CSE370 Structure, Policies and Guidelines

 

Class Structure

 

  1.  Lectures: There will be 27 lectures.  Attendance and participation of all of them is strongly encouraged and expected. 
  2. Laboratory: There will be 9 weekly lab assignments (the last assignment spans 2 weeks).  Although you'll be able to use the lab all week, attendance at one of the scheduled times is very important as that is when the TAs will be available. We will work hard to ensure that the laboratory assignments take no more than the three hour sessions to complete. Laboratory assignments will be closely tied to the written homework assignments and are intended to give you a taste of working with real digital hardware. We will use them to reinforce key concepts. You should attend the session for which you are registered. With permission of the TA, you can attend the other section in case of unusual circumstances.
  3. Assignments: There will be 9 weekly homework assignments.  They will be based on topics covered in lectures.  There will be also reading assignments from the Contemporary Logic Design (2nd edition) text each week which is critical to keep up with the class materials.
  4. Exams: There are two in-class midterms (4/23 and 5/21) and one final exam during finals week.

Class Policy

Grading

Your course grade will be computed as follows:

  1.  30% homework assignments

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. 

  1. 20% lab assignments

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!

  1. 15% for each midterm (so 30% total)
  2. 20% final exam (cumulative but strong emphasis on materials after both midterms)

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).

Collaboration

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

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.

Class Guidelines

 

Workload

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 in whichever way you feel the most comfortable (person-to-person, e-mail, feedback form) and 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.

Assignment

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.

Exams

We have three mini-exams rather than one big final one.  I heard smaller quizzes were not taken seriously in the past and students still ended up cramming for the final exam (which is not a good way to retain information).  We welcome feedback.  There will be no make-up exams so schedule your term accordingly.

Software

Software tools frequently consume more time then 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.

 


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