Grades

Students learn in different ways. Grades will include two elements: participation and production.

Participation Grade

A sheet will be passed and students may write their names on it at the beginning of each class meeting. After class, the instructor examines the sheet and circle the names of students who "participated" in class that day and cross out names of those who did not. The sheets will be on file in the instructor's office for students to examine during office hours. The question is: What constitutes participation or non-participation?

Participation: If you have done whatever the assignment was for the day and interacted with the other students in a way that makes it clear that you are keeping up with the class, this is "participation." Different people have different styles. This is not a reward for outspoken people and a punishment for quiet people. Quiet people should participate in ways that reveal that they are actively engaging the course materials. Likewise , outspoken people should not just speak a lot but should have meaningful things to say about the discussion of the day that reveal that they have actively engaged the course materials.

Non-participation: Arriving late or leaving early, not paying attention, or not showing that the assignments have been completed constitutes non-participation. It is possible to be physically in class every day, even saying a great deal, but never really participating.

The participation grade places a cap on the production grade. For example, if you are a non-participant in more than 10 percent of the class meeting days (the total is arbitrarily set at 40) then it will not be possible to earn the grade of "A" even if enough points were earned for an "A."

Production Grade

Each assignment has a due date (see the schedule). The assignments will be graded and handed back for potential resubmission. Each assignment may be corrected and resubmitted once for a better grade. Resubmission must be done no later than 1 week after the project is graded.

Grades are assigned as points based on a combination of the quality and quantity of work completed. Quantity of work is not merely a measure of the number of words or pages, but of the brevity and appropriateness of the words and pages used. Quality is a measure of the scientific clarity, content choices, arrangement, grammar and general presentation.

Each assignment has a rubric posted along with the details of the assignment. Grading will be done according to this rubric.