grades
On this page I describe what you can expect from me with regards to grading, feedback, and late work. You'll also learn about what is required of you to successfully complete this course.
grading & feedback
The feedback in this class is intended to help you determine how to invest your time and energy to maximize learning and reduce cognitive overload. Here are a few important links to teach you how to access feedback.
How to View Rubric Results
How to View Assignment Comments on a Computer
How to View Assignment Comments on the Canvas App
How to View Annotation Comments (These are comments written directly on your assignment as opposed to comments typed in the "assignment comments" box.)
To facilitate learning, I will endeavor to grade your work within 1 week after the due date. For each peer-reviewed assignment, the 1-week window begins after the peer-reviews are due.
To help you improve your work, I will provide grading comments on many of your assignments via your Canvas Gradebook.
To provide opportunities to learn from your mistakes, I will accept a limited number of revisions on every type of assignment. However, after I grade any item, students cannot submit (or resubmit) that item for credit.
Not Graded
Most of the Canvas quizzes are automatically graded. However, some quizzes and all other assignments require instructor grading. I will grade some but not all of these assignments.
Ungraded assignments will count as practice work and will not affect your grade.
You will not know in advance which assignments will be graded, and I reserve the right to return to any module to grade assignments that were not previously graded.
Late Work
Successful completion of this class will be easier if you strive to meet deadlines, especially on interactive elements of the course. However, if life events interrupt your progress in this class, I will do my best to work with you!
I know that you want to be successful in this class. I also know that there are various stressors in your life and many demands on your time. I want to be supportive, so I will not deduct penalty points for late work. However, completing assignments late may increase your workload and could hurt your grade on those assignments that include a peer-review component. For the peer-reviewed assignments, if too much time has passed after the due date, your classmates will have moved on. Consequently, you will not have the opportunity to benefit from your peers' instructive comments. More importantly, you will miss the opportunity to provide feedback to your peers, and your perspective and voice will be lost. While you can still earn credit for completing much of the peer-reviewed assignment, if your work is too late, you cannot earn the points for the peer-review component of the assignment.
If you find that you are falling behind, please contact me as soon as possible – so that we can work together and devise a plan to assist you in getting caught up.
grade breakdown
10% Let's Investigate
20% Interactive Reading
25% Homework
25% Module Checkpoints
20% Final Exam
A plus-minus system is used to assign final grades. However a grade of C-, D+, or D- will not be assigned.
academic honesty
We are expected to adhere to the College Academic Honesty/ Dishonesty Policy found in the Academic Policies & Procedures section of the College Catalog.
final Exam
Description
In lieu of a traditional face-to-face final exam, you'll work through a take-home final that you will submit in Canvas. The final exam is mandatory.
To provide students with plenty of time to complete the exam, I plan to assign the final approximately one week before the final is due. Keep in mind that I will only grade your most recent submission. So please verify that your final submission is neat, easy to read, complete, and includes white space between problems.
Hard Deadline
The Final Exam is due by 3:00 pm on May 25th. Since this is the last day of class, the 25th is a hard deadline. In other words, the final exam will close at 3:00 pm on May 25th, and I cannot accept any late submissions (not even one minute late). So please plan to complete the final a few days early. That way you can accommodate any emergencies that pop up.
Final Exam & Overall Grade
You need to earn at least a D on the final exam and a minimum overall grade of 70% to pass this class with a grade of C or better.
making the grade
To provide opportunities to learn from your mistakes, I will accept a limited number of revisions on every type of assignment. However, after I grade any item, students cannot submit (or resubmit) that item for credit.
Let's Investigate
Many modules include Let's Investigate activities. These activities are designed to acquaint you with a topic before any formal instruction begins. By priming your brain to recognize the types of issues involved in the ensuing lesson, you will be better prepared to learn the material. There are no solutions provided for these problems, but don't worry if you can't solve them or are not confident in your answers. For the Let's Investigate activities, your effort is more important than the correct answers. If you commit a good-faith effort, your productive struggle will serve you well as you tackle the new topic and you will still earn a good grade for your work. After you finish the lesson, things should be much clearer. No make-up after any Let's Investigate activity is fully graded, but I will drop your lowest Let's Investigate score.
Interactive Reading
In this Canvas course, the learning pages may include instructional text, written examples, graphics, and instructional videos. After one or two learning pages, you may encounter a short Interactive Reading quiz; you can use these graded quizzes to assess your skill attainment and concept mastery from the previous learning page(s). You have three attempts on each Interactive Reading quiz. After each attempt, you may use the automated feedback to improve your score. After two attempts, if you have not earned 100% on the quiz, you can post a question on the module's discussion board and work with your classmates to figure out any glitches. As long as your first attempt is submitted in a timely manner, it's o.k. to submit your third attempt after the due date. No make-ups after any Interactive Reading quiz is fully graded, but I will drop your lowest Interactive Reading score.
Homework
Each learning module includes one or more short paper-and-pencil Homework assignments. Of course, you may use the digital equivalent to complete the "paper-and-pencil" assignments in this course. Also, you may correct your mistakes and resubmit any Homework assignment until I begin grading the assignment. No make-ups after these assignments are fully graded, but I will drop your lowest Homework score.
Module Checkpoints
At the end of each learning module in Canvas, you will have a Module Checkpoint. Think of these checkpoints as take-home exams that you complete online. The first two Module Checkpoints are Canvas quizzes that include automated instructor feedback. However, since every Checkpoint is equivalent to an exam, subsequent Checkpoints are written peer-reviewed assignments that do not include instructor feedback. No make-ups after these assignments are fully graded, but I will drop your lowest Module Checkpoint score.
Final Exam
For more information, please see the Final Exam section above. No make-ups and no dropping low scores.