CSE370 Workload and Grading

Workload

The course consists of the following elements:

  1. Lectures: There will be about 30 lectures. Attendance and participation at all of them is expected.
  2. Section Meetings: There will be a total of 10 section meetings during the quarter. Attendance and participation at all of them is expected. These are just as important than the lectures, if not more so. They will not be simple review of the lecture material. There will be much new information at these meetings. We will use section meetings to do sample problems, demonstrate the design tools, and answer questions related to the lectures and assignments. You should attend the section you are registered for. With permission of the TA, you can attend the other section in case of unusual circumstances.
  3. Reading: We will cover most of the Katz text. We will assign readings with each assignment.
  4. Assignments: Approximately nine problem sets involving digital logic analysis and design, to be solved with and without the use of computer-aided design tools. These assignments may include design projects that span two or more weeks.
  5. Mid-term: There will be a one-hour mid-term approximately half-way through the quarter..
  6. Final exam: A two-hour exam during finals week.

We will try to ensure that the workload is typical for a four-credit course, namely, eight to ten 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 Thursday night, then you will not have time to study for the quizzes, and you will not have time to ask questions when (not if) the software misbehaves.

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.

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. These includes a schematic editor, state diagram editor, waveform display, word processor, etc..

We will post solutions for the assignments and quizzes in a timely fashion. Please find the time to review these before the quizzes and the final exam.

Grading

We will compute your course grade as follows:

Assignments

The weekly assignments are due at the beginning of class on the assigned due date. Assignments handed in during or immediately after class will incur a 10% penalty. We will not accept assignments after we have left the classroom.

Homework assignments may have varying total point values. The point value of each problem will be specified in the assignment handout. All problems will be graded.

Please review the assignment solutions carefully before questioning a grade with either the instructor or the teaching assistants.

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