Following are written and/or video descriptions of the activities that will be assessed during this course. Where applicable, examples are also provided.
Some of my assessment practices may be unfamiliar to you. For more information on why I grade the way that I do, please see my blog post, “Why Grade?”. I am glad to answer any questions you have (the earlier the better) and to entertain proposals for changes or exceptions (again, the earlier the better).
At the beginning of the course (due on Wednesday, June 1), there will be three introductory activities to help you get oriented to the course and the technological environment. These are each worth one assessment point.
See Getting started for details.
There will be two reading/video assignments each week, with reading quizzes due to be completed by 8am on Monday and Wednesday of each week (Wednesday and Friday of Week 1). Each quiz will contain approximately 10 questions, most of which involve the raw regurgitation of information, and one or two of which require higher-level thinking to arrive at an answer not made explicitly in the reading/video. You are strongly encouraged to collaborate on answering these questions accurately. Use Slack to work together towards a joint solution — in small groups or as a whole class.
Quizzes will be graded on a percentage basis.
Collaborative quizzes from Kris Shaffer on Vimeo.
At the end of each week, you will choose two of the core concepts – one from each unit for the week – and write a single paragraph (approx. 100–200 words) explaining that concept in your own words. That paragraph should include three key elements:
These paragraphs will be assessed as passed/not-passed. All three elements must be present in order to pass.
You are welcome — indeed encouraged — to discuss these paragraphs and share example ideas with each other in Slack. That will help you solidify the concepts in your own mind. However, be sure that any examples you borrow from others really are correct before you submit, and be sure that all definitions and explanations are in your own words. In contrast to the reading quizzes, any “joint solutions” on the paragraphs will be considered an honor code violation. Use each other to sharpen your understanding, but be sure that these paragraphs reflect your own thoughts expressed in your own words.
At the end of each week, you will also write a single paragraph (approx. 100–200 words) addressing the following questions:
This process is meant to direct your attention to things that can help you improve your workflow as we go through the course — especially for those of you who are taking your first online class. When you identify individuals or resources that are more helpful to you than others, take advantage of them in future units of the course. Or see if you can figure out how to get more out of the resources that haven’t been helpful so far. These reflections will also be helpful to me, as I learn what is most/least helpful for you, so that I can make adjustments to the course as we go, as well as in future offerings of it to others.
These will be assessed as passed/not-passed (i.e., completed/not-completed). Any honest attempt at addressing (most of) the questions above will receive full credit.
Knowledge is not received passively into the brain like a file download into a computer. It is constructed in the brain as a result of hard mental effort. Thus, most of our work in this course will not be reading/memorizing/reciting, but instead will be centered around the creation (and curation) of our own individual conceptual maps of knowledge.
We will do this by creating our own connected online research notebooks, starting in Week 2. The end product will be a set of online study notebooks owned by each student, each of which contains definitions, explanations, and musical applications (with media) for each core concept, as well as links between concepts and links to other individuals in the class. In the spirit of collaborative learning, no student will compose these materials entirely from scratch. Rather, each student will create some of their own resources, and then copy or remix resources created by others in the class. The result will be a network of online study notebooks that each contain a combination of high-quality original material and the best material composed by others.
I will maintain the website for these notebooks at muscogwiki.cubouldermusictheory.com. Each student will be given an account at the beginning of Week 2.
For more details about this project, see the Digital Notebook Project Guide.
If you wish to obtain an A in the class, you will construct a final project that applies course concepts in a domain not discussed in class, or critiques some presentation of material in class. You and I will negotiate the details of these projects one-on-one, with the goals of 1) finding a project in line with your interests, 2) adding to public human knowledge/understanding, and 3) moving beyond the memorization, understanding, and synthesis of course concepts into the realm of application and critique. Shortly after midterm, you will have an opportunity to propose project ideas, and our negotiations will be completed before the beginning of Week 5, with a clear contract of expectations laid out. You may only pursue the final project if you have met the appropriate threshold (see below).
See Unit 12 Guide for details and a sample project contract.
The most important and interesting aspects of learning are things that are difficult to assess fairly and reductively (i.e., with a single letter). As a result, heavy emphasis on grades tends to undermine alternative perspectives—the exact opposite of what a liberal education should do.
My goal in grading is three-fold: to diminish their significance and the negative impact they can have on the learning environment, to direct your studies clearly (but flexibly), and to make sure that they do carry some meaningful representation of the knowledge and skills you possess and gain by the end of the course.
With that in mind, assessment will be oriented around specific concepts and skills, most of which will be assessed pass/fail. In order to facilitate learning, the bulk of the assessments will allow collaboration in some form.
The final project/reassessments will be worth one letter grade (10% of the final grade). The remainder of the assignments will be of equal value, contributing to 90% of the final grade. The entire list can be found on the assignment guide and in the D2L grade book.
Final letter grades will be determined by the percentage of points passed according to the usual 90/80/70/60 scale.
Students can obtain technical support for the technologies used in class by consulting Lynda.com (accessible via MyCUInfo), the CU OIT student help desk, and/or the instructor.