Grading

Specific grading elements will have the following values in determining the course grade:

All exercises, projects, and exams will be graded on a 100-point scale. The weighted final numeric grade will be calculated and available in Blackboard. Translation of the numeric to a course grade letter grade is described below. Graduate student grades may now include +'s and –'s.

Grading Class Participation

Class participation counts 5% of your final grade. Participation reflects enthusiasm, interest, class preparation and a willingness to speak up and share one's ideas, reflections and work. It includes how well you work with your teams on any group activities. To make a high grade students need to show obvious enthusiasm and interest, and speak up often, not simply to be heard, but to share their thoughts. Occasional participation will result in a B. A grade of C or lower is likely for any student who never participates in discussions or offers to share any ideas or observations with the class.

Grading on Credit/Non-Credit Exercises

For credit/no credit (C/CN) exercises, the score assigned to successful completion will be 91, which is the lowest score that equates to an A- in this course. (See table below).

Failure to hand in a C/NC exercise, on the other hand, will result in a “0”, for that exercise, which will thereby reduce your course grade by 5 points regardless of performance on other exercises, projects or exams or papers.

Calculating the Final Course Grade

Those students who have successfully completed all the C/NC exercises and whose course average at the end of the semester for all work excluding the C/NC exercises is above 91 will receive that average as a final grade. In other words, in that situation the C/NC portion will, in effect, not count toward the final grade and its arbitrariness will not reduce it. However, if you failed to satisfactorily complete one or more of the C/NC exercises, your C/NC average will in all cases be included in the computation of your grade.

For other students whose course average is below 91--in other words B+ or lower (please see table below)--your average on the C/NC exercises will count 20% of your final grade. Please note that under this arrangement any student who receives full credit for all four C/NC exercises can improve his or her grade, although the exercise score cannot change a B+ to an A- since I do not round up any final scores.

The weighted average raw course numeric score is computed in Blackboard. For students who receive 91 or above as a course average and have successfully completed the C/NC exercises, your Blackboard average will, of course, be a little lower than your true course numeric grade. Any numeric grade in Blackboard of 92.6 or above will translate to an A (93+), and any grade of 97.4 or above will translate to an A+ (99+).

Grading Scale: (Please note that it is not completely standard.)

Please note that final grades will NOT be rounded up. A 90.8 will be a B+, not an A-, and the same is true for other borderline scores.

The University of Texas Honor Code

The core values of the University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the University is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community.

Electronic Mail Notification Policy

All students should become familiar with the University's official e-mail student notification policy. It is the student's responsibility to keep the University informed as to changes in his or her e-mail address. These changes are automatically reflected in Blackboard. Students are expected to check e-mail on a frequent and regular basis in order to stay current with University-related communications. Recognizing that certain communications may be time-critical, the University recommends that e-mail be checked daily, but at a minimum, twice per week. Please note, however, that in the summer session, because of our tight schedule, twice a week will not be adequate. Students should check their email at least daily. The complete text of the policy is available at http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/emailnotify.html.

Please be certain that your official university email address is current!

Students with Disabilities

Any student with a documented disability (physical or cognitive) who requires academic accommodations should contact the Services for Students with Disabilities area of the Office of the Dean of Students at 471.6259 (voice) or 471.4641 (TTY for users who are deaf or hard of hearing) as soon as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized accommodations.