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) 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 has a vote feature, which I expect will help me notice good deeds 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 enough reputation is accrued -- so I hope we don't worry about it for the most part. For instance, I feel that I have given enough clues to the ''work energy'' theorem question. 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!