NOTE: the "Students' Responsibilities" section under Policies and Guiding Principles of the University General Catalog provides general policies of conduct.  Particularly important is the subsection on Academic Integrity.  The policies below provide additional specific guidelines for this course.

I. 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. You may work on homework individually or in a group of up to four people.  To enhance your learning experience, I strongly encourage you to work in groups.  If you do, I recommend the following approach: try to work the problems individually first, then compare your approaches and results with your group members, then work together to settle on the correct approach and final answers.  DO NOT DIVIDE THE PROBLEMS UP WITHIN YOUR GROUP -- EVERY PERSON SHOULD TRY TO WORK EVERY PROBLEM. If you work in a group, please submit only a single neat homework solution copy per group with each person's full name listed. You can change your group members at any time.
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. Submitted homework assignments must be original work.  Do not copy work from other groups, past students, solution manuals, other books, etc.
5. Homework must be submitted before the beginning of class the day it is due. If you have trouble getting to class early, 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., few minutes late: -5%;  after class: -10%;  few hours late: -50%; more than a day late: -100%) unless there are unanticipatable and unavoidable circumstances.
6. 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.

II. Quizzes

1. Quizzes must be taken online in RamCT.  See the syllabus for all quiz due dates. You are strongly encouraged to use Internet Explorer as your browser when using RamCT. Problems (e.g., improper display of Greek letters and special characters) are sometimes reported with Firefox and other browsers. If you still decide to use a browser other than Internet Explorer, just be aware that Greek letters might be replaced by their Roman equivalents (e.g., d for "delta," g for "gamma," m for "mu", q for "theta," etc.).
2. The purposes for the quizzes are to encourage class attendance and note taking, to encourage you to study and learn throughout the semester, and to give you examples of typical basic exam questions.
3. There is a practice quiz (quiz 0) available for you to take at any time for you to learn how to use the RamCT quiz mechanism.  Please try this quiz before attempting a real quiz (e.g., quiz 1).  The practice quiz does not affect your course grade.
4. The quizzes cover material presented in class and Lab during the week or weeks listed on the syllabus. Questions may also come from your reading assignments. The list of topics for each week are included on the syllabus and Lab schedule.
5. You can use any resources you desire during quizzes (book, lecture notes, etc.) but you are not allowed to get help from others (i.e., you must do your own work and not get answers from others).
6. Quizzes are available to be taken immediately after the last lecture covered by the quiz. This is the earliest you can take the quiz.
7. Quizzes must be taken and submitted by 10 pm on the due date, which is the Tuesday of the week following the lecture week(s) covered by the quiz.  Quizzes cannot be submitted late.  You will receive a zero for any quiz not submitted. Do not wait until the last few hours of Tuesday night (before 10 pm) to take the quiz. I recommend you take the quiz Friday, over the weekend, or Monday. That way, if something out of your control goes wrong (e.g., RamCT or the network crashes during the middle of your quiz), you can contact Dr. Dave soon enough for him to be able to reset your quiz in time for you to retake it before the deadline. If you wait until late Tuesday and something goes wrong, you are out of luck (although, you do get to drop one quiz). Bottom line: do not let luck control your fate -- take the quiz earlier.
8. Each quiz (except the practice quiz) can be taken only once.
9. You are allowed only 20 minutes to complete each quiz.  Therefore, be sure to read through your lecture notes and the reading assignment first so you will be prepared. Also, be sure to save the individual question answers while taking the quiz because you are not allowed to submit unsaved answers after the time has expired.
   
10. Your lowest quiz score will be dropped at the end of the semester.

III. Laboratory

1. You must read the Lab write-up in the Lab book BEFORE coming to Lab. You should also view the related online video demonstrations (see the links on the Lab schedule). There will be a quiz at the beginning of each Lab to test whether or not you have come prepared (by reading the Lab and associated textbook material). If you are not in Lab at the beginning of the period (e.g., within the first 10 minutes), you will not be allowed to take the quiz.
2. Each Lab group (usually 3 or 4 people) must turn in a single Lab summary sheet (with each participating group member's name on it), or get checked off by the TA, before the end of the Lab period.
3. If you are unable to make it to your scheduled Lab, you can make arrangements with your TA to make-up the Lab during one of the other scheduled times. If you don't make arrangements before your scheduled Lab (e.g., by contacting your TA via phone or e-mail, or in person), you will still be allowed and encouraged to make-up the Lab, but you will receive a maximum of 50% credit for the Lab. Any make-ups must be completed within one week of the missed Lab.
4. No food or drink is allowed in the Lab at any time.

IV. Exams

1. Examinations during the semester will be administered during the regular class period (50 minutes) 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 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 examinations will be closed notes, closed book, and closed neighbor.  The only things allowed during the examinations are pencils, an eraser, and a calculator (although it won't be used much). No 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 examination will be comprehensive but will stress material not covered by previous examinations.
8. Any form of cheating on any examination will result in severe penalties (e.g., F in the course or expulsion from the university).

V. 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 or Lab-related grading must be settled with your TA, also within one week after the graded material is returned.
2. Grading will be adjusted throughout and 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).  Also, the cutoffs will never increase during the semester (i.e., a cutoff at the end of the semester will not be higher than a cutoff published at the middle of the semester). Grades and cutoffs will be posted throughout the semester so you always know where you stand.
3. +/- grading will be used for borderline final scores (those within 1-3 points of the cutoffs).  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. The goal is for students with similar scores to get the same grade.
4. As with all undergraduate ME courses, if you are an ME major, you must get a C or better in this course. If you get a C- or below, you must retake this course. With a retake of MECH324, you have the option of using your Lab grade (all or nothing) from the previous semester. If you want to reuse your previous Lab grade, you must have your previous instructor e-mail the Lab score to Dr. Dave by the end of the second week of the semester.
5. No individual extra credit work or extra points (or fractions of points) will be offered to improve grades, regardless or how persuasive you try to be.