Notes


Written assignments and work-in-progress presentations (2/3 of grade)

A. Work-in-progress presentations for each CE (=3 assignments)
5 minutes (well-prepared, not informal or extemporaneous), followed by Plus-Delta feedback from everyone else (with online feedback collated by instructors and forwarded to speaker)
The idea of preparing this is to move your inquiry on the case forward and, given that inquiry into any CE case usually opens an array of issues, to focus in towards a coherent product. But it's definitely not supposed to imply that your inquiry should be finished and just get touched up in the following week. It is assumed that the W-I-P incorporates work that has progressed given the standard expectation of 6-8 hours effort between sessions. To better make progress prepare any visual aids without diverting too much time from your inquiry (see suggestions below).

How can a W-I-P presentation move your project ahead? When you prepare to give a well-prepared presentation, when you hear yourselves speak your presentation, and when you get feedback, it usually leads to self-clarification of the overall argument underlying your inquiry and the eventual written product. This, in turn, influences your research priorities for the remaining time. Having presentations 2/3 of the way through this project must necessarily be on work-in-progress, so you'll have to indicate where additional research is needed and where you think it might lead you. There may or may not be time for extensive discussion, but you can learn from the rest of the group providing feedback to provide appreciations, suggestions, questions, contacts, and references. You can also learn from compare-contrast with the other students' W-I-P presentations.

Ways to prepare visual aids without diverting your time away from your ongoing inquiry? Peter: "These days I use pdf's, not Powerpoint, for all my talks, in part because of bad experiences with some images not showing up when ppt files got shown on a different operating system. But mostly because I can write and revise outlines in Microsoft Word and then when I'm ready, I change the font size, "print" as a pdf, and I'm ready to go live. I don't get distracted by animations, backgrounds, fade-ins and other non-essential features of a talk. Even if you don't take this tip, try to make one introductory slide that captures the overall structure and logic of your inquiry. This might be enough of a visual aid that you can talk to that slide and not have to prepare many others."

You can show your visual aid using the Screenshare icon during a hangout. Face2face students and, as a backup, also students coming in from a distance, should email their visual aid files in advance. Before screensharing or uploading, hide as many of the toolbars on your file as possible (using the options under View in the menu for the software used to create the file). You cannot use slideshow mode to present on a google hangout.

B. Product for each CE (1200 words, plus bibliography of references cited): this is a serious draft of a piece of writing that builds upon the W-I-P presentation and responds to plus-delta comments by others. Unlike the W-I-P presentation, it must stand on its own (i.e., be understood without being narrated). Once submitted, this draft is then reviewed by peers and instructors who will offer comments. The draft is then revised into a final version that accounts for the instructor and peer comments; this revision may require additional reading and research. (If peer commentary does not arrive by the due date, your revision and resubmission does not have should not wait for it.) The final version needs to be posted to the wordpress sit. (In that post, start with a title and then include some sentences that introduce the paper (and thus help others see whether they want to open and read the whole thing). (=3 assignments)
The expected product is specified in each CE's description, but you may take a lot of latitude in the form your product takes. You might also include material that conveys your process of development during the inquiry (how your current thinking about the case differs from how you understood it initially) and plans for the future inquiry and practice. In addition to a narrative that describes your thinking, the product may include pieces of a creative work that have come about from applying your thinking in a way that supports exploring the case (if you've gotten that far). The product should not be written as if directed to the instructor, but conceived as something helpful to readers like your student colleagues. The product should "GOSP" readers--Grab their attention, Orient them, and move through Steps so that they appreciate the Position you have led them to and how it matches the subject of your project.
For the product to be counted, you must have revised thoughtfully -- not superficially or quickly -- in response to comments from instructor and peers on a complete draft. (The draft must get to the end to count as complete, even if some sections along the way are only outlines or sketches.)

C. Wordpress entries required during the process of each CE (e.g., Bibliography contributions with paragraph-length annotations, Notes on inquiries pursued) (= 6 assignments)
When the entry is a Bibliography contributions with paragraph-length annotations, you choose which articles to annotate according to your interest in them. The articles may be ones in the sets of assigned readings or ones you find during your inquiry for the CEs.
The aims of annotation are:
  • a) to get you to digest the article sufficiently to explain the essence of it to others and its potential connections to your own interests/research; and
  • b) to share the results with other students. (The revised annotations may be included in a wikipage made available to future students.)

To decide what to write, think of these as resources you are providing for other students (current and future), who might not have time to read the article OR who might need stimulation/guidance about what they decide to make time to read.

Begin the annotation with the full reference, in a standard format starting with author and date. Same for webpages. (Record the author or organization if there's no author or Anon if there's neither. Record the date or n.d. if there is no date.) Include when you viewed the webpage (because the info on webpages changes).

Use informative titles for Annotated bibliography posts. It is not helpful to others to have to open up the post to find out what is about. If you have two annotated bibliography entries on different subjects, make two separate posts.

D. Notes on inquiries pursued since the previous session, posted during first two weeks of each CE to wikipage for each CE (=6 half-assignments)
These notes should be sufficient to allow the instructor to make suggestions about how to refine or extend your line of inquiry.

Participation and contribution to the class process (1/3 of grade)

a. Building learning community through attendance and participation at class meetings based on preparation between meetings (=13 items).
Prepared participation in class sessions is expected. One item fulfilled for each class you participate in (except not if you are unprepared). For face2face students participation includes being punctual and not taking cell phone calls. Ditto for online students, who should also make sure they are not distracted by members of the household, including pets.
Make-up for missed classes: Within 3 days of the session, view the youtube video or listen to the audio mp3 file for the session, undertake any activity (e.g., from the second half of the session), post to the wordpress site comments [i.e., what you would have said] on various passages from the activity. Ditto from the start, middle, and end of the dialogue hour OR on each W-I-P presentation OR provide Connections & extensions on autobio. intros, then undertake the activity and post a description of your experience and the results. Also, for W-I-P presentations, present yours to an empty hangout on air and post a link to the resulting youtube recording. (See hangout instructions then ask instructors for help with the technical side if you have problems.) If you can't do the make-up within 3 days of the session, note this as a missed participation item.

b. Syllabus quiz, aka Treasure hunt, due session 2 as replies on the designated post.
This is an important exercise. It helps neither you as the student nor the instructor if you find yourself confused in week 10 about where to find instructions. Especially if you haven't spent time to systematically get acquainted with the course materials and/or haven't asked questions to help you -- and probably others -- clarify things.
Q: Why not spend time in class going over the materials? A: It is more effective for each student to do this at their own pace and then we can spend the precious class time on specific, focused questions.

b1. Abiding by conventions for file naming and subject lines for email communications, whole semester (-1 for each reminder after first)

c. Minimum of two in-office or phone conferences on your assignments -- one before session 5; the other by session 11 (=2 items)
for discussion of comments on assignments (see Dialogue around written work), ideas for CE inquiries, and the course as a whole. They are important to ensure timely resolution of misunderstandings and to get a recharge if you get behind. Appointments missed without notifying instructor in advance count as a participation item not fulfilled.

d. Peer commentary on a draft product from each CE within a week after the due date for the draft, posted as a reply to another student's posted draft on the wordpress site (=3 items)
When you decide what approaches to commenting you ask for as a writer or what approaches you use as a commentator, keep Elbow and Belanoff's (2000) variety of responses in mind. (Elbow 1981, chapters 3 and 13 on sharing and feedback is relevant here as well.) After all, although some commentators (advisors/instructors/editors) fill the margins with specific suggestions for clarification and changes, the response of students to the suggestions often goes no further than touching up—the desired re-thinking and revising of ideas and writing rarely happen. It seems a better use of an commentator's time to capture where the writer was taking you and make a few suggestions that might clarify and extend the impact on readers of what was written. As writers, we all value comments that show us that we have been listened to and our voice, however tentative, has been heard.

e. Assignment checklist, recorded throughout semester on the wordpress site, polished up for review by session 14.
The checklist page allows you to keep track of your own progress so that interaction with the instructor can focus on coaching you in the Collaborative Explorations and class activities. You may feel prefer to print out a hard copy and transfer back what you have done at periodica intervals.
...