Your final task for this course will be to reflect on your engagement and the insights you have contributed. Think of this as your final exam, from which your grade in this course will be determined.
In our discussion the first day, we defined engagement and insights, and talked about how they could be demonstrated.
We also stated that the criteria for earning a B for the course would be to demonstrate a pattern of engagement or insight, the criteria for earning an A would be to demonstrate patterns of both engagement and insight, but that if you demonstrated neither you would earn a C (or less).
The goal of this essay is for you to think about and then make a persuasive argument about the degree of engagement and insights you have demonstrated during this course. You should refer to specific contributions you have made as evidence in your argument. For example, it’s not enough to say “I was engaged;” rather, you need to say “Here are the things I did in this course that demonstrate a pattern of engagement during the course.” Then you would describe each and explain how each shows engagement.
Your grade for the course will be determined based on the persuasiveness of the argument you make and its congruence with my observations. This is a novel way of determining grades, so feel free to ask questions or discuss drafts of your essay with me.
Your essay should be about three to five double-spaced pages. Please email it to me by 5pm on Friday, May 1.