ISIM Policy and Grading
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    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. Ninjas will provide extra tutoring and after hours support. They will also grade the labs.

    Laptop Use

    Student laptops may not be open during lecture unless specifically requested by the instructors. Bring your laptop to every lab class.

    Equipment

    All equipment for the course is college property and should remain in AC428. Removing equipment from this room without permission is stealing. period. Anyone removing equipment from the room will be reported to the honor board for theft.

    Grading Policy

    Like all of the 1st semester courses, your iSIM grade will either be Pass or No Record. If you show up and do your work, you will pass. This grading strategy is to help you focus on learning instead of grades and to relieve some stress while you transition into being a college student. We know that you're going to work hard and rock iSIM. You're going to face some challenging content, and some things will take a while to click (don't freak out if you're struggling to understand something... you're not alone). In addition to learning technical content and skills, we want you to practice professionalism and time management. Therefore, we are asking you to turn in lab reports and quizzes on time (even if they are not perfect), so that you don't fall behind. What you need to do to pass iSIM:
    • Submit lab reports on time with a score of Marginal or better (see ratings below).
    • You can keep an Unacceptable rating on lab report without needing to resubmit. For any lab report submitted on time that receives an Unacceptable rating, you can talk to the NINJA/professor about how to improve, and then you can resubmit that lab report. This must happen within 3 weeks of the due date, or before the end of the semester, whichever is first.
    • In addition to one lab report with an Unacceptable rating, you can also choose not to submit one lab report at all. (We suggest that you reserve this for if you get sick and fall behind.)
    • Complete 70% of quizzes on time (assume there will be 10 quizzes).

    Life throws us all curveballs sometimes. If issues outside class are impacting your ability to keep with the work - see one of the faculty. They will help you come up with a plan to get on track. Do not ask Ninjas for extensions or special accomodations.

    Weekly lab reports

    All labs will be submitted via Canvas one week later before your next lab session starts. Ninjas will grade and comment on your labs during the class period when you submit it. They will provide comments such that your future labs will get better and better as the year goes on. If you have questions on the comments, please see one of the faculty. For each of your lab reports, you will receive an overall grade and specific comments for strategies to improve your report (the comments are on Canvas). We are providing grades on lab reports to help you get a sense of expectations. The grade options are:
    • "Excellent": Very high quality work. Figures are beautiful. Writing is clear and concise. The evidence/data collected is clearly presented, and the analysis/interpretation is thoughtful.
    • "Good": Good quality lab report. Room to grow in figures or writing, but overall an appropriate quality for the course.
    • "Marginal": It's clear that you made an honest attempt. There are some significant errors, major conceptual misunderstandings, and/or poor communication in writing/figures.
    • "Unacceptable": The quality or quantity of work in this lab report is not acceptable to be considered a completed lab report. Often this is because a significant portion is missing, but you actually attempted the lab. (There is an option to resubmit these - details below.)

    Quizzes

    There will be a weekly diagnostic quiz before each Monday class. The point of the weekly "diagnostic quiz" is for both you and for us to get a glimpse of what you understand and what you are still figuring out. Your score on these quizzes will not affect your grade (but you must complete 70% of them on time, so set yourself a reminder).

    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.


    Sept 2017.