Web Usability

English 4200/8900 17371/16324 Spring 2008

Assignments

Participation Grade

Class participation is vital due to the discussion-based nature of the course. You are expected to participate in the discussion and class activities. I expect you to ask questions, connect ideas from various readings, and connect ideas from the readings to web usability practice and theory. Lack of participation will impact your Participation grade.

Reading Responses

For both undergraduate and graduates, an important component of the participation grade is reading responses. Reading responses are due each class day by noon. These responses give you the opportunity to reflect, discuss, and apply the concepts from the reading. These responses are your commentary to the reading and in these you should discuss anything you find significant about the reading, particularly in terms of the topic for that particular class period. These responses are not summaries of the reading, you need to go further than a simple summary and should synthesize, critique, associate, situate, etc. and include your own questions and observations. The reading response might also include comparisons among different readings so that we can see how the readings compare or contrast with each other. You may also respond to your classmate’s reading responses or topics discussed in class. In addition, you may choose to apply the readings through a website (or other media) critique. I may provide websites for you to critiques, and I welcome website suggestions for critique. Undergraduate responses should be ~250 words and graduate responses ~500 words.

Responses should be posted to the class forum. Please take some time to skim over what your classmates have written before class as well. These responses are an important part of class participation and are expected each class day and are not accepted late. However, you may miss one before your Participation grade is negatively impacted.

Undergraduate Participation Grade
The participation grade will be based on attendance (see the “Attendance and Tardiness” section), reading responses, mini-quizzes, homework, and in-class activities. The assignments will be graded on a 0-5 scale:

• 5: Excellent work, goes above and beyond the assignment
• 4: Good work, strongly responds to the assignment
• 3: Fair work, responds to the assignment but could be stronger
• 2: Barely adequate work, neglects important aspects of the assignment
• 1: Poor work, barely responds to the assignment
• 0: not done or does not respond to the assignment at all

Your participation grade will be determined by adding up your earned participation points and then dividing into the total number of points available. For example: if you earned 182 points and there were 200 points available you would receive a 91 or an A for your participation grade. 

If necessary (if people are not doing the reading) I may add longer (and harder) quizzes which will be graded on a 0-100 scale and will be added to the participation grade separately.