Assignments & Grading
Overview • Assignment Objectives • Participation • iPeer Grading • Grading
Overview
There are 9 required assignments in this course. Some assignments will have multiple parts. The percentage of your grade allotted to each assignment also includes weekly participation in the online forums for that module's topics. While the following links will display the module assignments, please look at the specific module page for any related readings and supplemental instructions.
| Assignment Name (Link) | Related module | Due Date | Percent of Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Module 1 Assignment | Module 1 | Tuesday 10/02 at Midnight | 11% |
| Module 2 Assignment | Module 2 | Tuesday 10/09 at Midnight | 11% |
| Module 3 Assignment | Module 3 | Tuesday 10/16 at Midnight | 11% |
| Module 4 Assignment | Module 4 | Tuesday 10/23 at Midnight | 11% |
| Module 5 Assignment | Module 5 | Tuesday 10/30 at Midnight | 11% |
| Module 6 Assignment | Module 6 | Tuesday 11/06 at Midnight | 11% |
| Module 7 Assignment | Module 7 | Tuesday 11/13 at Midnight | 11% |
| Module 8 Assignment | Module 8 | Tuesday 11/20 at Midnight | 11% |
| Module 9 Assignment | Module 9 | Tuesday 11/27 at Midnight | 11% |
Assignment Objectives
There are only two objectives for each module's assignments.
- Provide enough exercises to expose you to the technologies and concepts we are covering.
- Provide rapid enough feedback to be beneficial – while you can still remember the assignment.
Participation
Class participation is an important part of any course at this level,
but crucial to a successful online course. The
grade for a module includes the quality of postings and the regularity
of your involvement in the discussion forum. You are expected to
read the assigned materials, complete the exercises and participate in
class discussion forums on a regular basis. You are expected to ask
questions, answer questions or participate in discussions about the
readings, assignments or module topic. Active participation generally
requires one contribution (question, answer, suggestion, or comment) per
week to a discussion forum. Commenting on a post with "me, too" does not
constitute active participation.
It is safe to assume that the students in this course will arrive with a
wide range of experience and interest in these topics and technologies.
To provide a useful experience to this diverse group, the assignments
will often have a required and optional component. Assume that the
required portions will either be prerequisites in other courses or cover
skills required to use the tools expected of all program students. The
optional components are intended for those that are very familiar with
the required concepts and those students interested in a greater
understanding of the module topic.
iPeer Grading
"Grading" is a fairly loose term used to describe the process designed to verify that each student has completed (or made a honest attempt to complete) each assigned exercise. In this class you will be working together with with an iPeer "grading partner" to provide and receive timely, useful and constructive feedback on class assignments.
In the iPeer "skills" assessment portion of the course, we are looking for successful development of skills without distributing you through some form of grading curve. As such it becomes a risk free environment to learn to use the course technology and related software. To this end, it is important to understand that for the "skills" assignments you can ask for help and exchange information with fellow students on the discussion boards and in any other form you choose.
You are all adult graduate students, and if you elect to take shortcuts to get through an exercise, that is only hurting your own educational experience. Keep in mind this is a skills/concepts course that you should find useful and financially rewarding as you advance through your career. You will also find the information helpful in your future academic and research efforts.
The iPeer Protection Rule: This should be a low-stress, low-risk environment. You shouldn't find it necessary to argue with your partner or the instructor over a point or two here and there. If you have substantial issues with how you are graded or if your iPeer drops off the grid, of course feel free to contact the instructor.
The Reasonable Effort Rule: You should NOT be spending a huge number of hours struggling for perfection on each and every exercise. The goal is for you to put in a reasonable effort, but if you can't answer the question after giving it a fair attempt it is OK to give up! Way before you get too frustrated, please post any questions or concerns on the Skills Discussion board and communicate with your iPeer - the objective is to learn this material not catch you unprepared.
Select Your iPeer
Pick a classmate as your iPeer - use the Student Directory for assistance. While I prefer iPeer pairs, I will leave it up to each peer group to determine the ultimate size of the group. I can see some advantages in a group of three or maybe four. The good news - more resources to draw in. The bad news - more assignments you have to evaluate and offer feedback on. Keep in mind that this is not a group project, you still do your assignments and final project (if any) individually. There are few rules on this - if you like, two iPeer Pairs can work together on an ad hoc basis.
During week two, one member of your iPeer group submit your group membership to me by email. Please cc the others in your group so when I Reply All everyone will know it is taken care of. After that I will assign peer pairs from any remaining students.
If an iPeer Group Breaks Up
For whatever reason, please find another team to join OR I’ll ask a group to work with you.
Grading Process
- Please submit each module's requirements as directed in the
assignment to your iPeer(s). These will be due each Tuesday (by
11:59) pm during the week following that modules lectures. This
means you have 10 days to complete each set of assignments. In most
cases you will be directed to exchange assignments by attaching your
assignment to an email. If you want to work out another exchange
vehicle between you, please feel free. Do not
cc me.
If you can’t meet the schedule, communicate with your iPeer. You don’t need to involve me. I leave it to you to not take advantage of each other.
- iPeer grading feedback is due Friday (by 11:59 pm) of the week
it is submitted. This gives you 3 days to review and comment. Either
add your comments to the document and send it back to your partner
or just send an email with your comments. If you both agree, this
can be done by IM, voice, etc. Do not cc me.
- When appropriate, I will post an "answer sheet" for a module,
far more likely you will be comparing your results to theirs,
evaluating whether they met the assignment objective and offering
constructive feedback.
- Assignment grading is always a big question source. Constructive
comments are FAR more important, but please include a numerical evaluation using 0-4
consistent with Grad School grading. I
don’t want you to spend a lot of time on worrying about this – be
subjective as in “this looks (or felt) like a 3.8 to me”. If it
leads to another exchange between you, fine.
Grading summary (linked Excel worksheet): Each grading team will submit 1 copy to me (cc'ing any iPeers) at the end of the quarter– with both of your module scores. I will be looking primarily to see that you were doing the work.
Grading
This is a credit/no credit class. Although you will not receive a grade, there are a number of requirements that you must meet to receive credit.
- You must make a serious effort to complete all exercises with an
80 percent or higher cumulative average to receive credit. The class
is based on 100 points so you need to get 80 or more points.
- You must complete the peer reviewing in a timely fashion
following the instructions given in the preceding section of this
page.
- If there is a Final or Class Project required and yours is late,
you may be required to take an incomplete in the class, as grades
are due immediately following the evaluation due date.
- You must be active in class to receive credit. You are expected to read and participate in class discussion forums on a regular basis and you are expected to ask and answer questions of the instructor or your peers. Active participation minimally requires one contribution (be it a question, solution, suggestion, or comment) per week to a discussion forum. Commenting on a post with "me, too" does not constitute active participation.
General grading information for the University of Washington is available here. The iSchool has adopted its own criteria for grading graduate courses. The grading criteria used by the iSchool for graduate courses are available here.
Notes about written assignments.
Your written work will be graded based on its clarity, organization, balance, amount of pertinent detail included, depth and clarity of evaluative and analytical comments, and preparation. It will also be graded on the extent to which a good understanding of the material presented in the course is shown and on the extent to which directions are followed. If evaluative or analytical comments are required, they should be supported by factual evidence, either from readings or other documents. Other aspects of individual assignments may also be included in the grading.
Written work that shows a lack of understanding of subject matter, is unclear or poorly organized, contains few or irrelevant details, does not follow directions, contains little or unsubstantiated evaluative commentary, or is poorly written, prepared (e.g. typos, grammatical errors), or documented will receive low grades.
Home •
Course Overview •
Calendar & Modules
Assignments & Grading •
Readings • Course Communications
Instructor Information •
Student Directory
Last updated: Friday, 20-Jul-2012 14:35:55 PDT
© 2012 Information School of the University of Washington
All rights reserved