General Teaching Policies
Prof. Lotfi K. Gaafar
2015 SSE, ext. 3093
e-mail: gaafar@aucegypt.edu

Teaching Philosophy

والحامليـنَ إذا دُعـوا ليعلِّمـوا عبءَ الأمانـةِ فادحـاً مسؤولا

I believe that universities are training camps to prepare students for their professional careers. My role as a professor is to help students learn engineering materials as part of a complete experience that relates the material to its real life applications, where learning takes place in a professional environment. More important than learning the specifics of the presented material, is to develop an engineering sense and good self-learning abilities.   I also strongly believe that I cannot teach you what you do not want to learn.  I can only help you learn what you want (when the student is ready, the teacher appears).

Computer expertise, oral and writing communication skills, and teaming skills are essential in the engineering workplace. To achieve this, an integrative semester project is included in all my courses.

I provide a high level of support for learning through office hours, an interactive discussion format in the classroom, and detailed observations about strengths and weaknesses on graded material. Individual treatment is vital, but all students must be treated fairly and have the same opportunities available to them. Many of the rules and restrictions in my courses may be attributed to the fairness requirement.

I make the following assumptions about my students:
1. They seek to maximize the meaningful learning that they can achieve given scarce resources of time and energy.
2. They attend the class to learn not to socialize.
3. They are interested in learning the course material as well as earning a good grade.

In light of the philosophy and assumptions above, my teaching policies are designed to achieve the following objectives:
1. Support my role as a learning facilitator.
2. Create a professional learning environment inside the classroom and outside it.
3. Help the students improve their self-learning abilities.
4. Related all course contents to real life applications.
5. Treat students fairly and provide them all with the same opportunities.

Course Information: Except as otherwise indicated in class, course material will be posted on my homepage (http://www1.aucegypt.edu/faculty/gaafar). You are advised to visit my homepage before each class. 

Assignments: Assignments are due in my office after class on the day announced (no later than 3:30 p.m.), or as otherwise indicated. Late assignments will not be accepted under any circumstances.

Assignments must be submitted in the following format to be considered for grading:
1. Use A4 paper.
2. Use only one side of the paper.
3. Attempt all problems.
4. Include a cover page with: student name or ID#, but not both, and assignment #.

Quizzes: In regular semesters, there will be a quiz at the beginning of the last class every week. In summer sessions, there will be three quizzes per week on UTR. Any excuses for missed quizzes will not be accepted. Instead, the lowest two quiz or submitted assignment grades will be dropped to account for unforeseen events.

Grade Changes: Grade changes will only be considered if requested within one week from when the graded material is returned to the student.

Email Policy: Please use gaafar@aucegypt.edu ONLY to send any email to me or basma_bargal@aucegypt.ed to send email to Eng. Basma. In all cases, please include in the subject line the course code and a concise and clear statement of purpose (e.g., MENG 346: Assignment #1).  Otherwise, your email may be deleted along with spam messages and messages potentially containing viruses.

Makeup Policy: In cases when a student misses any of the two midterm exams for a valid and verifiable reason, a makeup exam will be administered with the final exam (on the same date and time). There will be no makeup for in-class quizzes or any other course elements.

Attendance: In line with university policy, attendance is mandatory. To enforce the policy, students will be penalized if they miss more than three classes by a 1% deduction for every class missed. Because you will be held to a strict code of conduct in the classroom, you may leave at any time you wish, but you may not return to the same session once you leave. However, if you decide to attend, you must show up on time. Students will not be allowed in the classroom after the instructor closes the door or after 5 minutes from the class starting time, whichever comes first. At a natural break within the first 10-15 minutes of the class, the door will be opened again to allow all late students to enter at one time.

In all cases, every student is responsible for announcements and handouts given in the class. Students attending the class are expected to behave professionally and to preserve the learning environment. Violators will be removed from the class immediately. In this regard, a ringing/beeping/vibrating mobile phone will cause a student to be removed immediately from the class. A ringing mobile will trigger a quiz, whose grade may not be dropped, if the offender cannot be identified. Use of mobile phones during the class is strictly prohibited. Engaging in side-talks not authorized by the instructor will cause removal from the classroom. Also, showing up without the appropriate tools to actively participate in class (notebook, pen or pencil, calculator, …etc.) may lead to removal from the class. Students will lose privileges after the first removal from the class. Lost privileges will range from no drop of low scores to a penalty of 5 points for each offense. You may also be sentenced to extra coursework for any offense.

It goes without saying that any foods/drinks are not allowed in the class. This definitely includes GUM! Also, to provide you with the best service in my office, I ask that you refrain from chewing gum in my office.

Any questions related to the nature of the quizzes or exams must be asked in the classroom or communicated through e-mail. This is to guarantee that all students have the same opportunity and information. When a question is asked through e-mail, the reply will be sent to all students on the class mailing list. You are welcome to ask any other types of questions in my office or through any other form of communication.

Academic Honesty: The University's academic integrity policy will be strictly enforced. Students involved in any form of academic dishonesty (e.g., cheating, plagiarism, etc.) will receive a grade of "F" for the course with further action to be recommended to the appropriate authorities. It is regrettable that such a statement has to be made.

Final Grade:
All courses are scored out of a total of 600 points. The final grade is determined according to the following table:

558-600 points 93%-100%	A	480-497 points 80%-82.8%	B-	402-419 points 67%-69.8%	D+
540-557 points 90%-92.8%	A-	462-479 points 77%-79.8%	C+	360-401 points 60%-66.8%	D
522-539 points 87%-89.8%	B+	438-461 points 73%-76.8%	C	below 360 points below 60%	F
498-521 points 83%-86.8%	B	420-437 points 70%-72.8%	C-

Note: I frequently get a question on curving. I believe that curving the grades to force a certain percentage of each grade or a certain profile is unfair. To say the least, a student cannot expect his/her grade before grades are announced. In other words, grades remain a mystery until the end of the semester. To make matters worse, a good student is penalized by the performance of other students. If all students score above 90%, a 91% may be considered a C!! In other words, you don not have full control over your grade. I strongly believe that if all students score above 93%, they ALL should get A’s, and vice versa. Therefore, I will stick to the criteria above in assigning the final grades for all courses. However, to account for a difficult question on an exam, the score of any question not answered by at least two students will be added back to all students.