Policy

Laptop and phone use

Student laptops may not be open during class unless specifically requested. Please put your phone away. Studies support that laptops and phones are really distracting in class and that students who take notes by hand, do significantly better than those who take notes on the computer.

Grading Policy

  • 33 percent of your grade will be determined by short regular HW assignments.
  • 33 percent of your grade will be determined by the longer, open ended HW assignments.
  • 33 percent for your grade will be determined by a mid-term and final exam.

Homework

The best tip I have for doing well in the course is keeping up with the weekly assignments.

  • Short answer homework will be graded only on effort and timeliness. We will only check that you are working with the problems, we will not grade whether each problem is correct or not. Solutions will be posted for you to compare to.
  • Open ended homework will be looked at more carefully. It will be graded for content and clarity. Your open-ended problems should be written up neatly and professionally. It does not need to be typed, but it should be clear to follow, graphs should be annotated, assumptions stated, key results boxed and highlighted, etc.
  • Homework due dates will be listed on the website though the dates may change in real-time. Any changes will be announced in class and I can not promise to always update the website immediately. Class announcements override the website.
  • Hand in your homework on the due date at the beginning of class. You will upload your homework online. Short answer homework will typically be processed during class time and
  • We will be trying to keep up with the grading in a timely manner and thus we will not be grading late homework unless I have given you a special an extension for legitamate purposes.

Exams

There will be two exams around the mid-term and in the final exam block. For each exam you will spend part of the time working the exam on your own. You will then be assigned to a small group. You will then have the remaining time to complete a collaborative group exam (same questions). We will the use the remaining time to go over the answers. You will mark up and grade your own exam. . Your final exam grade will be 2/3 individual and 1/3 group.

Collaboration Policy

You are encouraged to work with others, but please do your own work. Please write the names of people you collaborate with on each of the assignments. It is expected that you could explain everything in your notebook.