Guide to Assignments and

Grading

Please read the following guidelines carefully.

SUBMITTING WORK ONLINE
All work in this course is submitted online using our Learning Management System, Canvas. It is
the student's responsibility to ensure they know how to submit work correctly, including
uploading files, posting in discussions, embedding photos and links, taking quizzes, and any
other such task. It is also the student's responsibility to ensure they have a capable computer
and internet connection. Ignorance of basic online tasks and non-systemic technical issues do
not constitute an excuse for late work. For help with any of these issues, consult Help with
Canvas.

SUBMITTING WORK ON TIME
Assignments must be submitted on time to receive full credit. Assignments are due on
Thursdays and Sundays. Assignments turned in after the Sunday deadline are docked 2/3 of a
grade. Assignments will not be accepted more than one week after the deadline (i.e., the
following Sunday).

COURSE END DEADLINE
All work for this course must be completed by Friday, December 16, at 11:59 PM. No work will
be accepted after this date.

GRADES
Objective quizzes and exams receive numerical scores (based on how many questions you got
right!). All other assignments receive letter grades. Letter grades are translated into numerical
scores for the purposes of calculating your final grade.

You can track your grades by clicking on "Grades" in the left-hand navigation column.

The grading scale for this course is standard: 100-90% (A), 89-80% (B), 79-70% (C), 69-60% (D),
59% and below (F).

QUIZZES and EXAMS
Quizzes are designed to test your comprehension of assigned reading. You must score at least
14/20 on each quiz (questions are worth 2 points each). You may take a quiz as many times as
you like. Your highest score will be kept.

The Midterm and Final Exams will take place in class.

PARTICIPATING IN DISCUSSIONS
Online discussions are a core format for learning in this course. Unless otherwise noted, all
discussions require an original post of not less than 250 words and two replies of not less than
50 words each. Replies must be substantive, which means they must respond thoughtfully,
adding ideas and extending the conversation. Missing replies drop your grade by 1/3 each.

WRITING REFLECTIONS
Reflections are brief essays in which you reflect (think about) ideas and issues presented in
course materials and experiences. You should treat Reflections as formal writing assignments.
Reflections must be at least one page long, word-processed, in 12-point type, with one-inch
margins. Do not include a header with title and student name. Submissions will be checked for
originality of content.

Acceptable file formats: .doc, .docx, .pdf

Unacceptable file formats: .pages, .zip, .odt

USING SOURCES
This is not a course that requires research. In fact, for most of the assignments in this course
research would simply get in the way. Our goal is to develop skills in understanding and
enjoying art. If you simply "look up the answer" you are not going to develop any skills at all -
it's like going to the gym and then paying somebody to do your push-ups for you.
If you do find yourself using sources when preparing an assignment, you must cite that use. In a
humanities course like this, you would use "MLA style" for your citation. For help on this, I
recommend working with a tutor at the Writing and Reading Center in the OC Library. They also
have online resources listed here.

Be very careful using the internet as a source of information. A good rule of thumb is to use
only sources that are associated with an educational, cultural, governmental, or other formal
institution (look for websites that end in .edu, .org, or .gov).

ALL WORK MUST BE YOUR OWN
When you submit a written assignment under your name, you are certifying that all the writing
in that assignment was done by you. If that assignment includes writing done by someone else,
and it is not in quotation marks and cited, you are stealing someone else's work and presenting
it as your own. This is called plagiarism, and it is a serious violation of academic honesty.
Plagiarism is not tolerated in this course and will result in a failing grade. For more
information about plagiarism, see this useful guide.

For help learning how to use sources without plagiarizing them, I recommend resources at the
OC Librarys Writing and Reading Center.