Course Grades

Grades in CS/INFO 4152/5152

The main course is project-based. Therefore, the majority of the grading will be at the group level. To make sure that individuals are assessed fairly, we have a sophisticated assessment policy to determine your contribution to the team. Part of your grade is assigned individually, while the other part of your grade is assigned as a group (e.g. all members receive the same grade, regardless of effort).

Grades for students taking CS/INFO 4152 are primarily determined at the group level, as that is where the vast majority of the points are. As long as you find a position to contribute equitably to your group, you will do well in this course.

However, students enrolled in the masters section of the course are expected to demonstrate a greater degree of individual mastery in the subject matter. This is reflected by an increased emphasis on the individual grade. In particular, students in CS/INFO 5152 will have two additional individual grades that students in CS/INFO 4152 do not.

Graded Activities

Group Grades

Game Grade

The game grade is determined entirely at Showcase, and reflects the quality of your finished product on the following scale.

• A: Game is well-made and fun to play
• B: Game is stable, but less fun than it could be
• C: Game is not fun at all, or too buggy to play

D’s and F’s are for extreme problems and handled on a case-by-case basis.

Course Documents

As part of the development cycle, you will write many specification documents. These are graded writing-seminar style, with many opportunities for revision.

Presentations

Every two weeks, your group will present an the progress that you have made on your game.
Initial presentations are graded pass-fail. Later presentations are graded according to how your group responded to earlier feedback.

Individual Grades

Game Grade

By default this is the same as your group game grade. However, it may be adjusted by your peer evaluations in CATME. Individuals that contributed the most work or the most vision may receive a higher grade. Individuals that cause conflict or create “negative work” will receive lower grades. D’s and F’s are reserved for individuals that abandon their group in the middle of the project.

Participation and Reports

Class participation is graded according to your contribution in during design and playtesting discussions. Finally, this grade also includes mundane factors such as attendance.

In addition, every student is expected to make regular reports through CATME. This will be part of the two week report at the end of each milestone. Students who do not fill out these reports will lose points.

Individual Activities (5152 Only)

The initial three weeks of the course will consist of several activities to introduce students to relevant topics in programming and/or design (depending upon the student role). While ungraded for all 4152 students, these will be graded for students enrolled in the 5152 offerings.

Leadership Role (5152 Only)

Students enrolled in the 5152 offering are expected to take on a well-defined leadership role on the team. The scope of this leadership role is to be identified at the start of the semester as part of the team workflow. The leadership grade will assess how effective the student was in carrying out the activities mandated in this document.

Grade Factors

For activities common to both 4152 and 5152, students will be graded exactly the same regardless of the course they are enrolled in. However, the amount of weight that each element contributes to the final grade does depend on the course.

Grade Weights for 4152 Students

Note that the participation grade for 4152 students includes a pass/fail grade indicating that you made a legitimate attempt at the individual activities, even if you did not complete them successfully.

Grade Weights for 5152 Students

Grades in EGRC 4152/5152

ENGRC 4152/5152 final semester grades include those items listed in the table below, with the addition of any quizzes or supporting work via Canvas.

Grades for the documents and items listed in the table below will be the same in CS/INFO and ENGRC enrollments. Grades for each of these will posted in the CS/INFO course CMS, as the grades will be identical to what you earned for that course.

The breakdown of grades for this class is tentative, but we expect it to be roughly as follows:

CATME Grades

One additional feature of ENGRC 4152/5152 will be CATME team assessment surveys. These will be sent to your Cornell email address automatically. Watch for them to arrive, and check your Junk/Trash/Other folders.

There is nothing to submit in Canvas; the instructor will port in the points from the CATME. However, you MUST fill out the CATME survey inside the CATME system. CATME results may impact your individual grade on the associated written document or sprint.

The grading scale below is simply for participating in the CATME survey. Impacts on the Participation grade are a separate assessment done by the instructors.

• 5 pts: Completed, saved, and submitted CATME, with radio buttons done on time
  AND a full set of at least two required sentences at the end of the survey.
• 3 pts: Completed CATME radio buttons only, but on time.
• 0 pts: Not done and/or not done on time.