The Spring Semester will be held online. Just like the Autumn Semester, a certain level of flexibility remains with the teachers to adopt the mode of teaching and the structure of learning best suited for a particular subject given the unique needs of each subject.
The following is a description of the mode and structure for Advanced Mechanics of Solids:
Important disclaimer: The instructor will try his best to stick to the mode and structure as described in the following. However, given the changing situation and the special needs that may arise at any given point once the semester starts, the instructor reserves the right to adapt and change some mode and structure. Should such a situation arise, the instructor will take care to cause minimum disruption and to help students.
Each week, a certain number of pre-recorded lectures will be prescribed as required viewing. The duration spanning this required viewing will be counted within the contact hours. The rest of the contact hours time will be covered through live online classes. In practice, certain deviations from this structure will be inevitable.
The live online classes will take place via the meeting feature of Microsoft Teams. All students will be “enrolled” into Microsoft Teams using their institute email id (no open ids like gmail, yahoo, etc. is allowed inside Microsoft Teams!)
The content of the discussions in the live online classes will follow the sequence in which the pre-recorded lectures are shared with the students.
While the live online classes will be, by design, somewhat open-ended in scope but at the same time, each class will have an overall agenda and plan to cover important milestones to push ahead with the coverage of the syllabus.
After viewing the pre-recorded lectures, the students will naturally have some doubts. They will post these doubts in the appropriate channels within Microsoft Teams. Some of the smaller doubts can be resolved by the instructors/TAs through replies in the discussion forum itself. However, the more important doubts will be collected by the instructor and discussed during the live online classes.
The students are strongly advised to post replies and participate in the various discussions on the discussion forums. In the absence of face-to-face interactions that would naturally take place during a real class, such online engagement can contribute a lot towards a richer, collaborative learning. It is through such efforts that an experience unique to IIT Kharagpur’s learning environment can be achieved going much beyond what a MOOC course can offer.
As per institute-wide policy, there shall be no Mid-Semester Examination and no End-Semester Examination. Rather, there will be continuous assessment throughout the semester.
The modes of assessment for Advanced Mechanics of Solids will be as follows (all percentage values mentioned below represent contributions towards the total 100 used for final grading):
5% of the total weigtage is kept for attendance and engagement during class discussions as well as discussions through the forums.
The attendance will be taken through an automated feature of Microsoft Teams during the live online classes.
A student who is genuinely attending the classes and engaging in the discussions over the entire semester should have nothing to be concerned about.
The Asynchronous Assessment component will be based on the following:
There will be two written assignment submissions.
Each assignment submission will be based on problems numbering not more than 3.
A few days’ time will be provided between the release of the assignment sheet and the deadline of the submission.
Students will solve the problems by hand on paper, sign and scan/photograph the pages, and upload a single combined PDF file strictly within the deadline.
Students who have access to a pen tablet and would prefer to use it to do their assignments are allowed to do so. They are encouraged to use an app that allows different pages. Submissions MUST be made as a PDF file.
Further details regarding each assignment will be provided within each assignment sheet.
The Synchronous Assessment component will be based on the following:
Viva on the Group Term Project: 10%
Written/Coding test: 45%
After the submission of the Group Term Project, each student will sit for an individual viva (not group viva).
During the viva, each student’s individual understanding of the term project problem and its implementation will be assessed.
There will be three written/coding tests appropriately spaced out throughout the semester.
Each test will be conducted synchronously like a live class session, spanning at the most 60 minutes.
A problem sheet will be released containing one or two problems (at the max.)
The students will answer the question within the specified time, scan/photograph, and upload the solution pages.
Students are allowed to use a pen tablet with appropriate writing software to answer the question(s). However, it will be the responsibility of the student to submit the solution files in a proper format.
An extra buffer of 15 minutes will be provided for uploading the solution pages.
Depending on the progress and response of the students, a coding test may be kept near the end of the semester.
Important Disclaimer: If there are fresh directives from the institute regarding grading policies, the following guidelines and policies will be superseded by those new directives.
The assignment and test submissions must be made in a neat and clean fashion.
For assignments as well as tests, the solution steps must be clearly explained. Just writing some formulae and presenting an answer after a messy derivation/working out will be severely penalised.
It is not the responsibility of the grader to extract meaning out of the student’s work. It is the responsibility of the student to present everything clearly. Clear communication of one’s ideas is an essential part of training to be an engineer.
The cut-off for P grade will be set between 30 and 35.
The cut-off for EX grade is usually 90. However, depending on the difficulty level of the tests, this cut-off may be slightly relaxed. As mandated by the institute, “even the best student of any class needs to be good enough to be awarded the ‘EX’ grade.”
Cut-offs for grades A to D will be decided based on the overall performance of the class. There will be no limits to the number of students who may obtain a particular grade.
If a students truly thinks that a particular question has been unfairly marked, then s/he may request for rechecking. But note that in such a case, the entire question will be thoroughly rechecked. If a genuine mistake in the marking is found then again appropriate modifications in the mark will be made. The students are asked to be very careful before requesting for a recheck because it may also result in reduction of marks.
Requests to “discuss” grades will be summarily ignored. Please do NOT send such emails. Please do NOT approach the instructor for such discussions.
If a student receives F grade, then the student must understand that s/he is missing the cut-off for P grade by a non-negligible margin. Therefore, no request for changing F grade to P grade will be entertained. The student with the F grade must wait till the Supplementary Examination.
It is expected that certain students may face some issues with the online nature of the teaching and learning due to restricted bandwidth or mobile data restrictions. It is exactly keeping in mind the requirements of these students, that pre-recorded lectures will be provided.
In the extreme event that even such pre-recorded lectures cannot be accessed, there should not be any difficulty in accessing simple text-based notifications or small-sized PDF documents containing the course announcements and lecture contents.
All students facing such difficulties should notify the instructors at the beginning of the semester itself describing their specific issue. This will enable the instructors to decide on appropriate alternative measures to the extent possible to aid in the learning of the student.
In the unfortunate event that the student’s learning is suddenly and completely disrupted due to a COVID-19 emergency in the family and/or any other medical emergency, the student must notify the instructor immediately so that appropriate measures can be taken in compliance with institute policies. It can be expected that to implement the measures, the student will be asked to provide appropriate medical documents.
In the event that a student suffers a complete and prolonged disruption in net connection in the midst of a test, s/he should inform the instructor immediately. To handle such situations, emergency phone numbers will be provided.