1. Portfolios:
Think about this aspect of the course as being a kind of "Blair Witch Project" approach.  At the same time you are engaging with the content of the course and the speakers, you will also be documenting your process of learning in the course.  The portfolios are the sort of "Blair Witch Project" component.  Each student will develop a portfolio of small-group and individual projects including:
A. Log entries recording your individual progress towards the course learning objectives and reactions to/analyses of speakers and course activities.  Log entries could include cognitive maps (these will be explained by the instructors).  Log entries should be reflective and analytical.
B. A small-group produced short film and website (incorporating the short film) focusing on one major issue or theme in the course.  These should connect with the course  objectives. (As with all other assignments, the instructors will provide the technical support and instruction needed to accomplish this task.)

2. Quizzes on readings:
On days when a reading has been assigned, there will be a quick (five-minute) quiz on the reading at the beginning of the class meeting. These quizzes accomplish two things:  (1) reward you for keeping up-to-date on the readings; (2) reward you for spending enough time on the readings to understand and remember key points in them.  If you read carefully, you should have little problem with the quizzes. If you have trouble with short, fast quizzes, let us know and we will give you a homework alternative to the quizzes.  If you miss a quiz because you are late or absent, you will receive a "0" on the quiz unless you turn in, at the start of the next class period, a  one-page typed summary of the main points in the reading and a one-page typed essay recording your reactions to the reading, indicating how this reading relates to other course topics, and noting what new issues this reading raises.

3. Citizenship:
At our second meeting you will perform an exercise in communal authority and peer review and decide as a class what makes a person a good "citizen" of our classroom community.  At that time you will draw up a rubric (a list of standards) by which people will be judged.  Then three times this semester and we will ask each person in the class to rate, according to the agreed-upon rubric, the citizenship of three other people in the class (chosen at random by us, eliminating matches involving conflicts of interest).  For purposes of your final citizenship grade, we will average the grades given to you by the nine classmates chosen at random to comment on your citizenship.  (You have the right to appeal a given rating.)

Weighting of assignments:
 Portfolios:  80% (log entries 50%; film/website 30%)
 Quizzes:  10%
 Citizenship: 10%