How

For the first time I am using Moodle for quizzes. They will all appear in Topic 1 of the Moodle pages for this course: Q0, Q1, ..., Q5. Simply double-click on the appropriate quiz. Each will be be available at least a week in advance of when you need to submit it (which is always Thurday morning 8:00AM).

Rules

Second, the rules on taking quizzes:

  1. They are completely open book. You may use our textbook (recommended!--half to 3/4's of the questions are directly out of the assigned reading), but also any other source: My posted class notes, searching on the Internet, etc. You may use a calculator or any other computational aide.
  2. The only source you may not use is another human being: no student, no friend, not a TA, no blog forum, etc. No collaborations on quizzes.
  3. You may ask me clarifying questions (e.g., by email), and if I think the issue raised is relevant, I will write to the whole class.
  4. You may take the quiz twice. I added this feature in because sometimes a rushed job leaves you surprised at your score. If this happens to you, you can retake it, and if you get a higher score, I will use the higher score instead. (If you get a lower score, I will discard the second taking; so it is risk-free.)

Advice

Third, a few pointers and advice on taking the quizzes. Here is how I think it best to handle them.

  1. Access the quiz and print it out.. Read it over, perhaps guessing at the answers.
  2. Look at my Notes for each lecture in the Syllabus, perhaps revisit the Lab(s).
  3. Look up details on the Web, starting at w3schools.com.
  4. Use Google as much as you can.
  5. Sometimes you may have to just think about what should be the answer, without finding it anywhere.
  6. Sometimes you have to run experiments, using the tools learned in the Labs, to answer a particular question definitively. Sometime I could only answer my own questions this way.
  7. Feel free to write me (jorourke@email.smith.edu) with clarification questions. Sometimes I word the question ambiguously unintentionally.
  8. Only actually take the quiz when you have it completely figured out, with all answers written on your sheet. (It is not timed, and until you hit Submit, I never see it.)
  9. You can partially fill it out and select Save, to return to it later.
  10. It may be harder than you initially think to get everything correct. It will usually not suffice to know roughly what's going on--often you will have to know precisely what's going on, the precise meaning of technical terms, etc.
  11. Take your time. There is no advantage to submitting it early, except to give yourself a second chance.
  12. Answers will not be available until Thursday morning sometime after the submission deadline.
  13. I will create a separate copy for late-takers. You are on the honor system for this.