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 three 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 who you work with throughout the semester. At the end of the semester you will evaluate the people you worked with during the semester, and your evaluations can be used to adjust their grades (up or down) where appropriate.
3. Submitted homework assignments should be original work.  Do not copy work from other groups or from past students.
4. 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.
5. The course Project will involve programming the Adept Robot in the Robotics Laboratory (Engrg B6).  You are required to work on the project in groups of two or three students.  You must not operate the robot by yourself -- there must always be at least two group members present.

II. Exams

1. There will be two examinations during the semester.  The first will be an in-class multiple choice exam and the second will be a take-home exam.  There is also a final exam that will be comprehensive but will stress material not covered by previous examinations. The final exam will be similar in format to the first exam. 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 1 to 3 big problems. Also, the format provides fast, fair, and uniform grading without need for "partial credit."
2. To me, the purpose for in-class 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 that 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 that you might take in the future (e.g., FE, PE, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, etc.) are also multiple choice, so it is important that you are comfortable with these types of exams.
   
4. The non take-home examinations will be closed notes, closed book, and closed neighbor.  No calculators are allowed (or necessary). The only things allowed during these examinations are pencils and erasers.
5. Make-up exams will be given only for unanticipatable, and unavoidable circumstances.

III. Grading

1. Any disagreement with homework or exam grading must be settled with Dr. Dave 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. No extra credit work will be offered to individuals to improve class grades.