MAE 124/ESYS 103:
Grading and Course Policy
Spring 2006
|
| Papers |
|
40% |
| Participation |
|
10% |
| Mid-term |
|
20% |
| Final |
|
30% |
Important points that you must remember:
Homework assignments and announcements will be posted on the Web.
Supplementary notes and links will only be available on the Web.
You are encouraged to work together on the homework and learn from
each other. Discussion on how to approach an assignment is an important
part of the learning process. Each of you must individually submit the
assignment. It is very important that you actually do the work
yourself. Simply copying homework will do you no good. Specifically,
any direct evidence of plagiarism in the homework will be grounds for
receiving an F in the entire course. We will also report you to your
college for administrative penalties. Furthermore, any evidence of
cheating on either the final or the midterm will be grounds for
receiving an F in the entire course. Exams will emphasize understanding
and synthesis rather than regurgitation of material.
Assigned homework:
- Paper 1 will be assigned on Thursday April 13th: Due on
Thursday April 27th.
- Paper 2 will be assigned on Thursday May 11th: Due on
Thursday June 1st.
Each homework assignment will require you to research and write a
report on
some aspect of engineering and the environment.
Papers will be submitted through turnitin.com,
which time-stamps the submissions and checks for plagiarism. See here for instructions.
No late homework, under any excuse.
All assignments must be typed and should be submitted electronically.
Brevity and clarity are critical attributes of good reports.
Participation will be evaluated in three ways:
- One-question quizzes during the 4th hour (focused on reading or
discussion material). The lowest grade on the quizzes will be discarded.
- Responses to being called on in class.
- General participation in class discussion. (We will favor
thoughtful contributions and discourage any one individual from dominating
the discussion.)
- The 4th hour is a scheduled part of the class.
As a special arrangement for the one or two students who have provided
written documentation explaining why they must miss multiple
discussions, we will post discussion questions on the
class
schedule web
site. We will accept 1-2 page written responses to the discussion questions
(but no more than two weeks after the discussion class in question.) This
special arrangement will partially compensate, but not fully exonerate,
those who must miss the 4th hour.
Midterm date: Thursday, May 11th (during lecture: 09:30-10:50).
Final: Thursday June 15th 08:00-11:00..
Both the midterm and the final examination will be open note. You
may bring in any handwritten notes you wish. If you have typed your notes,
we will ask you to turn them in with your midterm so that we can ensure that
you are not all working from identical typed notes. You may not use
the text book or any other bound books.
There is a very useful guide to the general and also campus
specific
issues involved in academic honesty at the Engineering
Student Services web site. Follow the link to "Academic Conduct".
The midterm will discuss work covered up to, and including the
previous Tuesday.
The final will cover the entire course.
You will be supplied with a blue book for the exam.
Each exam will always cover materials discussed in class, or
assigned in the weekly announcement on the Web.
Just like no late homework, there are absolutely no make-up
exams. No excuses.
When you are asked to stop writing at the end of each exam, the
only writing should be the addition of your name to the front page. Anyone
caught cheating on either the midterm or final exam will be considered
to have committed a sufficiently serious offence to fail the entire
course.
The midterm will be a review of all the material you have
already encountered. There will be no choice on the
exam.
The final will contain 5 questions.
The first (compulsory) question on the final, worth 50% of the
total marks for the final, will involve relatively short answers to
demonstrate understanding
of the entirety of the content of the course.
There will be 4 long questions on the final, requiring extended
in depth discussion of a particular part of the course. For example,
without committing myself in any way, it is possible that:
- Q2 will be concerned with the fundamentals of sustainable
economic activity;
- Q3 will consider engineering and design for sustainability;
- Q4 will discuss an energy issue;
- Q5 will require a consideration of environmental issues in
other industrial sectors.
Your best two answers to these questions will each be worth
25% of the total marks for the final.
Grading is a crucial part of the course, of course!
Here is an approximate explanation of the guidelines used to determine
grades:
- We have no preconceived notions of the correct number of As, Bs
and Cs that will be awarded. Good performance will obtain a good mark
irrespective of the performance of the rest of the class.
- We will be interested in:
- Clarity of argument;
- Quality of discussion;
- Evidence of research and reading;
- Synthesis of diverse sources;
- Independence of thought.
- Marks will be lost for:
- Poor grammar;
- Poor spelling;
- Unnecessary length.
- For each component of the course independently
(homework/midterm/final), We will review the class performance as a
whole, and determine how many marks correspond to a bare "A" (rather
than "A-"), "B" and "C" performance.
- We scale the marks in this way so that, when we mix the three
components together, we can rationally arrive at a letter grade for
every student, irrespective of varying performance on the different
components of the assessment.
- Doing well in only the midterm or only
the final is not sufficient to warrant a "good" grade. Your final grade
is the culmination of your quarter-long effort.
- In 2006, final grades were adjusted to fit the following notional scale:
- A+ > 97;
- A 90-97;
- A- 87.5-90;
- B+ 85-87.5;
- B 80-85;
- B- 77.3-80;
- C+ 75-77.3;
- C 70-75;
- C- 67.5-70;
- D 57.5-67.5;
- F < 57.5;
Course
Components