How Grades Work in This Class
Your final course grade consists of 1,000 points, broken down as follows:
- In-class assignments (100)
- Lab reflections (100)
- Student choice assignments (100)
- Unit exams (300)
- Project (200)
- Final exam (200)
Graded work includes five categories, and the first four work like steps to gradually increase your mastery of the LOs:
- In-class assignments, which help both you and me to gauge your initial understanding of the LOs near the beginning of each week, so I can provide additional resources and adaptive support as needed
- Lab reflections, which give you a chance to think about how the lab activities are helping you to achieve the LOs as the week progresses
- Student choice assignments, which are a way to communicate with me about what you have learned in both your in-person and your independent study near the end of each week, and get feedback on your progress
- Exams, which are your opportunity to show me how much you have mastered by the end of each unit, and at the end of the course
The fifth graded category is your project, a semester-long endeavor that you will present on the last day of class. This project focuses on one or two specific learning objectives of your choice from any week.
More details about the graded work can be found by clicking the tab “What You’ll Do” above, or on our course site on Blackboard.
How to Earn Full Credit for Assignments
For the in-class assignments, lab reflections, and student choice assignments, you earn full credit by:
- Showing up to class and actively participating
- Writing in your own words when writing is involved (no copying from any other source, including your classmates or generative AI)
- Relating what we do and what you write to the learning objectives
For the project, you earn full credit for the weekly project assignments by giving it your best effort, whether it’s completely correct or not. You’ll use my feedback each week to continuously improve your project. You’ll also be provided with a checklist rubric for the final version, so you’ll know exactly what I’m looking for.
Tracking Your Progress
Once per week, you should check your grade. To do so, click on See My Grades in our course navigation menu on Blackboard. You’ll see a list of assignments along with the grades, or a yellow circle with an exclamation point for any assignment you’ve submitted that is waiting for me to grade it. If you see a comment bubble next to the grade, click on it to view my feedback for you. If you see a dashed line next to the name of the assignment, that means you haven’t yet submitted it. If you see a zero, that means I’ve graded the assignment but you didn’t submit it–which means you should contact me to let me know when you plan to submit!
After the first two or three weeks, I’ll also post an estimate of your current overall grade in the class. You can check it often to be sure you’re on track with the grade you plan to earn.
Due Dates
Every assignment has a due date, and you’ll have a much easier time succeeding in this class if you keep up with the assignments and due dates. Getting behind is the number one thing that makes students end up dropping or failing the class. Try to meet the due dates. But … if you miss a due date, it’s not the end of the world. In most cases, I will still accept it.
Assignments on Blackboard (discussion forums, readings & annotations, project assignments) should be submitted on Blackboard by 11:59 pm on Sunday each week. If you cannot submit on schedule, please email me as soon as possible to let me know when you plan to submit. This helps me to schedule my time for grading so that students will receive feedback on their work as soon as possible.
Exams are given in person. If you are unable to attend on the day of an exam, please email me in advance (or as soon as possible after) so we can discuss how to make it up.
Please check the course schedule for due dates of all assignments and exams.
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