Assessment
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Final grade breakdown:
Paper presentation
A 3-5 minute presentation done in class. Pick one of the elective readings for the course. Concisely summarize the paper's main argument/contribution (and for whom), its basis of evidence. Briefly relate the paper to the course material. Pitch to your peers why they may want to read it, and a short sentence of your own reaction to it.
For a first-order template: I'll be telling you about {paper title}, which is a {journal article, blog post, YouTube video, etc} aimed at {audience}. It's main argument is that {a phrase or two}, based on {an ethnography, a literature review, semi-structured interviews, etc}. This builds on what we were learning about in class because {reasons}. I recommend reading it if {reasons}. Personally I thought it was {1-2 sentence personal reaction}.
To hand in: send a DM on MS Teams to Elizabeth with your slides before 3pm the day you're presenting
Marking scheme (15 points)
- 10 points for content:
- 1 pt: identifies genre/medium (e.g. journal article, podcast)
- 1 pt: identifies audience
- 1 pt: identifies main thesis
- 1 pt: identifies type of evidence (e.g. personal experience, empirical study)
- 2 pts: relates to course material
- 2 pts: explains why somebody from class might want to read it
- 2 pts: brief personal reflection
- 5 points for communication:
- 2 pts: clarity of presentation
- 3 pts: concision of presentation
Term Project: Policy Brief
Write and release a 1-2 page (<=1500 word) policy brief on a topic related to the course, which uses a critical/postmodern theory as a lens.
The term project will be broken into three deliverables: a proposal, a milestone, and the final "portfolio". A peer feedback stage will be organized before each handin, so you can receive feedback and revise before handing in.
You may work in groups.
I strongly recommend reading these two resources on how to prepare a policy brief:
Project Proposal
2 pages, point form responses to these six questions:
Identify:
- The topic you'd like to examine. Why are you interested in it and why is it relevant to the course?
- The purpose of the policy brief. What is the transformation you want your audience to carry out? Why?
- The audience you would like to address about it. What would their knowledge of the topic be, and what would they need to enact that transformation?
- Which "lens" will you be using to analyse the situation (e.g. closure theory, DisCrit, queer theory) - must be critical or postmodern
- The two readings from the course syllabus that are likely to to be most relevant to your brief (elective readings may be used)
- Three other sources (from the syllabus or elsewhere) that are most likely to be useful for your brief
Create your proposal using an online platform that allows for other people to make comments on it, and keeps track of your revisions (e.g. Google Docs, Office 365 / Sharepoint, Overleaf).
You will be submitting the *url* to your peers for feedback on Feb 17. Then submit the same url to the teaching staff by Feb 24, using the Assignments tab on MS Teams.
Marking rubric (25 points total):
- Responses to questions (3 pts each, except for Q5; 21 points total)
- 1 pt: Q1 - topic identified
- 1 pt: Q1 - topic motivated (why interested)
- 1 pt: Q1 - topic related to course
- 1 pt: Q2 - a transformation is proposed
- 1 pt: Q2 - said transformation appears attainable
- 1 pt: Q2 - a transformation is motivated
- 1 pt: Q3 - an audience is identified
- 1 pt: Q3 - said audience is well positioned to carry out transformation
- 1 pt: Q3 - audience's background & resources are described
- 1 pt: Q4 - a critical or postmodern lens is identified
- 1 pt: Q4 - said lens is appropriate for the job, given current knowledge student would have
- 1 pt: Q4 - choice of lens is motivated/justified
- 2 pt [1 each]: Q5 - two readings are identified as relevant
- 2 pt [1 each]: Q5 - each reading is justified as being most likely to be useful
- 2 pt [1 each]: Q5 - there are not other readings more likely to be useful for the job
- 3 pts [1 each] - Q6 - has found three highly relevant & useful sources
- 2 points: writing is clear, concise, and coherent
- 2 points: has revised to incorporate peer feedback
Milestone Deliverable
A complete draft of the policy brief, with a one-page cover page.
The policy brief itself should be 1-2 pages (<=1500 words), ideally with a link to supplementary materials.
The cover page (1 page soft maximum) exists for the people in this course (Elizabeth, the TAs, your peers) and should list:
- What feedback you want on the policy brief
- Who is your audience (the policymaker(s)), and your plan for dissemination
- What you want your audience (the policymaker(s)) to get out of it
- Anybody you'd like to acknowledge for helping you
- [Added Mar 9] Anything else you want the reader (Elizabeth/TAs/peers) to know
Link to marking rubric
Final Deliverable
Individually submit a URL to a document containing:
- 1 paragraph explanation of what your goal(s) was (were) in creating your policy brief, who its intended audience is, and how you disseminated it. The purpose is just to give me a quick reminder of what is going on so I don't have to look up your proposal/milestone.
- The final version of your policy brief [2 page max] and its supplementary materials (aka appendices; this may include acknowledgments; no limit on page count). If you worked in a group, provide a URL to the shared document. (People who worked individually can also do this rather than copying in the policy brief.)
- A personal reflection on your experience with this project, describing [1-3 pages roughly expected, don't go more than 5]:
- What reaction (if any) you got from your policy audience, and speculation of what effect you think it could have [~1-3 paragraphs]
- What your creative journey was like, from coming up with ideas to refining your policy brief [~200-300 words; bullet-points ok]
- What you personally learnt from the journey (can include things not obviously related to the course material) [~200-300 words; bullet-points ok]
- How the journey affected/interacted with your learning of course material [~200-300 words; bullet-points ok]
- How the journey affected the way you think about & enact professional practices (e.g. teaching, research, design) [~200-300 words page expected; bullet-points ok]
- How this entire document & associetd policy brief demonstrate achievement of each of the three course learning goals [~300-700 words expected; bullet-points ok]. The three course learning goals are:
- To analyse science/math/computing as sociopolitical institutions, with an emphasis on the role that education plays therein.
- To apply critical and postmodern social theories to illuminate contemporary issues in science/math/computing.
- To use critical and postmodern lenses to reflexively interrogate one's own professional practices (e.g. as a teacher, as a researcher, as a designer).
Link to marking rubric