Turing College's structure and tools are designed to help you deal with the challenges that may arise along the way. In order to ensure learners success, we have outlined some key principles to follow.
We respect each other
We trust each other
We help each other
Feedback should be constructive and relevant
We recognise conflicts and resolve them in a positive and professional manner
We participate in decision-making, when it concerns us
Gossip, bullying and harassment is unacceptable
Turing College forms a closed and exclusive community and provides services only to its members (i.e., learners who got accepted to Turing College during admissions process). We are committed to safe and healthy learning environment. Thus, we expect every community member’s individual and private participation in events (stand-ups, open sessions, Intro days, corrections, 1-on-1 meetings, community events). Providing access to family members (exception: we are kids friendly community), friends or other third party persons is strictly prohibited.
Turing College expects each learner to actively participate by having an online presence during stand-ups, events, open sessions by engaging with Turing College staff, STLs, JTLs, and collaborating with learners' community and following recordings and screenshot policies.
At Turing College, learners should try to solve a problem on their own for 20 minutes and then seek help.
This seems to be the right amount of time for a learner to define a problem, research it on their own, and try out a couple of different tactics.
After 20 minutes, learners begin wasting precious time and start to become frustrated. Learners can reach out by writing a message in Discord, joining Open Sessions or asking questions in stand-ups or support chat when staff help is needed.
Personal communication with a professional tone, and through appropriate channels, can help avoid misunderstanding, doubts, rumor spreading and conflicts. Good communication can help to effectively defuse a difficult situation and lead to quick and effective problem solving without unnecessary escalation.
Communication should aim to contribute to a successful and remote learning environment. We have a shared responsibility to use well-chosen lines of communication, and to communicate to the extent necessary and in a good solid tone.
Listen, do not interrupt
Speak for yourself, not for others
Talk about the immediate situation as early as possible
Be sure of the facts
Speak directly to the topic at hand
Base your discussion on specifics
Take responsibility for the agreements and rules that we have adopted
Asking for help and researching online is a key part of both learning and work. However, this needs to be separated from trying to use code (or any other type of work) that is not your own in order to try to create a wrong impression of your knowledge, as that would be counted as plagiarism and cheating. This can be a difficult distinction sometimes, so we provide additional guidelines here.
Collaboration for non-graded tasks:
Free and even encouraged to work together / provide help / ask for help from all other learners. You can check both the solutions and the answers that you get (as long as the other party is willing to share).
However, show solutions/parts of solution only if other learner confirms that they are OK with it. Simply ask them if they would like to see your solution, but do not “spoil” the answer if another learner doesn’t want it.
Collaboration for graded tasks:
Never share complete or partial solutions, or answers to learners who have not yet completed it. I.e. you cannot ask others whether your answers match those of others – this is not something that you will be able to do in real-world work tasks, so you need to learn to deal with the uncertainty in these tasks as well. Note, that having an incorrect final result does not necessarily mean that you will fail a correction – the process and your general understanding is just as important and a slight error in calculation may not be a critical mistake. Also, note that some projects might have several different correct solutions.
As a learner working on a graded project, you are very strongly encouraged to not look for full solutions to the tasks online (or from your colleagues). You should work on the project as if you got a unique task at work for which full solutions are not available. By copying other’s work or even “taking strong inspiration” from existing full solutions, you will be losing a lot of the learning value in that project. Furthermore, if Turing College notices that your work is extremely similar to another piece of work that is publically available, it could be regarded as plagiarism - especially if it seems that you are trying to hide that fact that an external source was used to find the solution.
Learners who have completed the task can discuss it freely among themselves.
Googling / ChatGPT / etc.
Allowed as long as you have full understanding of taught topics. Expect corrections to test your knowledge, not just the correctness of your solution. Being effective at searching for answers online is an important part of any kind of work, so a learner should try to use it wisely so that online help would enhance their learning.
Read this detailed guide about using AI tools here
Whenever you are unsure whether something is plagiarism or not, ask the STLs / JTLs directly in stand-ups, open-sessions or corrections.
Whenever you are using code, libraries or any piece of content in your work, you should feel completely comfortable sharing with others that this was taken from an external source - it’s even a good practice to note this in your code. If you feel that you do not want to share it – it’s a good indication that this may be considered as plagiarism.
Another good indicator that what you are doing is plagiarism is copying pieces of work with the aim to obscure your lack of skills in topics that were supposed to be learned already. If you use external sources to write core parts of the project which you then cannot explain or would not be able to write on your own if an exact solution was not available, it is almost certainly plagiarism.
If a learner is found to be intentionally copying solutions to deceitfully submit such work as their own, Turing College will evaluate the situation and in extreme cases may make the decision to remove the learner from the course. We will always aim to first talk about it openly with learners involved and fully understand the situation.
Turing College is a remote international environment and learners, mentors, and staff come from extremely diverse backgrounds. Contribute to creating a positive experience for everyone by being respectful and thought-through in communication (sarcasm translates poorly via text and online chat).
Learners are expected to do their part to make Turing College a welcoming place to learn by encouraging their fellow learners, offering support, and listening to others.
Turing College does not tolerate discriminatory, harassing, or insulting remarks to other learners, mentors, STLs, staff, or anyone else, online or in person; see the Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment policy below.
Harassment of any kind: racial, gender, religious, ability-Based, sexual, age-based, psychological, cyberbullying including sexual harassment, is strictly prohibited.
Any individual who experiences or witnesses harassment is encouraged to immediately report it to the Turing College staff.
All reports of harassment will be taken seriously and confidentially, and will be promptly and thoroughly investigated.
Any individual found to have engaged in harassment will face disciplinary action, up to and including termination of learning contract and leading to financial obligations.
Turing College members who had any relation or connection to the situation are expected to cooperate fully with investigations into allegations of harassment.
Turing College will provide support and resources for learners who have experienced harassment, and will work to prevent harassment from occurring in the future.
What to do if someone's behaviour falls outside these expectations?
Perhaps it was not intentional, so in the first instance, talk directly with whoever was involved (STL, Turing College staff, learners) and try to find a common solution to the situation.
If necessary, contact Turing College team by writing to Support chat and explain the situation in detail.
If a learner encounters conflicts or inappropriate behaviour, they must contact Turing College staff immediately.
For the learner, failing to comply with the code of conduct can result in disciplinary action, such as a warning or even withdraw from Turing College. This can have serious consequences for the learner's professional career, and can damage their reputation within the community.
It can also damage the reputation of the whole Turing College community, and make it difficult to attract and retain learners, mentors, and staff.
Overall, it is important to comply with this code of conduct to avoid potential liabilities and maintain a positive and inclusive learning and working environment.