ACCOMMODATIONS & COMMUNICATION:
According to College Board’s website, “In order for you to receive accommodations on the exam, College Board’s Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) office has to approve your request. If you test using accommodations that haven’t been approved by us in advance, your scores will be canceled.” (https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-accommodations). Therefore, official requests for accommodations must be made to College Board directly in advance.
Much of this course is recursive, team-based, and builds upon itself, so extra time may be provided in the form of assignments being given earlier to fit with the pacing and deadlines set by College Board. I highly suggest that students with IEPs and/or 504 Plans should communicate directly with me to maximize success and should do so early on when the assignment is given.
MATURE CONTENT DISCLAIMER:
From the AP Seminar Course and Exam Description:
“As the AP Program engages students in college-level work, the AP Seminar course may include perspectives that could be considered controversial, including references to ethnicity, nationality, religion, politics, race, dialect, sexuality, gender or class. AP Seminar requires students to have the level of maturity and skill to thoughtfully consider and analyze diverse perspectives. The inclusion of topics, readings, texts, and other source material is not intended as an endorsement by the College Board or teacher of the content, ideas or values expressed in the material.”
PLAGIARISM & AI POLICIES:
Adherence to College Board AP policies is critical to producing valid AP scores. According to the College Board: “Violations of program policies and/or exam procedures may result in the cancellation of student scores and/or the school being withdrawn from the AP Capstone program by the College Board’s AP Program.”
AP Capstone Policy on Plagiarism and Falsification or Fabrication of Information:
A student who fails to acknowledge the source or author of any and all information or evidence taken from the work of someone else through citation, attribution, or reference in the body of the work, or through a bibliographic entry, will receive a score of 0 on that particular component of the AP Seminar and/or AP Research Performance Task. In AP Seminar, a team of students that fails to properly acknowledge sources or authors on the Team Multimedia Presentation will receive a group score of 0 for that component of the Team Project and Presentation.
A student who incorporates falsified or fabricated information (e.g. evidence, data, sources, and/or authors) will receive a score of 0 on that particular component of the AP Seminar and/or AP Research Performance Task. In AP Seminar, a team of students that incorporates falsified or fabricated information in the Team Multimedia Presentation will receive a group score of 0 for that component of the Team Project and Presentation. [CR4b]
AP Capstone Policy on Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI):
DEFINITION OF GENERATIVE AI IN AP CAPSTONE COURSES
Generative AI tools use predictive technology to produce new text, charts, images, audio, video, etc. This includes not only ChatGPT and similar Large Language Models (LLMs), but also many writing assistants or plug-ins that are built on this or similar AI technologies. Generative AI tools can be contrasted with other AI-based tools that do specific tasks—for example, that help students with grammar, but don’t generate new writing.
POLICY ON ACCEPTABLE GENERATIVE AI USE IN AP CAPSTONE COURSES
Generative AI tools must be used ethically, responsibly, and intentionally to support student learning, not to bypass it. Accordingly, all performance tasks submitted in AP Seminar and AP Research must be the student’s own work. While students are permitted to use Generative AI tools consistent with this policy, their use is optional and not mandatory.
Students can use generative AI tools as optional aids for exploration of potential topics of inquiry, initial searches for sources of information, confirming their understanding of a complex text, or checking their writing for grammar and tone. However, students must read primary and secondary sources directly, perform their own analysis and synthesis of evidence, and make their own choices on how to communicate effectively both in their writing and presentations. It remains the student’s responsibility to engage deeply with credible, valid sources and integrate diverse perspectives when working on the performance tasks. Students must complete interim “checkpoints” with their teacher to demonstrate genuine engagement with the tasks.
REQUIRED CHECKPOINTS AND ATTESTATIONS
To ensure students are not using generative AI to bypass work, students must complete interim “checkpoints” with their teacher to demonstrate genuine engagement with the tasks. AP Seminar students will need to complete the relevant checkpoints successfully to receive a score for their performance tasks.
In AP Seminar, teachers assess the authenticity of student work based on checkpoints that take the form of short conversations with students during which students make their thinking and decision-making visible (similar to an oral defense).
These checkpoints will only occur during the sources and research phase (IRR and IWA), and argument outline phase (IWA only). A final validation checkpoint (IRR and IWA) requires teachers to confirm the student’s final submission is, to the best of their knowledge, authentic student work. College Board reserves the right to investigate submissions where there is evidence of the inappropriate use of generative AI as an academic integrity violation and request from students copies of their interim work for review
**Again, students may receive an automatic failure on the AP Seminar Exam if they plagiarize any part of the Performance Tasks. *
For information on what constitutes acceptable use of AI, click the button below: