It is important to attend the lectures and read the readings. Each lecture will assume that you have read and are ready to discuss the day’s readings. Although the course is videotaped for SCPD, because lectures often involve discussion, attendance at lecture is mandatory for all non-SCPD students.

Class participation includes both in-class participation as well as participation in the discussion via reading responses. All enrolled students are required to post at least 1 substantive (a short paragraph is fine) comment pertaining to the set of readings or the lecture per week. Each student has 1 pass for skipping comments.

Good responses typically exhibit one or more of the following:

  • Critiques of arguments made in the readings or in lecture
  • Analysis of implications or future directions for work discussed in lecture or readings
  • Insightful questions about the readings or lectures
  • Links to web resources or examples that pertain to a lecture or reading.

The main page of the course website has a Submit Response link for each lecture that will take you to a form where you give give your response. But, remember that you only need to fill out one response form per week.