Reading Policy

Overview
As promised earlier, I wanted to provide a little more detail about the readings in this course.  I've given more information below in regards to the reading assignment schedule, in-class deliverables like quizzes, and out-of-class deliverables like blog posts.

Readings Assignment Schedule
Readings will be regularly assigned in class M, W, and F.  There won't necessarily be a reading every day, but they'll roughly correspond to this schedule.  They are not meant to be an onerous burden; rather, readings are given to provide you some background and supplemental material for the content of the class.

In-Class Deliverables
In-class discussions and quiz questions may draw on material from the readings.  Generally, you should review a reading before the next class from which it was assigned.  Thus, a reading assigned Monday might be discussed on Wednesday.  A reading given on Friday would be fair game for a quiz question on Monday.  I say to "review" readings because you are encouraged to go through readings at whatever pace is comfortable for you, so that you understand the concept and key points.  You do not have to do a detailed, rigorous review.

Out-of-Class Deliverables
Outside of coverage of readings in discussion and quizzes, the primary graded component to a reading will be a blog posts.  Using the blog you created in Assignment 2, you'll be posting a little bit about each reading.

Blog Post Contents
You should post the name and reference of the paper concerned, a short summary, and any thoughts you had about the paper.  These posts are primarily for your benefit to use as reference later when working on your project paper or reviewing readings for quizzes.  They do not need to be long; just communicate what you took away from the paper.

Blog Grading Timeline
Rather than check everything at the end of the class, I think it will be easier for everybody to do regular checks.  This will ensure that you are keeping up in the course without my constantly checking everyone's blogs.

To that effect, I plan to be looking at everyone's blogs once a week on Sunday afternoons.  While in-class deliverables may occur as early as the next class, you will always have at least half a week for out-of-class deliverables.  Thus, the blog posts for readings assigned on Mondays and Wednesdays will be due by that upcoming Sunday.  The blog posts for readings assigned on Friday will be due the next Sunday.  Consider the following example:

 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 
              1  2  3 
  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 
 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 
 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 
 25 26 27 28 29 30    

The calendar above shows the month of September and sample reading assignments.  All the red readings should have a corresponding blog post by the bold-red Sunday.  Likewise, all the blue readings should have a corresponding blog post by the bold-blue Sunday, and so on.  This gives you a little over a week to finish Friday readings, slightly under a week to finish Monday readings, and half a week to finish Wednesday readings.  A concrete example: Readings 1 and 2 will need to be blogged by this coming Sunday, Sept. 11.  If there is a Reading 3 on Friday, it would not be due until Sunday, Sept. 18.

Note that the time I'll be checking on Sunday is intentionally left vague.  This is because I really intend for everything to be posted by the end of Saturday, but I won't be checking that night.  You can update on Sunday afternoon, but there's a possibility I'll have already checked your blog, so try to be a little earlier rather than later.  There won't be any late submissions for readings, but since there are likely to be a lot of readings, missing a few will not have a very negative impact.

Conclusions

The key takeaways from this post:

• Readings will be given on class days
• They may be covered in discussion or quizzes as early as the next class, so a small review by then is encouraged
• The blog posts, which are really just your summaries of the readings, will be due the upcoming Sunday, except Friday readings will be due the next Sunday
• The grading time on Sunday is intentionally-ambiguous so that you may aim to have everything done by Saturday
• There is no late policy for readings, but don't worry about a missing a few here or there; a few will be dropped at the end as means of grading leniency in favor of late submissions

Email me if you have any questions or concerns regarding this policy.