Photo: Colleen Hayes / NBC.
You initially have 3 philosopher’s stones to use during this course. Based on your performance on the weekly quizzes and unit exams, you will gain even more philosopher’s stones. You may then exchange your philosopher’s stones to unleash special philosophical powers!
Earning Philosopher’s Stones
You will earn additional philosopher’s stones based on the philosophy experience points you earn on the weekly quizzes:
| Points Earned on a Single Module’s Quizzes | Stones Earned | |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 39 | 0 | |
| 40 to 54 | 0.03125 | |
| 55 to 69 | 0.0625 | |
| 70 to 84 | 0.09375 | |
| 85 or higher | 0.125 |
Please note that any philosophy experience points earned through the Borrowed Knowledge power do not count towards earning new philosopher’s stones. In addition, stones are not earned from Module 0 and/or any of the supplemental modules.
You will also earn additional philosopher’s stones based the philosophy experience points you earn on each unit exam:
| Points Earned on a Single Unit Exam | Stones Earned | |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 399 | 0 | |
| 400 to 549 | 0.25 | |
| 550 to 699 | 0.5 | |
| 700 to 849 | 0.75 | |
| 850 or higher | 1 |
Please note that any philosophy experience points earned through the Reverse Time power do not count towards earning new philosopher’s stones.
You use your philosopher’s stones by emailing me. In your email, please be specific about what philosophical power you are using. Also don’t forget to specify the “area of effect”, that is, what exactly you are using that power on. For instance, your email might say that you are using 2 philosopher’s stones for Decipher Script on your Module 4 social annotations. Once I know all that, I will make it happen!
Using Philosopher’s Stones
As you earn philosopher’s stones, you may exchange them to unleash special philosophical powers!
Time Stop (Q)
Cost: 1 philosopher’s stone.Area of Effect: 1 set of weekly quizzes.
Duration: Up to 48 hours.
You give up 1 philosopher’s stone, and then you gain an extra 48-hour extension for completing a set of weekly quizzes. Please note that this is in addition to the automatic 24-hour grace period.
If you have enough stones, you may use this power multiple times for additional 48-hour extensions on the same set of weekly quizzes.
Time Stop (E)
Cost: 1 philosopher’s stone.Area of Effect: 1 unit exam.
Duration: Up to 6 hours.
You give up 1 philosopher’s stone, and then you gain an extra 6-hour extension for completing a unit exam. Please note that this is in addition to the automatic 24-hour grace period.
If you have enough stones, you may use this power multiple times for additional 6-hour extensions on the same unit exam.
Decipher Script
Cost: 2 philosopher’s stones.Area of Effect: All the social annotations for 1 module.
Duration: Instantaneous.
You select 1 module and give up 2 philosopher’s stones. You then gain the full 100 philosophy experience points for all that module’s social annotations.
Please note that this does not give you the points for the social annotations in Module 0 and/or any of the supplemental modules. Those points must be earned by actually making those annotations.
You may do Decipher Script at any time during the semester. For example, in week 10 you may use your stones on the social annotations for module 3. For that reason, I encourage you to save your philosopher’s stones until the end of the semester. At that point, you may then decide whether to use them on the annotations for any module.
Borrowed Knowledge
Cost: 2 philosopher’s stones.Area of Effect: All the quizzes for 1 module.
Duration: Instantaneous.
You select 1 module and give up 2 philosopher’s stones. You then gain the full 100 philosophy experience points for all that module’s quizzes.
Please note that this does not give you the points for the quizzes in Module 0 and/or any of the supplemental modules. Those points must be earned by actually completing those quizzes.
You may do Borrowed Knowledge at any time during the semester. For example, in week 10 you may use your stones on the quizzes from module 2. For that reason, I encourage you to save your philosopher’s stones until the end of the semester. At that point, you may then decide whether to use them on the quizzes from any module.
Reverse Time
Cost: 6 philosopher’s stones.Area of Effect: 1 unit exam.
Duration: Up to 1 week.
You give up 6 philosopher’s stones, and then you have up to 1 week—from when a graded unit exam was returned to you—to redo that entire exam. (This includes a unit exam that you missed, skipped, or otherwise did not complete.) The points you earn on this second attempt—regardless of whether that new number of points is higher or lower than your original number—will completely replace the points you earned on your first attempt.
Reverse Time may only be done once for any given unit exam.
Finally, for each philosopher’s stone that you do not use by the end of the course, you will earn 20 philosophy experience points.
So use your philosopher’s stones wisely!