CSC 498: Senior Project, Fall 2010
Grading policies & `S' evaluation
Overview: Product and Process.
Each project will receive a "product grade" and a "process grade."
The product grade will be determined at the end of the semester and
will be based on the deliverables that are turned in at the project
due date, and on a demonstration of the correctness of those
deliverables. The process grade is comprised of a number of
components, each related to the
process you go through
during the course. The product and process grades are explained in
more detail below.
The Product Grade.
The product grade is based on the deliverables you turn in at the
project due date along with a demonstration of the correctness of
those deliverables. The deliverables will almost always consist of a
software system and a final write-up, although for some projects
other deliverables will also be involved. The contents of the
write-up may vary from project to project but will generally
include:
-
A copy of the original proposal including the original
bibliography.
- A section describing deviations from the proposal.
- Results of user tests if appropriate for your project.
- Hard copy user manuals if appropriate for your project.
- A section that suggests future work.
-
A bibliography (possibly expanded from the proposal
bibliography).
-
Any other materials that help to demonstrate the work you put
into the project.
In order to understand the policies that will be used to determine
your product grade, it helps to review the following guidelines
quoted from the DePauw University Catalog:
"According to the grading system adopted by the faculty, the
grades recorded when courses have been carried throughout the
semester are:
A, A-:
|
Achievement of exceptionally high merit
|
B+, B, B-:
|
Achievement at a level superior to the basic
level
|
C+, C, C-:
|
Basic achievement
|
D+, D, D-:
|
Minimum achievement that warrants credit
|
F:
|
Failure: the achievement fails to meet course
requirements. The student receives no credit."
|
Since each senior project is different, it is impossible to provide
a "one size fits all" set of criteria that can be used to classify
each project into one of the categories shown above. However,
experience shows that the following criteria are typical of senior
projects that fall into the various categories.
-
A project that demonstrates
basic achievement
typically tackles a straight forward problem and provides a
functional but routine solution. The code will usually be
modular, well-organized, and adequately commented and will
employ appropriate data structures and algorithms. The scope of
the project will usually indicate that roughly ten hours of work
per week should have been required to complete the project by a
senior computer science major. The complexity of the project
will usually be at least equivalent to the level of difficulty
that is typically encountered in upper-level computer science
courses. The project's documentation will typically be
appropriate for the intended use of the project, and any
documentation that is provided will be complete, well-written,
and proof-read. The code will be correct enough to allow the
project to meet its basic objectives, although there may be
special cases in which the code does not work. Some special
issues, if relevant to the project, such as those related to
security, backups, invalid user input, may not be dealt with as
thoroughly as possible.
-
A project that demonstrates
achievement superior to the basic level
will typically demonstrate basic achievement in all areas listed
above
and
will excel in some, but not necessarily all, of these areas. For
example, the project might tackle a problem that is harder than
average but might produce only an average solution. Or, the
software produced for the project might be excellent, but the
documentation and write-up might only demonstrate basic
achievement.
-
A project that demonstrates achievement of
exceptionally high merit
will typically excel in all or essentially all of the relevant
areas noted in the basic achievement section. Note that not all
areas will apply to all projects (for example a particular
project might not require user testing). However, in order to
demonstrate exceptionally high merit a project will generally
excel in all relevant areas.
-
A project will typically be designated as showing
minimum achievement that warrants credit
if it falls short of the basic achievement category in one or
more ways.
-
A project will be designated as one that
fails to demonstrate basic achievement
if it either falls short of the basic achievement category in
most ways, or falls
significantly
below the basic achievement level in one or more ways.
NOTE:
A final product grade will be assigned using the scale described
above. If the final project is turned in late, the product grade
will be lowered by one letter grade (i.e. A to B) for each day the
project is late.
The Process Grade.
The process grade is comprised of a number of components, each
related to the
process you go through
while working on the project during the course. Each component of
the process grade will be graded using the scale
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
A zero is the expected grade for each component,
and it will likely be the case that most students will earn zeros on
all components of the process. A positive value indicates that you
exceeded expectations on this component in some way. A negative
value indicates that you fell short of expectations in some way. For
example, making no progress toward a checkpoint would likely result
in a process grade of -3 for that checkpoint, while falling slightly
short of the checkpoint goals might result in a process grade of -1.
At the end of the semester, process grades for each component will
be added together to determine your final process grade. If your
process grade at the end of the semester is a zero then your final
course grade will be your product grade. However, if your process
grade is anything other than a zero, your final course grade will be
determined by starting with your product grade and adjusting by 1/3
of a letter grade for each point of your process grade. For example,
a student with a product grade of B- and a process grade of 2 would
earn a B+. On the other hand, a student with a product grade of B-
and a process grade of -3 would earn a C-.
The components of your process grade are listed below:
- Preliminary paragraph description of your project idea.
-
Final hard copy version of your proposal and electronic copy of
your project summary (typically one to two paragraphs in length,
and suitable for posting on the department web page and
including your name, project title and summary information).
- Content of ethics discussion.
- Checkpoint 1 progress.
- Checkpoint 2 progress.
- Checkpoint 3 progress.
- Checkpoint 4 progress.
-
Independence in working on your project (see course information
sheet).
NOTE:
It is impossible to demonstrate satisfactory progress at a
checkpoint if you do not have an approved project proposal. Students
who do not have an approved project proposal as we approach the
first checkpoint will be required to develop a proposal based on one
of the ideas provided by the department.
Grading Information Relating to the `S' Competency
There are several `S' components to this course. Each student will
make one formal presentation, four informal checkpoint
presentations, and also participate in a computing ethics
discussion. In addition, the checkpoint presentations will afford
the opportunity for the entire group to discuss projects. While we
expect everyone to participate fully in all of these activities, the
graded portion of the `S' activities will be carried out as follows.
This information is based upon literature developed by the DePauw
University `S' Center, so the core ideas are therefore shared by
instructors and students participating in all `S' courses.
You will receive a grade for each of your presentations in each of
the following four categories. In order to earn `S' credit for this
course, at least one of your presentations must result in an average
grade of 3.5 with no individual category receiving a grade below 3.
Language Skills
-
5 -- Excellent oral style; distinctive vocabulary appropriate
for the subject; no mispronunciations or grammatical errors
-
4 -- Choice of words suited to the subject matter; no more than
two or three slips in grammar or pronunciation
-
3 -- Adequate vocabulary; errors in pronunciation and grammar do
interfere with communication OR stilted "written style of
composition"
-
2 -- Has some noticeable and apparently habitual grammatical
errors; language cluttered with logolalia ("you know"); several
mispronunciations
-
1 -- Distinctly limited vocabulary and repetition of phrases;
very short speech; completely substandard grammar or
pronunciation
Voice & Articulation
-
5 -- Vocal inflections and movement substantially augment the
meanings; pleasant voice; animated and controlled delivery
-
4 -- Vocal variety appropriate for subject matter; uses
occasional gestures, movement, facial expression
-
3 -- Reasonably free from distracting vocal or physical
mannerisms OR has effective elements of delivery along with
notably distracting ones
-
2 -- Noticeably awkward posture, aimless gestures, or
distracting vocal quality. Monotonous. Too loud or soft
-
1 -- Action and voice interferes with meaning by substantial
distraction or lack of control. Mumbles incoherently
Adaptation
-
5 -- Adapts specifically to listeners; refers to our experiences
or roles
-
4 -- Adjusts to specific room conditions; talks directly and
conversationally
-
3 -- Material and delivery seem neither adapted nor ill-adapted;
speech addressed "to whom it may concern"
-
2 -- Demonstrates some noticeable insensitivity to likely
feelings or values of listeners
-
1 -- Material or examples not suitable to us as listeners:
Speaker seems oblivious of audience
Good Organization
-
5 -- Very coherent structure; explicit transitions and
summaries; uses striking examples or other forms of support
-
4 -- Main ideas made clear; develops each sub-point with
supporting material
-
3 -- Ideas have been outlined adequately but without much
signposting; no notable fuzzy spots or irrelevant sections
-
2 -- Some parts of the talk difficult to follow or irrelevant;
supporting material commonplace, trite or missing
-
1 -- Apparently aimless rambling; too general or trivial to be
meaningful
Other factors involved in delivery and content may be taken into
account, as needed. For example, slides (including an outline or
overview slide) must be prepared for each presentation.
Tips on Giving Formal Project Presentations
The course information packet describes the `S' grading guidelines.
You may also find it useful to keep the following "nuts and bolts"
points in mind as you prepare your talk:
-
Appearance -- Your physical appearance signals professionalism.
If you don't take the presentation seriously, the audience may
not take it seriously either.
-
Organization -- Start with a slide that includes your name and
the title of your talk. Follow with a slide that gives an
overview of the major points you plan to make in the talk. These
might include "Introduction to the XYZ Project, Initial Goals,
Items for Checkpoint One, Questions." The slides that follow
compose the body of the talk in which you address each of the
points from the overview. Conclude with an opportunity for
questions.
-
Presentation Style -- The best presentation style for this type
of talk is a relaxed one in which you talk to the audience in a
natural way rather than reading a speech. Although it is fine to
have some notes to remind you of key points you wish to make,
you should not simply read a speech.
-
Detail and Time -- Ten minutes is not a lot of time, so be
certain to plan (and rehearse) your talk carefully to be certain
you are not trying to cover too much. It is better to make a few
key points well, then to try to cover too much information. As a
very rough guide, you should expect to spend 2 minutes per
slide. This is by no means an absolute rule, but it does suggest
that if you are giving a 10 minute talk and you have only 1
slide something is wrong. Similarly, if you are planning to use
25 slides in 10 minutes, something is wrong.
-
Slide Mechanics -- The slides should contain "key phrases" which
you will use to guide your talk; they should NOT contain a
"speech" which you read to the audience. The font on the slides
should be fairly large: 18 to 24 point.
DePauw University,
Computer Science Department,
Fall 2010
Maintained by Brian Howard
(bhoward@depauw.edu
).
Last updated