Final Term Grades

 

The final term grades have been posted.  The following may be interesting.

• The average exam score was 86/100
• I graded the “Least” and “Most” questions myself, giving 10/10 in almost every case – you did a good job at being specific.
• I checked that there were not any multiple-choice or calculation questions on which more students got wrong answers than correct ones – which would have implied an error in the way I phrased the questions.
• Two people achieved 100/100

• The following Allowances were made before calculating the term grade

  • Attendance was adjusted
    • 1 “free” lab
    • 2 “free” lectures
  • The Lab grade was adjusted
    • The lowest lab was removed from the lab score
  • The Discussion grade was adjusted
    • The lowest discussion was removed from the discussion score
• The average class score for the term after allowances was 90%
• The grade calculated in VBB is not visible because it does not take into account the effects of the adjustments – which all increase that grade.

Exam–Least & Most Valuable Aspects of CAEE-201

I’ve just completed reading all the answers to the two questions that asked you about the LEAST and MOST valuable aspects of this course.  There were, as one might expect from 180+ short essays, a wide range of responses, but there were themes that recurred.

My Overall Impression

CAEE-201 has served its purpose for most of you. Most were happy with the course overall. Some had vehement objections to an aspect (particularly discussions), but liked other aspects a great deal. At the end you know more about the fields, the department, the professors, the kinds of calculations one makes, and what life is like in the profession.

 

Aspects that were broadly popular with no almost dissent

• The overall course – many people liked the mix of lectures, labs, site visits, discussions
• Some found particular aspects unhelpful, but were overall satisfied.
• Site Visits – almost all who mentioned them found them intriguing and beneficial for several reasons
• Motivation – they made the topic interesting
• Understanding – they made the connection between “reality” and the calculations more comprehensible
• NOTE:  The student professional societies often sponsor site visits.  For those of you who value them I urge you to join your society and take advantage of the site visits.
• Laboratories – they made understanding the practice of engineering more understandable
• There were a few who found them not beneficial, but not many
• There were specific concerns about the quality of instructions, level of consistency, frequency.
• The use of Excel as a tool was both praised and regarded as too limiting.

Aspects for which there were conflicting views

• Discussions
• As in the past there were multiple complaints that they were boring, confusing, too structured or unstructured.
• There were also many positive comments on their benefits for understanding the lectures, for dialog with other students, for exploring the field.
• My comment is that there’s probably never going to be unanimity, but I’ll stick by the idea that introducing you to the professional literature is worth the effort.  I’ll also continue to tinker with the specific requirements, attempting to incorporate some of your suggestions such as assigning a specific article for discussion
• Lectures
• Many people lauded the variety of lectures and the enthusiasm of the lecturers.
• Others were uninterested in the lectures and labs that weren’t in their particular focus area.

 

Aspects that received explicit but not wide appreciation

• Graduate Studies Panel Discussion
• Some felt it was very beneficial in helping plan their career
• Others wanted more on the non-graduate career
• Software Tools
• A number of you singled out learning specific software tools as beneficial:  Revit; Excel; ArcGIS
• Senior Design
• Quite a few appreciated the opportunity to see your future
• A number of the Business & Engineering students, however, felt it was irrelevant to them

 

Suggestions I’ll Try to Implement in Future

Many of you made specific suggestions.  The following are ones that I’ll do my best to implement in future versions of this course.

• Industry Professionals Panel – I’ll try to bring in graduates to talk about careers in industry
• Change the “Extra Credit” for labs to include discussions of related topics, current industry projects that are related, etc.
• Provide a Sample Memo & Discussion – to help people understand the format that’s expected
• Change the discussions (again) to provide more variety – discussion of a particular article is one strong idea.

Jim Mitchell

No Exam This Week

Question:

I just wanted to be clear that we do not have a final this week correct? I just want to make sure that the online final is the only part we had to take and do not have to show up to the time slot tomorrow? 

 

Response:

Correct!  There is no sit-down final this week.  The online exam is the only final.

Exam Grading

Question:

I just wanted to know how fast we are getting the grades for the final exam, since I do not know if I should to do another attempt which will be determined by the grade I have.

Response:

You won’t know the exam grade till after the exam is closed.  The point of multiple tries is twofold.

a) To give you a chance to reflect on what you answered the first time and try again if you were worried about some aspect.

b) To permit students to recover from a computer mistake – that has already happened with one student.

Jim Mitchell

Senior Design–Topic Changes

Question:

I have a quick question. I attended a senior design on tuesday 1:30 pm. The group talked about the construction of a new dorm in Drexel. When i went to the google calendar the project title says 'Design a Community Center in Chapel Hill, Maryland'. Is this the right title?

Response:

You should use what the group identified as the title for the topic since that’s the reality.

What probably is the origin of the discrepancy quite regularly happens.  During the fall term, especially, groups find that their interests have changed.  They are permitted to change their topic, but unfortunately the original title sticks for a while to the kind of information that I used to generate the calendar.

Memo for Senior Design

Question:

Quick question about the memo heading. Currently I have the heading laid out in the following format:
TO: Group #, Group Names, Advisor Name
From :My name
Date: Presentation date, presentation time, presentation location
Subject: Project title
Is this the correct formatting? Thanks!

 

Answer:

That’s fine.

Lab9–PM Concentrations

Question 1:

on question 2 where it says "3.) Calculate the average monthly PM2.5 concentration for each month in 2010, and add to the table below."
Is this just the average of what is already on the table for each month?

Response:

You are asked to calculate the average concentration for each month and insert that into column “C”

Question 2:

The table is titled PM concentration, so I'm not sure what PM2.5 concentration is.

Response:

The data in column “0” are indeed PM2.5 concentrations