Course Introduction

Course Instructor: Dr. Kathleen Meehan◦ Room 460 Whittemore Hall◦ kameehan@vt.edu◦ kathleen_meehan (Skype)◦ 540-231-4442

Graduate Teaching Assistant: Ms. Shaimaa Abdullah◦ shaimaa@vt.edu

Required Text: Fundamentals of Electric Circuits, 4th Edition

C.K. Alexander and M.N.O. Sadiku, McGraw-Hill◦ This book will be used again in ECE 3004

Recommended Text: Mastering MATLAB 7, D.C. Hanselman and

B.L. Littlefield, Prentice-Hall, 2005. PSpice for Basic Circuit Analysis, 2nd Edition,

J.G. Tront, McGraw-Hill, 2005.

Microsoft Office or equivalent◦ Including ability to convert files to a .pdf format

MATLAB ◦ You should already have this from the freshmen

package for engineers, but will need to make sure that the license is current.

PSpice◦ 10.2 version that comes with the Tront book, version

9.1 (www.opel.ece.vt.edu), or version 16.3 from the Cadence website (www.cadence.com).

Skype

The schedule of lectures, assignments, and tests is posted in the Scholar Syllabus folder.◦ Syllabus button is on the left-hand toolbar.

I will group lectures, homework assignments, and videos of worked problems, by week and then topic in the Scholar Modules folder.◦ Module button is also on the left-hand toolbar.

Powerpoint slides with audio◦ My expectation is that you will listen to the

weekly series of lectures by the end of the day on Fridays of the week noted in the schedule. There may be more than 3 files containing lectures

posted each week. We have to cover 15 weeks of material in 12 weeks.

I will try to break the lectures down into small segments to make it easier to listen to them for short periods of time during the week.

A question will be included in lectures at random with the expectation that students will respond to the question via an e-mail to me. ◦ A grade of “1” will be given if you respond by 11pm EDT

on the Friday of the week for that series of lectures. I will replace the grade of one lecture response for students

who provide me (Dr. Meehan) via e-mail with information on a volunteer activity that they have done at some point during the Summer I and II semesters. I will use your response to collect information about the quality of

the lectures.

Suggestions on how to improve the course are accepted at any time during the semester.

The lowest grade will be dropped when calculating the contribution of these responses in the final grade for the course.

There will be 30 homework assignments Due date is 9:00 pm EDT on Saturday of the week

assigned.◦ Electronic submission through the Scholar website.

Scanned handwritten or Tablet PC-written answers are acceptable. You do not have to type your answers in a .doc file. File format should be .jpg, .png, or .pdf. Assignments submitted with poor workmanship or image quality may

be returned ungraded and a zero will be entered for that assignment.

Failure to upload a file before the link closes is not a valid excuse. Make sure that you have obtained a receipt for the submission.

Do not e-mail the assignment to me or Ms. Abdullah. If you have a problem with your internet connection, please notify

me directly so that a temporary means for submission can be worked out. If this is a continual issue, you need to fix the problem.

You are allowed to submit three (3) assignments late – up to one week after the deadline. ◦ Additional late assignments will not be graded.

◦ One replacement grade for your lowest homework grade will be given if you complete two surveys about the course. An announcement about the availability of the surveys will be posted on Scholar. Students who do all 30 assignments, even if more

than three are late, will have their lowest two (2) homework grade dropped.

There will be three 60-minute tests and one 60-minute final, which must be taken in a proctored environment.◦ The tests must be taken some time between 8am EDT on

the Friday of the week before the week in which the test is on the schedule and 8pm EDT on the Friday of that week Test 1 must be taken between June 10 – June 17. Test 2 must be taken between June 24 – July 1. Test 3 must be taken between July 22 – July 29. Final must be taken between August 5 – August 12.

No postponements or makeup tests will be allowed except in documented cases of hospitalization or situations of similar severity.

◦ Students who need special accommodations for the tests are encouraged to contact Dr. Meehan early in the semester to make the necessary arrangements.

The tests will be closed book and closed notes. ◦ No formula sheets will be permitted other than the one

included in the exam, if provided.

◦ Students will not be allowed to use computers or cell phones during a test other than for use in entering answers on Scholar and to upload files containing their calculations. Certain answers to some questions will need to be entered

into the appropriate test posted on Scholar.

To receive credit for the exam, an electronic file containing your work must be posted within ten minutes of completion of the exam using a link on Assignments.

Proctored environment means that you are at a location where someone can verify that you have followed the directions for the exam.◦ Suggestions: A public library, a Virginia Tech

distance-learning site, a conference room at work. If you are uncertain if the place that you intend to take

an exam is acceptable, contact me to get approval.

Tests will be conducted under a strict interpretation of the Honor Code. Papers of students suspected of cheating will be turned over to the Honor System without warning.

Each test and the final will on the material covered in the lectures before it.◦ I.e., the final is not cumulative.

◦ Each test and the final will have equal weight when calculating the final grade for the course. If you take all four exams (3 tests and the final), the

lowest grade of the four exams will be dropped.

If you do not take one of the tests or the final during the scheduled time, a zero will be entered for your grade and the zero will be included when calculating your final grade for the course.

3 Tests and the Final * Lowest grade will be dropped if all 4 exams are taken. * All tests and finals will be weighed equally.

70%

30 Homework Assignments * Maximum of 3 assignments may be submitted late without penalty. * Lowest 2 grades will be dropped if all 30 assignments are submitted, even if more than 3 are submitted late.

20%

Electronic Responses * Lowest of the grades replaced if statement about volunteer activity is provided. * Lowest grade will be dropped.

10%

Total 100%

Students will receive a grade of X at the end of Summer I.

This grade will be converted to a letter grade at the end of Summer II.

There is no longer a mailtool on Scholar.◦ Messages are only posted on Scholar, not sent

directly to your email account.

Therefore, I will use the Announcements on Scholar and emails using a course listserv to distribute information about the course.◦ Please monitor your Virginia Tech email account

regularly.

I plan to use a video conference program to hold office hours.◦ Initially, this will be Skype. However, they have

removed the ability to video conference with a large number of people for free. So, I am looking for another program. Please set up a Skype account if you do not have

one. Test to see how to share screens so that I can see files that you have on your computer screen.

It would be very helpful if you have a headset with microphone, which will allow a real-time conversation. Otherwise, you can communicate by typing in the Message box.

A survey will be open shortly and will close on Friday, May 27, at 11pm EDT.◦ The purpose is to find common times when office

hours can be held. Your participation on this survey will count as your

first grade as an Electronic Response.

I will use the forums to post explanations on how to approach certain problems.◦ Please check these regularly.

You may be asked to contribute to a course Wiki as part of an assignment.

I may use the Chat Room and Blog on Scholar to supplement office hours, if it appears to be useful.

Suggestions of other avenues that we can use for office hours, live or recorded demonstrations on how to solve problems, … are welcome.

Even though this course extends over two summer sessions, the deadlines for add/drop and course withdrawal are the same as those used for Summer I.◦ http://www.registrar.vt.edu/registration/201106_calendar.ph

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Wednesday, May 25, is the last day to add the class.

Monday, June 6, is the last day to drop ECE 3054 without grade penalty.

If you are enrolled in only one course in Summer I, you must officially resign from the university. Your refund will be calculated according to the university refund policy.

Monday, June 13, is the last day to resign without grade penalty.

First and required contact for resignation is academic dean of the College of Engineering. Submit completed resignation form to the University Registrar's Office by 5:00 p.m.

Friday, June 24, is the last day to apply for Course Withdrawal.

Please review the material presented in this lecture and the syllabus and the schedule of lectures, homework assignments, and tests that are posted on Scholar so that you know what is expected of you during this online course.◦ If I was unclear about some aspect of the course,

please feel free to contact me for clarification.

Now, on to the technical lectures…