Assignment Categories
The STW syllabus shared by all instructors divides the workload up into these categories.
Revision of Essay 1 or 2 (20%)
Oral Presentation (10%)
Drafts % Exercises (15%)
Participation & Attendance (15%)
Research Paper (30%)
University Portfolio (10%)
I split both the "Drafts & Exercises" and the "Participation & Attendance" categories in two, and refer to them as "Portfolio I" and "Portfolio II". (My portfolios are not the same thing as the University Portfolio, which has its own requrements.)
Participation & Attendance (15%)
This component of your grade evaluates your level of engagement with the subject matter, including preparation, meaningful contributions to the class discussion (both in person and online), performance on pop quizzes, and other in-class work.
Students should keep a record of their contribution to each class discussion. (For example, did you volunteer to share your agenda item? Did you do your own research to settle a question that came up in discussion? Did you supply textual evidence to support or challenge a claim made by someone else?) From time to time, I will ask you for a brief statement evaluating your contributions to the class discussion (both in person and online).
To evaluate your participation mark, I might collect printed agenda items from everyone, but in order to save time, mark only half of them. The next time, I would mark agenda items from the other half of the class.
I might give a pop quiz, and only mark those belonging to students who already have low participation grades. During the next discussion period, I might call first on students with low quiz grades, in order to see whether they have caught up on the readings.
I might ask for volunteers to comment in class, and then after class, post questions on the weblogs of students who were quiet. A few days later, I might check to see whether students have answered my questions.
I might check student weblogs before class, and call on students who have already posted interesting blog entries on the day's discussion. On the other hand, I might deliberately call on students who have fallen behind in their weblogs.
