ASSIGNMENTS
Other than the quizzes and final examination, your grade in this class will be based on
your completion of assignments, not “mastery” of material. As I will
say in class, in order to learn the material we will cover in this
class, I need you to complete all of the assignments. Each journal
and article memo will be marked as “done” or “not done”, not
“correct” or “incorrect”. These assignments are opportunities to
explore, engage with, and challenge ideas raised in the class.
Complete them.
Each of you starts with an
"A" (600 points) and you move down from there. The buffer for each
letter grade is 60 points (10%). Pluses and minuses are earned in
the 20 point margins at the top/bottom of the letter grade range.
You will receive an A- at 564 points. Once you go below the threshold for any given grade, there is NO way
to go up. Unless otherwise noted, all assignments should be
single-spaced, 1" margins, in Times or Times New Roman font, and
have no more than a one line header with your name, the date, and
the assignment. On the journals, do not use paragraph breaks (like I
do in this syllabus); indent to start new paragraphs.
A=540-600
B=480-539
C=420-479
D=360-419
F=0-359
A) Encounter The Material (50 points):
The single largest predictor of a final grade in any course is
attendance (Credé, Roche, Kiezcynka 2010), with doing the reading
following a close second. As much of the learning taking place in
this class will happen during the three hours we have together each
week, you hurt yourself by not attending. Not only do I believe your
presence enables you to learn from the contributions of others, your
own contributions to our learning are critical for our comprehensive
engagement with these ideas. Each day, I will randomly select about
12 of you whose presence I will record. If you are there when I call
your name, you will receive 10 points;
if not you won't. if you are late, check at the end
of class to make sure your name wasn't called.
B) Explain
The Material
(20 Article Memos at 5 pts each = 100 points):
While most of the theoretical and conceptual material for this class
will be found in the lectures and discussions, we will encounter
most of the empirical (i.e., research-based) evidence of the
theories in the
20 readings assigned in this class. You will be required to outline
each week’s readings and those outlines are due (in Canvas, in the
correct folder) by midnight on Friday of the week they
are assigned on the syllabus. Each memo for each reading should be
no more than one page in length. They must follow the
model supplied at the end of this syllabus, including each of the
sections included in that model; don’t include the notes and numbers
in parentheses. I will choose one of your memos to post on the
course website as a study guide for the rest of us. The posted
memo’s terms and findings will be what I will base exam questions
upon. If you find that, week after week, your memos don’t look like
the posted ones (e.g., you don’t pick the right concepts), please
meet with our TA to see what you can do differently. We will discuss
6 of the articles in depth the last week of class.
C) Engage
The Material:
(10 journal entries at 15 pts each=150 points):
Every week you will be expected to write a one page (minimum 600
words) single-spaced journal entry on the issues covered in
class that week. On Wednesdays, I will give you a specific question
to answer that’s based on that week’s material. The journal entry
will be due
by midnight the following Monday
in Canvas. The last journal will be due that
Friday (June 06)
at noon. Your ideas will not be graded as "correct" or
"incorrect" -- rather this is an opportunity to explore, engage
with, and challenge ideas raised in the course. A “useful” (to you)
journal entry will try to apply both the concepts discussed in class
and the readings assigned that week. Do not use paragraph breaks
between your paragraphs; indent like you would in regular writing.
Use paragraphs though. Like most writing, these are hard to read and
understand without them. Often, you’ll get a response (in Canvas)
along with your grade. We'd love for you to respond to those.
D) Exhibit Erudition (Quizzes and final examination for 300 points):
I would like
for you to master the material in this class at the following levels
of understanding: (1) basic knowledge, (2) comprehension and
understanding, (3) application, and (4) analysis and comparison.
With that in mind, there will be two ways I’ll test your
understanding: a series of quizzes and a cumulative final exam.
•
Quizzes: There are five (10 question) quizzes scheduled throughout the
semester (essentially one every other Wednesday). Each question
will be worth 2.5 points. Quizzes will test that you are keeping
up with your knowledge of the material and not waiting until the
final exam to cram it all. These quizzes will only cover
that
week's readings and the material covered since the last
quiz. The average on quizzes is usually 70%. If you find that
you’re scoring much below that, please see the TA as soon as
possible for possible study tips.
•
Final Examination: There will be a cumulative final exam composed of
80
multiple-choice questions. Each question will be worth 2.5 points.
As you’ll discover with the quizzes, these multiple-choice
questions can’t be answered by just looking for a word you
recognize. You’ll be expected, in some questions, to apply your
knowledge to cases. You’ll also be responsible for the material
in the readings even if we did not discuss that reading in
class. The exam will be offered on Tuesday, June 10 from
11:30a-02:30p on Canvas.
