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Version: WIP

📓 1.0.0.10 Academic Honesty

In this lesson​

  • Attendance expectations and what counts as misrepresentation
  • What counts as your own work on independent projects
  • What you may and may not reference—and how to study with classmates safely

We want you to succeed at Fidgetech. Academic honesty is straightforward: show up to class, participate in activities, and submit your own work on independent projects. This lesson explains what that means in practice—and what to do when coursework feels overwhelming.

If you are struggling right now: submit your own best work, even if it is incomplete. Failed independent projects can be resubmitted. Ask your instructor for help! See How to Ask for Help. Need a different pace or format? See Accommodations for Remote Learning.

Attendance​

We require every student to attend class and participate in all activities. When a student meets attendance requirements over the course of the program, we know that student has put in the work and is prepared to be successful in their job search.

To be clear about what constitutes attendance dishonesty, we've generated a list of examples:

  • Signing in but being absent from class.
  • Leaving class early without signing out.

Misrepresenting attendance is grounds for expulsion. If you have any concerns about your attendance and meeting requirements, or if you feel like you are behind in your coursework and need extra support, reach out to an Fidgetech staff member to discuss your situation before problems build up.

Independent Projects​

Independent projects are the primary way your instructors can evaluate your coding skills, give you feedback, and help you find areas for improvement. They are also important for helping you discover your coding strengths and weaknesses on your own.

We expect all work on your independent projects to be your own. You cannot copy or look at other students' independent projects. Plagiarism will not help you improve your coding skills and you will be at a disadvantage for finding a job after the program. When interviewing for a job, an employer's primary focus will be to assess and evaluate your skills. Our primary goal is to get you — and your peers — great jobs in the tech field. For that reason, it's necessary to accept the challenges of independent projects so you can improve your skills further and get a job.

We would much rather receive a broken project that's yours than a perfect, complete project that isn't. Give the project your best shot during the required work hours. Review the material and see if you can get your code closer to passing objectives. Your instructor will be happy to meet with you and help you understand how to refactor your code. See Independent Projects and Code Reviews for the resubmission process.

Copying another student's work or receiving unauthorized help on an independent project is grounds for expulsion, as described in our Student Handbook.

General Guidelines​

Academic dishonesty in code can be a little tougher to define than in academic writing. Developers will often reference other people's work to help them understand how to solve a problem. Here are some guidelines:

What You May Reference​

  • Your own repos from class, including repositories you worked on with your pairs
  • Fidgetech's Code Program
  • Official documentation
  • Stack overflow or other online code resources
  • AI tools, when used for explanation and support — see Using AI Tools below

When you use any outside reference, be sure you don't simply copy and paste chunks of code. In addition to being plagiarism, copying and pasting code will make it more difficult to understand how the code actually works. Take the time to type it out and make it your own. In the process, you'll become a better coder.

Using AI Tools​

Core expectation: You are responsible for every line of code you submit, regardless of whether AI helped you understand, debug, or improve it.

The test: If you can't explain it, you're not ready to submit it.

Allowed during study and lesson work:

  • Using AI to explain concepts, interpret errors, or suggest what to investigate
  • Using AI to prepare better questions before asking an instructor
  • Typing and adapting any code yourself, with full understanding of what it does

Not allowed on independent projects:

  • Generating full assignment solutions with AI
  • Submitting AI-generated code you cannot explain or defend
  • Using AI to complete primary project objectives
  • Copying AI output without typing, adapting, and understanding it
  • Any AI use that prevents instructors from accurately assessing your skills

The same rules that apply to classmates helping with independent projects apply to AI: it is not a workaround for doing your own work. See Using AI Responsibly at Fidgetech for how to use AI well during lessons and exercises.

If a student submits work they cannot explain or that was substantially generated by AI without understanding, that is treated as academic dishonesty and may result in expulsion, consistent with our plagiarism policy.

What You May Not Reference​

  • Repos for similar projects created by past or present students (this includes forking repos)
  • Other students' work through screen sharing or VS Live Share

Getting Help​

We know that students sometimes like to get together to discuss code or study. We think that's great! But it can sometimes be tricky to know what crosses the line of academic honesty.

Here's the bottom line: we don't allow students to provide assistance or coaching to other students on their independent projects until the students involved have passed all objectives for that code review. The same applies to AI — using AI to complete or substantially write your independent project is not permitted.

Instead of getting help from a classmate on your code review directly, you could:

  • Watch videos or read articles together
  • Whiteboard or discuss the content covered for the section
  • Build a new project together that helps deepen your understanding

Summary​

Please make sure that you meet attendance requirements by attending class and participating in all classroom activities. This means that you may not misrepresent your attendance by signing in when you are not in class, or leaving class early without signing out.

Please also make sure that the work you submit is your own. This means you may not reference the works of past or present students until both you and the other person have passed the code review. This includes all aspects of your work including READMEs.

When in doubt, ask an instructor :)