Final Exam & Final Grades

The graders have graded all the labs and made adjustments for any outstanding issues that have been brought to our attention. 

I personally graded all the Least/Most Valuable questions and reviewed the class averages on each question on the exam.

I’ve also made all the promised adjustments to the scores and calculated the final grade in the class. 

These notes give you more information on all of this.

Final Exam Questions

Even though there were some questions (below) on which there were low class averages my review of the question content against what was said and done in the course didn’t find any errors. 

Exam Adjustment

Nonetheless I decided that there were some questions that were unintentionally “tricky”.  To address this I added 5 points (out of 100 possible) to everyone’s score, thus “curving” the exam upward by 5% to a cap of 100 points.  The number used in the grade calculation includes this adjustment although the one on VistaBB is the “raw” unadjusted number. 

Exam Questions With Which People Had Difficulty

• Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) – If you think you’ll realize it’s not dimensionless.  Its calculated as the ratio of heat moved to electrical power used.  I decided this was a bit tricky.
• Nested IF  Statement – I decided this was tricky even though you’d done a lab that required its use.  Learning the logic of this kind of statement will be useful in your career.
• Senior Design Advisor – In my lecture and the notes for it I stated quite specifically that different advisors have different approaches.  You may think, as many did, that there is a “right way” to do it, but in fact you’ll find considerable variation.
• Soil Mechanics – A number of you chose “interesting” as not being true of soil mechanics.  That may be true for you, but certainly Dr. Sjoblom found it interesting and emphasized how imprecise it is.
• Water Pollution Time – As one student pointed out, the lab you performed varied explicitly only the velocity.  In fact the explanation and the fundamental equations show that the diffusion is happening, which is factored into the equations.  I decided this was “tricky” which led to the adjustment mentioned above.

 

Final Grade Calculation

I calculated your final grades by downloading the data from VistaBB and performing all the promised adjustments (all in your favor) in an Excel spreadsheet.  Those adjustments were:

• Dropped the lowest lab score
• Dropped the lowest discussion score
• Allowed one missed attendance for lecture
• Allowed one missed attendance for lab
• Adjusted the final exam score as indicated above
• Weighted the ingredients as shown in the syllabus
• Rounded numeric percentages to the nearest percent before calculating the letter grade

Jim Mitchell

Course Least and Most Valuable Aspects

I’ve just completed reading all your responses to the two free-form questions on the Take-Home assessment.  While each of you had a different view of the course there were some observations that may interest you.

Serious Responses

The great majority gave serious responses of adequate length with good detail.  Thank you!

Overall Opinions About the Course

While there were certainly critiques (see below), the overall tone was very positive about the benefits of the course.  Two people were fairly explicit that they found it unrewarding, and several found it the most valuable they’d taken at Drexel.

Lectures

Most of you found the lectures valuable for several reasons:

• The variety of subjects covered gave a good sense of the discipliens
• The enthusiasm of the faculty members was much appreciated.

Some of you critiqued some of the lectures for the following reasons:

• Some faculty were too detailed in what they discussed
• Some faculty were rushed and didn’t prepare you fully for the labs

The panel discussion at the end of the term was much appreciated by many for its honesty and what the faculty and graduate students shared about how they studied and what they experienced.

Labs

There were both positive and negative views about the labs.

• Many appreciated the variety of labs and the opportunity to perform calculations in the field
• A smaller number felt the labs were “plug and chug” without any meaning.
• A few felt that some of them, particularly the first, were too elementary, while others appreciated the progression through the term.
• Some disliked having to use Excel so much.  A larger number appreciated the opportunity to gain more experience with it’s capabilities
• The instructions for some labs were lauded while others were criticized as being inadequate.
• The TA’s who provided detailed help were particularly appreciated.
• The Senior Design presentations were applauded by quite a few as giving them a sense of their future at Drexel.
• A few were critical that the language was too technical and also that

Site Visits

The vast majority of you appreciated the site visits to both the Tacony-Palmyra bridge and the Recreation Center.  Within that appreciation there were specific complaints:

• The organization of the visit to the Tacony-Palmyra wasn’t what it could have been, particularly in terms of preparing you for the measurements and calculations.
• Some people wanted more time in the Recreation Center spent on the Basketball court and Air Handlers since they were the subject of the calculations in one lab.

Discussions

The weekly discussions provoked the strongest opposing views.  Overall the positive ones outnumbered the negative ones.

Positive views:

• Quite a few enjoyed the chance to explore their chosen field
• Others enjoyed the opportunity to see what others in their discipline had found, and even to enter into dialogue.
• Several remarked on how they found it prepared them well for the lectures
• Several others found that it opened their eyes to possibilities they hadn’t realized existed (also true about the lectures).

Negative views

• A number of you felt the discussions were make-work and essentially worthless
• Several felt Access-Science was too restrictive and didn’t have sufficient depth.

Personal Observation

I have made notes about what worked and what didn’t this term based on what you’ve said.  For your successors:

• I’ll do my best to improve the lab organization and instructions
• I’ll scratch my head on how to reduce the varying experiences with the discussions, particularly the grading criteria (“confusing” was particularly criticized).

Thanks for your efforts throughout the term.  It’s been a pleasure to be part of the experience with you.

Jim Mitchell

Mitchell Last Lecture Notes Posted

I’ve posted in the “Lecture Notes” folders a PDF of my last lecture slides.

Jim Mitchell