ME 274 – Course Blog
Spring 2009
As you are aware, a blog has been set up for ME 274 this semester at:
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~krousgri/me274/
. The intent of this course blog is to provide a forumfor the exchange of ideas among the students in the class and between the students and theinstructors. From this blog, you can get/provide assistance from/to other people in the class. It is notthe intent to replace help that you can get directly from your instructor and TA’s; rather it will be ameans for you to get/give help at times when other resources are not available. In addition, we feelthat you can learn as much from helping others as from getting help for yourself.To reward your involvement in the blog, 2% of your course grade will come from your participation.This participation will be evaluated on a 100-point basis with points coming from activities listed below:
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Asking questions (20 points per question):
For this, you ask questions of others on either anoriginal post or a comment on an existing post. Your instructors will try to remain as muchin the background as possible on your questions. We will respond to your questions only when it appears that others are not able or willing to help.
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Providing assistance to others (40 points per assist)
: For this, you respond with a commentto post/comments by others in the class. A word of advice: please consider the feelings of others when you respond to questions. Offer constructive help in your responses.
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Student-generated problem solutions (50 points per solution)
: For this, choose any unsolved problem from the textbook whose solution has not been provided on the blog.Submit a PDF-scanned written solution of the problem as an email attachment to yourinstructor. Solutions submitted by 5PM Friday of each week will be posted over the weekend.If your solution satisfies the following conditions, it will be accepted for credit and posted onthe blog. The solution must:
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be complete and free of errors.
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be your own original work.
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follow the “four-step method” and have appropriate free body diagrams (kineticsproblems).
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have all relevant coordinate axes clearly identified.
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be neat and presented in a logical way.
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be of a problem whose solution has not already been posted on the blog.
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Interesting material related to the course (20-100 points)
: This one is wide open. Someexamples: links to interesting videos from You Tube related to course material; mediacontent such as Working Model simulations of dynamics problems that you have produced;articles related to dynamics that you have found. Let us know in advance if you are thinkingof producing some original material so that we can help you focus your efforts.
Please note that only blog activity prior to the third midterm exam will count toward your blog participation points. In order to receive your blog participation points, you need to provide your actual name in your User Profile. To do so, first log into the blog. Then click on “Profile” onthe left side of the Dashboard. On the Profile page, add your first and last name in theappropriate boxes. Then, click on “Update Profile” near the bottom of the Profile page.
Please note that your name will NOT appear anywhere on the blog; only your instructors will see your name
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