Assessment & Grading
Overview
The course is graded on a 100-point scale, with the following breakdown:
| Component | Objectives | Engagement | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mini-projects | 40 | 10 | 50 |
| Research project | 30 | 10 | 40 |
| Community engagement | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Total | 70 | 30 | 100 |
Grading scale
End-of quarter course grades are assigned as follows:
| Points | Grade |
|---|---|
| 100-94 | A |
| 93-91 | A- |
| 90-88 | B+ |
| 87-84 | B |
| 83-81 | B- |
| 80-78 | C+ |
| 77-74 | C |
| 73-71 | C- |
| 70-68 | D+ |
| 67-64 | D |
| 63-61 | D- |
| 60-0 | F |
Typically no partial points are awarded in this class. On the rare occasion that they are, they will be rounded to the nearest whole number (0.5+ rounds up).
Grade changes
Grades are final. Requests for regrades or grade changes will not be considered. You are welcome to discuss your graded assignments with the professor or your section TAs to learn how to do better going forward, but the grade you received is the grade you will keep.
You have up to 4 submission attempts on your research project. Mini-projects may not be resubmitted, but you may submit as many as you like to earn the full 40 points. You will receive a provisional community engagement grade midway through the quarter.
In other words, you are in control of your grade. Your grade in the class will be transparent throughout the quarter. If you are unhappy with your grade, you have the power to change it by completing more assignments, demonstrating more objectives, or showing more engagement.
Grades are final.
Learning objectives and standards-based grading
This course uses standards-based grading. This means you earn your grade by demonstrating you have met class learning objectives.
Briefly, there are 30 objectives divided into 8 categories:
- Github and R studio
- R programming
- tidyverse
- Data visualization with
ggplot2 - Data analysis
- BibTeX
- Notebooks and code chunks
- R Markdown and quarto
You can view the full explanation of the standards and the assessment system here.
“Engagement” overview
Meeting the minimum requirements will not earn you an “A.” Assignments have additional “engagement” points, which are earned by demonstrating effort above the minimum requirements. In general, this means showing high level understanding of the material, creativity in your work, initiative to learn something off the syllabus, critical thinking about your learning, and support for your peers.
You can earn up to 30 engagement points across the quarter, distributed evenly across the assessments, the final project, and general course engagement.
TAs will grade most assignments for meeting objectives/standards, but the professor will grade all assignments for engagement. This is to ensure that the engagement grade is consistent and equitable across all students.
Grade componenents
Assessment mini-projects
Mini-projects are worth up to 50 points of your final grade. Up to 20 must be demonstrating unique, assessed objectives, up to 20 should demonstrate relevant skills but have more flexibility, and up to 10 can be earned through engagement. Mini-projects must be submitted with a completed assessment.md.
Read about the mini-projects here and find answers to common questions on the FAQ page.
Final research project
The final research project is worth up to 40 points of your final grade. Up to 30 points are earned from demonstrating each unique objective, and up to 10 points are earned through engagement. Drafts can be submitted up to 4 times throughout the quarter, with the final grade being that of the final submission.
Learn about the final project here and find answers to common questions on the FAQ page.
Community engagement
Up to 10 points of the final grade are earned through collaboration with your peers and general engagement with the course outside of the mini-projects and research project. You will receive a provisional grade for this category at the midpoint of the quarter. You can submit feedback on your own or your classmates’ engagement at any time via Canvas to highlight engagement the professor may not notice.
Aside from the basic expectation that you’ll attend class and pay attention, this can look different for everyone. Like engagement in the other categories, the community engagement grade is not about meeting a minimum requirement (e.g., attending class!). It’s about demonstrating a high level of investment in the course and your peers. This is not an attendance grade.
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of things that can contribute to the community engagement grade:
- In-classroom:
- Make active contributions in a large group setting by asking/answering questions during lecture
- Use workshop time wisely and generously, seeking and offering support from/to classmates with debugging and troubleshooting
- Partipating in group activities
- Generally paying attention and staying focused during class time, helping create an engaged and productive classroom environment even when you aren’t vocally participating
- Outside the classroom
- Be an active participant on the class Slack channel, both asking and answering questions
- Get support from classmates, TAs, and the professor
- Team up with a partner or small group to meet for working groups outside of class
- Take on one or more of the optional collaborative assignments in the assessment menu
How do I know if I’m doing well in this category? If you’re actively participating in class, asking questions, answering questions, and generally engaging with the material and your peers, you’re probably doing great! During Week 5, you will receive a provisional grade for this category based on your participation up to that point, which should give you a sense of whether you need to push yourself a bit more in the second half of the quarter.
As with the project-based engagement points, these points are assigned by the professor to ensure equity across all students in all sections. However, the professor will take into account feedback from TAs, your classmates, and you when assigning these points. If you want to give feedback on your own or your classmates’ engagement, you can do so via the “Engagement feedback” assignment on Canvas.
Note: Engagement feedback is a way to make your professor aware of the great work you and your peers are doing that might not be visible in the classroom. While you may choose to provide critical/negative feedback in this assignment, it is not a way to complain about or “tattle” on your classmates. If you have concerns about a classmate’s behavior that you are not comfortable discussing with them directly, please bring them to the professor or TAs so we can properly address them.
Independent and collaborative problem-solving
A large portion of the course is developing your search skills when it comes to debugging your code (look for advice and solutions from others who have faced similar problems on sites like stackoverflow and github)! Developing this skill and supporting others can be a major component of the community engagement grade. Week 2 slides will include a formal procedure to follow for troubleshooting help.