You must attend and actively participate in class. It is essential to
see how the material is presented differently from the book. In
borderline grade cases, attendance and participation will be considered.
Taking Notes:
Taking
notes in this class is required. It is as important as coming to class.
Daily announcements and homework assignments
will be posted on Moodle.
Homework is assigned Monday or Tuesday, due Thursday and
then assigned Thursday or Friday, due Monday each week.
Each homework will include reading, watching video lectures, and as many as ten problems to be worked out. Part
of the homework will be done through the online homework service, and part will be submitted as written work.
Expert TA will be used for the online portion of our homework. Hopefully you will see that it is an excellent tool
to help you learn problem solving. It is required for this class, like any text. Registration information can be found in Moodle.
Written homework will come from the textbook. For written homework, you must always show your work for credit. Written homework should be submitted as
a PDF on Moodle.
Written homework problems are graded on a three point scale (3 - completely correct, 2 - mostly correct, missed a minor point, 1 - right concept only, 0 - missed the boat).
Note: As a matter of pedagogy, I do not solve homework problems during regular class. You should come to me or go to a tutor with questions about homework outside of class time.
(This is different from below, where I mention that at times we flip and you solve problems in class.)
Homework solutions to written problems will be posted on Moodle
before any relevant exam or quiz.
In addition to solving problems, you need to review your notes each day before the next class. You need to read the relevant text before you learn it in class,
and need to review all sample problems in the text. Please see additional notes on succeeding here.
At times, you will work on homework problems in class before they are due. In those cases, we will supplement the homework with lecture/demo videos.
Extra credit problems will be available beyond
the regular homework set - extra credit will both improve your
homework score and will offset your exam score if your homework
average is higher than your eaxm average. Extra credit should not be
looked at as simply a bonus, it is just homework that is not counted
against your grade if you do not do it. You should plan to do all of
the extra credit in order to succeed in this class and in order to
really learn the material.
Tutors are available through ASC, drop-in sessions for physics
will be available at times TBA throughout the week. Please check the
drop-in schedule at
https://randolph.mywconline.com/ or make an appointment at this link.
Late policy: The learning benefit of doing
an out-of-class assignment is mostly gained by doing it within the
period when it is due since that is when we are most engaged with
the relevant material. Allowing that sometimes you just feel
overwhelmed, late assignments will be accepted until only until the
second class day after it was originally due, with a 10% late
penalty plus an additional 10% penalty per class day to incentivize
you to do the assignments when they are most beneficial. Extra
credit assignments will not be assessed the late penalty, but will
also only be accepted until the second class day after it is
originally due. After this period, late assignments will not be
accepted, as it is most likely that you will be doing the assignment
as busy-work to boost your grade, and there is little learning that
is likely to be gained. I will not be able to give an extension or
reopen any regular or extra credit assignment after its End Date in
Expert TA. I truly want you to learn concepts that will be important
to you in this class, and the assignments that we choose and their
due dates are based on that wish for you to receive the best
education I can offer. We will adhere completely to this policy with
exceptions only being made in the instances of a “supportive
measures” note from the Health Center, ASC, or Associate Provost’s
office.
Exams/Quizzes:
Three short, take-home quizzes will be given on Moodle throughout
the semester.
If you do not do a quiz by the
time it is due, you will not have an opportunity to do it late. That is
unfair to your classmates who all did it on time. If you miss a quiz, I
would be happy to give you extra credit homework to practice the topic
you misssed.
Two exams will be given as listed
on the syllabus.
If the scheduled time is not possible for you, you may take it in any
two-hour block on that day or the previous class day.
The final exam has two parts: the closed book exam is
not comprehensive;
final Expert TA assignment is comprehensive.
Mind-Reading:
On humid days, I am not able to mind-read in this class, and the point
is to learn thought processes. You must show your work, show your
thought process, for homework, exam and quiz solutions in order to get
the most crediteven if your answers are correct.
Incorrect reasoning will be penalized even for correct answers.
Grade Weight:
Three Quizzes, each of equal value: 15%
Two Semester Exams and Third Exam (during finals), each of equal
value: 50%
Comprehensive Final Assignment 10%
Homework Assignments (approximately two each week, individual values vary): 25%
Additional ("extra credit") Homework: If you do the regular homework
assignments, then homework is worth 25% of your grade. The more
additional homework you do, it improves your homework grade, and
the more the homework counts, and the less the exams count. If you get
all the extra homework points, homework is then worth 45% of your grade
(an additional 20%) and the weight of the exams goes down to 30%. Or if
you get half the extra homework points, homework will count as 35% of
your grade and the weight of the exams is 40%, etc.
Please see Moodle
for a convenient grade calculator.
Honor and Responsibility:
If you are going to miss class, a homework, a lab, a quiz or an
exam,you must let me know ahead of time. You
may rescheduleearlierthan the
original due date. The only exceptions to this rule are for
unforeseen emergencies, and will require a note from the Dean or a
doctor.Takeresponsibility
for your work and yourself. Do not blame an unfinished homework on
the fact that you could not find a time to meet with me the day
before it is due. Honor is of utmost importance in the academic
atmosphere and is taken very seriously by me. I encourage people to
work together on homework and labs, but the finished product must be
your own work. I would encourage anyone to come to me with a problem
that has kept you from doing your work, so thatwe
can worksomething out, rather than
just taking a zero, or worse yet, cheating and possibly failing the
class. I will feel free to give you freedom, but then the
conduct of the Honor System instituted at Randolph College is in the
hands of the students.
This class grades on a ten-point scale, where an A is worth 95, B is
worh 85, etc. Please see
here for detail. Please note that in the case of a completion grade,
a complete assignment is an A, which is worh 95 points.
Note:
These rules are subject to change. I give ample opportunity to do well
in this class - homework is worth a significant amount and you can do it
until you get it right. For these reasons I do not typically give additional
extra credit and do not make exceptions for missing work.