Journal Entries

Hello Class!

Many of you are probably curious about the Journal Assignment since there is no ongoing due date for the assignment on the Schedule or Syllabus.

On the Schedule Page there is a due date of all journals on Saturday, November 28th. All journals from you will be due at that time. This means that you can work on your journal entries throughout the semester. My suggestion is to do them during the weeks I have assigned, and try to avoid procrastinating. The end of the semester can get busy as you know, so getting those entries done early will only help you out.

The journal assignment also has a second due date of December 8th. Each person will turn in their journal packet (containing all five journal entries) to me in November. I will compile each students packet, put you into groups of 4-5 people and each person in your particular group will grade your journal entries. The journal entries you are grading (your colleagues journals) will be due in December.

The journal assignment is worth 125 points of your total grade. 100 of those points are for your journal entries and the other 25 points is for your participation in the grading process. I will obviously attach grading guidelines so each person can grade the other 3-4 journals with absolute consistency. These guidelines will include content and writing style. The Communication Department has moved to 4 unit classes. Each 4 unit class has a strong writing component and each essay should be graded for content as well as standard writing rules (see your Pocket Writing Guide).

I am putting you as the student in the driver's seat for this particular assignment for a number of reasons.

1). It gives you an opportunity to see what other folks in the class are writing about.

2). It allows you to give your opinion about your colleagues writing.

3). The journal assignment will diversify your grading.

4). Grading a few journals should be intellectually challenging.

5). Increases diversity in the class.

6). Provides additional meaningful feedback, not only from the instructor, but from others.

7). Establishes an atmosphere of community and enhanced learning.

8). Reinforces relevant course material from a number of different perspectives.

9). Helps you analyze complex and abstract ideas as presented by others relating to course material/content.

10). Applies course content in a real-world setting.

When each journal is returned to me I will compile the grades, average them out, check for consistency, make sure there are no inaccuracies, and assign a final grade taking into account your colleagues feedback. In other words, I will average out your colleagues grades for your journal entries and assign a final grade, but will check for accuracy first to confirm that I agree with the particular grade given. Your journals will then be returned to you during finals week with feedback from your colleagues and I, and will contain an overall grade for the assignment.

Since there is a wide variety of opinions, perspectives, feelings, etc... in this course, I ask that you be open-minded about this assignment. I have found that some students can be slightly resistant to a project of this nature at first, but you may find that this assignment is one of your favorites in the course due to the hands-on approach we are taking with it. I appreciate your feedback and highly respect each of your opinions, so if there is anything you would like to bring to my attention, please let me know.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this assignment or anything else in the course.

Have a fabulous day!!!