Sun, 28 Aug 2011, 23:17
A student writes with a lot of questions. Thus, my response is a little long. Much of it I went over in class last Wednesday, so feel free to read whatever part was not clear in class. > Hi Professor Patt. I just had a few questions about the assignments for > EE 306. When we do the problem sets, should we do it on Microsoft Word > (or any other word processor), print it out and then give it to you on > the day its due? First, I hope you got the message in class on Wednesday that I hope you will work the problem sets in a study group consisting of three or four students who meet regularly to discuss the problems assigned. If you do, only one copy of the problem set needs to be turned in, and everyone in the study group should sign their name to that one copy. Problem sets will require you drawing diagrams, solving problems, and lots of other stuff that would necessitate a sophisticated (and unnecessary) knowledge of MS Word if you wished to use MS Word. Skill with MS Word will not score points this semester, and I suggest you not waste your time with such. Plain paper with pen or pencil will be just fine. Please concentrate on understanding the concepts and not dressing it up with fancy software packages. > Will Problem Set 1 be given to us next class, No, as I said in class on Wednesday, problem sets will be posted on the course web site by the end of the weekend, and indeed it is on the web site now. If you will please click on "Problem Sets," you will find the first one. Note that it is due at the start of class on September 7, a week from Wednesday. Note also that along with your first problem set, I want you to hand in the Student Information Sheet along with a photo of you. The photo does not have to be fancy, but does have to be a good image of you, so that I can recognize you. I would like to be able to call you by name at some point in the semester. > and when do you think we should start working on the programming > assignments? If you look at the syllabus, you will note that the first programming assignment will not be due until October 11. That is because you will need to understand Chapters 1-5 before you are ready to tackle it. It will be posted in plenty of time to successfully complete it by October 11. > Also, for the programming assignments, how do you want us to send it to you? As I said in class on Wednesday, programs will be submitted electronically. Exact instructions to do so will be included in the Programming Assignment instructions, which will be made available to you when the time comes. Until then, we have a lot of work to do to get through Chapters 1-5. > <<name withheld to protect the student who I miscommunicated with in class>> Finally, I should note that of the 339 students enrolled in the course, only 329 attended discussion sections on Friday. One student said he was confused. Another student said he had not purchased the book yet. (What that has to do with attending discussion section I do not know.) I do know that the discussion sections are unique opportunities to futher enhance your understanding of the concepts in this course. Each discussion section is led by one of my TAs. You are free to shop around until you find the TA who is most helpful to you. I have hand picked all eight of them, and consider myself very lucky in having them as TAs. But different students learn better from one TA vs another, so I am happy to have you attend the TA's discussion section that best suits you. Finally, as I said in class on Wednesday, we will not take attendance in lecture nor in discussion sections. You are in college now, and I refuse to treat you like you are still in high school. You get to decide whether lecture or discussion sections are useful. But with that treatment comes responsibility. You are responsible to complete all assigned work, and that means problem sets, programs, and exams. Good luck with 306 this semester. I know you will have to work if you are going to be successful. I hope when you look back in December, you will be pleased at how much you have learned. Yale Patt