grading
| 17.5% | Research Literature Presentations |
| 17.5% | Curation Analysis | Synthesis Projects |
| 45% | Final Project Cycle |
| 20% | Class Preparation and Participation |
seminar
This course is called a seminar. The OED says this means, "a select group of advanced students associated for special study and original research under the guidance of a professor." The Latin root means, "a seed plot.""
I, myself, tend to emphasize, in my sense of seminar, the notion of treating you as advanced students. Seminar is a particularly good ground for my sense that there's much expertise in play among the students. Thus, while i hope to provide wisdom and guidance as needed, i essentially see my job as to serve as facilitator. I see the seminar, like the Interface Ecology Lab, as functioning, as much as possible, as a community.
continuous evolution
This curriculum is provisional. That is, it is subject to continuous revision. The point of this is to be responsive to data, to experience, and so to enable new conceptions to emerge.
Some shifts in schedule and specification may arise, as we realize what is most important to the actual people taking the course. At a more micro level, specifications may be made more specific in response to issues and questions that arise as assignments are undertaken. The point of any such evolution will be to make the curriculum better serve the students.