EETN Semester 4 – Beautiful Mind

This is the semester you’ve been waiting for. It’s yours, and you’re ready to fly. (Also, Ron and I will helpfully
kick you out of the nest if necessary).

Here’s what I expect:

1. Respectful honesty. You are experienced students, and starting to be experienced techs. That means we
will disagree sometimes. That’s good, because fake agreement does not improve problem-solving.
Respectful disagreement means being specific about what you disagree with, not sugar-coating things,
and trying to understand the other person’s point of view. Let’s use it.
2. Plagiarism is super-duper seriously bad. Here is a true rumor: anytime you copy stuff off the internet and
put it in your work without using quotation marks and a citation, a gnome will stab you in the kidney with
a rusty harpoon. Then, you will have to meet with the academic chair with a bleeding kidney. Don’t say I
haven’t warned you.
3. Be safe. Great harm has become those who have divided by zero. I don’t want that on my
conscience. Also, take care of yourself and the lab equipment. That means no cafeteria cups or juice
bottles in the shop.

You need to take ownership of your own learning. Sometimes, this class will be frustrating. Please remember that
the goal of this course isn’t to teach you op-amps – it is for you to learn problem-solving and critical thinking. If
you are struggling with some aspect of the class, you need to come in for assistance. I am free almost every day
during lunch and am at school after class every day. YOU need to schedule a time to come by and get help. I have
crappy meetings a lot, so make sure and ask ahead of time if I will be available.

Grading is going to be different from what we did last semester.

I will be giving you a list of the skills you must have for each topic. We’ll do activities in class, we’ll do
activities out of class, and there will be many short quizzes. Quizzes are your chance to demonstrate your skills.
As before, you can also demonstrate things to me in person (during shop). If you can think of other ways to prove
that you have these skills (video of yourself using measurements to diagnose circuit problems, audio recording of
an explanation, building something, writing a troubleshooting manual in the form of a graphic novel, etc), talk to
me and we can probably arrange for a way to make it count. Here are the scores:

Has demonstrated the required basic skills

2/5

In addition to #2, has demonstrated understanding of the topic’s main ideas

3/5

In addition to #3, can use measurement ideas and skills in circuit applications
4/5

In addition to #4, can apply measurement skills and ideas to develop problem-solving strategies, to combine with
5/5 additional topics, or to demonstrate critical thinking in other ways
Your grade will not be computed by assignment, but by your understanding of each topic.
This is a big change. Instead of having a grade for completing Assignment #2, getting a 78 on the Chapter 3 test,
or whatever, you will instead have a score on the 0-5 scale for each topic, such as 3/5 for “Regulators” or 4/5 for
“Active Filters”.

Want To Re-Test?

If, for instance you have a score of a 2 on “Active Filters”, here’s how you improve your score:

1. Prove to yourself that you can do the level 3 skills (on your own! Not while looking at a similar problem
in the textbook, not while a friend walks you through it)
2. Schedule a time to meet (sending me an email is best). I will ask what you did to improve or practice, so
make sure you make a note of it in your record book.
3. I will give you a quiz question for the skill you are attempting, or you can explain it to me verbally, or
you can demonstrate a circuit that proves that you have a particular skill.
4. I change your score.

If you complete the level 3 skills, but think you can get better, you may come in again and reassess.

When?

You can do this during our shop time, during my office hours (Wednesday afternoons), or other times by
appointment.

This will be confusing for a while, and I will continue to explain the system as the year progresses. If you have
questions about the grading system or the skills it’s based on, come see me anytime.

See you in there!

Mylène