INSC 598 Grading & Expectations

Course requirements:

• 30% - Class participation.
•  By default, everyone will get the full 30% possible for class participation. You have to “work” to lose this credit. Important elements: Complete readings for week; come prepared to discuss the readings – especially with respect to your own project and your own experiences with PIM.
• 25% - Individual assignment
• Pick someone (a friend or family member is OK, but do not use someone in this course) who is willing to participate in your small study. You will meet with these participants twice during the course (see Class Schedule). You should plan on 60-90 minutes for the first and 30-60 minutes for the second meeting. Your participant will pick a primary and secondary project, just as you have done for yourself. At each meeting, track their progress with these projects. Focus on the primary project; look at the secondary project as time permits Ask them to give you a tour of information organizations (email, e-document, paper, bookmarks, hand written notes, etc.) relating to their projects. If (only if), participants give permission, take pictures (if you have a digital camera) or take screen shots of organizations (email, e-document, etc.) of project-related information organizations. Note the changes that occur over time. Compare their experiences with yours. After each meeting, write a one-page progress report (each worth 5%) to summarize your impressions. How is your participant approaching his/her project? How is associated information organized? What problems has the participant encountered? Etc. Include photos of associated information organizations in an appendix. To complete the requirement, write up a final 4-page report. This report can consist of the two progress reports (one page for each meeting) plus another 2 pages of discussion, comparisons to your own strategies, and conclusions. Include all relevant digital photos and/or screenshots.
• click here for full description
• sample consent form
• template for 1st interview
• 45% - Team Project Final Report
• Papers should follow the style and format of a shorter journal article or the article for a conference, about 7- 10 pages in length (plus appendices). Your readings will include many examples of such an article. See also, http://www.asis.org/Conferences/AM2002/papers.html, or http://www1.acm.org/sigs/sigchi/chi2002/process.html. More guidelines regarding the term paper and each option above will be provided in the first week of class.

Structure for a Typical Week

Additional Information on Assignments:

What are you doing? Why should we care? Who is on your team?

• Overall
• 1. try on yourself first. 2. then on your participant (s).
•  If possible, do interview in person’s primary workplace.
• Participation is voluntary!
• Interviews
•  Look at top-level organizations for
•  Paper documents, electronic documents & other files, email messages (bookmarks/favorites). Other?
•  Take digital photos (or screenshots).
•  Define a “project”
•  Ask participant to list projects they are currently working on. Try to find a project that
•  … the participant has just started or is about to start.
•  … will last for the next 2 months or so.
• For this project, ask the participant to describe…
• Goals, constraints, schedule, current status, etc.
•  Ask them to “draw” the project on a whiteboard (or a piece of paper).
•  Get a tour of project-related information organizations for paper documents, e-documents, email messages, web references, etc.
• Take digital pictures or screen shots.
• Write a two-page paper describing your impressions.
•  How does your personal experience compare with theirs?
•  How does their experience relate to what we have read?
•  Include photos/screenshots (as appendices).

The grading scale will follow the Information School's Graduate Work Grading Criteria. See also General grading information for the University of Washington.

Your 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.  When 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.      

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 or prepared (e.g., typos, grammatical errors) will receive low grades.

Students may want to plan to take draft versions of their writing assignments to the iSchool Writing Center for assistance with meeting these criteria and sharpening their writing skills. Information on scheduling an appointment can be found on-line.

• Oral presentations

Your class presentation will be graded on primarily on the components of a good presentation. Good presentations will have a brief statement of goals and objectives, clear, organized presentation of ideas and concepts, brief review of main concepts, selection of information level appropriate to the audience, engage in consistent eye contact with all audience members, be delivered clearly, sufficiently loudly, in a calm, unhurried manner, with enthusiasm and interest. See tips on giving a good presentation.