Assessment (Tentative!)
Here is my suggestion for how we assess your progress in the course. I traditionally wait for comments from you before finalizing this.
- Iterations (30%, graded by clients)
- Presentations (20%, graded by instructor)
- Product (15%, graded by clients and instructor)
- Spike (5%, graded by instructor)
- Exams (10%, graded by instructor)
- Participation (10%, graded by instructor)
- Peer Review (10%, graded by students)
Sorry for making this so complicated, but there simply are a lot of different components to address.
Important Notes
Stuff is due when indicated on the Schedule, late submissions are not accepted. Not ever! You don't want to submit code that doesn't compile, you don't want to submit writing that's full of spelling errors, etc. Just be professional!
Iterations are the scores your client gives you each week after your planning game meeting; clients must be happy, and they will almost certainly be happy if you achieve what you promised the week before or at least kept them in the loop if you think you'll fail to. Presentations include both individual and team presentations and we focus on content, structure, as well as delivery; avoid delays when setting up, know what you're going to demo and be sure it doesn't crash. :-) Product is an evaluation of you final product independent from how you produced it; this is in contrast with the iteration scores. Exams are cumulative, closed-book, closed-notes, open-mind and cover material from assignments, lectures, discussions, and readings (i.e. everything). Participation covers all sorts of stuff including (but not limited to) attending and participating in lectures, taking part in discussions, helping others (without cheating of course!) in class and on the discussion list, keeping your log up-to-date, performing code and design reviews, etc. Peer Reviews evaluate the contribution of every team member (including yourself!) to the project you're working on; we'll have to decide how often to do these.
Final Grade
Each grade item is measured as a percentage relative to the highest actually achieved score for that item. Grade items in each category (Iterations, Presentations, Exams, etc.) are averaged, multiplied by the weight of their category, and added together to yield your final percentage score in the course. Your final grade is determined according to the following scale:
| Score | Grade |
|---|---|
| 100 – 90 | A |
| 89 – 80 | B |
| 79 – 70 | C |
| 69 – 60 | D |
| 59 – 0 | F |
Plus and minus grades fall at the extreme ends of these ranges, for example 89 is a "B+" grade but 88 is a "B" grade. There is no curve, you can all get "A" grades! There are no "I" grades either!
