I believe strongly that any course is a collaborative endeavor, and that the primary objective of this class is to help you clarify and achieve your own academic and professional goals. Our course policies are developed with that in mind and with the goal of creating an environment of mutual respect that also fosters intellectual exploration, creativity and productive risk-taking. If at any point you feel that these goals are not being met, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly.
Students are asked and expected to attend in-person whenever possible. If you do need to miss class for whatever reason, please let me know ahead of time so that we can plan accordingly. Because much of the course revolves around a group project, it is important to coordinate with your partners to ensure that your project stays on-track and to attend on group project workdays unless you are absolutely unable to do so.
<aside> ⚠️ Because of the importance of the group project to this course, the only unexcused absences that will be counted against your final grade are on days when we have in-class project work time. These will be announced in advance and each unexplained/unexcused absence on one of these days will result in a 2% reduction in your semester grade.
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I will record each class session using Zoom and make the link to these recordings available to the entire class as a resource for reviewing lecture and discussion. When we have a guest speaker, these sessions will only be recorded with the consent of the visiting speaker. As a general rule, I will not have a live Zoom link available for class sessions, but can make on available as needed. As the class is heavily focused on discussion, in-class activities, and project work, the utility of remote participation is limited mostly to listening to and reviewing the lecture portions of the class.
Due dates for assignments have been chosen to ensure that there is enough time to give detailed feedback prior to the due date for the next assignment. However, I know that life often intervenes in the form of personal obligations, emergencies, and other assignments which can make it difficult to get every assignment in on time.
<aside> ⚠️ If you do not anticipate being able to make a due date, please let me know as far ahead of time as possible so that we can arrange an extension.
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I will not hold fixed office hours for this course. However, I am happy to set up times to meet one-on-one or in small groups as needed by appointment. Please reach out with meeting requests several days in advance of when you would like to meet. As a general rule, I am more likely to be available for in-person, on-campus meetings Mondays & Wednesdays. I am also happy to talk via phone or audio Zoom call when an in-person meeting is not possible. As someone on the neurodivergent end of the spectrum, I find video calls distracting and tiring and find it is easier to provide helpful feedback in an audio-only medium.
<aside> ⚠️ I strive to be prompt in responding to student inquiries, but am unlikely to respond in the evening or on the weekend except in emergency situations.
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Students are strongly encouraged to reach out early and often with questions and concerns - via email, Slack and other means. In general, I am also happy to meet a few minutes ahead of class to answer questions & give feedback. I will also hold open office hours during weeks in which important assignments are due.
I believe that detailed, qualitative feedback from instructors and peers is generally more useful than numerical grading. Rigid grading schemes may disincentivize exploration and risk-taking and undermine student autonomy by rewarding consistency at the expense of growth. Assignment assessments and final grades for this course are constructed with the goal of facilitating growth and exploration within a student-centered environment. This, of course, entails a slightly different set of expectations and responsibilities for students and instructors than in a course following a 'traditional' grading/assessment scheme.
I will not give numerical or letter grades for written assignments or presentations, including the final product of your semester-long project. Instead, you will receive detailed feedback from me on each assignment, and will also have a number of opportunities to share your ideas and receive constructive feedback from your classmates. This will include in-class presentations on your research topic, structured peer-reviews of work-in-progress, in-class 'workshop' time to work with your project group and get advice from me and your classmates, as well as periodic self-assessments that you will submit to me.
Following fall break, I will ask you to submit responses to a midterm check-in survey, which will allow me to better understand what is working and not working for you in the class so that we can make adjustments for the second half of the term.
<aside> ⚠️ For all peer and self-assessments, I will provide a rubric outlining the areas I am asking you to give feedback on. These assessment opportunities are meant to help keep you on track and to flag individual and collective issues (i.e. unclear assignment instructions, questions about assignment topics, format, etc. as they arise).
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Final course grades will be self-assigned and based on each student's assessment of their progress over the course of the term. I reserve the right to revise final grades upwards or downwards if necessary, but will only do this in rare cases where a student's self-assessed grade is strongly out of alignment with my perception of their performance in the course, and in all others will take the student's self-assessed grade as-is.
<aside> ⚠️ The primary factors that would result in a downward revision of a student's self-assessed grade is chronic, unexplained lateness in turning in assignments or not completing assignments or instances of academic dishonesty.
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Students are also welcome to take the course under the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) grading scheme offered by SPH if desired.