Course Policies and Grading

Your goal is to learn about product design, people, and yourself. This course will be held in a friendly and informal manner, because good design thrives in a creative environment. That said, students are much more likely to complete the readings, preparation questions, and project work if deadlines are fixed and the results are graded.

Grading

Your grade is based on the following elements. Final grades are assigned based on your total, and on your performance relative to the entire class. Two things to keep in mind:

• Because it is impossible to accurately compare relative "effort" between students, I mostly focus on the results of your work, not the perceived or claimed effort.
• It is unlikely that all members of a project team will receive the same course grade because part of your grade is based on the individual elements. 

INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS

• Attendance for duration of each class session (6 pts.)
• Instructor evaluation of your preparation, participation, and contribution to each class (6 pts.)
• Scores on the two short quizzes (4 pts. each for a total of 8 pts.) 
• Warm-up opportunity handed-in (2 pts.) 
• Darwinator opportunities complete (3 pts.)
• Darwinator evaluations complete (3 pts.)
• Instructor assessment of your opportunity pitch slide submitted (4 pts.)
• Peer evaluation of your opportunity based on class voting (4 pts.)
• Final project team contribution by peer team members (4 pts.) 

CONCEPT PHASE (Team of 2)

• Refined opp, customer needs, 3 concepts, and selection assignment (5 pts.)  
• Instructor evaluation of concept presentation, PDF upload, and basic prototype (10 pts.)
• Peer evaluation of your Concept as presented (5 pts.)

FINAL PROJECT ELEMENTS (Team of 4) 

• Product drawing and prototype plan assignment hand-in (4 pts) 
• CostRules spreadsheet, target costing, and base case assignment hand-in (4 pts)
• Naming and Patent outline assignment (2 pts) 
• Instructor evaluation of booth preparation and assets for Design Fair (5 pts)
• Instructor evaluation of the quality of your final project upload (15 pts)
• Estimated profits earned at the Design Fair (10 pts)
• Estimated-profits = estimated-share-of-purchases x market-size x average-retail-price/your-retail-price x (0.70 x your-retail-price - your-estimated-cost)
• We arbitrarily assume a market size of one million consumers, and estimated share is based on the purchase intent data expressed by participants in the fair.
• So for example, if your estimated share of purchases is 3%, the average price of products at the fair is $20, your price is $10, and your cost is $3, then your estimated profits would be:
• 0.03 x 1,000,000 x 20/10 x (0.70 x 10 - 3) = $240,000 

Deadlines are deadlines

All deadlines are final and there is rarely a way to make up missed work. This rule may seem inflexible, but it benefits all of us. The only exceptions are school closures, natural disasters, hospitalization or other serious medical emergencies documented by your physician or Penn health services, and advance notice of religious holiday observation.

Attendance

• Attendance is a key part of the class experience. We all face various trade-offs in life, including the costs and benefits of attending this class. Although I appreciate your desire to be polite, you do not need to tell me in advance if you will miss class or leave class early. Both attending and missing class carry opportunity costs. Missing class is not "ok" in any absolute sense. However, attending class should probably not be as important to you as, for example, attending your wedding.
• Please do not ask me how to deal with your in-class responsibilities during an absence (e.g., forming a project team or giving a presentation). These tasks are your responsibility. 

Class Participation 

• Class participation is your responsibility. Prepare for class. Use your name card. Raise your hand.
• Students will be cold called at random in some class sessions. 
• Merely making yourself heard without demonstrating preparation and thoughtfulness does not necessarily contribute to your class participation grade.

Intellectual Property

• Ideas submitted to the Darwinator are assumed to be the property of the submitter. Students are expected to be respectful of the intellectual property of their classmates. Unless derived from sponsored research or other significant university-funded activities, the intellectual property created in this course is assumed to belong to the students who created it.