In many cases I'll be bucket-sorting individual subcomponents of your grade based on on a scale roughly following {great 100%, good 89%, ok 78%, poor 67%, zero 0%}, although the exact weighting may vary. Note that poor is not a passing mark in a graduate class.
There will be no final examination in this course, final project presentations will be during the final exams period (Thu Dec 10, time TBD).
The grading scheme is roughly proportional to estimated time
spent. I assume available time is 12 hours per week across 14 weeks,
for a time budget of 168 hours. The synchronous in-class meetings will
take 1.5 hours per week, and occur during 12 weeks. Attending the
final presentations will take 3 or 4 hours. I estimate about 7 hours
of reading and writing time each week during the 9 weeks of reading
and online discussion. The project should be scoped to take about
80 hours per person, spread throughout the term.
Your submitted comments should be thoughtful, and clearly show
that you've done the reading and reflected on it. They may either be
phrased in the form of an observation or a question. Do be concise:
aim for a short paragraph for each reading. If you genuinely are
confused by some aspect of the reading, then it's useful and
legitimate to ask for clarification. However, simply asking something
that you could trivially look up yourself is not a good question.
Neither are vague statements like "I liked it" or "I learned a lot",
or anything that you could write without having thought carefully
about the reading. As with any written work that you hand in, I expect
correct grammar and spelling. Your responses to the observations and
questions of your classmates should also be thoughtful and polite. I
will also chime in to the online discussion.
For marking I'll start with pass/fail, I may fall back on explicit
marking if I see quality issues.
Below are examples of graded comments from a
Navigation/Zooming reading in a previous course, ranging from great to
poor.
Synchronous In-Class Participation
The synchronous component of the class will include in-class
exercises, working in small groups, Q&A sessions, and discussions. It
will occur in the Thursday afternoon time slot (3:30-5). Participation
is mandatory, I do expect you to attend and the material covered will
be important for absorbing and internalizing the course material. It
will be marked on a pass/fail basis: if you participate and you're
engaged, you will pass. If you must miss class you should send me
email with an explanation; this email should be in advance not after
the fact, unless the problem is illness or emergency.
Asynchronous Reading & Online Discussion
The asynchronous (async) component of the course will take place over
9 of the weeks. For each week, you will do first do the assigned
readings, then join the online discussion by first posting your own
comments about the readings, then responding to comments from others.
In most weeks there will be three assigned readings. In the online
discussion, your own comments on the readings are due by Tuesday 3pm.
You must post one comment on each assigned reading. Your
responses to the comments of others are due by Thursday 3pm. You must
post to at least one response to a classmate's comments each
week, feel free to contribute further to the discussion as well. While
you may choose to participate in the online discussion during the
Tuesday 3:30-5pm time slot, feel free to do so when it is convenient
for you.
Back to 547 Home