Most in-class experience will be lecture-based, but some parts are designed as a collective experience. This means that other students will be counting on you (and you on them), and so please come to class prepared. If you don't understand something, that's perfectly fine; we'll figure it out together and make sure no one is left behind. But if you don't put in the effort, it will hurt what everyone gets out of the class.
We have redesigned the course again this year, including several new teaching and learning technologies. We expect you to make a genuine effort to participate in the following activities prior to the class for which they are assigned:
- Watch a short video of Gary King giving part of a class lecture from a previous year.
- Complete the assigned readings
- For both the videos and the readings, our web site offers separate but integrated collaborative annotation tools. This means that if you find a portion of the lecture, or a passage in the reading, difficult or confusing, you should post a question about it. You can pause the video or stop reading and do this right there as you watch or read. Similarly, if you think you may know an answer to a query another student posted, or have a suggestion, please make a contribution to the class and try to answer it. In fact, if you merely have an interesting idea related to the video or text, please contribute that as well.
Being prepared by having watched the videos and done the reading enables us to devote class time to difficult, confusing, or interesting ideas that arise. We will also be able to make more detailed connections to student projects and interests.
