Course Policies + Guidelines

Table of Contents

UP Thesis/Capstone Official Folder

While these policies and references guide students’ experiences in the section, you may wish to consult the GSAPP UP Courseworks for official documents, policies, and forms.

Grading and Assessment

Each assignment carries the following weight:

Assignment 1
Assignment 2
Assignment 3
Assignment 4
Assignment 5*
Assignment 6
Assignment 7
Assignment 8*
Participation
Peer Reviews (of A1b, A2b, A6)

*These assignments are required. Failure to complete A5 and A8 may lead to course failure.

05%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
15%
10%
10%

Although each grade will be given a numeric score, the final grading will be consistent with GSAPP’s grading system. Students who complete all assignments satisfactorily (>75% average) will receive a “Pass.” High-Pass is reserved for the top 2 students or 20%, whichever is lower, who deliver high-quality deliverables, participate in class, and demonstrate consistent and outstanding work across all aspects of the class.

No late assignments will be accepted to ensure progress on your final projects. In some cases, your peers will be responding to your submissions and will need as much time to complete their work.

Students are expected to be at every class on time. Excessive absences or tardiness may lead to impacts on the student’s grade. Students who may miss class for religious or appropriate reasons should consult with the instructor in advance, when possible.

Resources

Educational Resources

The Research Data Services is a great resource for you to use for GIScience, data-centered and technical questions. In addition to their spatial data collections, which may serve useful for your final project, they offer technical consultants available for questions regarding data as well as those related to performing certain operations in both the GIScience and data analytics domains. They are located in Lehman Library and more information can be found at https://library.columbia.edu/services/research-data-services/schedule.html.

The strength of GSAPP and the urban planning program is the diversity of experiences among its community members. However, with the diversity of languages, academic writing in English is a difficult art to master. While you will gain practice in communicating to diverse audiences in this class, the writing center is a great resource that you should feel welcome (and excited!) to take advantage of: https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/uwp/writing-center.

Student Mental Health and Well-being

This is a community of high-achieving, brilliant individuals, but that does not mean that everything will always be awesome. If you or someone you know is feeling overwhelmed, depressed, and/or need support, contact Counseling and Psychological Services.

Additionally:

  • To get help immediately, if you or someone you know is in a crisis, please call 988 or 212-854-2878 for Columbia’s Mental Health Hotline (24/7).
  • If you are experiencing concerns, seeking help is courageous for yourself and those who care about you. If the source of your stressors is academic, don’t hesitate to contact me so we can find solutions together or Academic Affairs, who can help you navigate the University’s resources.

Equity and Inclusion

Culture of Inclusion

We embrace the diversity of gender, gender identity & expression, sex, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability status, family status, socioeconomic background, and other visible and non-visible identities. Columbia University does not tolerate unlawful discrimination, discriminatory harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, or sexual exploitation, and all such conduct is forbidden by Columbia University Policy. The School is committed to addressing racism across all dimensions, including in its pedagogy. To learn more, consult the Anti-Racism Action Plan. This class is committed to promoting these values within the teaching, organization, and culture of this course.

Names/Pronouns

You deserve to be addressed in a manner that reflects your identity. You are welcome to tell me your pronoun(s) and/or name (if different from University records) at any time, either in person or via email.

Accommodations

The School will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Services are available only to students who have registered and submitted appropriate documentation. As your instructor, I am happy to discuss specific needs with you. Please report any access-related concerns about instructional material to the Office of Disability Services and me as your instructor. (Please note, my office is not accessible, and we may conduct meetings via Zoom to facilitate.)

Discourse

Open Discourse

The readings, lectures, and class comments will sometimes suggest a particular point of view, despite efforts to frame debates within this material. This perspective is (sometimes) that of the instructor and should not be considered universal—each is invited to share their opinion! All are encouraged to respectfully disagree with ideas presented in the course material and of peers in the course. A significant part of education is learning about the complexity of various issues; therefore, everyone is welcome to share their perspectives and opinions respectfully and should recognize that debate is a healthy and encouraged part of learning.

Recorded + Online Course Material

The course will be conducted primarily in person, although utilize hybrid or online modes, as needed. Some sessions that include guest lectures will be done in person unless otherwise noted, despite their use of Zoom.

On-going public-health vigilance may require that synchronous class activities be recorded and posted for students who cannot participate in person. Recording lectures, discussions, and other similar course-related activities raise important privacy concerns. Instructors must balance the need to include all class members against the need to protect privacy concerns. Recording may stifle discussion and interfere with the free exchange of ideas, particularly when discussing sensitive subjects.

Instructors may choose to have some sessions not recorded to encourage the free exchange of ideas, or they may choose to pause recording when the discussion of sensitive subjects begins. Instructors will share recordings only with members of the class through a platform that is only accessible by members, such as Courseworks, to ensure that only members of the class in which the recording was made can access the recording. Instructors should take steps, such as preventing downloading capability, to protect the members’ privacy. Recordings and chat sessions are private and cannot be shared outside the classroom. Sharing recordings or chat sessions with anyone outside of the class will be considered academic misconduct. Course activities may be audio or video recorded and made available to other students in this course.

As part of your participation in this course, you may be recorded. If you do not wish to be recorded, please contact the instructor during the first week of class or as soon as you enroll in the course to discuss alternative arrangements.

Conduct

Academic and Professional Student Conduct Policies

This course will strictly enforce the GSAPP honor code, which can be viewed at https://www.arch.columbia.edu/honor-system. Plagiarism, including using another’s work in the class, is automatic grounds—at a minimum—for failing. This includes using text from AI/LLM programs and claiming them as your own, although you are welcome to use them as research and writing aids. Students are also responsible for completing their own work, and including individual and/or group authorship attributions, as appropriate. For more information, please refer to https://www.arch.columbia.edu/plagiarism-policy.

Use of Electronics

Using computers or tablet devices is encouraged to help during sessions where we may be doing hands-on, technical learning. Additionally, devices may be used to take notes on course discussions and materials. However, using these devices should be limited to materials relevant to the course, and doing other, unrelated activities is strictly discouraged as it may distract others.

Discouraged activities include doing work for other classes, answering emails, or perusing information not relevant to the discussion of the class. Live audio, or visual recordings is strictly prohibited unless noted beforehand.

Use of Generative Tools, including LLMs and “AI”.

The applications of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and other AI (but really, LLM) tools are diverse, and whether their usage is considered acceptable or constitutes cheating hinges on the manner in which they are employed. It’s crucial to recognize that these tools are not a reliable source of information. It relies on vast data and machine-driven methods to gather and amalgamate information accessible online, resulting in a blend of both accurate and erroneous data (you can verify this by testing it with something you’re knowledgeable about). Consequently, if you employ it to complete your assignments, essentially taking credit for work that isn’t truly your own, you are subject to the “ethics of scholarship” policies delineated above.

However, using these tools in a constructive fashion is generally acceptable. For instance, you can leverage it to aid in the editing process of your written work or to stimulate your thoughts on particular research topics. If you find yourself uncertain about the appropriate ways and circumstances in which to employ it, please don’t hesitate to seek guidance from one of us.

As a “north star” for the course, you must be the one who is providing the thought leadership and primary authorship in the process, and it may only be used in a manner that assists with your own working process. All work done by these LLMs must duly be noted and cited in the submission.

Official Communications

Columbia has established an email communications policy, but it is important that you check and read your email at least once a day, as important changes or updates to the class will be announced through these means. At times, clarifications or non-urgent notes may be posted on Courseworks or course media (such as Slack or Discord, if applicable), but important messages will always be emailed.

Sexual Harassment and Violence Reporting

Your instructor believes that you deserve a community free from discrimination, harassment, and gender-based misconduct, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic and dating violence, stalking, and sexual exploitation. The University is also committed to maintaining a safe environment for students. Because of this commitment and because of federal and state regulations, we must advise you that if you tell any of your instructors about sexual harassment or gender-based misconduct involving a member of the campus community, your instructor is required to report this information to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action and the Sexual Respect office. You may submit a report of harassment to the EOAA on this form. While this information is considered private, it may lead to follow-up.

For more information on these policies, or contact information to report, see https://www.arch.columbia.edu/discrimination-policy.

Duty to Report

It is University policy to require Columbia faculty and staff to report to EOAA any instance or allegation of prohibited conduct involving any undergraduate or graduate student or is disclosed to, observed by, or otherwise known to that employee. This requirement to report is in place to help ensure that students are provided with appropriate resources and to allow the University to mitigate harm to our community.