Photo: Justin Lubin / NBC.
I will measure your progress and success in this course by having you engage in these activities:
- Participation in social annotation of the readings on Perusall and/or general discussion posts on Twitter that have you work with your classmates in order to better understand and apply the course material,
- Weekly quizzes embedded in my videos and posted at the end of each module, that check your basic understanding of that material, and
- Unit exams that have you demonstrate your knowledge of key terminology, summarize arguments from the reading, apply course material to new cases, compare competing claims about ethics, and justify positions of your own on moral issues.
As you complete these activities, you will earn philosophy experience points:
| Activity | Experience Points | Total Points Available | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Participation | 120 per week* | 1,680 | |
| - Social Annotations | |||
| - Discussion Posts | |||
| Weekly Quizzes | 100 per module | 2,800 | |
| Unit Exams | 1,120 per exam | 6,720 | |
| Total | 11,200 |
* Each week, the sum of your points from the social annotation and the discussion posts are capped at 120 points. I do this because some students are not comfortable using Twitter, and so I don’t want to put them at a disadvantage. As a result, you are free to focus on only one form of participation while still earning full points for that week.
You have entered this class as a New Philosophy Student, but as you do assignments and earn philosophy experience points you will advance to higher levels. The level at which you end the semester will determine your final letter grade in the course:
| Experience Points | Level | Title | Letter Grade | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 999 | 0 | New Philosophy Student | FX | |
| 1,000 to 3,499 | 1 | Philosophy Student | F | |
| 3,500 to 4,449 | 2 | Philosophy Initiate | D | |
| 4,500 to 4,999 | 3 | Philosophy Novice | D+ | |
| 5,000 to 5,499 | 4 | Philosophy Apprentice | C− | |
| 5,500 to 5,999 | 5 | Unemployed Philosopher | C | |
| 6,000 to 6,499 | 6 | Armchair Philosopher | C+ | |
| 6,500 to 6,999 | 7 | Assistant Philosophy Professor | B− | |
| 7,000 to 7,499 | 8 | Associate Philosophy Professor | B | |
| 7,500 to 7,999 | 9 | Philosophy Professor | B+ | |
| 8,000 to 8,499 | 10 | Philosopher Royale | A− | |
| 8,500 or higher | 11 | Philosopher Supreme | A |
This philosophy experience point structure means that you are free to choose some activities and skip others. You are also free to decide how much you want to engage in the course.
Some students will reach the level of Unemployed Philosopher and then vanish. Fair enough! Others will not relent until they are Philosopher Supreme. Great—go for it! In the end, I will support whatever choice you make.
Photo: Colleen Hayes / NBC.
36-Hour Grace Period
All assignments have an automatic 36-hour grace period. This means that you are free to finish any assignment up to 36 hours after its official due date/time without penalty.
In short, all assignments have an automatic 36-hour extension. Further extensions will require the use of philosopher’s stones and/or a reasonable accommodation.