One of the aims of a BYU education is to build character. In order to help students build character by exercising personal agency and self-discipline, I do my grading by contract rather than by points. The assignments that I've placed on the wiki are what I think a typical student needs to do to master the learning objectives and to create a collaborative community of learners. However, you may have needs or goals that are different from the "typical" student. This is your opportunity to choose course objectives to suit your needs.
You are going to submit a contract to me that contains 4 sections:
- What I most want to learn from IP&T 286? Generally, this section is a place for you to describe any technologies that you have heard of and would like to know how to use by the end of the semester. If the technologies you list are not covered in assignments as currently described, you and I can tailor the class to better meet your needs. It is perfectly OK if you feel that you don't know enough about instructional technologies to have specific goals at this point.
- What actions I will take to acquire my learning? This section is where you will describe the specific behaviors that you will perform in order to succeed in this course. For example, you may choose to answer the following or similar questions:
- What days and times will you set aside for completing course assignments?
- How often will you check your email?
- How often and under what circumstances will you take the initiative to contact me for help?
- What other resources and supports will you rely on when you encounter course-related difficulties?
- How I will demonstrate my learning?
- The course is set up with specific assignments, but most of the assignments have some degree of flexibility. You can choose to accept the course assignments as described or you can propose adjustments to the basic assignments to make the course more suited to your specific needs. These adjustments must be approvedby me.
- In this section, you should also indicate what level of work you expect to demonstrate. Most rubrics for work in this course include categories for "Stellar", "Adequate", or "Unacceptable work. You will always be have opportunities to revise work that is completed on time.
- Also, you can propose a few slight changes to deadlines. For example, if you know that you will be attending a conference one week or already have two exams scheduled for the same day. Look now at your syllabi for your other courses to avoid potential trouble later!
- The grade I will earn for my learning. Here you simply state the grade you expect to earn after completing the work described above. For most of you, this will be an "A", but occasionally, a student will inform me that they have other priorities and choose to work for a grade in the "B" range. As a general rule, completing all contracted work by the contracted deadlines at a "Stellar" level of quality guarantees an A. "Adequate" work, is generally "B" level work. Work at the "Unacceptable" level is equivalent to a D-. Failing to complete any one of the major assignments (Class Web Presence, Podcasting/Video Project, Content Specific Technology Project) will drop your grade by a full letter. Failing to complete one of the other assignments drops your grade by a step (A to A-, etc.)
Each assignment in this course has multiple objectives. One of the objectives for the learning contract assignment is for you to practice creating and sharing documents using the free application, Google Docs. Please upload your contract to Google Docs and then share it with me as a contributor, my Google ID is kamccollum@gmail.com. Once the document is uploaded to Google Docs, both of us will be able to edit the document and Google Docs will save a history of our edits. (If you have never used Google Docs before, please refer to How to Use Google Docs.) I will have to approve your contract before it becomes binding. After you send it to me, I may suggest edits. Also, later on during the semester, you may decide to change something. If you decide to make a change, you will have to get it approved by me before it becomes binding.
The following are examples of what a Learning Contract might look like when you first send it to me.