• Login 5 separate days/week (Monday to Sunday).

• If something comes up (work, travel, illness, personal life, health...), please contact your teacher immediately.  

• Students may work from school or at home.

Student Withdrawal:  

Students may self-withdraw from a course at any time. Upon return, in most cases, the student will be able to pick up where they left off.

School Withdrawal:

If attendance and/or assignment policies are not followed, a student may be withdrawn by the school. A meeting with a principal or vice-principal may be required prior to re-entry.  

*For senior level courses, if a student withdraws after the halfway point, the course will be recorded on the student's transcript as an attempted course.

• Follow the course timeline provided by your teacher.

• Submit assignments weekly.

• All assignments must feature your work/ideas only.​

• Some courses will have a mandatory in-person assessment near the midpoint of the course.

**If you do not submit work to your teacher as per the timeline provided by your teacher, you may be referred to the Vice-Principal and may be withdrawn from the course** 

Sometimes a teacher cannot determine a student's level of understanding from the assignment alone.  To gain more clarity, a teacher may request one or more of the following as follow-up to an assignment:

• Conversation with the student about the assignment

• Redo of all or parts of the assignment

• An additional assignment

It may be required that this follow-up is in-person, at the teacher's discretion.

The teacher may decide the assignment mark based a combination of the original assignment and the follow-up.

• All courses have one or more mandatory final assessments (RST and/or final exam).

• For all courses, the mark breakdown for a course is 70% term work and 30% final assessment (RST and/or exam).

• Student must attend in-person to write at least one final assessment in each course.

• All final exams are written in person.  If your course has an RST and no exam, the RST will be written in-person.

• Accommodations may be made for students with an IEP if arrangements are made ahead of time with the teacher and Student Services.

The Ottawa Catholic School Board challenges students and staff to uphold Christian values and pursue academic excellence. Academic integrity is fundamental across all subject areas, including those that incorporate or are influenced by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Only work that upholds academic integrity will be considered for assessment. Therefore, a student's success hinges on maintaining academic honesty. In addition to academic implications, academically dishonest conduct will result in behavioural consequences. The educator, in consultation with the school administrator, will determine the appropriate range of these implications and consequences.

Plagiarism is the practice of using someone else's work, ideas, or intellectual property (such as writings, images, or designs) without permission, acknowledgment, or citation, and presenting them as one's own.  Plagiarism can include, but is not limited to:

• Direct Plagiarism: Copying and pasting another's work verbatim without attribution.

• Mosaic Plagiarism: Intermingling one’s own words with someone else’s, without citing the source.

• Paraphrasing: Rewording another's ideas or text without providing proper attribution.

• Self-Plagiarism: Submitting one's previous work for a new assignment without permission or citing the original.

• Accidental Plagiarism: Unintentionally failing to cite a source or misquoting a source.

• Image Plagiarism: Using someone else's images, graphics, or designs without permission or proper citation.

To avoid plagiarism, it's essential for students to understand they must give credit to the original source or author, properly cite all references, and ensure that any work presented is primarily original in thought and expression.

AI Tools

AI tools, such as ChatGPT, can be valuable for brainstorming, researching, or understanding topics; however, the responsibility for ensuring originality and avoiding plagiarism ultimately rests with the user.

When students use ChatGPT or other AI models, there's a possibility that the model might generate content which appears similar to something that already exists, especially if it's drawing from common knowledge or popular topics. To avoid plagiarism when using AI tools, students must understand that it is necessary to:

• Cite the Source: If students are directly using information or responses from AI tools, they must understand that they should consider attributing it. For instance, one can mention that the information or phrasing was obtained with assistance from an AI tool; 

• Cross-Check Content: Students must understand they need to always cross-check the content provided by the AI tool with reliable sources. This ensures accuracy and can help prevent unintentional plagiarism.

• Paraphrase: Students need to understand the use of an alternative to using the exact wording provided by the AI tool, to instead use it as a starting point and then put it in one’s own words, ensuring that the essence and facts remain the same.

• Use Original Sources: Students need to be made aware that if the AI tool provides information about a specific topic and cites sources (or suggests there are primary sources), it might be a good idea to consult those original sources directly and cite them in their work.

• Limit Direct Quotations: Students need to understand that even though the AI tool’s output is generated and not directly "quoted" from a source, students should limit the use of direct chunks of text. Instead, students should use their own phrasing.

• Understand the Basics: Students need to be reminded that AI models generate responses based on patterns in data. AI models do not "know" sources in the same way humans do. It's always a student’s responsibility to ensure they aren't inadvertently plagiarizing.

• Be Transparent: Students need to be made aware that if uncertain about the originality of a piece of information, it's always better to be transparent about how that information was  derived or to simply source that information.

Guiding Principles:  AI Use in the OCSB

As noted by Pope Francis, "Artificial Intelligence ought to serve our best human potential and our highest aspirations, not compete with them."

The following five guiding principles have influence AI work in the OCSB:

1. Prioritize Humane & Ethical Use

2. Focus on Education & Learning

3. Champion Equity and Justice

4. Be Transparent

5. Safeguard Privacy, Security & Data Protection

OCSB AI Guiding Principles (Summary)

OCSB AI Guiding Principles (Explanation Text Included)