How Will I Know What I've
Learned?
Evaluation
Checklist
Note: see me for the URL where you'll find your grades as
we go along. To keep the information more confidential, I'll make no links to it from
these pages; you'll need to type in (or bookmark) the URL each time you want to see the
page.
project |
points |
due dates day |
due dates eve |
| explore and critique a Web site |
10
(5 form,
5 oral) |
January 29 |
April 20 |
| explore and critique a search
engine |
10
(5 form,
5 oral) |
February 17 |
May 4 |
| your web |
|
|
|
| proposal |
5 |
February 10 |
April 29 |
| design |
5 |
March 12 |
May 18 |
| prototype |
10 |
April 30 |
June 10 |
| an introduction to your web |
|
|
|
| ascii |
4 |
April 23 |
June 15 |
| etext |
4 |
April 23 |
June 15 |
| dtp |
4 |
April 23 |
June 15 |
| ppt |
4 |
April 28 |
June 15 |
| html |
4 |
April 28 |
June 15 |
| tests |
20
(5 each) |
February 3, February 19,
March 26. April 14 |
April 22, May 4, May 13, June 1 |
| final exam |
10 |
May 7 |
June 15 |
| site annotations |
5 |
May 7 |
June 15 |
| software competency |
5 |
February 3, February 19,
March 26. April 14, May 7 |
April 22, May 4, May 13, June 1 |
| self-assessment |
0 |
May 11 |
June 17 |
|
Criteria for Evaluation
New media is so new that we do not know how it is best used;
nor do we know how it will affect us. To understand, we have to use our imaginations. We
can explain:
 |
new ways to communicate: graphics,
images, interactivity |
|
how to use some of the technologies,
specifically the Web, that are converging to create new media |
|
new ways of thinking about what
these technologies permit: community-building, disintermediation, etc. |
However, you will get paid for how you apply your imagination
to see the possibilities for your organization or your client and to move it in that
direction. We will evaluate your oral, written, and digital performance as noted on the
table above. On the scales below, the characteristics on the left are not condusive to
hirings, raises, and promotions. The characteristics on the left are condusive to firings
and career stagnation.
In this course, I'm emphasizing evaluation by giving
categories and scales. I'm de-emphasizing grading by providing a very crude scale: 1 to 5.
I have scheduled enough activities that I'm going to be making most decisions between 5
and 4. If 5 is the far right end of the scales below and 4 means you're making a sincere
effort and progress toward that far right end, you should be able to assess
yourself.
Oral
Presentations
| Voice |
| hard to hear and understand |
loud and clear |
|
|
| Body |
| inappropriate clothes |
appropriate business clothes |
| negative expressions and postures |
positive expressions and postures |
|
|
| Visual
Aids |
| default staging: dark, hard to read |
well-staged: lighting, positioning |
| clumsy use of technology |
unobtrusive use of technology |
|
|
| Audience |
| no attempt to break fourth wall |
effective breaking of fourth wall,
especially with humor |
|
|
Writing
| Content |
| insufficient, irrelevant, wrong |
sufficient, relevant, valid,
reliable, credible |
| boring |
interesting, surprising,
delightful |
| misuse of marketing and new media concepts |
fluent use of marketing and new
media concepts |
|
|
| Structure |
| puzzling, delaying |
intuitive |
|
|
| Language |
| mixed, shaky voice |
consistent, clear voice |
| inaccurate use of marketing and new media
vocabulary |
fluent use of marketing and new
media vocabulary |
|
|
| Mechanics |
| intrusive (misspelling, inconsistent punctuation
etc.) |
invisible |
|
|
Digital
Work
Note Evaluate
your digital work on these scales in addition to
the ones above for your writing:
| Content |
| just a list of links |
meaningful, explained, and
well-organized links |
| no attempt to build community |
unusual, unexpected, and effective
attempts to build community |
| tries to do too much for too many |
clearly defined audience and
purpose |
| monomedia (words only) |
multimedia (adds sight, sound) |
| no reason to revisit |
reason to revisit |
|
|
| Navigational
Structure |
| disorientating |
I always know where I am |
| confusing |
easy to choose; takes me where I
expect to go |
| no site map |
clear, helpful site map |
| no frames (optional) |
helpful frame structure (optional) |
|
|
| Visual
Language |
| puzzling, unclear, insufficient images |
attractive images at the service
of content and purpose |
| puzzling, unclear, insufficient graphics,
inappropriate typefaces, misspelled words |
attractive graphics at the service
of user-friendly orientation and navigation |
gratuitous images
(opposite of insufficient) |
integrated images |
| gratuitous wizbang |
integrated wizbang |
|
|
| Mechanics |
| dead links |
no dead links |
| graphics don't load |
graphics load quickly |
| requires horizontal scrolling |
vertical scrolling only |
Software Competency
One of the important things you can take from
this course is a sure sense of your ability to approach any strange computer and to get
around in any strange software. You need to know two things:
|
what you know |
|
how you learn |
The lists below set a ground level of computer
skills for the information designer.
 notify instructor
after you demonstrate competency
A Philosophy of Grading
Grading widgets or eggs makes a lot of sense. Grading people
is offensive. Early in this century, the grading of widgets was applied to people because
the people made the widgets. Note how most classrooms still look like piecework factories.
Replace the PC with a sewing machine and you're staring at the back of the heads of the
folks in the row in front. Eyes on your own work, please. Collaboration is a waste of
time, so let's call it cheating.
Today, that system is irrelevant to your growth. Raise
your hand if you intend to get a benchjob in a piecework factory. Unfortunately, to many
people that system is harmful because it doesn't begin to measure how intelligent they
are.
In a piecework factory, the big trick is to survive until
payday. You've been in classes like that. Just give me a grade, any grade, and let me outa
here.
This Industrial Age system has no place in adult education.
If you aren't your own hardest grader by now, there's not much that more grades can do. |
last update: April 27, 1998
by Douglas Anderson
http://toLearn.net/infodesign/cdseval.htm |
