Rowan University - Junior Senior Engineering Clinic (JSEC)

Jess W. Everett | SFC

Intro | Grading | Deliverables | Submit & Archive | Out-of-Discipline | Honors | Writing Intensive

Introduction

This webpage describes the JSECs of Professor Jess W. Everett and the Sustainable Facilities Center (SFC). Follow this webpage only if directed by your clinic professor. Course materials are disseminated via email and/or Google/Team drive. The general JSEC syllabus also applies; however, directions given here supersede. And always feel free to ask your clinic professor to clarify!

According to Federal guidelines, students should expect to spend at least two hours outside of class a week per credit hour. This is in addition to time spent in class. That means a 2-credit hour JSEC can involve as much as 5.5 hours in-class AND 4 hours out-of-class each week. Site visits and field trips do not automatically replace in-class time.

JSEC is a hands-on course where students 'learn by doing' and self-direct their learning as much as possible. JSEC can be very similar to a Co-Op or Internship experience. Most projects are funded by industry or governmental agencies. Students work in small teams on open-ended projects with at least one professor and--sometimes--staff, graduate students, and clients. JSECs can be multiple semesters in length. A typical sequence includes: collect background information; develop objectives, scope, and schedule; generate new information through observation, experiment, prototype, and/or analysis/simulation; and document results via reports and presentations. Students use skills from previous courses, such as first-year and sophomore engineering clinic.

Grading

The grade distribution below replaces the one in the general JSEC syllabus, unless you specifically request otherwise. The hands-on nature of JSECs warrants it. The typical letter grades apply, e.g., an A is a 93 or higher.

Attendance
20 points

Attendance is worth 20A/N points of your final grade, where A is the number of sessions you attend and N is the total number of sessions minus 2. Sessions are class meetings, site visits, and field trips. The 'minus 2' means you can miss two sessions and still get all of the points, or get extra credit for missing fewer than two sessions! Two 7.5-min breaks or one 15-min break are allowed per 2.75-hr session. Any other partial absence--e.g., showing up late, leaving early, or taking extra break time--will result in partial attendance credit for a given session. If you have a period of excused absences described in an official email from the Office of the Dean of Students, we will reduce your denominator appropriately. According to Stephen Hawking, 'half the battle is just showing up.' Given that attendance directly impacts the 20 points in this category AND indirectly impacts your professionalism and deliverables points (described below), it may be more than half of the battle for clinics.

Professionalism
30 points

Professionalism is worth 30P/14 points of your final grade, where P is the number of weeks of effective professionalism on your part and 14 is the number of weeks in a semester. Weekly professionalism is based on how well you:

  • Focus on your tasksWorking efficiently in and out of class so you can submit well-done and on-time deliverables. Examples of NOT focusing include looking at your phone, engaging with social media, and talking about non-clinic topics;
  • Contribute to a good work environmentMaintaining a respectful, collegial, inclusive, quiet and tidy work environment; communicating appropriately with team members; and
  • Document progress on deliverablesWeekly evidence in the JSEC Google/Team drive that you wrote text, entered data, created figures, took photos, improved a model, etc..

Poor attendance does NOT reduce your taskload; however, deadlines may be postponed for excused absences documented by an email from the Office of the Dean of Students. Of course, some sessions cannot be made up, e.g., presentations, site visits and field trips. Missing one of those will impact your professionalism and/or deliverables grades.

Deliverables
50 points

Deliverable types are described in the next section. Your specific deliverables (and relative weights and submission schedule) will be provided by your professor or their designate. Note: JSECs are real projects that create value for others--e.g., clients--so deliverables, weights, and schedules can change over a semester (but only with appropriate notice).

Each deliverable is assessed using the following rubric.

  • A - work that can be used and/or submitted to the client with very little or zero modification;
  • B - little modification;
  • C - moderate modification;
  • D - major modification;
  • F - the deliverable is useless or nothing was submitted (zero points).

Peer evaluation and direct observation are used to modify an individual student's grades, e.g., a free-riderSomeone who attempts to gain benefit from a result they had no role in creating will receive a grade of zero even if the team turns in an A-level report.

 

This grade distribution makes 50 % of your grade dependent on showing up and being professional. Great practice for your career!

JSECs are team projects. If at any time during the semester you anticipate not being able to carry your load DO NOT disappear. Talk to the professor, staffer or graduate student working with your team. We will work something out!

Deliverables

  1. Register for correct clinic section - go to Section Tally and display the ENGR courses for the current semester. Find your professor's sections of JUNIOR ENGINEERING CLINIC, SENIOR ENGINEERING CLINIC, or HONR SR ENGINEERING CLINIC, find the CRN and/or course & section number, and register! Email your professor if you need a prereq override. Must be completed before drop/add ends. Do on the first Thursday class!
  2. Background Memo – Each new student on a clinic team must familiarize themselves with background material required to understand the project. This could be reports, articles, books, websites, etc. Some materials may be supplied, some you may have to find yourself. Each new student submits a 1 to 2-page memo demonstrating familiarity with the subject of the team project. Due by the end of the second week of the semester.
  3. Quizzes (optional) - Some clinics use quizzes to ensure that students have mastered materials, e.g., before site visits.
  4. Annotated Bibliography (optional) - Some clinics require students to read articles, reports, books, and websites. Progress is recorded by added references and summaries to a Google Doc. Each student has their own section of the document. They use this document to coordinate to ensure they do not duplicate effort, i.e., read and summarize the same sources. Annotated bibliographies are very useful when writing reports and white papers. Use the APA style guide, as given in FEC I.
  5. Data/Results - It is common that data/results are collected from observations (such as site visits), experiments, or prototype testing. Students may also obtain results by (a) analyzing data using statistics or (b) simulating plausible scenarios using models. Confer with your supervisor as needed to ensure you are collecting, storing, analyzing, and/or modeling properly. Preliminary Data/Results, including documentation are due ~week 8. Final Data/Results, including documentation, are due by the last day of the Finals period.
  6. Team Report(s) - Team Reports are submitted multiple times over a semester, as per your schedule. Reports must be well-written (spelling & grammar), of proper format (we will provide a template or outline or will work with you to develop one) and contain correct and complete content. Any fact you obtain from someone else must be cited where it appears in the document and referenced in the Reference section. Use the APA style guide. When a report has been reviewed and commented upon, the suggestions must be used to improve the next report submission, or an explanation provided as to why the suggestion was rejected. Feedback helps you create an excellent report for clients, resulting in a higher grade! Each Final Report is due by the last day of finals (unless an earlier date is required by the client). Failure to turn in draft reports on time, with suitable improvement, will result in a lower professionalism grade (see grade policy) and, potentially, a lower deliverable grade.
  7. CCQ Article - SFC CLINICS ONLY. The Clean Cut Quarterly is a newsletter published by the SFC. Teams of two students submit one 500-word article (plus or minus ~100 words) related to their clinic project. SFC Professors and/or Staff approve topics. Choose a topic sentence by the end of week two, submit an outline by the end of week four, and a first draft (double-spaced) at the end of week six. A final version is due by the beginning of week 10. Specific dates are provided during the semester. In between the first draft and final version, submit drafts as many times as requested by your SFC professor or staff.
  8. Team Midterm & Final Presentation - Prepare for presentations with multiple practice runs, including one with your supervisor. Try to wow the audience with professionalism and graphics (i.e., pictures and charts). Your presentation, at a minimum, should include introduction, background, methods, results, conclusions, and future work. Email a draft to your supervisor and professor a week before the day of the presentation. Email the final presentation file to your supervisor and professor. The Midterm presentation is given in ~week 8. The Final presentation is given during the last class. You must attend the entire session in which your presentation is given, unless you get permission to do otherwise. Include a URL or citation below each image you did not create (no reference list required). Dress business casual (look it up). Every team member talks at each presentation, unless you are told otherwise (this happens sometimes with large teams).
  9. Resume - Submit a resume that includes our clinic. We'll help you get the resume (and clinic description) right. Check out these examples of good resumes. Resumes are due twice each semester, within a week of the midterm presentation and on the first class of the last week of school.
  10. Midterm & Final Accomplishments Memo - Each student must submit individual 1-page memos describing their accomplishments. They must also reflect on how well they performed in a 'learn by doing' and self-directed learning environment. The memo should include a justification of the letter grade you think you deserve and the letter grade you think your team as a whole deserves. Please include + or – in your letter grades, as appropriate. The midterm memo is due by the class after the midterm presentation. It must also describe your plans for the rest of the semester. The final memo is due by the last day of the Finals period.
  11. Midterm & Final Peer Evals - Each student must submit a Peer Evaluation of all team members. A link to a Google Form will be emailed around the time of the midterm presentation. Peer Evals are due twice each semester, within a week after the midterm presentation and by the last day of the Finals period (after the final report is submitted).

Submit & Archive

Submit deliverables via a transmittal email as (a) a link to a Google file or (b) a file attachment. Send it to your professor and supervisor (staff or graduate student). CC ALL of the other members of your team if it is a team deliverable. File names MUST be unique, e.g., 'Smith-resume' or 'BIMClinic-33%Report'. Professor Everett wants draft deliverables double-spaced and--if submitted as an email attachement--as a pdf (but he is fine with a link to a Google file). If something was only done on paper, e.g., a set of calculations, scan the document and submit as a pdf.

Archive deliverables in the Google/Team Drive in their original format (.odt, .doc, .xlsx, .pptx, .pdf, etc.). Coordinate with your supervising graduate student, staff member, or professor (in that order).

Out-of-Discipline Students

If your JSEC professor is from a different department than you, check with your department to see if you need to do anything differently, e.g., give a presentation to your department or fill out additional evaluations. You must tell your professor as early as possible if there is a significant requirement. It is our understanding that CEE students have no out-of-discipline requirement. We do not know about the other departments.

Honors Students

If you are taking Honors Senior Engineering Clinic, you must author a RUSS related to your clinic (Spring only) OR write a 5 to 10-page research paper on a topic you select and your professor approves. You are welcome to request an alternative activity.

Writing Intensive

The Rowan University Writing Intensive course requirement is met by having Engineering students contribute to multiple documents in their JSECs; however, for record-keeping purposes, only Senior Engineering Clinic is officially listed as Writing Intensive.