Syllabus Update


Final instructions for portfolio

8/7/00

Students are expected to keep a portfolio about the contents of the class. This gives you the opportunity to organize the material presented in class in a neat and clear way. It will help you to keep track of where we are in the course. It will also make it easier for you to review the material and thereby help you to find out what you have really understood and what is not yet clear to you.

The portfolio should include:

  1. Table of contents.
  2. For each lecture:
  3. Homeworks assigned in class.
  4. Index of technical terms introduced in the course (for quick reference).
  5. Reading material
The portfolio must be kept in a three-ring binder made for standard size notebook paper (8 1/2 by 11 inches), preferably not more than 1 1/2 inches wide and not less than 1 inch wide at the back. Your name should be clearly written on the outside of the binder.

You may use any type of paper you like, lined or unlined, and of any color it seems good to you to use. However, please use paper that has punched holes correctly placed for insertion in the binder, and please use full-size paper.

All materials for this course should be kept in the portfolio binder at all times. Use dividers to mark off each section. Please arrange them in the order mentioned above.

Remember: your portfolio is the embodiment of your work for this course. A complete and well presented portfolio virtually guarantees you a good grade. The opposite is also true.

The portfolio has to be handed in on the day of the final exam and can be picked up the following week. The grade will be based on completeness of content and clarity of exposition. What I will look for in particular is the following: Are all pages legible? Is the table of contents complete? Is there at least a page for each lecture? Are the main topics of each lecture summarized briefly? Are there personal remarks about interesting or puzzling points? Are all homeworks included (all versions of the ones which were redone)? (The content of the homeworks does not contribute to the portfolio grade, but to the grades for the homeworks.) Is the index complete? Are all terms in the index referenced correctly?

Here's a list of terms I expect to find in the index:

The final grade of the course will be based on five components according to the following weights:


[ Top of this page]
© Dirk Schlimm, Last modified: August 4, 2000