Subject: 144L: Quiz 1 decision
From: "Raul G. Longoria"
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:12:00
CC: Tehmoor Dar , Albert A. Espinoza, Jaewon Choi , Somudro Gupta
BCC: 144L_F09 
You will recall that you have 2 quizzes for 144L, 
and both take place in the last week of class.
I've attached a summary sheet. The hands-on list was 
prepared by your TAs and I prepared the final quiz list.
Tomorrow in lecture you get to complete a course evaluation 
and then listen to me explain the 10 items I've listed for 
the final quiz.
The final quiz is a 50 minute, 5 short-answer question 
mini-adventure.
RL
Subject: 144L: some updates, quizzes, etc.
From: "Raul G. Longoria"
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:02:25 -0500
CC: Tehmoor Dar , Albert A. Espinoza, Jaewon Choi , Somudro Gupta
BCC: 144L_F09 

To: ME 144L Students

1) I understand if you can't make it to lecture, just make sure you are 
prepared for lab.  It is difficult to cover everything you should know 
in <50 minutes, so all I can do is either target something specific or 
give a big picture that may help you see how the pieces fit together. 
These are concepts that will be reflected in the final quiz.

2) The hands-on quiz will be a shock to the system if you don't begin 
getting some time on the equipment.  I've asked the TAs to begin 
arranging some of their office hours during off-lab periods so you can 
go in and practice with their help.

3) IMPORTANT: You will be allowed to use your notebook during the 
hands-on quiz.  This is why it is important for you to take good notes 
on the equipment usage, connections made, etc.  Take care of that 
notebook as the semester end nears because the TAs will only allow you 
to use your own notebook for this purpose.

4) There is a big time gap between the labs, so it won't surprise me if 
you end up staying more than the two hours.  These are 'labs' so if 
everything could be planned so we finished within the allotted time then 
I would probably say we need to make some changes.  On the other hand, 
use that time to practice with the equipment or help your lab partner do so.

have a nice weekend,

RL
Subject: 144L: examples for ABET
From: "Raul G. Longoria"
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 09:57:24 -0500
CC: Tehmoor Dar , Albert A. Espinoza, Jaewon Choi , Somudro Gupta
BCC: 144L_F09 

To: ME 144L Students

As part of the ME department's preparation for accreditation, we collect 
examples of student work from all courses.

I will ask the TAs to begin identifying notebooks that we can retain at 
the end of this semester to be used for this purpose.  If we choose your 
notebook, I hope you will let us keep it until this process is complete.

If you want the notebook back, I can ship it to you if you provide a 
forwarding address.

thanks,
RL
Subject: 144L: FERPA compliance
From: "Raul G. Longoria"
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2009 21:02:18 -0500
CC: Tehmoor Dar , Albert A. Espinoza, Jaewon Choi , Somudro Gupta
BCC: 144L_F09 

To: ME 144L Students

The Dean of our college has learned in meetings with students that many 
faculty are violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act 
(FERPA).  This Act prohibits any process of returning graded materials 
that includes both information that can be used to identify the student 
and the student’s grade in a readily viewable way to others.

To improve our process, by way of this message I am informing both the 
TAs and Cindy Raman that students not be allowed to loiter around the 
notebook pick-up area.

This may not be sufficient to satisfy everyone.

If you do not feel that we are following the requirements of this act by 
returning notebooks to you in stacks by Cindy Raman's desk, please let 
me know and we will come up with a better method.

One solution: remove names and replace with randomly assigned numbers

I appreciate any feedback you care to provide.

RL
Subject: 144L: Quiz 1 decision
From: "Raul G. Longoria"
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2009 16:53:06 -0500
CC: Tehmoor Dar , Albert A. Espinoza, Jaewon Choi , Somudro Gupta
BCC: 144L_F09 

In the continuing effort to make this into "1"44L, I've decided to make 
the changes:

Quiz 1 (eliminate) - 0%

Quiz 2 - keep as final quiz (last friday class meeting) - 10+5 = 15%

Move 5% left over from Quiz 1 into LE to make this 25% of your grade.

If you have any concern with this and would prefer to have a Quiz 1, 
please let me know and I'll set one up just for you.

Otherwise, 10/9 is a "no lecture meeting" day.

RL
Subject: 144L: 2nd week update
From: "Raul G. Longoria"
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 14:12:58 -0500
CC: Tehmoor Dar , Albert A. Espinoza, Jaewon Choi , Somudro Gupta
BCC: 144L_F09 

Because of the Labor Day holiday this Monday, 9/7/09, you have an 
additional day to complete your LE work.


Remember, this work must be completed in your notebook and submitted to 
the drop-off location designated by your TA.


So if you have lab on Monday, for example, submit your notebook on 
Wednesday.


Keep in mind that 'notebook checks' are not conducted until later.  Only 
LE will be checked.


If you have questions about what is due for the LE, see the pre-lab/LE 
document accessible from the document map for this lab:
http://www.me.utexas.edu/~dsclab/labs/LVsimulation.html

RL
Subject: 144L: update
From: "Raul G. Longoria"
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:34:52 -0500
CC: Tehmoor Dar , Albert A. Espinoza, Jaewon Choi , Somudro Gupta
BCC: 144L_F09 
The 144L lectures go too fast, so let me convey a few more things:


1) Next week you can bring your laptop and try to install LabVIEW, but 
don't expect to be able to use your laptop right away in lab because it 
will take time.


2) The week after next will likely turn into an 'independent work week' 
because Monday is Labor Day.  Since Monday labs can't meet, we'll likely 
have you complete the second week on your own.  Having LabVIEW on your 
own machine will be helpful if you don't want to rely on METER lab.


3) Don't stress this weekend about getting started with LabVIEW.  I was 
pushing hard today to give a big picture.  Just get your head around the 
state space models and the concept of block diagrams.  You should review 
both this week's and next week's lecture slides as well as tutorials online.

4) Read the syllabus, and get a notebook:



Have a nice weekend.
RL