AE3051 Rules and Grading

AE3051 Rules and Grading

Rules

Attendance at the lecture and laboratory meetings is compulsory; roll will be taken.
Laboratory time is limited, so it is vital that the students be in the proper lab group and that they report to the laboratory on time. If for some reason you cannot make the lab time for which you are scheduled, you have to make arrangements to attend the lab at a different time (if your scheduled time is the last for that week, you better come to an earlier one).
Be prepared; read the appropriate lab manual before coming to lecture.
Have your Introduction ready before the lecture starts, they are due at the beginning of the lecture. In case they are not handed back before the lab is due, please keep a copy of your introduction for your report.
Have your sample calculations ready before the lab starts, they are due at the beginning of the lab.
Review the lab manual and the lab supplement before your lab time. You are supposed to run the experiments, the TA's are there to help and guide you. They are not supposed to tell you what data is required, that is covered in the manual and supplement.
If changes to the lab are made, you should pay attention to the instructions of the following in descending order of importance: 1) what the TA’s say during lab (but you might want to make sure you understood them correctly), 2) what the lab supplement states, and 3) what the lab manual requires.
Lab reports are normally due at the beginning of the your next lab period.
You are to work on the lab reports (written and oral) individually. You are supposed to share data and discuss what took place during the experiment with other members of your group (or the TAs or the instructor). However, the lab reports are your chance to learn and communicate your findings on your own. You MAY NOT work together on graphs, plots, figures, or tables that you present in your report (unless permission is given in class or in the manual/supplements for specific figures) or answers to the supplemental questions. You can get help using relevant computer tools, e..g, if you need help in learning how to make a graph in Excel, you are free to ask ANYONE how to do it, but you may not do it with a class member and then each of you take a copy to put in your reports. This is an issue that falls under the umbrella of the GT Honor Code (see below). Any students suspected of academic dishonesty will be sent directly to the Dean (no warning, no discussion, no passing GO, no collecting $200...) so, please, turn in individual work.
We assume that you have read the Georgia Institute of Technology Academic Honor Code and that you understand and accept your responsibility as member of the Georgia Tech community to uphold the honor code at all times. In addition, we assume that you understand your options for reporting honor violations as detailed in the code. Thus we will not tolerate any academic dishonesty!

Grading

An unexcused lecture absence will result in a 30% penalty from the corresponding laboratory report. An unexcused laboratory absence will result in a zero being given for that laboratory. See the course instructor in advance (if at all possible) if you can not attend a lecture or need to reschedule a lab.
Lab reports will be accepted for up to 3 days late (not working days), with a penalty of 10% per day. If your lab report will not be ready within this time, see the course instructor (in advance, with a good reason) if you hope to get any credit. Do not get in the habit of handing labs in late as it will significantly lower your grade.
In your report you must answer ALL questions, from both in the lab manual and lab supplement. They represent an important part of your grade.
The Introduction you hand in at the beginning of each lab you perform will be reviewed and carries 10% of the grade for that lab.
Usually, lab reports will be returned one week after they are turned in. We do realize that because of this, errors made on the first report may be repeated on the second. This will be taken into account in the grading of the first two labs, but by the third lab, there will be no excuses.
Each data report (there are 7) will count 8% toward the final grade, each formal report (2) will be 14%, and the oral report will count 16% toward the final grade. There will not be any written examinations.
Your final grade is more than an average of your lab reports. Even though grading is very thorough, we also carefully evaluate each students performance in regards to items such as how well each student learned the material, how well they communicate in their reports, class participation and how well the lab was conducted. Final grades are not simply based on the decade scale (90-100 A, 80-89 B, ...).