Computation of the Final Grade

• Homeworks (mostly weekly), 20%.
• One midterm exam, 20%
• A comprehensive final exam, 20%.
• Individual project + presentation, 40%.

As you can see in the syllabus, the course is divided in two parts: a first part dealing with networking technology, a second part dealing with basic algorithms that make that technology work. So:

• During the first part of the course, you will have weekly homeworks. By default, these homeworks will be assigned on a Tuesday, and will be due on the following Tuesday. Unless I tell you otherwise explicitly, this is the rule for any given homework. And there is only one policy for late homework -- not accepted.

• Since I understand that sometimes there are reasons that might prevent you from completing a homework on time, in the computation of your final grade, I will drop the worst two homeworks of each person. This is the only accomodation I will make on the subject.

• Shortly after the end of the first part, we will have a midterm exam, covering everything from the beginning of the semester.

• Then the part on algorithms begins, and runs until the end of the semester.

• The final will be comprehensive, covering both parts I and II.

• The most important part of your work in this class will be your individual project. This is what you will have to do:
  • Around Spring break, I will post a list of projects. You are also welcome to talk to me and propose your own project.
  • Projects will be of three types: either writing a computer program implementing an application running on a network, or reading in depth some material and summarzing results, or taking at stab at an original research problem.
  • You have to give an oral presentation: one slide with your name and the title of your project, and two slides of contents. Five minutes maximum.
  • You have to write a final report (with a format that depends on which type of project you chose -- we will talk about this at the time of assigning projects). This report will be due at the time of your presentation, no exceptions.
  With your project reports and slides, I will create the "Proceedings of ECE 446, class of 2005": a web page with all your material, which I promise will be accessible at the website of my research group for as long as I am a professor at Cornell.

• Homework grading: you will grade your own homework. This will work as follows:
  • On the date your homework is due, you will turn it in. But you must keep a photocopy of the work you turn in.
  • When you turn in your homework, you will receive a solution set, and guidelines for how to grade each problem. Then you will grade your photocopied version, which will be due at the following lecture.
  • The TAs will look double-check your grading, and after recording your grade, will return everything to you.
  • Same policy as with late homework applies with late graded homework -- not accepted.
  • It is in your best interest to be honest in your grading -- patterns of consistently reporting grades better than the guidelines would allow will be carefully looked at, and penalized if appropriate.
  We do this because it helps your learning process if you are forced to work through your solutions, comparing them to a correct one.

Given this grading structure, what do you need to do well in this course? You need all of the following:

• Do not skip lectures: I will not repeat there what you have in your reading assignments, I will explain to you what is in there. And this will hopefully make it much easier for you to solve your homework problems. This somewhat true for the first part of the course (technology), and it is definitely true for the second part (algorithms).

• Have a look at your reading assignments *before* coming to class. But do not study them in depth, spend maybe an hour trying to get an idea of what is the material about. That way, my explanations will make more sense to you, and you will be able to absorb much more of the lectures.

• Study your reading assignments after class, but do not try to read everything in full detail, study carefully only those parts that you will need to solve your homeworks. My reading assignments will contain much more material than you will be able to absorb in a reasonable amount of time. I want you to learn to weed out the parts you don't need, and focus on what you do need. That is how things are in real life, so might as well start now...

• Do *all* your homeworks. They are not emphasized much in terms of weight in the final grade, but it is working on these primarily that you will learn the material I want you to learn.

• Do not wait to start work on your project until a couple of days before the date of your presentation: 40% of your grade depends on it. Furthermore, the project will be long enough that you will not be able to pull it off in an all-nighter. Pace yourself appropriately: this is also a skill you will need in real life, so again might as well start now.

There is something I think I cannot overemphasize enough: if you do not work hard on your homeworks and project, you will most likely flunk this class. It would be completely unrealistic on your part to expect to be able to take it easy during the semester, and then make up for that with the project and the final in the week of the semester. At the same time, if you obtain consistently good grades in your homeworks and midterm, you will most likely ace this class. So make sure you take advantage of all the resources that will be available to you (TAs, study materials, office hours) to do well in your homework problems. That is your best bet.

Academic Integrity

You may discuss homework problems with other students in the class, but you may not collaborate on the actual writing of the problem sets or development of solutions. Under no circumstances would it be acceptable for two or more students to turn in substantially similar answers to a homework problem, or to have possession of each others' homeworks. It is your responsibility to protect your work from unauthorized access. Everyone with whom you discussed the homework set must be cited on the submitted homeworks. No part of the homework may be copied from or be based on solution sets on the web - also keep in mind that the solution sets on the web are often incomplete and incorrect.

Any violations of the academic integrity code will be penalized according to the Cornell Academic Integrity Policy, and may result in failure in the course, suspension, or expulsion from the university.