Grades in the course will be determined by
I will send you email with detailed feedback on your work over the
course of the term as it is completed. In many cases I'll be
bucket-sorting individual components of your grade based on on a scale
of the sort {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.
By 1:30pm (2 hours before class starts), students must send me email
with comments about the material being covered that day. You must
submit one comment about each reading; sometimes there is only one and
sometimes there are two. I encourage you to also bring these questions
with you to class as hardcopy or on a laptop, and use them as a
springboard for discussion. Your email must have the subject
line I expect you to attend class. 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. In this
case, you may send your questions to me via email, but you will only
be given credit if they arrive by usual time on the day of class.
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. 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. Do be concise: a few sentences per question is good, with a
maximum of one paragraph per question.
Below are examples of graded comments from a
Navigation/Zooming reading in a previous course, ranging from great to
poor.
Participation
Students should do the core readings before the lectures and
participate in class discussions during both lectures and student
presentations. 18% of your total grade is based on the required
reading questions you submit before class. 12% of your total grade is
based on class discussion and participation - in addition to the core readings discussions,
there will also be time for questions during your classmates'
presentations. The in-class design exercises are mandatory, and marked
on a pass/fail basis.
Subject: 547 submit XXXX
where XXXX is the
day's topic.
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