PMU199Y

Grading

What To Expect

Having a time-pressured final Exam and big time-pressured Tests for a physics seminar course like this seemed like a bad idea educationally, not to mention stressful for students. So assessment for this course is designed to be as evenly spread over time as possible, and it measures a variety of skill sets to give everyone a chance to shine at something.

35% Written Work (graduated series of six homework essays worth 5%, 5%, 7%, 5%, 5%, 8%);
20% Oral Presentations (10% Fall, 10% Spring);
25% Timed in-class Tests (10% Fall, 15% Spring);
20% Classroom Participation (includes pre-class reading assignments and speaking up in class);
0% final exam.

For the last six years, the class average (for what it's worth statistically) has been a high B+, with many students earning As. The grade distribution has typically been constituted of nearly all As Bs and Cs, heavily skewed towards the high grades. Last year as many as five out of twenty students scored A+, and more than half the class got As. No-one has yet failed my course, although three students nearly did by not listening to my feedback.

When To Expect It

Your grading load for this course is designed to be spread out over the semesters, with no big sharp peaks. Our class will be doing some course activity -- writing an essay, prepping for a three minute oral presentation, or prepping for a test -- every two weeks. The ordering is designed around the syllabus material and will, for both semesters, be: essay, essay, presentation, test, essay.

For specific details about what work is due when, please consult our handy calendars in various formats:

.pdf file you can print and stick to your wall: grading calendar summary for the academic year
.ics file you can add to your Apple/Google Calendar: important dates for the academic year

[A chart representing the due dates of graded work in this course. Essay 1 is due in Week 4; then Essay 2 in Week 6, Fall Oral in Week 8, Fall Test in Week 10, Essay 6 in Week 12. The pattern repeats in the same way in Spring.]

Lateness Policy

Essays may be handed in up to one week late, but doing this is not recommended. The lateness penalty will be 4% per business day, up to a maximum of 5 business days, i.e. 20%.

Grading Criteria

You are welcome to read the Rubric I crafted for grading essays (based on a template provided by UofT's Office for Teaching Advancement at an upskilling seminar). For oral presentations, I grade on two criteria only:

physics accuracy;
quality of pedagogy.

This makes the playing field as level as possible.

Who Does the Grading

I do all the teaching and all the grading in this course myself.

Special Nature of this Course

Our course has enrolment limited to two dozen students, making it an unusually conducive environment for learning. In such a small class, each student is a valued and important participant in the course. As the academic year progresses, you will find yourself actively learning from other students as the course progresses, as well as actively learning from the professor. Therefore, to help ensure the best educational experience for everyone in the course, I ask that you commit to regularly attending and participating in class seminars.

Please do not skip class unless you really have to. If you do have to, please be courteous and let me know by email ahead of time, stating your legitimate reason(s) for your absence. Unexcused class absences will reduce your Participation grade.
Each piece of work set with a due date that counts towards the final grade should be handed in on-time. All Tests and Oral Presentations must be done on the dates scheduled.
Essays (and only essays) may be handed in up to one week late, but this is not recommended (it slows down turnaround time). A standard 4%-per-business-day lateness penalty will be applied.

One of the biggest benefits of taking a 199Y course like this is that your professor will get to know you fairly well. I can keep an eye on you better than an average UofT student in a bigger class: and give each of you some individual attention. :-) In particular, by the end of the academic year I will know you well enough to be able to write you a recommendation letter - something very unusual for first-year university courses generally. Make the most of this opportunity.

If you find yourself struggling to complete the work assigned by the due dates, please talk to me in office hours or privately. If you feel that venturing into my office might be embarrassing, then please use email or Skype IM (text) instead. The sooner you communicate with your professor when you are in difficulty, the better job I can do of assisting you. I have moved minor mountains to accommodate exigent personal circumstances of some students during the past six academic years while teaching this course, so your likelihood of getting a fair hearing is very good.

Lest anyone think that the course professor might be a dragon lady, breathe easy! In person I am usually a kind warm fuzzy creature. And I know from hard experience how tough it can be to overcome adversity at university. In particular, when presented with a good case I do grant legitimate excuses for missed graded work.

If something really bad happens to you, such as an illness, injury, bereavement or other majorly negative life event, then please:-

Seek professional help ASAP as your first priority. To get academic consideration for your illness, you must provide the Verification of Student Illness or Injury form, filled out only by a Physician, Surgeon, Nurse Practitioner, Registered Psychologist or Dentist.
Let me know about the disruption to your studies, in terms of its timeframe and severity, as soon as you can manage. That way, in response I can create sensible arrangements, like make-up work, deadline extensions, private tutoring-style appointments, etc, in conformance with university regulations. The general idea is to assist you in catching up rather than falling behind in your studies.

Academic Integrity and Turnitin

Normally, students will be required to submit their course essays to Turnitin.com for a review of textual similarity and detection of possible plagiarism. In doing so, students will allow their essays to be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database, where they will be used solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. The terms that apply to the University's use of the Turnitin.com service are described on the Turnitin.com web site.

If you do not wish to submit your work in this way, you will need to provide alternative documentation to prove that your work is your own. I require electronic and hard copies of two drafts of each essay in earlier stages of development as well as the final product.

Check out these links for more on academic integrity: