Matthias K. Gobbert

General Policies and Procedures


Study Suggestion

While I realize that you have only a limited amount of time available for this class, the following strategy has proven very successful in studying for college-level classes, and I strongly advise its use: Prepare for class by reading the scheduled material, e.g., section(s) in the textbook; even if you do not understand everything, you will have an overview of what to expect in class. At this point, you should review any material or section(s) that might be needed as background for the new material. Then attend class and take your own notes. Afterwards, you should review the textbook and your notes as much as necessary to understand the material; test yourself, for instance, by working out the examples in the text! At this point, you are ready to do the homework as a final test of your understanding. By starting all homework problems as early as possible, you have the opportunity to get additional help before the due date. You should expect to spend at least three hours of your own time for every hour of class per week.

After receiving the graded homework back, you should carefully consider any comments and try to correct any mistakes yourself. If you do not succeed, make sure to get help. Please understand that you are expected to have solved all problems correctly by the end of the semester. In summary, these suggestions are aimed at helping you learn how to learn any material on your own, which is the true goal of college education.

Assignments

The first purpose of assignments is to reinforce concepts introduced in class and to help guide you in your own explorations of the subject matter. The material can only be learned by applying its concepts yourself. If you defeat this goal by not doing the work yourself, you are essentially cheating your own education, but you might also be committing academic misconduct; see below. A second purpose of assignments is to provide feedback to me about your learning progress, and the third purpose is to prepare you for exams. Only as a fourth purpose is the homework used to evaluate your performance.

Please note that assignments are due in class, at the beginning of class to be precise. No guarantee can be given for assignments turned in at any other time and/or place. I will accept late assignments only in exceptional situations, provided approval has been obtained by the due date. If a late assignment is accepted, it will ordinarily still accrue a penalty of 5% of the possible points for each day from the due date until my receiving it (including weekends and holidays). I reserve the right to exclude any problem from grading on late assignments, for instance, if it was discussed in class.

Never leave assignments at my office, if I am not present, as they may get destroyed by the cleaning crew. Rather, you should submit them in a properly addressed campus mail envelope at the departmental mail slot at MP 410. Always write your name clearly on the homework. If your name is not clearly legible, the score will not be recorded. I suggest to include my name (Gobbert) and the department name (Mathematics and Statistics) on the front of your assignments, which helps to recover them, in case they get lost somewhere on campus.

Some formal notes: Assemble your assignments in professional style, properly ordered, each problem clearly labeled, using sufficiently large and clear lettering, etc. Please leave sufficient margins and other spaces for comments and feedback. You must show complete work for full credit. This also means that you have to give enough details such that another person with a similar background as yourself can reproduce your answers. This criterion will be the guiding principle for grading.

Grading

The number and type of exams is given in the syllabus. The final exam is comprehensive and will cover all material covered in the course. Additional quizzes might be given, if deemed necessary. Please note that you are encouraged to write your solutions in permanent ink. If you choose to use pencil or other erasable media, I will not entertain corrections or grade changes afterwards.

While the grading scale will be adjusted later to some degree to reflect the level of difficulty of the exams, the following may serve as a guideline based on prior experience:

Score above 90% 80% 65% 50% otherwise
Letter grade A B C D F

Please note that this syllabus is subject to change by announcement, in particular the number and types of exams, the weight distribution, or the grading scale.

Policy on Academic Misconduct

You are welcome to talk to others, because it is important that you learn how to communicate, but you must do all assignments on your own, unless an assignment is assigned as a group project. If you make use of any information from any source, you must include a reference to that source, e.g., to books, articles, software, webpages, individuals, etc. This is a vital issue of academic integrity. Failures to properly cite sources constitutes plagiarism and a serious violation of the Student Academic Conduct Policy as defined in the UMBC Student Handbook, the Faculty Handbook, the UMBC Directory, or the Graduate School website. You are encouraged to review the codes and policies there. If a violation is observed, you can expect me to pursue the matter to the full extent of the policy, including but not necessarily limited to issuing a failing grade for academic misconduct. The right is reserved to check a picture identification at any time. You may also be asked to verbally explain your solution to assignments or exams to me.

I apologize for these drastic statements, but past experiences have forced me to add this paragraph to the syllabus. Please, remember that I am charged with enforcing academic integrity in order to preserve the quality and reputation of your education, grades, and degree at this university. The webpage http://www.umbc.edu/integrity provides information on academic integrity and UMBC's policies including background information and examples; I strongly urge you to become familiar with all issues involved. This includes in particular issues of proper citation of sources; failing to cite properly will result in a score of zero for that assignment!

When in doubt about anything or if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Note that I will only accept e-mail that clearly identifies the sender by full name and that carries a meaningful subject line. Notice that UMBC's spam filtering software might screen out your e-mail otherwise.


Copyright © 1999-2003 by Matthias K. Gobbert. All Rights Reserved.
This page version 6.1, September 2003.