The class policies below were developed collaboratively during the first week of class and adopted by unanimous consent during Week 2.
Attendance
Students should come to every class. Students should be in class as much as possible. If you miss more than 20% of our class sessions, you are likely to fail because you will miss too much discussion and material.
While in class, students should be engaged in conversations with other peers or with the professor. Conversation should be effective, contribute to the conversation, and to the best of ones ability.
If you are unable to attend a class, you should:
- Refer to the agenda slides to see what happened
- Check Canvas for any approaching deadlines
- Contact a classmate to learn about the conversation you missed
- Make sure you are prepared for next class
Grading
Blog posts are designed to make sure you’re prepared for our next class discussion. They will be scored as complete or incomplete; only the first blog post will get feedback, designed to make sure you’re on the right track. After the first blog post, you’ll get feedback in exceptional cases, either good or bad.
Work in this class centers on a single personal project. Feedback on that project will come from individual conferences scheduled four times throughout the semester. In those conferences, students will present their progress and discuss current challenges, intended next steps, and their assessment of their current performance. The instructor, then, will notify students if they are ahead or behind a pace that will lead to successful project completion, offer assistance in any technical matters, and share his thoughts on student performance self-assessments.
Final grades for the semester will be derived through end-of-term conferences in which the instructor will share blog-post and attendance statistics, after which the instructor and student will reach consensus about an appropriate final grade based on a shared understanding of student performance throughout the semester.
Late/Make-Up Work
This course makes use of two types of assignments which serve substantially different purposes, calling for separate consideration for timeliness.
Blog posts document a student’s preparedness for class and thus need to be completed on-time. The instructor will review blog posts promptly after they are due—usually within 24 hours—and no late or make-up blog posts will be reviewed.
Work on personal websites will be ongoing, recursive, and progressive throughout the semester. If a student falls behind on their project, it is their responsibility to seek out appropriate resources to get back on-track, keeping in mind the end of the semester is non-negotiable. Peer collaboration and instructor office hours should be the first consideration.
Respect
Since this class is mostly discussion based it is important to remember to show your peers respect. Think of the phrase “treat everyone how you want to be treated” and practice that when attending class. Some ways to show respect in the classroom:
Be mindful and courteous to your peers learning space, and make the space feel safe. During class time while you and your peers are sharing thoughts or expressing themselves, be conscious.
Be open minded, respect others opinions and remember no question is a bad question. In class feel free and comfortable enough to share your thoughts or respond to any class discussion without being judged or shamed.
Treat others how you want to be treated. Look at situations/reality from your peers POV and treat them with the same courteousness as you would want to be treated with. Put yourself in another persons shoes and keep in mind that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and feelings that needs to be respected.
Have a mutually respectful professor/student relationship. Students should be greeted by professor with open arms, open mind, and kindness. Do not purposefully disrespect the livelihood/presence of your professor/student.