Editing Communication and Social Networks (Spring 2021) (section)

= Assignments =


There will be multiple types of assignments, designed to encourage learning in different ways.

== Participation ==

I expect you to be an active member of our class. This includes paying attention in class, participating in activities, and being actively engaged in learning, thinking about, and trying to understand the material.

To make sure that everyone has an opportunity to participate and to encourage you to do the assignments, I will randomly select students to discuss readings or to explain portions of homework assignments and labs.


== Discussion Questions ==

In order to make sure that we are prepared to have a productive discussion, you are required to submit two discussion questions that you think would be interesting to discuss on Monday by noon. Submit these questions on the #discussion-questions channel on Discord. I will curate the questions and update the Etherpad at https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/com-411-comm-networks.

Questions should engage with the readings and either connect to other concepts or to the "real world". Here are some good example questions:

* The readings this week talked a lot about how network ties get created. I made a list of my closest friends and I realized that most of them only became friends after we happened to be in the same groups over and over again. What role does repetition have in forming ties?
* I was confused by the reading on social capital. What's the difference between social capital and power? And if they are the same, then why not just call it "network power"?
* Imagine you were asked to analyze the network of a big company to help them to identify people who deserve a raise. What measures would you use to identify them? What would you not use?

Some weeks will also include more practical homework (mostly data manipulation and visualization in R). On those weeks, portions of our discussions will center around going over homework questions and identifying places where folks are still confused.

== Homework/Labs ==

There will be a number of homework assignments. At the beginning of the class, these will be designed to help you to grasp foundational network concepts. As the class progresses, more and more of them will be analyzing and visualizing networks in R.

== Exams ==

There will be one in-class exam, approximately halfway through the semester. It will assess your understanding of core communication and social networks concepts.

== Final Project ==

Students will work on a [[Communication_and_Social_Networks_(Spring_2020)/Final project|Final Project]] that explains how network analysis and a network approach can benefit an organization.

A number of intermediate assignments through the semester will help you to gain the skills and data necessary to be successful.