General notes on expectations in classes
Joe Janes
What I value
Learning and fun. I hope that when you finish a class
with me, I’ve made you think about something you hadn’t thought of before,
learned something you’ll find valuable, and had a good time doing it.
In general, I value creativity,
originality, insight, synthesis, and an open, questioning attitude. I aim
at these in the ways in which I conduct individual sessions of classes as well
as courses overall, assignments, projects, etc. To me, these are the
characteristics that distinguish professionals, and thus I try to foster them
in my students. My assignments, for example, thus tend to be somewhat free-form, allowing people to take many paths, demonstrating
their creativity and originality, and trying things I never would have thought
of. So I usually don't tell people
things like how many pages to write or other instructions. (Of course, some
assignments are more constrained, but they should be easy to spot.)
I also value strong writing and presentation of ideas in a
clear, professional manner. That means I care about (and evaluate assignments
based on) things like grammar, organization, the mechanics of sentence
structure, spelling, wording, and so on. I also care about design, layout, presentation,
graphics, organization of hyperlinks, etc., when appropriate in, for example,
Web-based projects or work. I assume everything you will submit to me is of the
same quality and caliber as professional work you would submit to your
supervisor or colleagues. However, content always wins over presentation and
organization, so a flashy, well-designed and well-written paper that has
nothing original or insightful to say won't score all that
well. Both are important, but the message is the key.
How to prepare for class
For readings, I
expect you will not only have read things I assign, but also thought about it,
rolled it over in your mind, connected it to other course material. If I
suggest questions, I expect you will have thought about those questions in
light of the reading and will be prepared to respond to those questions when I
put them to the class.
I also strongly encourage everyone to read independently, either from auxiliary reading lists that I
sometimes provide but also things you find on your own.
For other
outside-of-class work, (i.e., things not for a grade), I expect that you
will treat such exercises as supplementary to what we're doing in class. I will
rarely assign something that I don't intend to use in some other way (there may
be the occasional thing that's just good for you), so I want you to think about
those exercises, though of course you needn't prepare them as formally as you
would something for submission.
In class
Attendance in graduate-level residential classes is not mandatory;
if you want to tell me that you’ll be away or out of class on a given day,
that’s very nice and much appreciated.
In any event, you are of course responsible for all material we cover. If you’re going to be gone on a day
when an assignment is due to be handed in in class, I
assume you will make arrangements to get the assignment to be before the due
date (unless it’s an emergency situation, as spelled out in syllabi). Please
don’t ask me whether you’re going to miss something important on a day you’re
going to be gone; that’s just rude.
During class time, I relish questions, comments, thoughts
from everybody, and strongly encourage you to be an active participant in your
own education. You should always
feel comfortable to challenge assumptions—yours, mine, everybody
else’s—in a respectful and professional way.
I expect all devices that make noise (cell phones and the
like) will be turned off during class.
We teach in rooms that have wireless networking
capability. Using that capacity
during class can be very useful, to consult the course syllabus or other
resources. I know that some people
use their laptops as their primary mode of note-taking,
and that is of course fine.
However, using computers or other wireless devices for other purposes
during class is, again, rude, and potentially distracting to other students or
to me. If you’re going to do email
or IM during class, please don’t attend class.
Grading
is usually done on a 4.point
scale, per the University's grading scheme. Some definitions follow as a
general guide to what the levels mean (stolen and slightly adapted from a
Graduate School memo and from the University of Toronto Faculty of Information
Studies). The Information School faculty
has also adopted a general
guide for all graduate courses.
|
4.0 |
Excellent
and exceptional work for a graduate student; work at this level is creative,
original, thorough, well-reasoned, insightful,
well-written and shows clear recognition and an incisive understanding of the
salient issues. Anything evaluated at 3.8 or above meets
or exceeds what I would expect of experienced professionals. |
|
3.7 |
Strong work
for a graduate student; although not quite of high professional quality, work
at this level shows some signs of creativity, is thorough and well-reasoned,
and demonstrates initiative, clear recognition, thorough mastery, synthesis and
deep understanding of all salient issues. Writing is strong but may show a few difficulties. 3.7
is one of my benchmarks, and would be earned by
work that I would expect of an experienced professional and is generally free
of errors or difficulties. |
|
3.3 |
Competent work
for a graduate student; somewhat well-reasoned and
thorough, but not especially creative or insightful (or creativity is poorly
developed); shows very good understanding and mastery of the issues, with an
ability to distill, organize and present complex material clearly and
persuasively. Writing is
probably acceptable but is weak in spots. This is the graduate student grade that indicates neither
exceptional strengths nor exceptional weakness. |
|
3.0 |
Adequate work
for a graduate student; occasionally thorough and well-reasoned,
but some indication that understanding of important issues is less than
complete and perhaps inadequate in other respects, but the work is above
barely minimal expectations for the course. Demonstrates general ability to organize and present
material clearly. Writing shows
many or serious difficulties. |
|
2.7 |
Minimally
passing work for a graduate student; barely meets the minimal expectations
for the course; understanding of salient issues and ability to present them
is barely adequate and overall performance, if consistently at this level,
would be below the level of adequate graduate performance. |
|
<2.7 |
Failing
work. |
When grading, I typically use traditional proofreader’s
and copy editor’s marks which may be unfamiliar to some people. Here are some sites
which explain them:
The UVic Writer's Guide Marking Symbols
Writing
The iSchool expects students to
tailor writing assignments to the audience intended for each assignment. I
encourage all students who want to strengthen their writing ability to contact
the Writing Center.
Academic integrity
Very important. See individual syllabi for specific
instructions and observations on academic integrity for a given course, as well
as University statements at http://depts.washington.edu/grading/conduct/
Extra credit, makeup assignments, etc.
I don’t think such things are fair, so I don’t do them.
Group work
I assign group work in most of my classes, but try to keep
it manageable, and to provide opportunities for people to work on projects in
class when possible. I think group
work is generally valuable, but like anything can be taken to extremes, so I’ll
make sure that students always have an individual opportunity to demonstrate
how they’re doing on course material as well as any group work.
When people work in groups, my natural assumption is that each
member of the group has contributed equitably (if not necessarily equally) to
the final product I request in an assignment. If difficulties arise on this score, I suggest people work
together within the group to come to a resolution; as a last result I can step
in but I prefer not to (and have had to only on very rare occasions).
Submission of work
I will sometimes specify how I want work to come to
me—in what particular formats, via email, etc. For electronic submissions, please use Microsoft Word
(Windows) or other Microsoft-based or –compliant products as
appropriate. For printed
submissions, stapling is usually sufficient; I usually find that report covers
get in the way and are problematic to handle, especially when I have a large
number of things to manage. If
your submission is very large, a three-ring binder or other folder is probably
fine. If in doubt, ask.
In all cases, please be sure your name or student number (if
I request that for a particular assignment or exercise) is on all pieces of the
submission, especially those that might get separated.
Incompletes
I usually discourage people from taking incompletes; they
have a tendency to drag on forever and become a burden on both sides. When circumstances warrant, I’m open to
the possibility, but you must discuss the idea with me as soon as the need
arises. My preferred method for
dealing with a situation where it’s impossible or unfeasible to get one or two
course requirements in is to give a grade based on the work already submitted,
counting missing items as zeroes, and then submitting a revised grade when
those items come in. Incompletes
should be reserved for special and unforeseen situations such as illness or
other circumstances beyond the student's control. See the UW rules on this at http://www.grad.washington.edu/policies/general/grading.shtml
You may expect
Isn't this all rather anal?
Probably, I think that people appreciate knowing up front
what they're in for.
The bottom line
I’m trying to challenge you, to open you up and allow you to
think about important things which face us as a profession and which you will
have to think through in your careers.
There are some things I can teach you; there are many more things I can
help you to learn, and that’s what I’m trying to accomplish. You must, though, take responsibility
for your own education by further exploration on your own, questions you raise
in class or in your assignments, and of course for the rest of your life.
Some of this (or other things you run in to) may not be
entirely clear. If you're ever not sure, ask!
Last
updated September 25 2010.