Portfolio B  Physics 3960 Fall 2020

General Information

Kevin Crosby

DSC 76 x5855
kcrosby@carthage.edu
https://www.carthage.edu/live/profiles/98-kevin-crosby
Office Hours: MW 10:30-12:30PM

Course Prerequisites

Completion of PHY 400U with a grade of C- or better

Textbooks and other Resources

Required Texts:

Software Used in the Course:

What’s this all about?

The portfolio seminar is intended to help you build physics skills, apply those skills to a variety of contexts , present clearly (your work, yourself, and your skills), and stage your efforts for a broader audience in a professional portfolio. Portfolio B is focused on the professional development side of such tasks.

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Learning Goals

By the end of this course, you should be able to…

Requirements

Meetings and Attendance

We meet from 8:00AM-9:40 T in DSC 54. This year, we may primarily meet online via Zoom. Class time will be a mix of activities, including individual work, group work, discussion, and presentation. The majority of the work will be done in class, through there will be a small amount of homework.

Grading

Grading will be on the basis of participation , activities/assignments, and presentations as in the tentative weighted average at right. Weights may
change depending on the balance of assignments. Letter grades will be
assigned on the standard 90/80/70/60 scale with a curve possible depending on the nature and balance of activities and overall class performance.

Participation

Participation involves, as the name suggests, participation in in-class work,
activities, discussions, etc. This will be assessed by recording attendance
(signing in) and by the instructor. If you are judged to be badly disengaged, you will be reminded and nudged in the right direction; further disengagement may result in loss of participation credit. Exceptions due to attendance may be possible by making advance arrangements with the instructor.

Activities/Assignments

There will be a variety of assignments given during the course, from reflection exercises to technical writing, from “explain the advantages of liquid sodium nuclear reactors to your grandmother” to “convince the CEO you just met to hire you”. In many cases, I will be asking you to reflect on [aspects of] what you’ve learned at Carthage and coherently present these outcomes in a concise manner that could be used to demonstrate value to a future employer. Writing skills and the ability to present yourself orally are very important here.

Portfolio

Throughout the semester you will work on and add elements to your portfolio, likely including materials both from this course and from other courses. This is intended as a developmental process, so you will be graded more on progress than on final product, but anticipate at least an informal presentation of the state of your portfolio toward the end of the semester.

Presentations

Development of presentation skills in the context of a professional development seminar might focus on technical audiences, educated non-scientists, prospective employers, or total strangers. Content might come from assignments for other courses, general physics knowledge, brief research exercises done in class, your resume, or your portfolio. With these diverse goals in mind, we will be doing several brief presentations during this course, culminating in some form of a portfolio presentation toward the end of the semester.

How to succeed

While this is not intended to be a difficult or time-consuming course, there
will be work. We do believe it can be very beneficial, but such benefits require engagement, and engagement will require effort, so, here’s what we need you to do:
• Come to class, be on time and prepared.
• Engage with the in-class activities and participate in discussions.
• Complete formal assignments with appropriate effort and in a timely
manner.
• Communicate with the instructor if there are any problems.
… and finally, have some fun.

Academic Honesty

Students are bound by the terms of the Carthage College Academic Honesty Contract in the Student Handbook. Any act of academic dishonesty is a sufficient cause for failure of the course.

Learning Accommodations

Carthage College strives to make all learning experiences as accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience academic barriers due to your disability (including mental health, learning disorders and chronic medical conditions), please let me know immediately so that we can privately discuss options.  To establish reasonable accommodations, you also need to register with Diane Schowalter in Learning Accessibility Services (dschowalter1@carthage.edu).