I. Academic Honesty

This course will adhere to the Academic Integrity Policy of the Colorado State University General Catalog (see p. 7) and Student Conduct Code, and the Mechanical Engineering  Student Academic Integrity Policy. Please review the material at these links. In short, you are expected to not give, receive, or use any unauthorized assistance for any course work.

The policies below provide additional specific guidelines for this course.

II. General and Homework

1. You are responsible for everything you miss in class (handouts, notes, assignments, etc.). Extra handouts can be printed from the course website (see handouts).
2. To enhance your learning experience, you are encouraged to communicate with classmates concerning homework assignments. However, you must submit your own work. It is OK to help each other (e.g., by asking and answering questions), but it is not OK to copy the work of others (e.g., current or past students). Also, if you let somebody copy your work (e.g., by sharing a file or problem solution), you are partly responsible for the copying, and both you and the copier will be penalized (e.g., 50% off). To help prevent copying, please be careful to not leave your work or printouts laying around, and never leave a Lab computer unattended without logging off.
3. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT YOU SHOW ALL STEPS IN YOUR WORK.  GRADING WILL BE BASED ON THE COMPLETENESS, CLARITY, AND CORRECTNESS OF YOUR WORK, NOT JUST THE ANSWERS YOU PROVIDE.
4. Please make sure you clearly box or highlight all answers to all questions.
5. Homework must be submitted in class, before lecture begins, on the day it is due. If you have trouble getting to class on time, you should turn in your homework the night before or earlier in the morning (by sliding it under Dr. Dave's office door). Late work will not be accepted without penalty (e.g., during or after class: -10%;  few hours late: -50%; more than a day late: -100%) unless there are unanticipatable and unavoidable circumstances.
6. You are not allowed to submit any homework assignment in pieces. We grade only what is turned in with your original homework packet.  You have the option of keeping your entire packet until it is more complete, and turning it in late; but this is usually not the best approach, because late penalties (see Course Policy I.e) apply to the entire homework packet.
7. Electronic homework submittals are not allowed.  You must submit everything together, as a printed (and/or handwritten) and stapled document with everything in the correct order, with a single staple (with no binding of any sort). Any 8.5x11" paper is acceptable (i.e., engineering paper is not required), and double-sided work is also okay. Your full name must be neatly and prominently displayed at the top of the first (cover) page.
8. Please box all answers to problems. If using MathCAD, you can box and highlight a result by right-clicking on it and selecting Properties and then "Show Border" and/or "Highlight Region."
9. Graded homework must be picked up in class the day it is returned, or during the following class period. Any unclaimed homeworks will be discarded after the second class period.
10. Homework solutions will be posted in the display cases outside of the ME Office. Only the most recent solution set will remain in the case.  Point allocations for each problem will be shown on the solutions.  Please refer to these before questioning the grading of an assignment.
11. When you have detailed homework questions or difficulties, please try to visit the TA during his or her office hours. Use e-mail only for basic questions or clarifications. Do not include attachments with e-mail questions. If you have detailed questions about a MathCAD file, please visit the TA during Lab office hours or bring in a printout.

III. Exams

1. Exams during the semester will be administered during the regular class period (50 minutes), in the regular lecture room, and will be multiple choice format.  The purposes for the multiple choice exams are to eliminate time as a factor; eliminate traditional "plug and chug" number crunching; test a broad understanding by having many simple, diverse questions rather than just a few big problems; and to provide fast, fair, and uniform grading without need for "partial credit."
2. To me, the purpose for exams is to test understanding and application of basic concepts and principles in the course. The purpose is not to give traditional, detailed homework-like analysis problems or open-ended design problems. In my view, a limited time, high pressure, in-class exam is not the appropriate forum for attempting to evaluate problem-solving and solution-synthesis skills. In principle, oral exams or take-home exams would be better tools to measure knowledge and understanding; however, there are practical issues that eliminate these options as possibilities.
3. One of the reasons I use multiple choice exams is that it lets me break down very large problems into small parts so "partial credit" is automatic. If I gave 3 or 4 large problems instead of 25-35 small sub-problem questions, I would still take off points for the small sub-problems answered incorrectly on the large problem exam. I feel that the multiple choice exam format is lower stress for you, allows me to give exams during the regular class time (instead of 2-3 hour evening exams), prevents you from losing a huge number of points if you were to totally space out on a large problem, and is a good measure of your basic understanding of the material. Also, grading is fast, impartial, and error-free. Also, many important exams you might take in the future (e.g., FE, PE, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, etc.) are also multiple choice, so it is important you are comfortable with these types of exams.
   
4. All exams will be closed notes, closed book, and closed neighbor.  The only things allowed during the examinations are pencils and an eraser. No calculator or scratch paper is allowed. You must do all work on the exam.  Handouts (containing formulas and other reference information) will be provided with the exams.  See Exam Information to view the handouts provided with the exams.
5. You are required to bring you CSU ID to all examinations. You must enter and fill in dots for your last name and CSU ID # (not SSN) on your Scantron sheets. If you don't, there will be a penalty.
6. Make-up exams will be given only in the event of unanticipatable and unavoidable circumstances.
7. The final exam will be comprehensive but will stress material not covered by previous examinations.
8. All exams (including the final) will be administered in the same room used for lectures.
9. Any form of cheating on any examination will result in severe penalties (e.g., F in the course or expulsion from the university).

IV. Grading

1. Any disagreement with exam grading must be settled with Dr. Dave within one week after the graded material is returned. Any disagreement with homework grading must be settled with the TA, also within one week after the graded material is returned. If you think an error was made with the grading, please first refer to the solution key (which shows partial credit point allocations) in the glass display case in the hall outside of the ME office. Also, refer to the original problem statement in the textbook and the extra requirements listed on the course webpage. If you still think an error was made, please see the TA during his or her office hours.
2. Grading will be adjusted at the end of the semester with a sliding scale (e.g., an 87.4 might be an A).  Cutoff scores between the letter grades will be based on overall class performance and based on the distribution of scores.  Cutoffs usually occur where there are gaps between clusters of similar scores.  Initial cutoffs will be based on the traditional decade-based grading scale (90 for A, 80 for B, etc.).  The cutoffs will never be above the decade-based values (i.e., you will never require a score higher than 89.5 to receive an A).  Estimated grades will be posted throughout the semester so you always know where you stand.
3. +/- grading (for C+ and above) will be used for borderline final scores.  It will be applied only at the end of the semester. The exact cutoff points for the +/- grades depend on how scores are distributed around the sliding-scale cutoffs, but the +/- cutoffs are usually within 0-3 points of the sliding-scale cutoffs. The goal is for students with similar scores to get the same grade.
4. If you are an ME major, you must get a C or better in this course. If you get a D or F, you must retake this course.
5. No individual extra credit work or extra points (or fractions of points) will be offered to improve grades, regardless or how persuasive you might try to be.