Our on-line discussions each week start with each student making a short written reaction (200 words or less) to the assigned reading for class, and posting it on our on-line discussion forum. This should be done by Monday evening at the latest so that other students can read it and respond before class meets. Posting by Monday or earlier increases the chances that others will read and respond to your thoughts. In turn, this increases the odds that you will earn a high grade on this portion of the course. Read on for more details.
Since our class meets face-to-face each week, the purpose of the on-line discussion is to maximize what we get out of the face-to-face discussions in class, not replace face-to-face discussions. Having some limited discussion on-line prior to class helps to ensure that everyone has thought a bit about the readings before we meet, and given consideration to how others' thoughts about them differ. With this done, we can concentrate our face-to-face discussions on evaluating the ideas that have been put forward, and working toward a cohesive understanding of the material. This is extremely difficult to do through on-line discussion alone.
Your on-line reaction may be
one or a combination of:
It's good to share personal experiences when these are relevant; but try to avoid purely personal reflections -- your thoughts should connect to the reading in a clear way, using quotations if possible.
There may be a week or two in which the readings don't connect
very well with your interests (we can't all be interested in everything),
so there will not be any penalty for not posting in a given week.
Your portfolio of contributions to the on-line
discussions will be graded according to the following scheme:
A+ |
In addition to meeting all the criteria for an A, your portfolio makes clear that you have played a central role in the class' online discussions for most of the term. You are able to document several threads of substantial depth that you have both initiated and contributed to, driving deeper exploration or application of the ideas encountered through the assigned readings. |
| A |
Your portfolio is thoughtful, well-written and coherent. It provides convincing evidence that you've engaged actively in helping advance not only your own understanding of the course material and the field, but have advanced the understanding of others in the class as well. At least once in the term you played an important role in creating an extended thread of discussion. |
| B |
Your portfolio is thoughtful, well-written and coherent. It shows evidence of having read the assigned texts carefully and worked the ideas over.Your notes did not get built on much, but your portfolio persuasively documents advances in your own understanding of the field. Each of the notes you have linked plays a clear role. |
C |
Your portfolio is clearly written, but does not reflect consistent effort to engage in undertanding the course material. You do link some notes as evidence of your thinking that are clear, and based on original thought; but there are not many of them, or many of them were contributed in a clump near to the end of the course. |
| D | Your portfolio shows no clear evidence of having done the reading or understood it. It may be made up mostly of personal ideas that don't connect to the the content of the course. |
| F |
No portfolio is submitted. |