Policy and Grading
Staff
Labs
Lectures
Data Sheets
Attendance and Responsibility
Class attendance is mandatory. If you must miss a class for a legitimate reason please inform us early as possible so that we can plan appropriately and provide you with makeup materials. Due to the fact that the number of students in each class takes up the available chairs and equipment, you must attend the section in which you are enrolled. If you are sick one week please contact us about which section you should attend for makeup. If you miss class for illness or other legitimate reasons we are happy to work with you to get back on track.
Ninjas
There are several Olin students who are working as Ninjas for the course. They are called Ninjas for their general awesomeness, not their ability to fight or their skill with a sword. You will meet with your Ninja once a week in a small group setting to review the week's work. These study sessions are required. Your assigned Ninja will be responsible for grading your lab reports.
Laptop Use
Student laptops may not be open during lecture unless specifically requested by the instructors. Bring your laptop to every lab class.
Analog Discovery
As part of the course you will purchase a device called the Analog Discovery. This hardware will serve the role of what formerly would have been expensive shared lab equipment. With the Analog Discovery you will have your own oscilloscope and function generator which will be useful in this class and beyond.Grading Policy
- 3/4 of your grade will be determined by your regular weekly assignments up until spring break (individual work).
- 1/4 of your grade will be determined by the final project in the course (team project).
Weekly Homework and Labs
The best tip we have for doing well in the course is keeping up with the weekly assignments. The best way to do poorly is to not do the work. Labs are graded on a ten point scale. A cummulative score of 6.5 or higher is needed to pass the course. While your final grade will be pass/fail, you can estimate your ``actual'' grade for calibration with later semesters with your average. The 10 point scale maps to the A,A-,B+,B.. scale as 9-10 A range, 8-9 B range, 7-8 C range. There are no extensions for late work unless approved by the instructors. We are reasonable people and will gladly grant extensions when you are sick or under other reasonable circumstances. Ninjas cannot grant extensions. Do not ask them.- Labs are due at the beginning of lab on the day that it is due.
- Work should be submitted on via a dropbox on the public drive. We will announce the location in class.
- Please write the approximate amount of time that you spent on each assignment so that we may monitor the pace of the class.
Grading procedure
Each lab will be graded twice. First it will be reviewed by one of the course instructors. They will not write detailed comments, but will check for timeliness, completeness, and make sure your results and analysis look reasonable. They will assign a low resolution grade of "good", "fair", "poor" or "zero". Due to the volume of labs, the instructors will not spend much time with each lab, but will give a quick check. The lab will then be more carefully reviewed and commented on by your ninja for the final grade. On the first review, a "good" means that your lab will likely fall in the 8-10 range. The "fair" means the lab will likely fall in the 7ish range. The "poor" means your lab will probably be below a 6. "Zero" means you turned nothing in.Collaboration Policy
You are encouraged to work with others, but please turn in your
own work. In general you will be required to take all your own data
and do your own experiments. On some occasions you may need to work with a lab
partner, but those assignments will be explicitly stated.
Please write the names of people you
collaborate with on each of the
assignments that you turn in.
The final project for the course will be team based.
Sept 2014.