Student Evaluation
Your grade for this course will be based on the following: a weekly intellectual
journal or “muddle” (40%), class participation (30%), and a work
of public scholarship (30%).
A Note on Intellectual Journals
The point of the weekly intellectual journal is to give you a chance
to develop your own views on the readings and lectures, to communicate
those views to the class, to demonstrate your command of what we’ve
read thus far, and to keep you up-to-date with the material in the
course. The format is simple: Write a critical appraisal of
around 250-350 words (longer is just fine; shorter is not) of some
particular theme in the previous week’s readings and lecture,
and post the result to your muddle (see below) ideally by
5pm Friday but absolutely by 5pm Saturday, to
the course blog on learn@uw and directly to me via email. It
is important to develop one theme or argument, rather than a scatter
of observations. Also, it is important to document your
theme or argument and to explain your reasoning, rather
than offering opinion. You are expected to prepare ten muddles
over the course of the semester.
A Note on Muddles
Each “muddle” will be a group of 3 or 4 students, who dialogue
together at the start of every class. On Tuesdays, muddle members
are expected to read each other’s intellectual journal entries
before class on Tuesday, offer a comment or two on the course blog,
and to “muddle through” them together at the start of class. Then
each muddle will bring a few ideas for discussion forward to the entire
class. On Thursdays, each muddle will have its own individual
reading, and will begin class by discussing it together and then bringing
forward its key ideas to the entire class. Each week, a different
muddle member in turn will be the group’s rapporteur, coordinating
the muddle discussions and doing the reporting back to the full class. We
will periodically re-organize into new muddle groups over the course
of the semester.
A Note on the Readings
For each week there will be one or two common readings for the entire
class to read, and an individual reading for each muddle group to
read on its own, as well as a public communication exemplar. On
Tuesdays, we will discuss the common readings. On Thursdays,
each muddle group will report back on the key themes of its individual
reading, and we will also discuss the public communication exemplar.
A Note on Class Participation
Your grade for discussion participation will not be a measure of how
loud you were, or of how often you spoke. Rather, it will reflect
the extent to which you were “there.” I will evaluate
your “thereness” based on my subjective assessment of
your engagement, including the quality of your listening, in muddles
and class discussions. If things don’t seem to me to
be going well for you in this area, I will let you know.
A Note on the Work of Public Scholarship
Each student will prepare a work of public scholarship, either visual
or textual or both, in the area of the social dimensions of agroecology – a
communication piece that is scientifically informed and documented
but oriented toward a public audience, rather than a professional
or specialist one. The work must be prepared with a specific
communication venue in mind, including the internet. I assume
that most students will choose a textual project, but video or a
video component is also welcome. Textual works should be in
the range of 2-3,000 words, and videos in the range of 3-5 minutes. Collaborative
projects welcome!
A Note on the Weekly Rhythm of the Course
The normal flow of the week will be as follows:
Monday: Read the coming week’s readings, and read your muddle mate’s journal entries about last week’s coursework, if you haven’t already.
Tuesday: Muddle groups meet and discuss each other’s journal entries on the previous week’s learning (15 minutes). Muddles bring an least one idea forward to the whole group for discussion (15 minutes). Class discussion of the new week’s common readings (45 minutes).
Wednesday: If you like, make any revisions you think necessary in light of the feedback from your muddle mates, and re-submit your journal entry to Mike by midnight.
Thursday: Muddle groups meet and discuss their group’s individual reading (15 minutes). Muddle groups make short presentations to the full class on the key ideas in their group’s individual reading, and respond to questions (30 minutes). Discussion of the public communication exemplar (15 minutes). Mini-lecture from Mike, setting the context for the following week’s themes (15 minutes).
Friday: Draft journal entry on this week’s topic (not on the new readings for next week), and submit it to your muddle mates by 5pm, with a cc to Mike. If your time got away from you, or your muse didn’t visit, take until Saturday at 5pm to submit it.