TASK 07 Grade values in Sakai Gradebook
You all start out with an assumed perfect score for involvement. It's up to you to determine if that score decreases.
Adding Value includes asking questions about topics in such a way that your question and the answer also help your fellow classmates. You can ask questions in class, or by posting them on the class blog forums. (This is a new addition as of fall 2018.) I will respond directly to each question asked. Students may also respond to classmate's questions on the forum. Also, if I think the rest of the class can benefit from the question and answer, I will reformat the question to preserve the anonymity of the asker and post both question and response on the forum, so that everyone can benefit.
Adding Value includes posting to the class blog. You don't have to do this each day, but you will have to post a note introducing yourselves after the first session, you will have to post a note about starters you present in class on the blog, and you will surely have something to say about one or more of the other starters presented to you daily.
A starter is a student-led, short presentation used to help get the class focused and started. I will expect each of you to do at least one starter. You will need to make a blog post before class. This should be about something that caught your attention from your newsletter subscriptions. This counts as one of your blog posts. The blog post does not need to be long nor does the presentation need to be long. Actually, I prefer them to be only 2-3 minutes. Longer is not better. Brief and clear is best.
We should expect to see at least one posting from each of you every four class sessions, whether you have done a starter or not. It's reasonable to expect everyone to have something to add to the blog conversations. Your introductory blog post does not count towards this
Comment at least once on a classmate's posting.
Your Engagement grade will reflect participation.
Be active and involved, but remember: quality of input far outweighs quantity. During class, you will want to respect your fellow students by paying more attention to the class topics, and less to what is happening on social networking sites.
If you are uncomfortable speaking up in class you should at least chime in a few times during the semester. You can be engaged by making extra comments on peers' blog posts or post questions or helpful comments in the blog forum posts area.
It is very important that you do not miss classes. If you do miss classes, you would be wise to talk to me about it, either before or after the session you miss.
There is no doubt that everyone in the class will be an expert in at least one area and Adding Value also includes offering to display your skills in an area related to the topic under discussion so that we may all learn from and with you. The amount of points earned for Adding Value is a subjective judgment and I will be making the subjective call, at the end of the semester. You should have a feel for how well you are doing in this area if you follow the advice on this page.