The evaluation of projects differs from most other courses.  The final grade for each project is assigned by the department, not just by your supervisor.  The final grade will reflect your performance both technically and professionally, throughout the whole year.   Those items contributing to your final grade are listed below.

A Summary of the Project’s Deliverables

Project Proposal (Revised)

Progress Report

Oral Presentation

Poster Fair

Final Report (See below)

Project-Specific Deliverables (other items that the supervisor has required)

The final report represents the culmination of your work throughout the year.  The report will be graded by your supervisor and by a second reader – an outside and objective person.    Their assessment will be based on three major components :

1. The quality of the final report as a document
2. The quality of the engineering product
3. Your individual professional performance.

Further details for each component are listed in the three tables below.

Final Report

Statement of Objectives

General Organization (title page, sequence of chapters, references, appendices, etc.)

Technical Writing and Illustrations (correct English, spelling, clarity, conciseness, accurate and complete)

Adequate Background Information (preparatory information, literature survey)

Conclusions and recommendations

Quality of Final Engineering Product

Engineering Techniques Used (use of modern concepts and methods, systematic engineering methods)

Engineering Design  (quality of design, functional, adaptable)

Implementation

Testing/Experimental Data Used (completeness and accuracy)

Engineering Analysis (Analysis of the problem & deriving requirements, analysis of data presented, critical review of final product)

Other … (Please describe.)

Individual Performance Assessment

Initialization (Initiative, proactive attitude, effort …)

Organization (Time management, forming work plans and identifying milestones/difficulties/alternative, …)

Conduct of Work (Regular attendance and participation at meetings, preparedness for meetings,  attitude toward deadlines, … )

Learning Experience Gained by Student (seeking out information, amount of learning and degree of difficulty, …)

Team Contribution  (Relative measure of the performance & contribution of individual within a group )

Letter Grade Standards for the 4^th Year Project

What grade do you expect to receive ?  The following standards have been adopted in order to provide consistent guidelines as to what each letter grade means in terms of professional achievement within the Systems department.

A grade of A is given for outstanding achievement

• The student demonstrated exceptional ability and complete mastery of the subject material.
• The student has exceeded original expectations; there is nothing more that could be asked.
• The student has begun to take ownership of the project, demonstrating independence, initiative and confidence.
• The student has made a contribution on which others can build.

A grade of B represents good, solid professional engineering work.

• The student has met the original objectives in a timely, competent manner.
• The student is fluent in the subject matter, yet is still dependent on the supervisor’s technical advice and requires intervention/supervision to identify steps in the work.

A grade of C represents below-average performance, with C being the minimal acceptable grade average for graduation.

• The student has an imperfect understanding of the concepts, and poorly developed ability to solve problems.
• The student has met some of the original objectives, but was unable to finish due to a lack of effort or insight on his/her part.
• The student often required direct involvement by the supervisor, not only to identify steps in the work but also to teach how to achieve each step.

A grade of D is assigned when the performance is below graduation standards, with D- being simply a passing mark for the course credit.

• The project is barely acceptable but the student has made enough effort to avoid failure.

A grade of F is given to those must repeat the course.

• The student has failed to grasp even the basic concepts.
• The student has failed to demonstrate any kind of progress, whether in term of understanding, learning, or implementation.