Completing assigned readings, and participating in the online and in-class discussion on these
readings, is a significant part of the work that you are expected to do for this class.
The quickest summary is:
What is a Reading Journal?You are expected to participate in an online discussion by writing in the group "reading journal" as part of each reading assignment. Think of it as an electronic group discussion of the reading. From now on, we will be doing roughly two readings a week.Participation can take many forms. You can raise a concern, make a comment, summarize a point that's missing from the discussion thus far, ask a question, respond to someone else's concern or question (informatively), even run a poll ("Hey, it seems like we're really split on whether section thus-and-such is a fair depiction of the situation, what's your take [yes/no/comments]?"). Aim for a paragraph or so (though I expect you will occasionally have a lot more to say, and will sometimes have something meaningful and substantive to say in just a few sentences). (First, do the reading. Seriously. It's hard without that step.) MechanicsReading journals will consist of a post (or poll, or whatever) in the relevant thread on our Piazza site. I will post something to kick it off. You can add your own hashtags or otherwise use whatever Piazza features you like to promote discussion, but please use the RJ# hashtag (e.g., "RJ2") so people can easily find and follow the discussion threads!How Are They Graded?Your grade will be determined by two components: participation quantity (50%) and quality (50%).The grading process will consist of a Participation Portfolio to be submitted three times during the semester, self-graded for participation quantity and quality. The course staff will review these portfolios and assign a grade. (Material that is posted but not submitted with self-grading will not be counted. Quantity. Did you contribute something substantive (a question, a comment, a suggestion, a response) to the discussion associated with each assignment, by the deadline? Posts saying "yeah, that's what I think" or "this reading was dumb" don't count towards this number—but any comment that shows some thought, even if it is somewhat minimal, will count. The self-grading here will simply be a checklist to fill out, indicating your participation (or lack thereof) in each of the discussions. (We will also check the board.) Participation quality. During the semester, you will be required to create three "participation portfolios" that include your two best posts to date, and grades them in your own view. These two posts need to be taken from different dates. (On average, you'll be selecting one post for every two–three class days with assigned reading.) Again, we will review these posts and grade them but it is useful for students to think about and evaluate their own work, and to understand where an outside evaluator might see your contributions differently than you do. The goal of having you go through this process is twofold: One, it gives you an opportunity to stop and reflect on your own participation. Two, it tells us how you think you're doing. If our view doesn't jibe with your view, then we will talk about it. The grading rubric is at the end of this document. How and when to participate. Posts should be made using the Q&A facility of the Piazza course website, and should be visible to other students. Every post should be tagged with the appropriate numbered "RJ#" tag. You should also use the topic tags I've created, and may create your own topic/author tags. You may respond to posts/questions that other students have posted, or you may start your own thread. Note that Piazza has three different posting types: Note, Question, and Poll— use them! Your initial post for each reading assignment (that is, the one that counts in "participation quantity") must appear no later than the due date. You may continue to post after this time (if you're a night owl or an early bird), and in fact, later posts may be used for the "participation quality" part of the portfolio.
Grading Rubric for QualityA high-quality contribution to the online discussion should demonstrate substantive content, effective organization and presentation, relevance and context dependence, and correct English usage. Posts that are pure duplicates of existing questions/comments are not good—add to the discussion!Substantive content (10 pts). A high-quality contribution should do at least one of:
Effective organization and presentation (5 pts). A high-quality contribution should be well structured and organized, and should clearly state the point being made. Relevance and context dependence (5 pts). A high-quality contribution should be relevant to the topic at hand, and if posted as part of an ongoing discussion, should be responsive to the comments and questions posted by other students. Correct English usage (5 pts). A high-quality contribution should be free of spelling, grammatical, punctuation, and usage errors. Longer contributions should use paragraph structure appropriately. Each of these areas will receive a score from 0 to 5 or 0 to 10, using the following scoring guidelines: |