Grade Book Updated 6/3/2011

I updated the Grade Calc column in VistaBB today and made sure that the columns for all the graded items so far are visible.  The only ones not shown yet are for the Week-9 Lab and this week’s discussion.

The following notes should help you interpret what you see there.

What’s included in the calculation

• Attendance – 25 possible – We’ll give three “free” in the final calculation
• Discussion – all but this week’s  - We’ll drop the lowest in the final calculation
• Labs – all but week-9 - We’ll drop the lowest in the final calculation

Notes on the Calculation

• This is a “raw” calculation that does NOT yet take into account the allowance for missed attendance.  Nor does it drop your lowest discussion and lab.
• We will make that adjustment before calculating the final grade, but for now you’re seeing the score without those adjustments.
• If you wish to calculate your own grade as a check, the grade calculation uses the “weights” show on the “Assignment Weights” page in the syllabus.

Dealing with errors in the calculation

If you believe there is an error in the calculation (e.g. missing grade that should be present, you should email me immediately – we’ll be calculating final grades on Monday 6/6.
Jim Mitchell – James.Mitchell@Drexel.edu

Week-7 Lab Grading Criteria

Here’s are the weights used by the grader (Mr. Nourzad) for grading the Week-7 Lab (the bridge visit)

1. 10% - Sketch the truss span
2. 0%  - Monitor the strain gage data
3. 5% – Photograph of the truck
4. 15%  - Cross-sectional area of the top chord
5. 20% - Identify the maximum strain
6. 15% - Truck weight distributed transversely to the two trusses
7. 15% - Estimate the weight of the truck
8. 5% -  Is the computed truck weight less than the legal limit?
9. 15% - Comment on the accuracy of the estimated truck weight

Cumulative Grade Calculation in VistaBB

I turned on the Grade Calc column in VistaBB today and made sure that the columns for all the assignments so far are visible.  The following notes should help you interpret what you see there.

What’s included in the calculation

• Attendance – 13 possible
• Discussion D2, D3, D4 (D4 grading may not yet be complete)
• Labs L1, L2

Notes on the Calculation

• This is a “raw” calculation that does NOT yet take into account the allowance for missed attendance.  Nor does it drop your lowest discussion and lab.
• We will make that adjustment before calculating the final grade, but for now you’re seeing the score without those adjustments.
• If you wish to calculate your own grade as a check, the grade calculation uses the “weights” show on the “Assignment Weights” page in the syllabus.

Dealing with errors in the calculation

If you believe there is an error in the calculation (e.g. missing grade that should be present, you should email me soon, NOT at the end of the term.
Jim Mitchell – James.Mitchell@Drexel.edu

Hydrology-LCA Lab–Formula Correction

A sharp student caught an error in the lab you’re working on this week.  You will want to make the following correction to the spreadsheet.

Sheet - Quest4 LCA Problem

Cell C13 – The formula should be   “= C10”

This means that the reduction in runoff is the same as the amount of toilet flushing water supplied with rainfall.  (The prior formula calculated the overflow).

Revit Lab Deliverables Definition

Question

“What are the components that need to be turned in for lab 2 in CAEE 201? I was told by the TA in the lab to only save the PDF of the sheet. On BBVista it says 20 points of the grade is the Revit model. Does this mean I needed to save my Revit file, and submit that also? Please let me know as soon as possible, because if that's the case I'm going to need to find time to re-do the lab.”

Answer

We’d like all the ingredients defined in the lab description. Since we’ve been a bit loose verbally I’m asking the TA’s to be lenient in the grading, but we want what it says under “Deliverables”:

1. Revit Model submitted to VistaBB
2. PDF of "Sheet showing product of Work" submitted to VistaBB
3. Word document describing the experience, as defined above - Also submitted to VistaBB

First Discussion–Grader’s Comments

Overall, the work on the first set of discussion posts was good!

Take a look at the grade and comments on your first post which will be up by midnight tonight before posting your second post - specific comments were made on each post.

• Make sure to include something that you find most interesting and most confusing about the articles that you've read, and also
• Don't forget to comment on earlier discussion posts in your thread.
• Finally, make sure that your post is at least 250 words - it's very difficult to talk about everything that you need to in less than that and you should spend some time discussing the articles themselves.
  

About this Blog

We'll use this blog to post announcements and answer questions that are raised throughout this term related to CAEE-201.  We advise you to subscribe to it via an RSS reader such as Google Reader.  That way you won't have to go into VistaBB to see any changes.  There are many, many blogs available on interesting topics.  A good place to search for others that may interest you is Technorati.