Lab Activities

Labs this semester are held-twice weekly, during section. Labs consist of a collection of activities divided into two components: classroom activities and independent activities. Classroom activities must be completed in your discussion section (though we often give full credit even if you do not complete them). Independent activities can be completed outside of class, so long as it is completed before the due date. In that sense, it is a form of mini-homework, though we strive to make it possible to finish both the classroom and independent activities during class time.

With one notable exception, labs are graded on a pass-fail basis and you generally pass even for just attempting the lab. See our lab grading policies for more information.

Table of Contents

• Online Lab System
• Independent Activities
• Classroom Activities
• Lab Grading
• Lab Schedule

Independent Activities

Independent activities are assigned every single discussion section except for those discussions on the day of an exam (October 15th and November 17th). You are allowed to complete these on your own time by submitting your answers through the online lab system. As a general rule, an independent activity is due at the beginning of the lab after it was assigned. So if you have a lab at 12:20 on Tuesday, an independent activity assigned on that day will be due at 12:20 on Thursday.

The drawback of an online lab system is that it requires exact answers, which is hard if you are still struggling to learn the material. That is why we allow you to have a human check off a lab even if the answers are incorrect. If a staff member looks over your lab and sees that you have put in enough work, they can manually override the lab system. There is no shame in doing this, and you can always go back and retry the exercises later with no penalty. The goal for the labs is practice, not perfection.

We only ask that you ask for a manual check no later than beginning of your next lab. A staff member can review your answers while you start work on the next lab (including any classroom activities).

You may work with any other number of students on an independent activity. You are not restricted to a single partner, like you would be on an assignment. Hence these activities are ideal for forming a “study group”.

Classroom Activities

Classroom activities must be completed during your lab section. If you are not present for a lab, you may only make up a classroom activity if you have an excused absence. Excused absences are limited to sickness, Cornell sponsored events (e.g athletics), or religious observances. Make-up sessions are limited. To schedule a make-up, contact the course adminstrator before your section. We will not take make-up requests after the section has passed.

As classroom activities must be completed during your discussion section, they are subject to the academic integrity policy. You may not access generative AI during your discussion section. Being caught with generative AI open in a tab or on your phone will result in an academic integrity violation.

Classroom activities are broken up into activities, check-ins  , and reviews  .

Activities

A normal classroom activity is just like an independent activity. It is presented to you through the online lab system and you submit your answers for credit. At any time you can get credit simply for trying by having a staff member check you off.

In addition, just as with an independent activity, you can work on these activities with any number of other people in your section. People are fine, ChatGPT is not.

Check-Ins

A check-in is a simply an opportunity to get help on an assignment. Check-ins are typically at the half-way point of an assignment that is not yet due. We want you to get into the habit of starting assignments early, so we want you to bring whatever you have completed so far to the lab section. If you are working with a partner in a different lab section, you should come with your own copy of the files.

You will get full credit for having something, even if it is just the very first task in the assignment. We are not trying to penalize or shame you. We just want to identify who is struggling while we can still get them some help.

On the other hand, a reviews is very different than the other lab activities. This is essentially an in-class quiz where we test your understanding of the assignment you just submitted. Unlike all other lab activities, it will be graded on a 10-point scale and will constitute part of your grade on the assignment. With that said, the quiz is meant to be extremely low stakes. Usually you will take something you implemented on the assignment and make a minor change to it. You can even have your assignment in-front of you to guide your answer. If you completed and understood the assignment you should be able to get all 10 points.

Reviews

A review is very different than any of the other lab activities. This is essentially an in-class quiz where we test your understanding of the assignment you just submitted. Unlike all other lab activities, it will be graded on a 10-point scale and will constitute part of your grade on the assignment.

With that said, the quiz is meant to be extremely low stakes. Typically you will take something you implemented in the assignment and make a minor change to it. You can even have your assignment in-front of you to guide your answer. In addition, the review will be administered through the online lab system where you can keep submitting until you get the answer correct (in the time alloted). If you completed and understood the assignment you should be able to get all 10 points.

As they are a quiz, these activities must be done by yourself. Even if you worked with a partner, you and your partner will complete the activity separately. We expect you to understand all of the code that you and your partner submitted. It does not matter who wrote what code.

SDS Accomodations

As a review is technically a quiz, that means it is subjected to the same rules as an exam for students that have SDS accomodations. Any assignment review will be designed to take less than half of the lab section, so students with extra time should still be able to complete during their section.

However, if you have other accommodations – such as a distraction-free environment – we may have to administer the activity during a special make-up section. To get a SDS make-up section for a review , contact the course adminstrator.

Lab Grading

With the exception of review activities, all lab activities are graded pass-fail and you receive full credit just for trying (though you may need to get a staff member to manually check you off).

You may miss up to three labs with no penalty. By missing a lab, we mean you did not complete either the independent activity or the classroom activity (or both). So if you have an excused absence for discussion section, you are encouraged to schedule a make-up so that your work on the independent activity is not in vain.

If you miss any more than three labs, we will reduce your course grade by half a letter grade (e.g. B goes to B-) for every three labs missing. Our lab grading is very generous, so there should be no reason for this to happen to you.

Review activities are handled differently. You will receive a grade out of 10 points. This grade will be weighted to match the relevant [assignment weight]((/courses/cs1110/2026fa/assessment/grades) and will be included in with your other course grades (exams and assignments).

Lab Schedule

All lab activities, including review activities, are completed through the online lab system. When a lab becomes available, a link will appear in the table below.

Note that exact due dates for the independent component vary by lab section.