Photo: Colleen Hayes / NBC.
I will measure your progress and success in this course by having you engage in a wide variety of different activities:
- Social annotation of the readings on Perusall that have you work with your classmates in order to better understand what that material is trying to convey,
- Negotiation preparation for organizing your thoughts about new course concepts and how to apply them during the in-class negotiations,
- In-class negotiation for practicing the various negotiation and conflict resolution strategies presented in the readings and discussed during our class meetings,
- General in- and out-of-class participation for displaying your ongoing attempts to better understand and apply the course material, and
- Self-reflection for connecting course concepts to your own personal experiences of conflict and negotiation.
As you complete these activities, you will earn negotiation experience points:
| Activity | Experience Points | Total Points Available |
|---|---|---|
| Social Annotation | 100 per social annotation activity | 2,900 |
| Negotiation Preparation | 300 per preparation | 3,600 |
| Negotiation | 200 per negotiation | 2,400 |
| Class Participation | ≈2,500* | |
| Self-Reflection | 450 per self-reflection | 2,700 |
| Total | 14,100 |
*This is only approximate. The actual total for class participation may vary. If this adversely influences course grades, then the Negotiator Advancement table below will be updated accordingly.
You have entered this class as a New Negotiation Student, but as you do these activities and earn negotiation 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 6,599 | 1 | New Negotiation Student | F1 | |
| 6,600 to 6,999 | 2 | Negotiation Student | D− | |
| 7,000 to 7,399 | 3 | Negotiation Initiate | D | |
| 7,400 to 7,899 | 4 | Novice Negotiator | D+ | |
| 7,900 to 8,399 | 5 | Apprentice Negotiator | C− | |
| 8,400 to 8,899 | 6 | Marketplace Haggler | C | |
| 8,900 to 9,499 | 7 | Used Car Salesperson | C+ | |
| 9,500 to 10,099 | 8 | Distributive Bargainer | B− | |
| 10,100 to 10,699 | 9 | Negotiation Analyst | B | |
| 10,700 to 11,399 | 10 | Principled Negotiator | B+ | |
| 11,400 to 12,099 | 11 | Master Negotiator | A− | |
| 12,100 to 12,799 | 12 | Grandmaster Negotiator | A | |
| 12,800 or higher | 13 | Negotiator 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 negotiation 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 Marketplace Haggler and then vanish. Fair enough! Others will not relent until they are Negotiator Supreme. Great—go for it! In the end, I will support whatever choice you make.
Photo: Ron Batzdorff / NBC.
Late Work
Classes become quite overwhelming when deadlines are missed. In such situations, it is easy for work—and anxiety!—to pile up. This is why I expect that your activities are done on time.
That said, there may be times when you cannot get things done as expected. If that happens, do not panic! Philosopher’s stones are there to help. If the situation is truly extraordinary, please do see me about a reasonable accommodation.