Courses:

• If not achieved at class level, excellence of performance cannot be achieved at group level
• If not achieved at group level, it cannot be achieved at individual level

• Reading and viewing assignments; discussions
• Active participation - at group level; at class level
• Continuous collaborative evaluation
• Study group minutes
• Facilitation preparation and process

• Completed term project(s)
• Completed summative evaluation

Each week, each study group is responsible for preparing a brief (1-2 page) collaborative paper - a "study group minutes."

"Minutes" must be received by both instructors via email no later than 6 pm on the Wednesday evening before the next Thursday class. Accordingly, your study group should not arrange to meet on Wednesday evenings or before class on Thursdays. However, your weekly study group meetings should not occur before everyone has had a chance to complete the assigned homework for that week. (It is thus best to schedule meetings for Tuesdays or Wednesdays, if possible.)

The minutes will be read and evaluated by the instructor(s) and you will receive written feedback by 8 pm Wednesday evening. A copy of your minutes (with the feedback) will also be forwarded to the study group whose turn it will be to facilitate the next day's class meeting.

Study group email lists will be created to simplify all this correspondence. We will therefore need your data.

The readers of your contributions will be trying to evaluate and facilitate the ongoing learning process. We do not want a word-by-word transcript of your meeting. Nor will it suffice for us to receive a mere list of who was present and what was discussed. Rather, we expect to receive meaningful "process notes", "summary statements" and "formative evaluations" relating to all aspects of the learning experience. You can help most by reporting (e.g.):

• Conclusions about topically relevant issues from the assigned readings/films
  
• The quality of your meeting, of your discussions and conclusions
  
• Your discussions and conclusions about the quality of the learning process, the classroom or group discussions, the role and performance of the instructional subsystem (What is good about the class? What is bad - boring, wrong, confusing, etc.?)

You should also include:

• A brief summary statement from each member, regarding the form, content and quality of his/her own 9.70-related activities since the previous class session
  
• Concise answers to questions posed in the Syllabus
  
• Any organizational, procedural or substantive issues, questions or criticisms that group members feel strongly about - pertaining to the subject matter, or the study group and/or class meetings

In sum, weekly minutes will be most useful to the facilitation process (see next section), if they provide theoretically and practically relevant feedback regarding the organization and development of the class and its subsystems.

The first three class sessions will be led / facilitated by the instructors. From the fourth session onward, study groups will take over. Each study group in turn will share the power and responsibility of facilitating the class. By the end of the term, all individuals and each study group will have had an opportunity to facilitate the learning process.

The "demand characteristics" of this leadership role will vary predictably in accordance with topical shifts in the syllabus. Unpredictable changes in the task should also be expected as substantive and procedural issues arise at individual, study group and whole class levels of organization and development.

The facilitating study group will work with the class and with the instructors to define and to deal with arising issues in the collaborative learning process. The instructor(s) will forward copies of each study group minutes, with comments to the facilitating group of the week whose members will already be well-along in the process of planning the next day's class. The facilitating group of the week will carefully read all this material and incorporate relevant points into their class agenda. In addition to the agenda, the facilitating group will also prepare two summary overviews and evaluations of:

1. The last week's class
2. The form and content of the submitted minutes

As soon as possible after completion, copies of the foregoing - together with the proposed agenda - should be forwarded to all study groups (in time to allow them to be read and digested before the upcoming class). As a backup, hard copies should be printed out, and made available in class.

(PDF)

This is intended to assist in Formative and Summative Evaluation of your 9.70 learning experience.

Use it to comment on meetings and assignments, and to keep track of the time and effort you devote to your performance in this class. This information is to be exchanged and acknowledged within the study group by all members. Experience teaches us that students in this class need to learn to give and take constructive feedback and this means keeping track of the quantity and quality of your participation in real time (or soon thereafter).

Note: In the event of disagreements relating to final grades (e.g. between self-assessments and peer-evaluations) we may find ourselves forced to ask to examine the contents of your Timesheets and Journals.

As the process of development must be tracked, everyone is expected to keep a journal. Approach this task with the stance of a serious researcher - e.g. a member of an expedition keeping a field notebook. Honesty, accuracy and diligence count! Be faithful in making regular and relevant entries. Use your Journal to record (and thereby to explore) your own thoughts and feelings about any aspect of 9.70 as well as any other topics of social psychological interest.

It would be easy enough for us to simply require you to make your written work available for periodic or on-demand inspection. But that would be pedagogically selfdefeating. What we will do, however, is to ask you to keep your journal with you at all times. In addition, you should be prepared to show (without disclosure of the contents in detail) that it is being well-used for the purposes already outlined.