Grading

 Grading in MAE156B is NOT on a curve. Evaluation is based upon following good design practices, achievement of design goals, and effective communication.

1 An important component of MAE156 is learning from other projects in the class. Accordingly, each student is expected to attend all presentations of other teams and provide feedback or posing questions to those teams orally and in writing.

2 Near the end of the quarter, the team final design review for the project will be presented at the sponsor location. The sponsor will fill out an evaluation form at the end of the term rating both the quality of the presentation and the overall team and individual performances on the project. This is an important contribution to the grade, however all final grading decisions are made by the instructor.

3 The Final Report is a cumulative report to be written in a professional manner. The weighting of this component can increase or decrease according to the quality of the report, i.e. a poorly written final report can significantly detract from the course grade.

4 Peer review is provided anonymously by ones teammates. An intermediate peer review will be conducted midway through the course, which will not affect course grade. However, a final peer review will be conducted during finals week, which can affect one’s grade. If the results indicate that all team members shared the work equally, then the peer review factor will not affect ones grade, but it can have a large affect otherwise. Instructor discretion may be used in determining the peer review factor. Any team issues need to be resolved as quickly as possible. If they cannot be resolved at the team level, the issues need to be brought to the instructor.

Policy on Academic Honesty and Professional Ethics

This course is based upon the premise that students are taking this class to increase their knowledge, and that academic honesty is a fundamental basis for one’s education. Accordingly,

In open-ended design assignments, one is encouraged to look at outside resources including other students, web sites, and instructors. All ideas from outside sources (including other students and webpages used) should be properly referenced.

As part of a real world design project, and important component of the engineering ethics and professionalism is safety and environmental impact. All teams are to identify and address any areas of safety concerns and environmental impact for both the prototype developed in MAE156B and in any further production and use of the products designed in MAE156B

Accordingly to UC Guidelines on Student Conduct, all alleged incidents of academic dishonesty will be referred to the Office of Student Policies and Judicial Affairs. Any breach of academic honesty may be considered grounds for failure in the course.