adherence to the values expressed through academic integrity forms a foundation for the "freedom of inquiry and exchange of ideas" essential to the intellectual life of the University (see the Senate Report on Principles and Priorities).
Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the regulations concerning academic integrity and for ensuring that their assignments and their behaviour conform to the principles of academic integrity. Information on academic integrity is available in the Arts and Science Calendar (Regulation 1), on the Arts and Science website, and from your course instructor. Departures from academic integrity include, but are not limited to, plagiarism, use of unauthorized materials, facilitation, forgery and falsification, and are antithetical to the development of an academic community at Queen's. Given the seriousness of these matters, actions which contravene the regulation on academic integrity carry sanctions that can range from a warning, or the loss of grades on an assignment, to failure of a course, to a requirement to withdraw from the university.
Individual course instructors may clarify aspects of academic integrity specific to the course. Within Computing, in addition to the general concerns about academic integrity, there are a few specific situations.
- Group work. Teamwork is an essential part of certain courses. Failure to carry out your own fair portion of the group work may be considered a departure from academic integrity.
- Collaboration on individual assignments. In some courses it is permitted to discuss the overall approach to a problem, but not specifics of the solution. With coding exercises, for example, many instructors will consider that you have gone too far if you look at someone's code. It is much safer to consult your TAs or the instructor, who can help you work on your programs without giving away details that cross the line into departures from academic integrity.
- Internet solutions. Finding and using solutions on websites is almost always a departure from academic integrity.
Copyright of Course Materials
Course materials created by the course instructor, including all slides, presentations, handouts, tests, exams, and other similar course materials, are the instructor's intellectual property. It is a departure from academic integrity to distribute, publicly post, sell, or otherwise disseminate an instructor's course materials or to provide an instructor's course materials to anyone else for distribution (including note sharing sites), posting, sale or other means of dissemination without the instructor's express consent. A student who engages in such conduct may be subject to penalty for a departure from academic integrity and may also face adverse legal consequences for infringement of intellectual property rights.
Netiquette/ Discussion Guidelines
University is a place to share, question, and challenge ideas. Each student brings a different set of lived experiences. You can help to create a safe, respectful place for learners by promoting the following guidelines:
- Make a personal commitment to learn about, understand, and support your peers.
- Assume the best of others and expect the best of them.
- Acknowledge the impact of oppression on other people's lives and make sure your writing is respectful and inclusive.
- Recognize and value the experiences, abilities, and knowledge each person brings.
- Pay close attention to what your peers write before you respond. Think through and re-read your writings before you post or send them to others.
- It's alright to disagree with ideas, but do not make personal attacks.
- Be open to being challenged or confronted on your ideas and challenge others with the intent of facilitating growth. Do not demean or embarrass others.
- Encourage others to develop and share their ideas.
Students Studying or Travelling Abroad
We strongly recommend that you confirm Internet availability in your host country before departure if you plan to travel. In the past, students in other countries have been blocked from accessing certain websites relevant to their courses and onQ. It is the responsibility of all students to book travel around course work, as we cannot change the format or timing on assessments or assignments because of travel plans.
Material applicable to some courses
Use of TurnItIn
Some instructors may choose to use an OnQ feature called Turnitin to check for similarities between submitted text and prior work in its database. Instructors and students need to read the conditions for using Turnitin. Note in particular that you can refuse to have your work evaluated by Turnitin, but the instructor may (and within the School is advised to) require alternative or additional work.
The following applies to all courses using Turnitin
This course makes use of Turnitin, a third-party application that helps maintain standards of excellence in academic integrity. Normally, students will be required to submit their course assignments through onQ to Turnitin. In doing so, students' work will be included as source documents in the Turnitin reference database, where they will be used solely to detect plagiarism.
Turnitin is a suite of tools that provide instructors with information about the authenticity of submitted work and facilitates the process of grading. Turnitin compares submitted files against its extensive database of content, and produces a similarity report and a similarity score for each assignment. A similarity score is the percentage of a document that is similar to content held within the database. Turnitin does not determine if an instance of plagiarism has occurred. Instead, it gives instructors the information they need to determine the authenticity of work as a part of a larger process.
Please read Turnitin's Privacy Pledge, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service, which governs users' relationship with Turnitin. Also, please note that Turnitin uses cookies and other tracking technologies; however, in its service contract with Queen's, Turnitin has agreed that neither Turnitin nor its third-party partners will use data collected through cookies or other tracking technologies for marketing or advertising purposes. For further information about how you can exercise control over cookies, see Turnitin's Privacy Policy.
Turnitin may provide other services that are not connected to the purpose for which Queen's University has engaged Turnitin. Your independent use of Turnitin's other services is subject solely to Turnitin's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and Queen's University has no liability for any independent interaction you choose to have with Turnitin.
Online and Blended Courses
onQ performs best when using the most recent version of the web browsers Chrome or Firefox. Safari and Edge are strongly discouraged as these web browsers are known to cause issues with onQ.
While a wired Internet connection is encouraged, we recognize that most students rely on a wireless connection. A minimum download speed of 10 Mbps and up to 20 Mbps for multimedia is recommended. An Internet speed test is available.
For technology support ranging from setting up your device, issues with onQ to installing software, contact ITS Support Centre.