As I noted at the beginning of the semester, this course is graded a bit differently than what you are used to from other classes. You are expected to complete assignments, and you will still receive a numeric grade on your transcript at the end of the semester.
However, your grade will be determined based on your own self-assessment of your learning and effort in the class, with the possibility of adjustments up or down from me.
We are now at the end of the semester. At this point, you should reflect on what you learned in class (self-)evaluate your progress and your contributions to your group.
To that end, please respond to the questions listed below in about 4-5 pages maximum. Your weekly journals should be helpful here.
You will also be asked to propose (and justify) a final grade for yourself. I will strive to honor your end-of-semester assessment of your own performance and progress in this course. However, I reserve the right to alter your proposed grade as appropriate, based on my own evaluation of your performance and progress in the course as a whole.
Please also attach your weekly journals to your evaluation. These weekly journals will not count towards the 4-5 page word limit.
Please email me your midterm reflections by 14 July 2025.
Don’t forget to put your name on your paper!
NOTE: in case you are enrolled in two tutorials, you simply need to turn in a single evaluation that reflects upon your work in both classes. You can, if you wish, propose yourself two different grades.
Q1: Think about how much work you have done in the course as a whole. How much time / effort did you commit to (i) the required readings, (ii) completing the assignments, and (iii) preparing for and participating in class?
Q2: Overall, how would you rate the difficulty of the material? What concepts / assignments did you struggle with? What do you still not (yet) understand?
Q3: Now reflect on what you have learned. What will you take away from this course?
Q4: On the midterm, I asked you to think about opportunities to deepen your understanding of course concepts or increase your engagement in the class. What ideas for improvement did you have at the midterm? How well did you follow through on these ideas during the second half of the semester?
Q5: Thinking about your performance in terms of (i) attendance, (ii) your level of preparation and engagement, (iii) your contributions to the group assignments, (iv) your assignment “grades”, (v) your overall comprehension of the course material, and (vi) your improvement since the midterm, propose a grade that you should receive. Explain why you would give yourself that grade.
Now I have a favor to ask you: please give me some feedback on this course.
What you say here won’t affect your grade one way or the other. In fact, I won’t read this section until I have submitted all of the grades.
However, your comments will help me to improve the course going forward.
So, please tell me: what elements of the class worked well for you? In other words, what would you definitely keep the same?
And what elements don’t work so well? In other words, what would you definitely change?
Regarding the areas where you would like to see changes: do you have any suggestions about the types of changes could be implemented?
Thanks!