Students are graded based on an end-of-semester summary grade profile (portfolio) that has three components: KNOWLEDGE (course content learned), SKILLS (use of analytic methods and deployment of critical judgment, etc), and ENGAGEMENT (attentiveness to the course in all its aspects, intellectual curiosity, proactive learning posture, etc.).

The ENGAGEMENT grade is the most important component of my assessment profile of a student—in terms of the final course grade, yes, but also in terms of learning.

Students should expect to spend a considerable amount of time for this course in terms of session preparation, session attendance, and ontime completion of assignments. Drop this course if you had planned on it being a “back burner” course that only needed attention off-and-on. You will find that there will be a need to do something for this course nearly every day of the semester.

I expect students to attend every session ontime, without multitasking, and with video on. I do not expect distant time zone students (more than 5 hours away from Berkeley time) to attend sessions except when they are scheduled to present to the class. Distant time zone student ARE expected to view within 24-48 hours the video record of each session. Often there will be an assignment associated with that session that will be due 48 hours after the session occurred. Local students can sometimes submit that assignment and receive partial credit for attendance. Students who, for some reason, cannot have a video presence during class sessions should contact me ahead of time about this.