Grading, Feedback and Policies

tl;dr: Do interesting work and you'll be fine. Make sure it's submitted on time. Grading and feedback is focused on creative projects. There will be some opportunities for extra credit.

The course is focused on exploring distance learning by making interesting creative work. To get a good grade you’ll need to:

The most important element: the work you do. Make an effort, try new approaches, experiment technologies, and apply them in interesting and unexpected ways. They key to getting a stellar grade will mean finding an exciting interactive strategy, for interactive applications and scenarios.

Grading

To facilitate grading all students are expected to prepare digital pages for their work (e.g. Gallery projects, Google Documents, Slack posts). All work must be submitted or presented by the deadline. Late work will not be accepted.

This course will largely assign a mix of independent and group work. For independent projects, all work submitted must represent a distinct product by that individual and may not be produced in partnership with any peer within the class. Group projects allow for collaboration but expect that all members contribute to the final work equally. Work submitted for assessment in one class may not be submitted in full or in part for assessment in a second class.

Breakdown of grades

Final grades for the course will be broken down as follows:

Note: this is subject to change

Participation

Participation grade will be based on three components; but generally it boils down to being a good citizen during the course: be engaged, ask questions, contribute your insights and support your peers.

a) Attendance - being present in classes and maintain a strong record of attendance over the duration of the course;

b) In-Class Engagement - being engaged in the classroom activities, actively and productively contributing to in-class discussions and project critiques; and

c) Online Engagement - being an active and productive contributor to the classroom slack, supporting peers online, sharing knowledge with the class, etc.

An excellent grade will be earned for the following (on and offline) characteristics:

Case Studies

You are expected to share a small number of case studies over the course of the semester. These will be graded as pass/fail:

This will be applied to EACH case.

To guarantee you pass the assignment, make sure you have:

* Incidates that if you do not meet these criteria you will immediately fail the assignment.

Think Pieces

These assignments are a way for you to demonstate you own independent research of topics relating to the course material. They should represent your own interests and be curious about the topics at hand.

Take note: The most important thing for this project is to come up with a compelling topic - something interesting, informed, aware or critical. The breakdown of the grades favors your ability to come up with an idea like this.

Criticality (Topic): The course is focused on speculative terrains and critical conversations. Does this project raise an interesting question or present a point of view? Does it encourage thinking? Does it raise questions? Is it provocative?

Creativity: Does it represent an a unique approach or an original perspective that goes beyond course materials? Does it demonstrate an interesting or different point of view?

Accuracy (Grasp of topic selected)

Research (Reference and use of appropriate sources)

Argument and Depth of Analysis

Clarity

Presentation

Warm Ups

Warmups are small quick introductory projects that are designed to seed and test ideas within the course. The warm up will be graded similarly to creative projects. However, the focus here is much less on execution and skill. Instead, the warm up encourages you to experiment with concepts and play with ideas. This is reflected in the allocation of grades.

Take note: The focus here is to practice skills and experiment/play with concepts. Additionally, as they are also rapid fire explorations, execution is much lower weighted.

Assignments are graded as follows:

Creative Projects

These projects are a way for you to showcase:

Take note: The most important thing for this project is to come up with a compelling concept - something interesting, informed, aware or critical. The breakdown of the grades favors your ability to come up with an idea like this. Focus on the idea before implementation!

The outcome of each creative project will be graded as follows:

Rubrics

Criticality (Topic): The course is focused on speculative terrains and critical conversations. Does this project raise an interesting question or present a point of view? Does the statement of intent clearly present an informed perspective? Does it encourage thinking? Does it raise questions? Is it provocative?

Creativity (Approach): How interesting is the concept/outcome? Does it represent an a unique approach or an original perspective on the assignment? Does it depart from or have a twist on known or standard approaches? Does it use materials or code in an innovative way?

Context (Concept and Background): Is the problem space or scenario clearly explained? How clearly are the key principles and goals of the work articulated? How informed is the work? Does it show connections to theory, ideas, research, artists, frameworks or other elements of the domain?

Code (Execution I): How well implemented is the code? Is it well commented, well formatted, well structured and functioning? Does it show sophisticated approaches? How well composed is it? Does it show technical skill and mastery of programming?

Circuitry (Execution II): How well implemented is the circuit? Are the selected components sensible for the goals? Is the circuit well designed, functioning, etc.? How well composed is it? Does it show technical skill and mastery of electronics?

Form (Execution III): How well implemented is the aesthetics of the object/device? Are the design and material choices appropriate for the context and do they integrate with the code and circuitry? Does it show sophisticated approaches? How well composed is it? Does it show design skill and mastery of fabrication and forms?

Communication (Documentation): How well authored, curated, illustrated is the documentation? Is it sufficiently detailed to repeat the outcome? Does it include a personal reflection? Does it communicate the project and its goals succinctly and effectively?

Reading Summaries and Reflections

Reading Reflections will be graded as pass/fail:

This will be applied to EACH reflection i.e. if two reflections are due, each will be graded separately.

To guarantee you pass the assignment, make sure you have:

* Incidates that if you do not meet these criteria you will immediately fail the assignment.

Grading Standards

Grading Scale

The grading scale for the course is as follows:

Extra Credit

Opportunities for extra credit will at one or more times throughout the semester. These will be discussed in class.

Late work

As the course is designed for in-class review and discussion of almost every assignment (readings, research, creative projects), late work is not acceptable. Without delivering your work on time, you will not get the benefit of in-class feedback, discussion and critique that it brings. More importantly, it can hold up the progress of the class as a whole.

Simply, all work should be submitted or presented by the deadline. Late submissions will be penalized unless a medical reason or extenuating circumstance is properly documented in advance. Late work will result in a decreased grade as follows:

The only exceptions will be in the case of medical or family emergencies or other pre-arranged university-approved absences. If you miss an assignment, keep an eye open for extra credit opportunities, or contact me for advice.

Regrading

Grades received are final. Work will not be considered for regrading. Exceptions may be provided for disability accommodations.

Data Loss

Students are responsible for their own work. Work lost to due computer error, portable media error, or personal error is the responsibility of the student and will not be an excuse for late or missing work. At the end of the semester all students may be required to submit all work incl. source code, process documentation, etc. Do not discard original files of any assignment and the use of Github or other source management solutions is recommended.

Grading, Assignments and Your Wellbeing

Besides all of the above, your health and wellbeing is first priority. Particularly as the semester comes to a close and there are many competing deadlines, assignments and priorities, first and foremost, take care of yourself. Do your best to maintain a healthy lifestyle this semester by eating well, exercising, avoiding drugs and alcohol, getting enough sleep and taking some time to relax. This will help you achieve your goals and cope with stress.

All of us benefit from support during times of struggle. You are not alone. There are many helpful resources available on campus and an important part of the college experience is learning how to ask for help. Asking for support sooner rather than later is often helpful.

If you or anyone you know experiences any academic stress, difficult life events, or feelings like anxiety or depression, we strongly encourage you to seek support. Counseling and Psychological Services (CaPS) is here to help: call 412-268-2922 and visit their website at http://www.cmu.edu/counseling/. Consider reaching out to a friend, faculty or family member you trust for help getting connected to the support that can help.

If you have questions about this or your coursework, please let me know.