Physics 303L -- Spring 2008 (MWF 12-1, Pai 4.42)
Homepage: http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~itiq/303L/chiu/
Unique Number:
Student access code: ytf261
1. Instructor: C. Chiu, Office: RLM 10.206, 471-1707
TA: Fung Cheung Coaching service : RLM 5th level. Schedule will be posted in this
area.
2. Course materials:
3.
Clicker questions:
o
There will be weekly inclass
test (it) at the
beginning of the class. The format is open notes and no discussion with
neighbor(s). The test
is on the homework due and also serves as an attendance check. It
consists of
o
an attendant check (25%), and
o
a test question (75%) which is similar to one of the homework
problems just turned in.
There is no makeup on inclass-test. To accommodate legitimate absences, there
will be 2 drops.
o
The lectures will be interspersed with
interactive-quiz(iq) session on a fairly regular basis.
I-clicker is used for both “it” and “iq”. Iclickers are available at
UT-coop.
4.
Course summary: The
course summary sheet attached gives the basic formulas representing the basic principles
which you will be learning in this course. We encourage you to use it as your
study companion. It is meant to help you to organize the course materials, to
do homework and to review for exams. The course summary will be included in the
exam package. Queries on this course summary are welcome at anytime, except
during the exam.
5.
Homework/midterms/Final: ( The lesson plan pages are in your handout, it is
also linked to our homepage.)
6. Grading policy:
During
the semester A student may determine
his/her exam letter-grade in the following way. Find out two letter-grades
earned, the “letter grade” based on “ps-cutoffs”(percent score cutoffs), and the “letter-grade prime”
based on ss-cutoffs
(scaled-score-cutoffs).
·
ps-cutoffs are: 40%, 55%, 75% and 90% for D, C, B and A
respectively;
If the two letter-grades
are not the same, the better is the one which the student has made.
After
the final exam a separate semester-grade-program independent of
the TT-system will be used to evaluate student’s semester grade. Here is how
the semester grade is determined for one student. For each exam, there is the ps (percent score), and ps-prime
which is determined by interpolation. To do the interpolation, the “ssèps pairs”
at following pivot points are used.
·
At the cutoff
points the pairings are: ss-cutoffs è ps-cutoffs.
·
The pairing at
the end points are: 200 è 0 and 700è100.
Again
the better between the ps and ps-prime
will be chosen by the program. Based on the grading policy stated, this
program determines the semester grade.
No make up midterm will be given. A student is required to take all four midterms. At
the end of the semester, the midterm with the lowest chosen-score will be
dropped. If a student misses a midterm, the missing midterm will be the one
which will be dropped. If the missing a midterm is due to a legitimate reason
approved by the instructor, the student may alternatively elect a no-drop
option, where the student's final exam score appropriately scaled may
replace the score of the missing midterm. After a midterm is missed, the
student needs to contact the instructor immediately by email. For the
no-drop option to be applicable, the student must take the other three
midterms.
7. TA session: TA session is a part of this course. TA session grades
will be determined by the TA. TA session record of the semester will end one
week prior to the end-of-class day. Deadline of complaints on TA session
grades is the last day of class. No dispute of TA session record beyond the
end-of-class day will be accepted.
8.
Good participation status(gp-status): The gp-status policy is
intended to encourage the student to work hard and work persistently in all
aspects throughout the semester. The gp-status will
be based on student’s pre-final TT-record, which will be completed and closed
at a designated time. Student’s verification on the accuracy of his/her TT
record prior to this designated time is a pre-requisite toward achieving the gp-status.
To
achieve gp-status, the prefinal-TT
record must satisfy following four 80% -criteria.
1)
Homework score
(after 6-drops) >80% (Note reexams are now
hw15-18),
2)
TA sessions score
>80%,
3)
Inclass test: it-score( after 2
drop) >80% .
4)
Interactive quiz: iq-score check
> 80%.
a)
Iq-score (after 4 drops) >80%. An iq-score
is assigned when there are interactive sessions during a lecture. When there is
(are) iq-session(s)
·
iq-score=1, if there is at least one correct answer
recorded;
·
iq-score
=0.8, if there is at least one answer recorded and none of the answers is
correct.
·
iq-score=0,
if there is no answer recorded.
b)
Since iq-score mainly checks student’s class attendance and
participation, a student can substitute the requirement of a) by having his/her
class notes audited during the last week of class. The classnotes
must indicate an over 80% class attendance and the participation the
corresponding iq sessions to
qualify the 4th criteria here.
A more than 20%
absence from the class for any reason (including legitimate reason) will
automatically disqualify from
consideration of the gp-status.
Following
special considerations will be applied to any student who has achieved the “gp-status”.
·
For a borderline
case, where student's % score is within 2 %-points below the cutoff, the next
higher grade will be assigned to the student.
These considerations will not
be available to a student who has not earned this status.
First class reminders: Book mark your homepage
website. Use ongoing lecture link to go through the reminders.