Individual Components
Individual Components
Group Project
The group project is the most challenging and riskiest of the optional components, but it may well be the most rewarding. If you are thinking about committing to a group project, read this very carefully. And please, please, please do keep consulting with your GSI. It’s very easy to screw up a group project, and we don’t want that to happen.
Group Size
Groups should be 3-6 students. Group members can come from different sections (although we have found a mixing sections can be a bit complicated).
Timing
If you want to commit to a group project, you will need to tell us, by October 5, (a) who your fellow group members are and (b) what you are proposing to do. Your project is subject to GSI approval and will receive feedback from your GSI or GSIs (if your group members are in different sections).
A detailed plan for the group project is due on November 1. You will get feedback on it by the beginning of the third trimester. Depending on the nature of the project, your group and the GSIs involved will agree on a binding deadline at that point. However, no group project will be accepted after December 15.
Types of Group Projects
WARNING! The three most common types of absolutely lame and pathetic group projects have been rap CDs, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds. This does not mean you shouldn’t consider those. It is possible to do them well. The photo at the top of this page shows a rap CD which was quite amazing. But it was an exception. As you’ll see below, we look for innovativeness, and Facebook and rap are about as unimaginative as you can go.
Evaluation
We evaluate the group projects along three primary dimensions:
‣INTERPRETATION. The group projects must involve the texts for this course. You must be tracking the ideas in them, and we expect you to offer defensible readings and interpretations.
‣INNOVATION. The point of the group project is to have you think about interesting ways of addressing the themes of the course. Two years ago, when we first offered the group project option, the prior listings did not include a board game, but one group proposed it. That’s an example of innovativeness. But you can also be innovative using formats others have already done. For example, there are about bazillion interesting and new ways of creating a video.
‣EXECUTION. An innovative project based on a solid interpretation can flounder if it is not done well. We will offer some suggestions for resources for the group projects, but the key is that you need to know how to use whatever media you plan to use. If you want to create a video, say, someone needs to know how to shoot and edit video; teaching these skills are not part of the course. Many students underestimate how much time and effort it takes to produce something polished, and the best projects invariably are marked by care in the execution. Consider the rap CD pictured above: the students not only produced the music (writing lyrics, recording, etc.), but they created the jewel case art, very fun artist bios, and the rest. Expect to spend the minimum of 15-20 hours per person on a group project.
Grading
An A range project needs to be solid on all three dimensions. We will showcase some earlier very successful project during the semester to give you a sense of our expectations. If a project falls short on one or more dimensions, its grade begins to suffer, and B range grades are quite common. We generally try to prevent projects with no hope from moving forward, but C range grades have happened.
Each group project receives a letter grade. An individual student’s grade is the project grade, provided that his or her group members report the student contributed satisfactorily to the project. Group members will need to submit an evaluation of their peers, to make sure that both free riding slackers and bossy control freaks are discovered. Group members’ reports will let us evaluate each student’s contribution and adjust the grade accordingly. A student’s grade may be adjusted down or up. In principle, it is possible for a student to fail a group project that receives an A, but in practice, the adjustments are generally less than one full letter grade.