Good deeds policy

For any course that I teach, there is a good deeds policy. It is very simple.

• Students who try hard (e.g. working hard, being curious and not being afraid to show uncertainty while being open and thoughtful) will get noticed.
• Students who contribute much (e.g. leading discussions) will get noticed.

There are many concrete ways one gets noticed.

• Classroom discussions.
• Office hour discussions.
• On-line discussions.

For the last one, the new forum system that I have installed has a vote feature, which I expect will help me notice good deeds more easily (and more objectively?) in the forum discussions. I will vote positively if a student shows more than casual effort. I believe other students will vote positively when they see good deeds by students. However, it is not possible to vote negatively, unless you have accrued a lot of reputation points -- so I hope we don't worry about any negative vote for the most part.

I hope students will feel comfortable enough to contribute freely. There is nothing to lose. I don't have any bad deeds policy! So far in my teaching, I did not need any such thing. For instance, I feel that I have given enough clues to the ''work energy'' theorem question on the forum site. I'd be really happy if a student provides a good answer. My giving an answer is really not meaningful at all, because, really, you are the one!

What is the benefit of getting noticed? It may be of crucial help, if your grade ends up near a grade boundary.