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[eriehiker]

Forum posts count for 40% of the grade in most or all of these classes. The forums are set up in a point format. It is possible to earn a maximum of 50 points per week and 400 points are required for full credit in terms of the 40%. This means that a student needs to participate in eight weeks of discussion during the class time. I missed the first two weeks of last summer's class because I was chaperoning a trip to Japan. I still had enough extra weeks to complete the required weeks. This past semester was even better because the Harvard spring break week added an extra couple of catch-up weeks. Generally, it took me about four or five posts to meet the weekly max. This requires some dedication, but these are really gimme points. A person should get the full total here. Also, there are surveys at the beginning of the class and at the end that are included in this participation grade.

Ten percent of the grade is the opening essay paragraph and thesis statement. The teaching assistants give good feedback on these opening paragraphs, but the grade only reflects completion. This was good during this semester for me because I was taking the free Walden semester and I wrote these paragraphs in about 20 minutes total. It is important here to pick material that can be made into a final paper, but this assignment doesn't have to be very good.

The rest of the grade depends on the final essay grade (25%) and either a series of weekly quizzes or a final exam. Neither is proctored. Both styles are open book. This does not mean that they are easy. I am an English teacher and was an English major at Michigan and I scored 90% on the last exam I took. There is a 24 hour time clock on the open book exam. That adds just a little bit of time pressure. I much prefer the weekly quizzes. These usually took me about 30 to 40 minutes.