IDCC 380 Web Design II
Information Architecture & Site Management

IDCC 380 Grading Guidelines

As Presently envisioned, grades for the semester will be apportioned accordingly:

Note: this table of values may undergo some adjustments as the semester progresses. Exercise and quiz values may be raised or lowered depending upon class need. Any necessary changes to assignment values (one-five) will be announced before the assignment is due.

Following are the benchmarks I use when I compute your grades. You must be sure to clarify with me any grade or comment upon an assignment which you do not understand. It is very important that you build your expertise from assignment to assignment. Grades are a tool to help you assess your progress in the course.

Superior:

The assignment is professional in organization, development, design, mechanics, and information. You did a lot more than the minimum requirements. You used your imagination and surprised your Web audience. I said "wow!"  You have attained the entry-level professional standard. You deserve an award.

Acceptable:

The assignment achieves an average level of quality in organization, development, design, mechanics, and information, but has a small number of easily correctable errors. Yawn.... You could do a lot better, but I probably wouldn't fire you. You have the potential to achieve the entry-level professional standard. 

Unacceptable:

The assignment does not achieve passing quality in organization, development, design, mechanics, and information, or it contains major errors or too many errors. You insulted your audience with slipshod work. You should be embarrassed. If you worked for me, I'd have to fire you. In here, you get an F. For shame.

Fatal flaw:

This is unacceptable stuff squared. It's any assignment that's really lousy. How do you do that? A few ideas: your site and page are confused or full of hyperlinks that dead-end; your writing is poor and careless; your design is goofy, offensive, or just plain embarrassing. You commit a fatal flaw, you get an F.

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is cheating. This course has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to plagiarism. Committing plagiarism means you crossed the admittedly very generous bounds of WWW decorum. "Borrowing" is sometimes a tough call, though, so we'll talk about it. But let's say your assignment "borrows" and doesn't credit the sources (text and multimedia) correctly or makes the false claim that the borrowed stuff is yours. You flunk the assignment. Worse, you might get an F for the course. You could even be expelled from Bentley. This is serious.

As a Bentley student, you are responsible to understand what constitutes plagiarism. The topic, you will recall, was covered in your Expository Writing I class, a prerequisite to this course. As a refresher, however, you should check out these documents on responsibilities and plagiarism:

• Student Responsibilities and Rights as outlined in the Bentley College Undergraduate Catalogue: http://www.bentley.edu/shandbook/integrity/
  student_responsibilities_and_rights.cfm
• Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
• Bentley “Plagiarism”: http://www.bentley.edu/ugcatalogue/honesty/plagiarism.cfm
• Julie J.C.H. Ryan's Student Plagiarism in an Online World:
  http://www.prism-magazine.org/
  december/html/student_plagiarism_in_an_onlin.htm
• Lisa Trivedi and Sharon Williams, “Using Sources”: http://www.hamilton.edu/writing/sources.html

Remember, when using another source in writing for this course, quote the source accurately verbatim. Do not paraphrase or mix paraphrase and quotation. After your quoted material, link directly to the source in parentheses; also be sure to supply this attribution and link on your separate reference page.

Lateness:

All assignments are due on the specific date and time assigned. Working on the Web is a deadline-driven business. Get used to it. You don't deliver on time, you pay. I'll drop any late assignments one complete grade every day late.

If for some reason you can't deliver your assignment on time, give me an official excuse. Maybe I can give you some credit (no promises). To be official, excuses must be submitted in writing, signed by a doctor, chaplain, counselor, or some other significant college official.

To Pass the Course:

All assignments must be completed by the end of the present semester.

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