Editing Communication and Social Networks (Spring 2020) (section)

= Grades =

Most of this course will follow a "self-assessment" philosophy. I am more interested in helping you to learn things that will be useful to you than in assigning grades. The university still requires grades, so you will be leading the evaluation of your work. This will be completed with me in four stages, at the end of weeks 4, 8, 12, and 16. In each stage, you will use [[Self Assessment Reflection|this form]] to reflect on what you have accomplished thus far, how it has met, not met, or exceeded expectations, based both on rubrics and personal goals and objectives. At each of these stages you will receive feedback on your assessments. By the end of the semester, you should have a clear vision of your accomplishments and growth, which you will turn into a grade. As the instructor-of-record, I maintain the right to disagree with your assessment and alter grades as I see fit, but any time that I do this it will be accompanied by an explanation and discussion. These personal assessments, reflecting both honest and meaningful reflection of your work will be the most important factor in final grades.

We will use the following rubric in our assessment:

* 20%: class participation, including attendance and participation in discussions and group work
* 20%: Labs and homework assignments
* 30%: Exam
* 30%: Final Project

The exam will be graded like a normal exam and the score will make up 30% of your grade. For the rest of the assignments (and the other 70% of your grade), I will provide feedback which will inform an ongoing conversation about your work.

My interpretation of grade levels (A, B, C, D/F) is the following:

A: Reflects work the exceeds expectations on multiple fronts and to a great degree. Students reaching this level of achievement will:
* Do what it takes to learn the principles and techniques of social networks, including looking to outside sources if necessary.
* Engage thoughtfully with an ambitious final project.
* Take intellectual risks, offering interpretations based on synthesizing material and asking for feedback from peers.
* Share work early allowing extra time for engagement with others.
* Write reflections that grapple meaningfully with lessons learned as well as challenges.
* Complete most, if not all homework assignments at a high level.

B: Reflects strong work. Work at this level will be of consistently high quality. Students reaching this level of achievement will:
* Be more safe or consistent than the work described above.
* Ask meaningful questions of peers and engage them in fruitful discussion.
* Exceed requirements, but in fairly straightforward ways - e.g., an additional post in discussion every week.
* Compose complete and sufficiently detailed reflections.
* Complete many of the homework assignments.

C: This reflects meeting the minimum expectations of the course. Students reaching this level of achievement
will:
* Turn in and complete the final project on time.
* Be collegial and continue discussion, through asking simple or limited questions.
* Compose reflections with straightforward and easily manageable goals and/or avoid discussions of challenges.
* Not complete homework assignments or turn some in in a hasty or incomplete manner.

D/F: These are reserved for cases in which students do not complete work or participate. Students may also be
impeding the ability of others to learn.

== Extra Credit for Participating in Research Studies ==

The Brian Lamb School of Communication uses an online program that expedites the process of recruiting, signing up, and granting extra credit to students for participating in research studies. The program is called the Research Participation System, and it provides an easy online method for you to sign up for research studies, to keep track of the studies you have completed, and to view how many credits you have earned for each study. You can access the system online at any time, from any computer with a standard web browser. By participating in studies done within the Brian Lamb School of Communication, you can learn first hand how a study is conducted, you can contribute to the advancement of the field, and you can improve your grade by earning extra credit.

* You earn a ½ percent credit for every half-hour that you participate in a study. The maximum extra credit that you can earn for this course is 3%, which will be added to your total course points
* If you sign up to participate in a study and fail to show up without canceling your appointment in advance (up to 2 hours before the study), you can be restricted from signing up for any studies for 30 days. You may quickly cancel your appointment online using the Research Participation System.
* Please review the instructions before you sign up for studies; to view the instructions go to https://www.cla.purdue.edu/communication/research/participation/students.html
* You can sign up to participate in studies by logging into http://purdue-comm.sona-systems.com/.