General Course Policy for MATH 207/307/433 (Fall 2008)

Office: Stutzman Slonaker    211F
Email: rrajaram@shepherd.edu
Website: webpages.shepherd.edu/rrajaram
 Office Hours: MW : 9-10, 11-12; T: 9-11 or by appointment.

BREAKUP (Tentative) :  

Quizzes and in class participation   -  100 points

Midterms 1,2,3,4                               -  100 points each

Final                                                   -  150 points

Total                                                   -  650 points

Course Policy:

  1. Concepts will be taught through problems.
  2. Time will be reserved for review and clarification of concepts. Students are expected to ask questions and doubts during this time. If there are no questions, a quiz may be given during that hour . In addition, students can expect unannounced quizzes/exams if I feel that the class is not in tune with the lectures.
  3. Students are encouraged to send questions through email and make use of office hours for questions and clarifications. The intention is to clear doubts as and when they occur.
  4.  Quizzes will mostly test the concepts taught in class. There will be several unannounced quizzes every week. Some quizzes may be assigned as take-home depending on the difficulty of the problems and will be due the very next day of class.
  5.  There will be absolutely no make-up on quizzes or exams except for extreme cases. Proper documentation is mandatory for such cases.
  6. Late submissions of exams and quizzes will NOT be allowed. It is the responsibility of the students to find out what went on during class and be prepared for  the next class.
  7. Cell-phones and other electronic devices are to be turned off during class. In case of a smart-board classroom, computers should be solely used for the purpose of learning the subject material. Internet browsing, chatting etc are not allowed. I reserve the right to reduce points from a quiz/exam or any other evaluation component and/or ask the student to leave the classroom if I find anybody misusing the facilities.
  8. Students are expected to respect class time. Remember that there are other students who want to learn. Class will start sharply at the designated time. Students are encouraged to let me know ahead of time if they plan on missing a class or coming late to a class.
  9. Grading of exams will be based on the method used to solve the problem. Final answer has little or no credit. More credit will be given to the thought process that is used to solve the problem. Hence students are required to show all intermediate steps/work in order to get full credit. Merely reporting the answer might result in zero credit and sometimes not getting to the final answer might result in full credit!!
  10. Moodle will be used to keep track of grades.
  11.  Students are expected to try the problems from the back of the book as soon as a section is covered and ask questions in class. Homework will not be collected.
  12. Good performance in the course will rely heavily on the students' ability to solve problems during quizzes. Hence keeping up with homework and clarifying doubts as and when they occur will be key towards being successful in the course.
  13. Students requiring special accommodations for taking notes, completing assignments, or taking exams are requested to meet the instructor as soon as possible.
  14. Final exam is mandatory for all students. Missing a final exam will result in an automatic failing grade.
  15. I reserve the right to make minor changes to the grading policy, grade distribution, course schedule and the syllabus.

NOTE: All written work  (quizzes and exams) is expected to be done on an individual basis unless otherwise specified. Those not following this policy will be reported to the proper authorities for disciplinary action.