Or, in (other) words:

Typically, by Saturday midnight, students will have read the weekly questions on the text, read the book or stories assigned for that week, and posted to the Group's Blackboard Discussion Forum an initial substantive comment (of about 150-300 words) to members of your group. 

By Tuesday midnight, everyone will have read all the comments and have posted on the Forum a substantive response (75-125 words) to at least two of them. Exchanges back and forth can continue within the group indefinitely; but at least two reactions are required. 

"Substantive" means something meaningful, something someone else can really respond to, for example, why you have this opinion about the reading or the character, or why you disagree (civilly, of course) with what someone (even the teacher) has said or why you think that is interesting or great or misguided point. "Empty comments" detract from everyone's ability to learn about these texts. 

Evaluation (or, getting credit) 
These comments will be evaluated on a contractual basis: 14 comments (with 25+ responses) = A; 13 (with 23+) = B; 12 (with 21+); 11 (with 19+) = C; 10 (with 17+) = D; 9 or fewer (with fewer than 15 responses) will represent an F.  Plusses and minuses will be awarded for originality, thoughtfulness, coherence and relevance to the themes of the course; the timeliness of each comment will be evidence of class participation. 

NOTE: Any of the Comments and Responses can be written and posted before they are due; we're just talking deadlines here. 

And remember: when you miss a deadline, you prevent other students from doing their assignments on time. TIMELINESS IS CRITICAL IN THIS COURSE. If you can't keep up, you will be asked to drop the class. 

Return to top of page.