Professor Wandt’s Course Policies and Standards

Professor Adam Scott Wandt
Version: 20260826
Effective Date: August 27, 2026
Status: Final — authoritative global course-policy document

Effective August 27, 2026, this manual establishes the controlling global policies for courses, labs, research activities, and other educational initiatives taught, designed, supervised, or administered by Professor Adam Scott Wandt. It is incorporated into each course and controls over a course syllabus, assignment, rubric, or posted clarification. Those course-specific materials may add details or exercise authority expressly delegated by this manual, but they may not contradict it. Applicable law, controlling John Jay College or CUNY policy, and official accommodations or institutional directives remain controlling.

Students are responsible for reading this manual, the course syllabus, assignment instructions, rubrics, and posted clarifications. When a rule is unclear, students should ask before acting.

Revision Record

• Version 20260826 — Effective August 27, 2026: Initial publication of Professor Wandt’s authoritative global course-policy manual.

Platform Roles at a Glance

Policy Families

1. Course Communication, Discord, and Individual Meetings
2. Assignment Submission, Deadlines, Late Work, and Extensions
3. Academic Integrity, Sources, and Independent Work
4. Student Use of Generative AI: Use, Disclosure, and Accountability
5. Instructor Use of AI and Transparency
6. Course Materials, Class Recording, Intellectual Property, and External Sharing
7. Cyber Safety, Legal Compliance, and Ethical Technical Research
8. Emerging, Advanced, and Experimental Technology
9. Class Attendance, Online Participation, and Public-Health Courtesy
10. Disability Accommodations and Course Accessibility
11. Children, Guests, Classroom Safety, and Confidentiality
12. Letters of Recommendation and Professional References
13. Policy Interpretation, Conflicts, and Updates

Purpose

This policy establishes a reliable course-communication system while using Discord as an intentional part of the learning environment.

Discord as an Instructional Environment

Discord is used throughout Professor Wandt’s courses as both the primary course-communication environment and a digital learning environment. It also supports a long-standing community connecting current students, alumni, and professionals across courses and beyond a single semester. Students will join the private Wandt Underground server and the designated course areas before the end of the first week of class and will use them throughout the semester.

This use is pedagogical. Modern professional, investigative, technical, and online communities often operate through persistent, channel-based platforms. Comparable structures appear in cybersecurity, fraud examination, digital investigations, OSINT, intelligence analysis, gaming and technology communities, public-sector work, and illicit online ecosystems. Students are expected to develop the ability to navigate these environments professionally, safely, critically, and effectively.

Course participation therefore includes learning to work with servers, channels, threads, notifications, searchable communication histories, direct and group messages, display identities, moderation practices, and the boundaries among public, semi-public, and private communication.

Wandt Underground Access and Monitoring

Students will:

• join the server and designated course areas before the end of the first week of class using the instructions provided;
• use the required current-student server nickname described below;
• maintain reasonable access to the server during the semester;
• configure notifications so that course announcements and direct communications are seen within a reasonable time;
• monitor the designated course channels and direct messages; and
• promptly report an access problem that materially interferes with participation.

Students should not treat lack of notification settings, an unread channel, or routine failure to monitor Discord as a substitute for checking course communications.

Current-Student Server Nickname

Current students must set their server-specific nickname in Wandt Underground using the following format. A server-specific nickname applies within Wandt Underground and does not require a student to change an account-wide Discord display name.

Current Students of Professor Wandt First Name Last Initial — Course Example: Jane S — PAD 750

Students must keep this nickname current and recognizable throughout the semester. The course identifier must be the course code provided for the student’s class.

Primary Communication Rules

Discord is the primary environment for routine communication with Professor Wandt and course staff. Students should use:

• the appropriate course channel for questions or discussions that may benefit the class;
• a designated assignment, help, technical, or topic channel when one exists;
• a private Discord message for an individualized course question or a matter that should not be discussed with the class; and
• a private Discord message to request an individual virtual Zoom session or an in-office meeting.

University email and Brightspace messaging are not course-communication channels for routine or individualized course matters.

Relationship to Brightspace

Discord and Brightspace have different roles.

Discord is used for day-to-day announcements, course questions, discussion, community participation, current events, supplemental links, instructional interaction, technical help, and ordinary student–instructor communication.

Brightspace remains the official learning management system, the authoritative repository for course learning materials, and the academic system of record. Unless specific instructions state otherwise, Brightspace is used for:

• all course learning materials, including the syllabus, this manual, assignment instructions, rubrics, required readings, lecture materials, slides, videos, and other assigned course resources;
• assignment submission and submission receipts;
• grades and formal feedback;
• examinations and quizzes;
• accommodation-related settings and protected academic records;
• notices that must remain in an institutional system; and
• any other graded or recordkeeping function identified by the course.

All assigned course learning materials will be maintained in Brightspace. Discord may be used to announce, discuss, or link to those materials, but it does not replace the authoritative Brightspace copy.

Students are responsible for monitoring both environments. A time-sensitive operational notice may appear first in Discord. A notice affecting a formal submission, grade, or academic record will also be reflected in Brightspace or another appropriate institutional system.

Required Course Materials, Technology, and Costs

Some courses involve student-paid materials or services. Depending on the course, these may include a textbook, access code, specialized software, AI subscription, or another instructional resource identified in the syllabus or assignment instructions. Students are expected to plan for and obtain required resources when they are identified.

A student who faces a genuine financial hardship that prevents obtaining a required resource after reasonable efforts should contact Professor Wandt privately through Discord as early as possible. This option is intended for genuine need, not convenience or preference. The message should identify the required resource and briefly explain the problem without including bank records, benefit records, tax documents, or other sensitive financial information.

Professor Wandt may be able to identify a course-approved alternative or, in limited circumstances, draw on the generosity of alumni and professionals who have chosen to support students with genuine needs. Any assistance is discretionary, limited, case-specific, and not guaranteed. Students should not assume that a cost will be waived or delay obtaining a required resource while awaiting a response. Identifying or sensitive information will not be shared with a potential supporter without the student’s permission.

Privacy and Sensitive Information

Students should assume that material posted in a course or community channel can be seen by everyone with access to that area. Do not post grades, student identification numbers, disability or medical information, disciplinary information, private credentials, law-enforcement-sensitive material, confidential workplace data, or other sensitive personal information in a public or group channel.

A private Discord message is appropriate for ordinary individualized course communication. When Professor Wandt determines that protected documentation should be handled through an institutional process, he may direct the student to Brightspace, CUNY Accommodate, or another official College system.

Legal Information, Not Legal Advice

Professor Wandt’s courses may examine laws, cases, regulations, legal procedures, and hypothetical fact patterns for educational purposes. These discussions provide general legal information and academic analysis.

Professor Wandt is unable to provide legal advice to students. He cannot apply the law to a student’s personal circumstances, evaluate an individual’s legal rights or obligations, recommend a course of action in an actual or potential legal matter, prepare or review documents for a student’s personal legal use, or represent a student in any legal or administrative proceeding.

No classroom discussion, assignment feedback, Discord communication, individual meeting, or other course interaction establishes an attorney-client relationship or should be understood as confidential or privileged legal communication.

Students should not send Professor Wandt detailed personal facts, legal documents, evidence, or sensitive information for the purpose of obtaining legal advice. A student who needs advice concerning a personal legal matter should promptly consult a qualified attorney or an appropriate legal-services provider. Contacting Professor Wandt does not pause or extend any legal, administrative, or filing deadline.

Professional Conduct and Community Boundaries

Wandt Underground may include students from multiple courses, alumni, researchers, professionals, and invited participants. Students must treat it as a professional academic community and comply with course rules, channel-specific instructions, College policies, and applicable law.

Students may not:

• harass, threaten, dox, discriminate against, or direct unwanted communications toward another person;
• impersonate another person or conceal their identity from Professor Wandt for course-accountability purposes;
• post malware, stolen data, credentials, contraband, unlawfully obtained material, or sensitive private information;
• conduct unauthorized investigations of classmates, faculty, College employees, or private individuals;
• expose private course areas or communications to unauthorized people; or
• use the server to engage in conduct that would otherwise be unlawful, unethical, or prohibited.

Professor Wandt may moderate or remove content and may restrict posting or other platform privileges when conduct violates these rules. Any restriction will be tailored to the circumstances and, while a matter is reviewed, will preserve the access needed to receive required course information and materials.

Availability and Continuity

Temporary service interruptions and documented technical problems will be handled reasonably. Students should preserve screenshots, timestamps, or other evidence of a significant interruption. A temporary service interruption does not establish another routine communication channel or change Discord's role as the course communication environment. Affected communications and deadlines will be addressed through Discord after service is restored.

Arranging Individual Meetings

Meetings with Professor Wandt are arranged individually rather than offered on a standing schedule. A student who would like to meet should send Professor Wandt a private Discord message to arrange either a virtual Zoom session or an in-office meeting. The message should briefly identify the topic, preferred meeting format, and several dates and times when the student is available, but it should not include protected or sensitive details. Professor Wandt will make every reasonable effort to find a time that works well for the student and to make arranging the meeting straightforward.

Emergencies

Course communication platforms are not emergency services. A student facing an immediate safety, medical, mental-health, or security emergency should contact emergency services, public safety, or the appropriate campus resource first and notify Professor Wandt when it is safe to do so.

Electronic Submission Default

Unless the syllabus or assignment instructions state otherwise, graded work must be submitted through the designated Brightspace assignment, quiz, or examination area. A message or file sent through Discord does not count as a submission unless Professor Wandt expressly authorizes that method for the specific work.

File and Submission Responsibility

Students are responsible for submitting the correct work, in the required format, before the deadline. Students should confirm that the upload is complete, readable, and not corrupted and should retain the submission receipt or confirmation.

A blank file, wrong assignment, inaccessible link, corrupted file, or unusable format may be treated as not submitted. A student who discovers a submission problem should report it immediately through Discord and preserve the relevant Brightspace confirmation, screenshot, timestamp, and original file metadata.

Default Due Time

Unless the syllabus or assignment instructions state otherwise, assignments are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the listed due date.

Late Work

Late work may receive reduced credit, no credit, or another consequence stated in the syllabus, assignment instructions, or rubric. A missing assignment earns a zero unless an approved extension, accommodation, or exception applies.

As a general rule, Professor Wandt does not accept work submitted after the deadline unless he granted an extension before the work became late. A student who expects not to meet a deadline must contact Professor Wandt by private Discord message before the assignment is due and request an extension. Unless a syllabus, assignment, or rubric expressly establishes a different late-work consequence, work submitted late without an extension approved in advance will not be accepted and will earn a zero.

Professor Wandt generally takes a generous approach to reasonable extension requests made before the deadline. He is correspondingly strict about late work for which the student never requested and received an extension. Waiting until after the deadline to explain a foreseeable problem does not convert late work into work submitted under an extension.

Extension Requests

A student who anticipates being unable to meet a deadline must request an extension before the deadline when a legitimate academic, professional, medical, family, technical, or emergency circumstance interferes with timely completion. Routine requests should not be delayed until the due date when the need could reasonably have been anticipated.

The request should be sent by private Discord message and should include:

• the student’s name and course;
• the assignment name and current due date;
• the requested new due date;
• the current status of the work; and
• a concise explanation of the need for additional time.

An extension exists only after Professor Wandt approves it. Sending a request does not by itself extend or pause the deadline. Students should continue working while awaiting a response whenever reasonably possible.

Professor Wandt generally does not require personal documentation for routine extension requests. If documentation is needed, do not send protected medical, disability, employment, or family records through Discord; Professor Wandt will identify the appropriate official channel.

Emergencies and Accommodations

This policy does not limit approved accommodations, controlling College procedures, or reasonable handling of genuine emergencies. When advance notice is impossible, the student should communicate as soon as practicable.

Technical Problems

Technology problems are a normal and foreseeable part of academic and professional work. Part of the skill set developed in Professor Wandt’s courses is the ability to anticipate that technology will fail, think critically about available alternatives, build in enough time to respond, and still meet the deadline.

Students should begin early, keep current backups, confirm file integrity, test unfamiliar systems, preserve submission confirmations, and identify reasonable alternatives such as another device, browser, network, file format, or campus resource. A technical problem does not automatically excuse late work merely because it occurred. When a problem threatens timely submission despite reasonable preparation, the student must report it through Discord before the deadline whenever possible, preserve screenshots, timestamps, error messages, and relevant file metadata, and request an extension if additional time is needed. Prompt reporting and evidence will be considered, but a technical problem first reported after the deadline will ordinarily not justify accepting unapproved late work.

Institutional Standard

Academic dishonesty is prohibited. Students are bound by the current CUNY Academic Integrity Policy, the John Jay College Academic Integrity Policy, this manual, the syllabus, and assignment-specific instructions. Academic and disciplinary consequences are handled through the applicable College and University processes.

Student Work Must Be Student Work

Every submission must honestly represent the student’s own learning, analysis, research, judgment, and authorized process. A student may not submit work produced by another person, purchased from a third party, copied from an online source, recycled without permission, or created through a process that the assignment prohibits.

Independent-Work Default

Unless Professor Wandt expressly authorizes collaboration for a particular activity, graded work must be completed independently. Students may discuss general course concepts and study together, but they may not collaborate on the production of an individual graded submission.

Prohibited collaboration includes:

• co-writing, co-outlining, shared drafting, or jointly prepared research notes for individual work;
• peer editing outside an expressly authorized course activity;
• sharing answers, code, prompts, AI outputs, drafts, or analysis for the purpose of producing graded work;
• using friends, coworkers, tutors, editors, contractors, or other people to create or materially revise a submission; and
• helping another student violate an independent-work rule.

An assignment may authorize group work, peer review, tutoring, or another form of collaboration. That permission is limited to the scope stated in the instructions.

Use of Sources

Students must accurately cite and attribute ideas, language, quotations, data, images, code, tools, and other material that is not their own. Paraphrasing without attribution remains improper. Copying language and making minor changes does not make it original.

Citations must exist, support the proposition for which they are used, and accurately describe the authority or source. Students may not fabricate, distort, or mischaracterize facts, quotations, data, cases, statutes, regulations, research, or other authorities.

Integrity Review

Professor Wandt may ask a student to explain or reproduce the sources, methods, drafts, code, data, prompts, analysis, calculations, or technical steps used to complete work. The student may be asked to answer questions orally or in writing or to reproduce part of the process under controlled conditions.

An inability or refusal to explain work in a manner consistent with the submission may be considered in evaluating authorship, learning, and possible academic dishonesty. Any formal allegation will be handled under applicable College and CUNY procedures.

Governing Framework: WADL Assignment Authorization

Student use of generative AI is governed by this manual and the Wandt AI Disclosure Label (WADL) authorization stated for each assignment. WADL separates three questions that must not be collapsed into a single general permission:

• the permitted AI-assisted process level (P);
• the required verification level (V); and
• the required record and provenance level (R).

Each assignment establishes its permitted WADL process range and its required verification and record levels. Those assignment terms implement authority delegated by this manual; they do not override the manual. Students must follow the WADL version and instructions identified in the assignment and may consult the current public framework at usewadl.org.

AI use outside the assignment’s authorized process range, below its required verification level, or without its required records is unauthorized. If a student is uncertain how an assignment’s WADL authorization applies, the student must ask through Discord before using the tool.

Examples of generative AI tools include ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, and comparable text, image, audio, video, coding, research, or agentic systems. Built-in AI features count as AI use even when they appear inside a word processor, search engine, coding environment, note-taking tool, or other software.

Permitted Uses Within the Assigned WADL Range

Depending on the process level authorized for the assignment, permitted uses may include:

• brainstorming, outlining, and issue spotting;
• assistance in drafting or restructuring material;
• editing for clarity, organization, tone, grammar, or concision;
• study aids and self-quizzing;
• alternative arguments, counterarguments, or analytical structures;
• coding or technical support;
• accessibility support; and
• potential sources, authorities, search terms, or research directions used only as unverified leads.

The assignment’s WADL authorization determines which of these uses are permitted and how far the student may rely on them. AI may support a student’s process, but it does not reduce the student’s obligation to provide original analysis, accurate reasoning, verified claims, and work responsive to the actual assignment. Simply placing the assignment into an AI system and submitting the result does not demonstrate the required learning.

No-AI Assessments

AI tools are prohibited on a midterm, final examination, quiz, practical exercise, oral assessment, or other activity designated “No AI” or assigned WADL process level P0. This restriction includes using AI to generate, check, revise, translate, summarize, search for, or otherwise assist with an answer during the restricted assessment or assessment window.

When an assessment is marked “No AI,” students must disable or avoid built-in AI features and must not seek AI assistance through another device, account, person, or service. Any AI use on a restricted assessment is a serious academic-integrity violation.

Core Accountability: The Student Owns the Outcome

AI is a tool. Everything submitted under a student’s name is treated as that student’s work product, reasoning, representation, and claim.

The student is responsible for:

• every fact, quotation, citation, authority, calculation, interpretation, and conclusion;
• compliance with the assignment and rubric;
• the legality and ethics of the process used;
• identifying and correcting inaccurate, incomplete, biased, misleading, or fabricated output; and
• being able to explain the final submission and how it was produced.

Blaming a tool does not excuse an error or violation. Reckless reliance on AI, especially when it produces invented or misleading material, may be treated as an academic-integrity violation.

Required WADL Records and Exact Audit Trails

Each assignment’s WADL record level establishes what provenance material the student must create, retain, and submit. When the assigned record level requires prompts, outputs, verification journals, correction records, revision histories, attachments, generated files, or other workflow evidence, the records must be exact, complete, and unaltered.

A summary, paraphrase, reconstruction, approximation, or later-created substitute is not an exact record. Students are responsible for preserving the original records produced by the tool or workflow, including the complete session history required by the assignment. Required records must be organized so that they can be produced promptly upon request.

WADL-required records may include:

Prompt and Output Records

• the exact prompts or instructions given to the tool;
• the full outputs received, including relevant attachments or generated files;
• follow-up prompts and outputs that changed the result;
• the tool name and model or version; and
• the dates and times associated with the interaction.

Verification Records

When the assignment’s verification or record level requires a verification journal, it must accurately identify:

• what was checked;
• where it was checked, with primary or official sources strongly preferred;
• what was confirmed;
• what was corrected, qualified, or removed; and
• any source lead that could not be verified and therefore was not used.

Integration and Revision Records

When required by the assigned WADL level, the student must retain evidence showing how AI output affected the work and how the final submission differs. Examples include replacing an AI-suggested authority with controlling authority, correcting statutory elements, rewriting generated analysis, testing code, removing unsupported statistics, or preserving before-and-after text for editing use.

All records required by the assignment must be preserved until the final course grade is issued and any related review, appeal, or academic-integrity process is complete. Failure or refusal to create, retain, submit, or produce the exact records required by the assignment’s WADL level is itself a violation of this policy.

Required WADL Disclosure

Every submission must contain the WADL label or disclosure block required by the assignment, including a no-AI declaration when the assignment requires a label from every student. The label must accurately report the student’s actual process, verification, and record levels and must appear in the location and format stated in the assignment.

The disclosure label does not replace the underlying records, verification journal, prompt logs, attachments, or other evidence required by the assigned WADL level. A vague, incomplete, inaccurate, or misleading label does not satisfy the disclosure requirement. When uncertain between two process categories, students must disclose the higher applicable category.

Failing to include the required WADL label, understating AI involvement, claiming a verification level not actually completed, claiming a record level without maintaining the required records, or otherwise misrepresenting the workflow is a policy violation even if the resulting work is otherwise accurate.

Verification and No-Fabrication Standard

AI output is not authority. Students must complete the verification level assigned under WADL and independently verify all material required by that level. No WADL authorization permits fabrication or presentation of unverified AI output as established fact. Legal authorities should be checked against primary sources whenever possible. Citations must be real and must support the proposition stated.

Students may not submit:

• invented or altered authorities, quotations, holdings, facts, data, sources, or credentials;
• citations that do not exist or do not support the claim;
• an authority described as controlling when it is not;
• untested code or technical instructions presented as verified when meaningful testing was possible; or
• an AI-generated assertion presented as established fact without independent support.

Privacy, Confidentiality, and Course Materials

Students may not enter sensitive personal, protected, or confidential information into an AI system. This includes student identification numbers, grades, private communications, disability or medical information, disciplinary history, identifying information about classmates, private credentials, confidential workplace information, protected investigative data, and nonpublic personal data.

Students may provide an AI system with ordinary assignment instructions, prompts, and rubrics when doing so is within the assignment’s WADL-authorized process range and the material is not marked restricted, confidential, or nonpublic.

Students may not paste, upload, or expose protected course materials—including examinations, restricted or nonpublic scenarios, lectures, recordings, answer keys, peer work, or private Discord content—to an external AI system unless Professor Wandt expressly authorizes the specific material and use. WADL authorization does not by itself authorize disclosure of another person’s work, restricted assessment content, private communications, or sensitive information.

Students may use their own notes and their own work with an authorized AI tool, provided doing so does not disclose protected material, confidential information, or another person’s work.

Instructor Review and Audit Rights

To evaluate learning and protect academic integrity, Professor Wandt may:

• require the complete audit trail and exact records assigned under WADL before or after grading;
• ask the student to explain and defend the reasoning or process orally or in writing;
• compare the submission with drafts, version histories, citations, prompts, outputs, or source materials;
• require reproduction of part of the work under controlled conditions; and
• conduct authorship, source, technical, and integrity checks consistent with applicable policy.

Enforcement

Violations are treated seriously. Subject to the syllabus and applicable College and CUNY procedures, a violation may result in no credit or a failing grade on the affected work, a course-grade consequence up to course failure, and referral through the academic-integrity or disciplinary process.

Using AI on a “No AI” or P0 assessment, exceeding the WADL-authorized process level, failing to complete the required verification level, submitting fabricated authorities or evidence, concealing material AI use, or failing or refusing to produce the exact records required by the assigned WADL record level will ordinarily be treated as a major violation. The seriousness, intent, effect, and applicable institutional requirements will be considered in determining the course response and any referral.

Purpose and Educational Rationale

Professor Wandt actively engages with generative and agentic AI to understand its strengths, limitations, risks, and implications for higher education, public service, law, policy, investigations, technology, and professional practice. The objective is not novelty or reduced teaching effort. It is direct, critical, and transparent engagement with technology that students are likely to encounter in their careers.

Professor Wandt’s approach draws on experience in technology, law, public policy, academic technology, and online education. AI use in the course is intended to improve understanding, instructional design, feedback, consistency, accessibility, and professional preparation while preserving human responsibility.

How the Instructor May Use AI

AI may assist with:

• designing or revising course materials, examples, activities, rubrics, and technical demonstrations;
• exploring alternative explanations, scenarios, or teaching approaches;
• drafting or refining routine instructional communications;
• analyzing a student submission against a published rubric;
• identifying areas where feedback may be more detailed, consistent, or useful;
• technical, coding, research, accessibility, or administrative support; and
• demonstrating the capabilities, limitations, and failure modes of AI systems.

The course itself may include materials developed through human–AI collaboration. Those materials remain subject to Professor Wandt’s review and responsibility.

Human Responsibility for Teaching, Feedback, and Grades

Professor Wandt remains responsible for the course, the quality of instruction, the final content presented to students, the feedback students receive, and all grading decisions.

An AI system may analyze work, map evidence to a rubric, identify possible strengths or deficiencies, or draft a feedback or grading recommendation. It does not assign the final grade. Professor Wandt reviews the relevant work and remains the decision-maker. Academic-integrity findings and referrals are likewise not delegated to an AI system.

AI-assisted review is intended to support more complete and consistent feedback, but AI can be incomplete, biased, or wrong. A student who believes feedback or a grade rests on an error should raise the specific concern through a private Discord message and use any applicable formal review process.

Instructor Verification and Accountability

Professor Wandt will use professional judgment and reasonable verification when relying on AI-assisted material. Material factual, legal, technical, or academic claims should be checked against appropriate sources before being presented as authoritative. AI use does not transfer responsibility away from the instructor.

Student-Work Privacy and Data Handling

When AI is used to assist with student-work analysis, Professor Wandt will take reasonable steps to minimize unnecessary personal information, use appropriate tools and settings, limit the material shared to what is needed for the instructional task, and protect academic records under applicable College and University requirements.

Student submissions, grades, accommodation information, and private communications will not be used in public examples or external publications in identifiable form without authorization or another lawful basis. A future research study involving student data would require separate compliance with applicable institutional research and consent requirements.

Transparency and Knowledge Sharing

Professor Wandt will be open with students about material uses of AI in course design, instruction, feedback, or evaluation. Relevant successes, limitations, errors, and lessons may be discussed in class, in course materials, in professional workshops, or in policy work, while respecting student privacy.

Instructional use of AI under this policy is not, by itself, a formal research study of students. If that status changes, students will receive the notices and protections required by the applicable process.

Student Requests Concerning AI-Assisted Review

A student who does not want AI used to assist in analyzing that student’s assignments for rubric application or feedback may make a specific request by private Discord message. The request should be made before the first affected submission when possible. Professor Wandt will arrange a human-only review process for future applicable work when feasible and consistent with institutional requirements. Making the request will not itself lower the student’s grade or reduce access to required course processes, although the form or timing of feedback may differ.

If a request involves protected information or must be documented formally, Professor Wandt may redirect it to an official College channel.

Continuing Instructor Engagement

AI use is not a reduction in instructor involvement. Professor Wandt remains engaged in teaching, evaluation, feedback, student support, and course improvement. Students will have opportunities to provide feedback on their experience with course technologies and instructional practices.

Protected Course Materials

Course materials include syllabi, this manual, assignments, rubrics, lectures, slides, videos, recordings, prompts, examinations, quizzes, answer keys, datasets, lab instructions, demonstrations, grading feedback, private discussion-board or Discord content, and other material distributed or made accessible for course use.

Recording, Photography, and Capture of Class Sessions

The John Jay College Policy Prohibiting Recording by Students or Visitors of Class Sessions prohibits recording, photographing, or videotaping all or part of a class unless the course instructor gives written permission. Oral permission is sufficient only when the presenter expressly authorizes a photograph of presentation material, such as material written on a whiteboard or projected on a screen.

Professor Wandt gives no general authorization to record his classes. Students are not authorized to create an audio recording, video recording, photograph, screen capture, automated transcript, or other record of any portion of an in-person or online class session unless a specific permission or controlling exception applies. Permission for one class, purpose, or type of capture does not authorize any other recording or use.

Approved accessibility accommodations will be implemented through the official College process. The narrow exception in the John Jay policy for recording conduct that violates another University policy applies only when the recording is made solely to report that conduct to an appropriate College or University office. Use or dissemination beyond what is necessary for that report remains prohibited.

A student who receives or is permitted to create a recording, photograph, video, transcript, or alternate supplemental study material may not share, copy, download, disseminate, publish, or sell it to others. Its use must remain within the limited personal or official purpose for which it was provided or permitted, subject only to controlling law or an official College process.

Unauthorized recording or capture of any portion of Professor Wandt’s class is a serious violation. Subject to required John Jay College and CUNY procedures, an unauthorized recording will result in a failing grade for the course and a disciplinary referral.

No Public Posting or Redistribution

Students may not copy, repost, upload, publish, sell, license, or distribute protected course materials to public websites, study sites, social-media platforms, file-sharing services, AI datasets, commercial services, group repositories, or other third-party systems without express written permission.

This rule applies whether the material is shared for payment or free of charge and whether it is shared in full, in excerpts, through screenshots, through recordings, or in a form that allows reconstruction.

AI Systems and External Tools

An assignment’s WADL authorization permits the student to provide ordinary assignment instructions, prompts, and rubrics to an AI system when that use is within the authorized process range and the material is not marked restricted, confidential, or nonpublic. It does not authorize disclosure of examinations, answer keys, peer work, private Discord content, restricted scenarios, or other protected material. Any additional protected course material may be placed into an external system only when Professor Wandt has expressly authorized the specific content, tool, and purpose. Students remain responsible for reviewing the privacy and retention implications of any authorized external tool.

Assessment Security

Students may not share examination questions, quiz questions, assignment solutions, grading feedback, answer keys, private prompts, or other assessment content in a way that gives another person an unfair advantage or compromises a present or future course.

Permitted Uses and Limited Exceptions

Students may ordinarily download, annotate, and retain course materials for their own learning unless the material states otherwise. Authorized collaboration is permitted within the limits of the relevant assignment.

Nothing in this policy prevents a student from confidentially providing material when reasonably necessary to obtain an approved accommodation, seek legal advice from a qualified attorney, use an official grievance or appeal process, report misconduct, or comply with law. Only the material reasonably necessary for that purpose should be disclosed.

Student and Community Privacy

Students may not record, screenshot, quote, or redistribute another student’s work, image, voice, identity, private message, or course participation without authorization, except as permitted by law or an official College process.

Violations

Except where this manual specifies a particular consequence, violations may result in removal of material, restriction of course-platform privileges, academic consequences, and referral under applicable College or CUNY procedures. The specific consequence for unauthorized class recording is stated above. Any platform restriction will be tailored so that compliance with the restriction and continued participation in required course activity remain possible.

Purpose

Courses involving cybersecurity, digital forensics, OSINT, darknet research, surveillance technology, networks, malware, data, cryptography, fraud, or investigative methods require strict boundaries for lawful, ethical, authorized, and safe work.

Course discussion of law, legal requirements, cases, regulations, or hypothetical situations is educational and remains subject to the Legal Information, Not Legal Advice policy in Section I.

Authorization Is Required

Students may conduct technical activity only when authorized by the assignment, approved lab environment, written instructions, or the explicit permission of the owner or operator of the system, account, network, service, dataset, or device involved. Educational interest is not authorization.

Prohibited Activity

Students may not engage in unauthorized access, credential misuse, scanning, exploitation, interception, exfiltration, harassment, doxxing, evasion, circumvention, malware deployment, disruptive testing, or conduct that violates law, College policy, terms of service, or ethical research standards.

Interception and Traffic Capture

Professor Wandt will not authorize interception of live third-party traffic. Packet capture, interception demonstrations, and network-monitoring exercises must remain within approved lab networks, personally controlled systems, synthetic traffic, or another expressly authorized environment.

Controlled Lab Work

Hands-on work must be performed only in the approved environment. Students must isolate experiments, avoid affecting third parties, avoid collecting unnecessary personal data, and stop immediately if unexpected real-world systems, data, or people are implicated.

OSINT, Darknet, and Sensitive Research

Research involving OSINT, darknet markets, social-media investigation, surveillance tools, leaked data, cryptocurrency tracing, extremist content, criminal communities, or vulnerable populations must remain within assignment boundaries and comply with safety instructions, privacy rules, applicable law, and ethical requirements.

Students may not contact targets, purchase contraband, solicit unlawful services, transact with illicit actors, deceive a person, or escalate beyond authorized passive observation unless a lawful and ethically approved protocol expressly permits the conduct.

Malware and Dual-Use Tools

Students may not run malware, exploit code, credential-harvesting tools, phishing infrastructure, or other dual-use capabilities outside a controlled and authorized environment. Possession, transfer, and use must remain limited to legitimate educational purposes and course-approved settings.

Reporting and Stop-Work Duty

A student who encounters suspected unlawful, unsafe, unauthorized, or unexpectedly sensitive activity connected to course work must stop the affected activity, preserve information safely, and promptly notify Professor Wandt or the designated course contact. Immediate threats should be reported first to emergency, public-safety, legal, or institutional authorities as appropriate.

Consequences

Unsafe or unauthorized technical activity may result in a stop-work direction, loss of lab privileges, assignment or course consequences, removal from a course or program where permitted, and referral to College, law-enforcement, or other appropriate authorities.

Technology-Rich Courses

Professor Wandt’s courses may use emerging, experimental, specialized, or unfamiliar technologies. Examples include Discord, virtual machines, cloud tools, Linux or other operating systems, forensic software, AI systems, encryption tools, online research platforms, social-media tools, video production, off-site activities, and specialized investigative environments.

Student Responsibility

Students are expected to make a good-faith effort to learn assigned tools, follow setup and security instructions, maintain reasonable access, and ask for help early. An unfamiliar interface is part of the learning process but does not excuse ignoring instructions or safety controls.

Risk, Privacy, and Accounts

Students should avoid exposing personal accounts, sensitive data, private credentials, or personal devices to unnecessary risk. When possible and appropriate, students should use course-approved accounts, test data, pseudonymous research accounts, virtual machines, multifactor authentication, password managers, or other safeguards identified by the instructor.

Concerns, Accessibility, and Modifications

A student who believes a required technology creates a security, privacy, accessibility, legal, religious, or personal-safety concern should notify Professor Wandt promptly by private Discord message. The learning objective may still apply, but an approved accommodation, reasonable modification, alternate method, or additional safeguard may be available.

Professional Conduct

Students must use course technologies professionally. Harassment, misuse, credential sharing, deliberate disruption, evasion of safeguards, or use of a course platform for prohibited purposes may result in restriction from the system and other course or institutional consequences. Unauthorized class recording is governed by the specific recording policy and consequence in Section VI.

Attendance at Online Class Sessions

A class session conducted through Zoom is a scheduled class meeting—not a listen-only stream that may be attended while traveling, exercising, working, or completing other activities.

Professor Wandt’s teaching style is highly participatory and student-focused. Students will normally be called on at least once during each class session and may be called on multiple times. Every student must therefore remain attentive, follow the discussion, and be prepared to respond, ask questions, contribute to activities, and participate meaningfully throughout the class.

Students attending a Zoom class must join from a safe, stationary, and appropriate location that is conducive to learning. The student must be able to give the class sustained attention, access required course materials, hear and follow the discussion, respond when addressed, and participate professionally when requested.

Students may not attend a Zoom class:

• from inside a car or any other vehicle, whether moving or parked and whether the student is the driver or a passenger;
• while riding a bus, train, subway, airplane, rideshare, or any other form of transportation;
• while walking between locations;
• while exercising or attending from a gym;
• while shopping, running errands, performing job duties, or participating in another activity that interferes with attention; or
• from any environment that is unsafe, excessively distracting, disruptive, or inconsistent with professional participation in a university class.

Merely connecting to Zoom does not establish attendance. Students must be present, attentive, and reasonably available to participate throughout the session. A student who joins from a prohibited or unsuitable environment, repeatedly fails to respond when called upon, or is otherwise not meaningfully present may be directed to leave the session and may be recorded as absent.

Students who cannot attend from an appropriate learning environment should not connect merely to create the appearance of attendance. They should contact Professor Wandt through Discord as early as reasonably possible and follow the course’s attendance and absence procedures. Advance communication does not automatically excuse an absence, but it allows the circumstances to be considered appropriately.

These requirements protect student safety, preserve the learning environment, and ensure that online class sessions receive the same attention and professionalism expected during an in-person class.

Webcam Use During Online Class Sessions

Students are expected to have their webcams turned on throughout every Zoom class session. Because Professor Wandt’s courses emphasize discussion, interaction, and active student participation, visible presence is an important part of the online learning environment.

The webcam requirement serves a direct pedagogical purpose. When teaching in person, Professor Wandt relies on students’ expressions, reactions, and other visual cues to determine whether the class understands the material. The same visual feedback is important during a Zoom class. It helps the professor recognize when a concept requires further explanation, when the pace should change, when an example is effective, and when the discussion should move in a different direction. Seeing the class allows the lecture to remain responsive to students rather than becoming a one-way presentation.

A student who has a legitimate privacy, safety, medical, disability-related, personal-well-being, or comparable concern may request an exemption from the webcam requirement. Professor Wandt will work reasonably and respectfully with students who need such an exemption.

Webcam exemption requests must be made privately through Discord direct message and should ordinarily be submitted before the class session for which the exemption is needed. A student requesting an exemption does not need to send medical records or disclose unnecessary sensitive details through Discord. The student should provide enough information to explain the general nature of the concern and the accommodation being requested.

An exemption may apply to a single class session, a defined period, or the remainder of the course, depending on the circumstances. Unless Professor Wandt has granted an exemption in advance, students must attend Zoom sessions with their webcams on.

An unexpected technical, privacy, safety, or health-related problem arising during class should be reported to Professor Wandt by Discord direct message as soon as reasonably possible. Reporting an unexpected problem does not automatically excuse noncompliance, but it allows the circumstances to be evaluated fairly.

A webcam exemption changes only the camera requirement. The student must still attend from an appropriate learning environment, remain attentive, respond when called upon, and participate fully in the class.

Stay Home When Sick

Students should not attend an in-person class, scheduled in-office meeting, lab, field activity, or other in-person course activity when they have symptoms of a contagious illness or have been advised to remain home under applicable medical, public-health, or College guidance.

Notification and Privacy

A student who misses class because of illness should notify Professor Wandt as soon as practicable through the designated Discord channel or private message. Students should not place detailed medical information in Discord. Medical documentation, when required, will be handled through an appropriate official system.

Health Precautions

Students may use reasonable personal health precautions that do not involve wearing a health or protective face mask in the classroom. Students are not permitted to wear health or protective face masks during an in-person class session unless an approved accommodation or a controlling law or College/CUNY requirement applies. A student who believes an exception is needed should use the applicable official process and notify Professor Wandt by private Discord message as early as possible.

Students must respect lawful and approved health precautions and may not stigmatize, mock, pressure, or harass another person concerning illness or an authorized precaution. A student who is sick should follow the stay-home rule rather than attend class while relying on a mask.

Missed Work

A student who misses class remains responsible for course work. Consistent with the syllabus, approved accommodations, and the circumstances, Professor Wandt may provide access to available notes or an instructor-provided or instructor-authorized recording, identify alternate participation, or adjust a deadline when appropriate.

Medical Emergencies

A student experiencing a medical emergency should seek immediate assistance through emergency services or campus resources before contacting Professor Wandt.

Inclusive Course Commitment

Professor Wandt is committed to an inclusive course design and to providing equal access in collaboration with John Jay College’s Office of Accessibility Services (OAS).

Official Accommodations

Students who need disability-related accommodations should contact OAS as early as possible. OAS determines and communicates approved accommodations through the College’s established process. Professor Wandt will honor and implement approved accommodations after receiving the official notice.

Students are not required to disclose a diagnosis or detailed disability information to Professor Wandt. Disability documentation should be provided to OAS, not posted in Discord or sent through a general course channel.

Current OAS information is available at John Jay College Accessibility Services. As of version 20260826, OAS lists New Building Room L.66, telephone 212-237-8031, and accessibilityservices@jjay.cuny.edu as contact information. Students should use the current information on the official page if it changes.

Timing and Implementation

Students may seek accommodations at any point in the semester and are encouraged to act early enough for timely implementation. Retroactive changes are governed by OAS and applicable policy. Professor Wandt will maintain appropriate confidentiality and work with the student and OAS to implement approved measures.

Accessibility Barriers

A student who encounters an accessibility barrier in Discord, Brightspace, a document, media, laboratory, assessment, or other required technology should notify Professor Wandt promptly by private Discord message and contact OAS when appropriate. Professor Wandt will work toward an accessible solution while following the official accommodation process.

No Waiver of Approved Rights

The communication and technology requirements in this manual do not override an approved accommodation or controlling accessibility requirement. An alternate means of access or participation may be used when approved or otherwise required.

General Rule

Only enrolled students, authorized College personnel, approved guests, and invited speakers may attend class sessions, labs, fieldwork, online meetings, or restricted course communication spaces.

Children in Class

Because courses may involve sensitive criminal-justice, cybercrime, investigative, legal, graphic, confidential, or adult professional content, children generally may not attend class sessions, labs, or course activities. A student facing an unexpected childcare emergency should contact Professor Wandt as soon as possible to discuss available options.

Guests

Students may not bring a guest to class, a lab, fieldwork, an online meeting, or a restricted Discord area without prior permission. A guest may be denied or removed when the person’s presence would affect confidentiality, safety, instructional focus, or the learning environment.

Individual Meetings

A student who needs to bring a child or another person to an in-office meeting should state that need in the private Discord message used to arrange the meeting. Professor Wandt may instead arrange a virtual Zoom session, reschedule, or take other steps to protect confidential material.

Confidentiality

Students may not expose a guest or child to confidential course discussions, student information, investigative material, sensitive images, protected records, law-enforcement-sensitive content, or private communications.

Discretionary Nature

Letters of recommendation and professional references are discretionary. Professor Wandt will agree only when he can provide a truthful, specific, and appropriately supportive assessment based on meaningful knowledge of the student’s work, professionalism, ethics, and qualifications.

Eligibility: No Single-Course Letters

Professor Wandt does not write a recommendation letter for a student whose only experience with him is one course, regardless of grade or performance. Exceptional performance in that course is not an exception.

To be considered, a student must have proven performance, judgment, professionalism, and ethics over time through:

• work with Professor Wandt in multiple courses; or
• sustained research, advanced projects, or other substantive activities beyond one course that give Professor Wandt a sufficient basis to evaluate the student over time.

Request Timeline and Channel

Students should provide at least three to four weeks’ notice whenever possible. The initial request should be sent by private Discord message. Short-notice requests may be declined.

Required Materials

If Professor Wandt is willing to consider the request, the student should provide the materials through the channel he identifies. These commonly include:

• the opportunity description and deadline;
• submission instructions;
• a current résumé or curriculum vitae;
• an unofficial transcript when relevant;
• a list of courses, projects, or work completed with Professor Wandt; and
• concise bullet points describing accomplishments or qualities relevant to the opportunity.

Sensitive records should not be sent through Discord unless Professor Wandt specifically determines that the method is appropriate.

Right to Decline

Eligibility permits a request but does not guarantee a letter. Professor Wandt may decline or offer a limited reference when he cannot provide a strong, accurate, individualized recommendation or meet the requested timeline.

Authority and Relationship to Other Rules

This manual is the authoritative global policy for Professor Wandt’s courses. Course syllabi, assignment instructions, rubrics, and posted clarifications implement and supplement it within the authority the manual delegates to them.

The following order governs when rules appear to conflict:

1. applicable law and controlling John Jay College or CUNY policy;
2. an official accommodation or institutional directive;
3. this global manual;
4. the course syllabus;
5. assignment-specific instructions and rubrics; and
6. posted course clarifications.

The global manual controls whenever a lower-level course document conflicts with it. A lower-level document may add a more specific rule only where this manual delegates authority for course-level or assignment-level implementation. For example, a WADL assignment authorization or an assignment labeled “No AI” or P0 does not override the manual; it exercises the assignment-specific authority the manual grants. A private or informal message does not alter an official grade or submission record unless the change is reflected through the appropriate course or institutional process.

Platform Consistency

Discord is the primary instructional and routine communication environment. Brightspace remains the official learning management system, the authoritative repository for course learning materials, and the academic system of record. Official John Jay/CUNY systems govern protected or institutionally administered matters. References to a “designated course channel” should be read consistently with those roles.

Assignment-Specific Rules

An individual assignment establishes its WADL process authorization and its verification and record requirements. It may also specify collaboration, sources, technology, deadlines, format, disclosure placement, or lab conditions within the authority delegated by this manual. Assignment instructions may not waive or weaken the manual’s global requirements for honesty, accountability, privacy, verification, exact records when required, or personal responsibility. Students are responsible for following all valid assignment-specific requirements.

Updates

Professor Wandt may update this manual to reflect changes in law, College or CUNY policy, technology, public-health guidance, course design, or instructional needs. Material changes will be announced in Discord. When a change affects a graded submission, grade, formal record, or protected process, it will also be reflected in Brightspace or another appropriate official system.

Policy changes apply prospectively from their announced effective date. A change will not retroactively alter the rules governing work already submitted or an assessment already begun, unless controlling law or an immediate John Jay College or CUNY requirement requires otherwise.

Questions and Prospective Clarification

Students who are unsure how a policy applies should ask before acting through the appropriate Discord channel or private message. Prospective clarification is preferable to guessing, particularly for AI use, academic integrity, collaboration, sources, technical research, course-material sharing, privacy, and deadlines.

Institutional References

• CUNY Academic Integrity Policy
• John Jay College Academic Integrity Policy
• John Jay College Office of Accessibility Services
• John Jay College Policy Prohibiting Recording by Students or Visitors of Class Sessions