Thursday, December 10, 2009 6:04 PM,

A student writes:



	 Good morning Dr. Patt,
	
	 I turned in my programming  assignment 3 on time and it was (is) 
	 working perfectly fine; however, I have received a zero on it and when 
	 I logged on to the website to see how I have missed every test case, I 
	 noticed that under “student result” it is completely blank, as if I 
	 have not turned in anything. This happened on Tuesday and I 
	 immediately went to one of the TA’s (RJ) and discussed the issue with 
	 him and he sent an email to either Aater or Chang Joo and told me he’d let 
	 me know what they say.
	 But I never received an email from any of them and therefore I sent 
	 another  email to Aater, asking him if he could tell me why I received 
	 a zero on this. Still I have not received any response from anyone and 
	 it really worries me and so far has caused me to lose focus and not be 
	 able to study effectively. So could you please ask them to inform me 
	 why I have received a zero because they are not responding to my email.
	 I apologize for this inconvenience, and appreciate your consideration.
	
	 Regards,
	 <<name withheld to protect the student who is not able to study>>



What is most important here is that you do not lose focus.  You will receive 
the grade you deserve on this program, and you will receive an explanation as 
to why it wasn't as high as you had hoped.

As I have said many times, failure to follow directions exactly can cause the 
software to call something incorrect when the reason is a very small mistake 
that humans can recognize easily.  That is what computers are all about 
(electronic idiots, if you will), which graduates of EE 306 should know better 
than anyone.

Grading a program by hand would take far too long for 421 students than is 
possible if we want to complete the grading of each program before May, 2013 
when you hope to graduate.

So, we have the programs graded automatically, make a human quick check (which 
still takes a few minutes - multiplied by 421) and then post the grades.  If 
you think the grade is the result of a simple mistake, then you are asked to 
see a TA or me, and it will get examined carefully by one of us.

Actually, due to the enormous number of tasks we need to do at the end of the 
semester, I am hereby changing that slightly: If you think that prog 3 should 
be looked at again, please send email to marc_kellermann@mail.utexas.edu.
I have asked Marc to handle all cases for program 3.  This will make it more 
efficient as we cut down the number of people who you have to go through.

The important thing is to not lose focus from studying for the final exam.
Everything will get resolved correctly, I can promise you that.  I think I 
have a strong track record of not allowing students to pay the cost of 
something falling through the cracks.

I am forwarding your email to Marc.  He will get back to you.  Once that 
happens, feel free to contact me again if you feel it is necessary.

Good luck on the final.

Yale Patt