CSE370 Structure, Policies and Guidelines
Your course grade will be computed as follows:
Homework assignment is
due at the beginning of the class (10:30am) in class. 10% penalty is applied 24 hours late,
and 20% penalty is applied 48 hours late.
After 10:30am 2 days after the due date, the solution will be posted and
assignment will no longer be accepted.
The lab grades are
based on completion checked by the TAs. Don’t fall behind because each lab
is worth more than 2% of your grades!
We will not curve this class --- so the student next
to you doing well does not affect your grades (and we want all of you to do
well).For example, last quarter, the average was ~3.6. We also provide extra
credit assignments/labs.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, we encourage
collaboration on assignments, provided (1) you spend at least 15 minutes on
each and every problem alone, before discussing its general concepts with
others, (2) you only discuss general concepts or related examples - not the
specifics of a problem on the assignment, and (3) you write up each and every
problem in your own writing, using your own words, and understand the solution
fully. Copying someone else's work is cheating (see below), as is copying the
homework from another source (e.g., prior year's notes, etc.). Please write down the name of
classmates you collaborated with at the top of your assignment.
Cheating is a very serious offense. If you are caught
cheating, you can expect a failing grade and initiation of a cheating case in
the University system. Basically, cheating is an insult to the instructor, to
the department and major program, and most importantly, to you and your fellow
students. If you feel that you are having a problem with the material, or don't
have time to finish an assignment, or have any number of other reasons to
cheat, then talk with the instructor. Just don't
cheat.
To avoid creating situations where copying can
arise, never e-mail or post your solution files in public directories. You can
post general questions about interpretation and tool use but limit your
comments to these categories. If in doubt about what might constitute cheating,
send the instructor e-mail
describing the situation.
We will try to ensure that the workload is typical
for a four-credit course, namely, nine to twelve hours per week outside of the
lectures. If we do not succeed, please let us know. Explain which parts of the course are
causing you to spend too much time non-productively.
We
have structured the course so that spending an hour or two per day will
maximize your efficiency. You will work this way in the real
world—you cannot cram a three-month design assignment into the last
night—so you may as well work this way now. Plus, you will understand the
material better. If you leave the homework for the day before it is due, then
you will not have time to study for the exams, and you will not have time to
ask questions when (not if)
the software misbehaves.
The homework
assignments are generally due on Wednesdays at the beginning of class (except
when there is an exam or a holiday).
The homework assignment will be distributed approximately one week
before the due date.
Your assignments must
be neat and legible. We will not spend time trying to decipher messy work. We
urge you to use the graphical and word processing tools that are readily
available to you in all the labs in the department. Please make good use of the
schematic diagram editor in the tools you'll be using to make neat circuit
diagrams to include in your assignments.
Assignment problems
will sometimes be graded on a random basis. To get full credit for an
assignment, you must, of course, turn-in solutions for each assigned problem.
Only a subset of the problems will actually be graded in detail. You will not
know in advance which problems this will be - so make sure to do all of them.
Please review the
assignment solutions carefully before questioning a grade with either the
instructor or the teaching assistants.
We have two midterms and one final exam. I heard smaller quizzes were not taken
seriously in the past and one midterm was too stressful. We welcome feedback. There will be no make-up exams so
schedule your term accordingly.
Software tools
frequently consume more time than they should. We have designed the assignments
to get you up to speed gradually (over the period of a few weeks), but
undoubtedly there will be some start-up cost (as with any new tool).
Essentially, you are learning a new language, a compiler, and getting familiar
with a process. Every tool imposes a certain model. Your frustration can be
high until you assimilate that model and learn to use it effectively. Be sure
to use the tutorials, and do not spend countless hours making no progress. Ask
for help. Remember that these tools are written by engineers for engineers and
will not necessarily conform to expectations you may have of consumer-oriented
tools such as Word.