The Weekly Discussion (Thursdays)

Each topic in the Course Narrative includes a set of readings, videos, and other media. You are responsible for completely reviewing all of these media before coming to the Weekly Discussion. As part of your preparation, please use Hypothes.is to annotate the media you read / watch / listen to / play with any questions or other thoughts for the Weekly Discussion. Share any additional interesting resources you find using the course hashtag, #intro2opened.

At the Weekly Discussion, students will be selected at random to lead a class discussion about each reading, video, and other media included in the week’s topic from the Course Narrative. Please be thoroughly prepared.

The Weekly Create (Tuesdays)

For the Weekly Create you will create two learning artifacts based on the week’s topic from the Course Narrative. The first is a small artifact like a meme, someecard, or gif that is easily sharable on social media. The second artifact is a 500 word (maximum) persuasive essay on the week’s topic targeted at higher education students, faculty, staff, or administration.

Each Tuesday you’ll share your draft Weekly Creates in class for feedback from your classmates (including me). Before coming to class please publish them on your blog and tweet a link to them with the hashtag #intro2opened in the tweet. This will allow us to find and collaboratively annotate and provide feedback on your work. Final versions of the Weekly Create are due before class on Thursday. You submit the final version of your Weekly Create artifacts by publishing them to your blog and tweeting a link to them with the hashtag #intro2opened in the tweet. The tweet archive for #intro2opened is here.

(The Weekly Create is inspired by DS106’s wonderful Daily Create.)

If I Had More Time, I Would Have Written a Shorter Letter (?)

Don’t be fooled by the apparent brevity and simplicity of the Weekly Creates. The smaller artifacts will involve a significant amount of research, especially if you’re unfamiliar with this form of making (you might start your research here). Also, a five or ten-page persuasive essay on these topics would be significantly easier to write than five hundred words. At five hundred words, your writing will need to be concise, clear, and razor sharp. Links to additional references at the end of your essay should be included and will not count against your word limit. Make sure you allocate enough time to do the Weekly Creates well. They’ll take much longer than you think. (See this brilliant image for another example of this principle in action.)

Final Project: Putting It All Together

Your final project will be to compile (and extend, as necessary) your Weekly Create artifacts into a cohesive, persuasive essay. We will review and revise these final essays collaboratively. The final versions of these essays will be aggregated into an online book / website (and potentially a printed book).

Grading

Each day class meets you are eligible for 10 participation points. These will be awarded for your active and informed participation in the Weekly Discussion and the Weekly Create meetings. You automatically earn 10 points each class unless you are obviously unprepared, in which case you will lose all 10 points.

Each week’s small artifact is worth 20 points. These artifacts will be judged based on the insight demonstrated in the selection of the media (e.g., the specific meme you choose to riff on) and it’s relation to the week’s topic, and the degree to which they successfully communicate your core message. 1 extra credit will be awarded from every 10 shares your small artifact receives on social media (up to 15 extra credit points per artifact). Additional detail will be provided in class.

Each week’s large artifact is worth 25 points. These artifacts will be judged based on the clarity, accuracy, and persuasiveness of your writing. Additional detail will be provided in class.

Your final project is worth 25 points. These points will be awarded based on the cohesiveness and persuasiveness of your aggregated and synthesized final essay. You may expand and revise your Weekly Creates as part of this process. Additional detail will be provided in class.

Your final grade will be calculated by dividing the points you’ve earned by the total points possible and assigning a letter as follows:

A: 100% – 90%
B: 89% – 80%
C: 79% – 70%
D: 69% – 60%
F: 59% – 0%

I expect each of you to earn an A, perfectly and without exception. Don’t be the only one who doesn’t.