Learning Contract

Due Dates

Beginning of semester

January 23, in class                                           Draft of contract and discussion with professor

January 25, end of day                                      Submit final version to Blackboard

Midterm

Sunday, March 10, end of day                        Portfolio with reflection and submission of any contract revisions

March 20, in class                                              Portfolio meetings with Professor

Final

Wednesday, May 8, end of day                      Portfolio along with final reflection

What is a Learning Contract?

In keeping with our flipped learning environment, you will also have more control over the assessment of your learning. You will each write a learning contract, a document in which you will describe what you want to learn this semester and how you will organize your time to learn it. The best thing about a learning contact is that you get to decide what grade you want. If you want to put in the effort for an A, you can do so, if you’ve already decided that a B is your goal, you can make a plan to achieve it. I won’t be assigning you numbers or letters, but rather I will be giving you written feedback both in and outside of class about your work. We will meet at midterm to discuss your progress and renegotiate the contract as necessary. I will give you an approximate letter grade at midterm and assign a final letter grade at semester’s end based on how well your digital portfolio demonstrates the learning goals we’ve decided upon in your contract. The goal of a learning contract is to give you ownership over your learning and to help you focus more on the process of learning rather than an end product. We’ll talk a lot more about this in class.

You’ll decide how much effort you want to put into the course, where you want to concentrate your greatest effort, and what you, specifically, want to improve upon.

I’ve chosen seven categories related to course outcomes that form the basis for the learning contract, including:

  • Content
  • Composition
  • Presentation
  • Tinkering
  • Collaboration
  • Participation
  • Student-Chosen Outcome

I’ve also included a place for you to develop additional learning outcomes for yourself.

Writing the Contract

Note: A Learning Contract Template is available for you to fill out.

  1. Look over the course website, paying particular attention to the course objectives, course descriptions, and schedule of activities, and be sure to examine the sample learning contract below and use the learning contract template.
  2. Decide on a grade that is practical and achievable (you shouldn’t just choose an A because you think that is what I want to hear).
  3. Choose a percentage of effort for each learning category, write some explanatory sub-points under each, and indicate how you will learn it, what you will add to the portfolio to demonstrate that you’ve learned it, and what I should be looking for as evidence of your learning.
  4. Find as many ways as possible to adapt your responses to your own interests and major. Give yourself clear and challenging criteria for success (timelines, quality of work, etc.)

Negotiating

You will revisit and rework your contract during our meetings in the early weeks of the semester and at midterm, once you’ve delved more into the material. That is where the negotiating comes in. We will meet to discuss the contract you’ve designed for yourself. If I don’t think your contract reflects a level of effort that merits the grade you’ve chosen, I may ask you to revise. If I think you’ve concentrated too much effort in one category, I may ask you to recalculate.

Two Caveats

Regardless of your goals, you still expected to complete all class assignments and attend all classes. Failing to do so will adversely affect the final grade for which you are eligible.

Learning Contract Sample

Student Name  _______Mina Murray____

Grade Contracted For  __x__ A          ____ B            ____ C

What concepts are you going to learn, or skills are you going to develop? How will you learn the content/ develop the skill? What evidence will you add to the portfolio to demonstrate your learning? How will you and I assess the evidence of your learning/skills?
Content (30%)

· Learn how people in the nineteenth-century understood their relationship to technology and how that compares to our own moment.

·Learn how technology can be used to interpret literature.

·  Think critically about when, how, and why it is best to use certain technologies to analyze particular texts.

 

 ·  Attend all class meetings

·  Complete assignments on time

·  Explore all resources online fully and choose additional research and tinkering paths that interest me.

·  Asking questions in class.

 

 ·  snapshots of notes from class

·  Brief write-up of exploration and reflection on how it developed in class.

·  Notes on questions asked in class.

·  Selections from in-class lab materials and assignments.

 ·  Class notes indicate that I am thorough, draw together readings, with discussions and developing an understanding of how technology is at play in our readings.

·  Lab work demonstrates that I am experimenting with many tools and keeping details notes on their ideal use.
Composition (10%)

·  Improve ability to develop supporting argumentative claims.

·  Experiment with writing style.

·  Learn how to integrate writing with other media.

 ·  Look for examples in the blog writing of my classmates.

·  Try out new diction and sentence structure.

·  Put sound, video, and images into blogs.

Revise blogs to focus on topic sentences.

 · Examples of in-class writings and blog drafts with experiments highlighted

·  Discussion in reflection of changes in work

·  Examples of writing from projects throughout the semester.

 ·  Topic sentences and claims improve in in-class and blog writing

·  Writing shows signs of successful experimentation

·  Integrated other media in a way that was tied to writing itself

·  Show examples of improvement from early to late course writings.
Presentation(10%)

·  Become comfortable leading discussions

·  Become more confident in front of the class

 ·  Practice presentations in advance

·  Come up with a working list of responses for in-class discussions

 ·  All in-class presentations ·  I speak clearly and confidently

·  I come prepared

·  I respond to student answers
Tinkering (20%)

·  I practice trouble-shooting on my own and use the web to find answers.

· I play with texts in class and come up with ideas for experimentation to see what might happen.

· I focus less on end-product and more on process.

 ·  Use time at home and lab time to familiarize myself with tools from class.

· Look for and experiment with different tools.

· Develop a final project with a research question that blends several tools and methods.

 · Final project

· Discussions of tinkering and alternative tools on blog.

 

 ·  Examples of process and prototyping of projects.

·  A final project that demonstrates the best blending of tools and method to answer the research question.
Collaboration (5%)

·  Learn how to relinquish control over projects

 · Delegate

· Take responsibility over my own role

· Help others

 ·  Reports from in-class labs

·  Peer reviews

·Presentations

 ·  Peer reviews on lab work indicate that I am a valuable group member
Participation (5%)

· Leave room for other students to talk.

· Help other students who are struggling.

·Avoid becoming frustrated when something is challenging

 ·  Wait before answering a question

· Pay attention to other students.

·Maintain an attitude of openness.

 ·  Class discussions

·  Group work

·  Reflections

·  blogs

 ·  My reflections demonstrate that I have thought about how my participation influences others.

·  You observe my willingness to let others answer and to help others.
Student-Chosen Outcomes (10%)

·  Think about spatiality and literature

 ·  Develop some component of the final project involving maps ·  Final project

· Work on the mapping project

 ·  Quality of final and mapping project