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Posted Grades

This page provides a place for posting grades and comments pertaining to the grading of the assignments. For details on grading policies, please see the Policies page. For details on the requirements for individual assignments, please see the links to the assignments on the Assignments page.

The codes used to list the grades are those provided to me in Assignment #1. If you neglected to specify one at that point, or if you wish to change the code I am using, simply send an e-mail to mike.gildersleeve@unh.edu indicating a new code.

Alias A5 A5 Comments
Mithradates 100
Commodore 128 98 no background image repeating in both directions
dirtbike 98 image exceeds 100K limit
jjeb 97 no rules modifying and element's padding
moss
wow
High 100
Low 97
Average 98
Available 100

 

Alias A4 A4 Comments
moss 70
jjeb 69 5/6 unique CSS properties
Mithradates 65 XHTML validation error
Commodore 128 61 no <dfn> element;  no <cite> element; no descendant selector
dirtbike 55 XHTML validation error; no character entity references; absolute URLs used for local resources; incorrect URLs to images
wow
High 70
Low 55
Average 64
Available 70

 

Alias A3 A3 Comments
jjeb 40
Mithradates 40
Commodore 128 40
moss 40
dirtbike 40
wow 40
High 40
Low 40
Average 40
Available 40

 

Alias Exam1
Mithradates 96
moss 94
Commodore 128 92
wow 79
dirtbike 70
jjeb 61
High 96
Low 61
Average 82
Available 100

 

Alias A2 A2 Comments
Mithradates 40
dirtbike 40  
jjeb 38 missing <author> elements
Commodore 128 37 no <docs> element
wow 35 no <guid> elements
moss 30 validation errors
High 40
Low 30
Average 35
Available 40

 

Alias A1 A1 Comments
Mithradates 20
Commodore 128 20
moss 20
dirtbike 20
wow 20
jjeb 11 #9-#12 not answered; no way to verify RSS subscription
High 20
Low 11
Average 19
Available 20

 

A Note on Final Grades

Throughout the semester, you will receive grades for the work that you submit. As the semester progresses, these grades will be posted above. At the end of the semester, I will use these grades to determine the actual letter grade you earned for the semester.

Although you will undoubtedly hear me describe it several times in class, the method which I use to accomplish the assignment of letter grades seems to cause students a great deal of confusion. Therefore, in the interest of full disclosure, I will lay out the entire process here and hope that this helps to eliminate some of the surprises.

First, however, I need to dispel some common misconceptions:

So, in short, when I assign final letter grades, I do so by considering the grades you have earned throughout the semester; no more, no less.

The first step is to calculate a numeric average for each student in the section. This average is calculated by applying the weightings described on the Policies page to the recorded grades for the semester.

Next, I sort the section roster into descending order based upon the students’ semester averages and calculate the average of these averages to give me the section average.

Using the section average, I decide where to place the dividing line between those students who will receive a B- and those who will receive a C+. In general, I will use the class average as this dividing line.

Once the dividing line is established between B- and C+, I look at the students whose averages place them at the top of the ranking and decide what grade I feel they have earned. Generally, this will be an A, but it may be an A- or even a B+ if I feel circumstances warrant.

Then, I look at the students whose averages place them at the bottom of the ranking and decide what grade I feel they have earned. The hardest decision I must make for these students is whether or not to assign an F. According to the University grading guidelines an F is intended to indicate academic performance so deficient in quality as to be unacceptable for credit. Therefore, when deciding whether or not a particular grade should be an F, I must ask myself the question:

Do the objective measures I have of this student’s performance (that is, their numerical grades) demonstrate a level of mastery of the course material that I feel justifies their receiving credit for the course?

And if the answer to that question is no, then I am obligated to assign a grade of F. While it is never pleasant to assign a failing grade, as an educator I have a responsibility to a larger community that takes precedence over individual situations, and when I assign grades I must fulfill that responsibility.

If the answer to the question is yes, then I must decide what level of passing grade the student has earned. Generally, this will be something in the D range for those students who pass at the bottom of the ranking.

Having established these three milestones at the top, bottom, and middle of the ranking, I work through the list looking for logical places to establish the other dividing lines. Whenever possible, I try to establish these dividing lines in places where they will not separate students whose performance differs negligibly.

In general, I find that while this approach does not always result in every student getting the grade for which they had been hoping, it does result in an allocation of grades that is well-distributed and fair. And while it may not always seem that the grade you receive is fair to you as an individual, I am confident that the grades I assign using this method are fair to you in the bigger picture as a member of the section and the University community as a whole.