Photo: Justin Lubin / NBC.
I will measure your progress and success in this course by having you engage in these three types of activities:
- Participation in social annotating the readings on Perusall, which has you work with your classmates in order to better understand what that material is trying to convey while applying it to your own lived experiences;
- Quizzes embedded in my videos and posted at the end of each module, that check your basic understanding of the course material; and
- Unit exams that have you demonstrate your knowledge of key terminology and the 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Annotations | 100 per module | 2,500 | |
| Quizzes | 100 per module | 2,500 | |
| Unit Exams | 1,000 per exam | 6,000 | |
| Total | 11,000 |
You have entered this class as a New Philosophy Student, but as you do these activities 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 3,999 | 1 | New Philosophy Student | F1 | |
| 4,000 to 4,499 | 2 | Philosophy Student | D− | |
| 4,500 to 4,999 | 3 | Philosophy Initiate | D | |
| 5,000 to 5,499 | 4 | Novice Philosopher | D+ | |
| 5,500 to 5,999 | 5 | Apprentice Philosopher | C− | |
| 6,000 to 6,499 | 6 | Unemployed Philosopher | C | |
| 6,500 to 6,999 | 7 | Armchair Philosopher | C+ | |
| 7,000 to 7,499 | 8 | Stand-Up Philosopher | B− | |
| 7,500 to 7,999 | 9 | Assistant Philosophy Professor | B | |
| 8,000 to 8,499 | 10 | Associate Philosophy Professor | B+ | |
| 8,500 to 8,999 | 11 | Philosophy Professor | A− | |
| 9,000 to 9,499 | 12 | Philosopher Royale | A | |
| 9,500 or higher | 13 | Philosopher Supreme | A+ |
UB does not allow final course grades to be an A+ or a D−. Therefore, a final course grade of an A+ will be assigned an A and a final grade of a D− will be assigned a D.
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.
24-Hour Grace Period
All activities (including unit exams) have an automatic 24-hour grace period. This means that you are free to finish any activity up to 24 hours after its official due date/time without penalty.
In short, all activities have an automatic 24-hour extension. Further extensions will require the use of philosopher’s stones and/or reasonable accommodations.