To determine your individual grade for the group project, I will use the following rubric to assign your group a grade for the project as a whole, and you a grade for your individual contribution. These two grades will be averaged together to produce your final individual grade for the assignment.
As the rubric below indicates, one component that will be required from you is a private email to me, submitted in conjunction with your final product, in which you assign yourself what you think is an appropriate grade for your work on the project, together with a detailed explanation why you think this grade is appropriate. Think of this explanation as a “position paper lite”–you are taking a position (“My work deserves this grade”), but you also have to defend that position by clearly articulating the reasons, providing specific evidence to back up your position. If I believe that your defense of your position is persuasive, on the basis of the evidence you provide, then I will plug your self-assigned grade into the rubric below and take into account when calculating your final grade. If your email is not persuasive, I reserve the right to alter your self-assigned grade to one that I feel is more appropriate, which is why it is in your best interest to be honest and fair when assessing your own work. Before simply saying, “my work deserves an A+” you should carefully consider whether you can defend that position.
Here is how I will break down both your group grade and your individual grade–the two numbers that will be averaged together to get your final project grade:
GROUP PART
G1. GROUP OBJECTIVES (50%)
Did the group produce the digital object assigned? How well does the submitted product meet the objectives laid out by the group in their mission statement? Does the project demonstrate the group’s ability to “work collaboratively to make historically informed, reflective judgments about how to commemorate and interpret the Civil War for public audiences today”? Is there a clear “point” being made by the product?G2. USE OF SOURCES (20%)
Does the group make effective use of the various repositories of sources available to the class? Are claims made in the project accurate and substantiated by reliable documentary or secondary evidence, with due attention to the perspective of the creators of the sources used? Are sources used somehow documented or cited within the group’s materials (i.e., links or bibliographic citations on Google Docs, blog posts, or other materials produced by the group)? Are there major sources available to the class that are directly relevant to the group’s objectives but are ignored?G3. PRESENTATION (20%)
Are there repeated typographical, grammatical, or spelling errors in the project? Has the group taken steps to ensure that the final digital product has a finished and appealing look appropriate for viewing by the general public (i.e., resolution of images is consistent and sharp, hyperlinks are not “broken,” files can be opened, etc.)?G4. DIVISION OF LABOR (10%)
Did the group make expectations about the division of labor clear? Is the record of who did what somehow documented by the group?
INDIVIDUAL PART
I1. INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNED TASKS (50%)
Based on the documentation available prior to the final submission and self-rating, did the individual group member complete tasks assigned to him/her by the group as a whole?I2. OVERALL INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION (30%)
Based on the documentation available prior to the final submission and self-rating, to what extent did the individual member participate in group work, communications, and internal group feedback? Was the individual group member’s contribution to the finished project (either in the planning or execution stages) demonstrably and grossly disproportionate when compared to the contributions made by the other members?I3. SELF-ASSIGNED GRADE (20%)
