Assignment Rubric
All three mandatory assignments require you to “do” something (other than writing). These mandatory assignments are designed to get you thinking through practice.
Your work for these three assignments will be evaluated on the basis of three main criteria—your familiarity with and understanding of the week’scontent, the connections that you make between what you have read and what you have produced, and finally, how you have presented your content.
While these assignments do not demand that you become high-end practitioners of digital media tools (I don’t expect you to do a Bansky, or edit Avatar), they must be formally thought through. While you are working on these assignments, be mindful of the design choices you make and rationalize why you have made them (you don’t necessarily have to write all of this down, but you should be ready to discuss those choices if I, or any of your peers bring it up during class discussion.
Your work must also critically respond to the “textual” part of the prompt. Do not approach this like answering an exam question, but think about the readings while producing the work. Your writing (or voice, depending on the assignment) should evidence a critical understanding of the week’s material. This demands both understanding of the questions raised in the readings, as well as connecting them to your own work.
2. Reading Posts
You are free to choose which weeks you wish to respond to (other than the weeks with mandatory assignments). Your posts should be between 300-500 words in length. These are not meant to be summaries of the week’s readings, although a few lines of explanation should be fine. But overall, these posts are meant to be your responses to the questions or issues raised by the readings. This is also the place where you may (but don’t necessarily have to) disagree with the author, but your writing must reflect why. You are also encouraged to use outside material (images, hyperlinks etc.) that might enrich our understanding of the content, or open up new avenues for conversation.
3. In-Class Presentations
These will begin on Week 2. I will be circulating a sign-up sheet on the first day of class. The class presentations will be crucial for the pedagogic process in this class as the presenter(s) for the week will lay out the main ideas of the readings. This will supplement any “lecture” component of the class that I will be delivering and will also pave the way for in-class discussions. Presentations will generally last between 10-12 mins. You will be evaluated both on the understanding of content and the manner of presenting it. Basically the presenter will be donning the role of the teacher for the length of the presentation. You may choose to bring in outside material, but it must supplement the main readings. You are also free to choose your mode of presentation, but keep in mind that you must generate and captivate the interest of the class.
4. Research Paper
Over the course of the semester, you should hone in on some broad research topics that interest you. You will discuss these with me during office hours. The goal of the research paper is to come up with an original argument. Having said that, I don’t expect you to reinvent the wheel. The basic idea is to come up with original connections and engage in deep thinking that demonstrates the sincerity of your research, and the intensity of your critical work. Research papers are all about evidence and argumentation. Your paper must have a clear thesis that is demonstrated by your primary research material and secondary sources. You are free to draw on any range of readings and texts for the paper. Any reading in the course syllabus is fair game, but you can (and are encouraged to) bring in other material. Research requires time and contemplation, so start early. If you haven’t written a research paper before, you can see this resource. I will also be happy to answer any questions you may have about the process.
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