Engagement Points

A portion of your grade in this class is determined by your engagement with course concepts in contexts beyond the core assignments and project sequence. We track this through a system we call Engagement Points.

How do Engagement Points work?

Throughout the quarter, there will be various opportunities to earn Engagement Points by completing certain tasks or actively participating in in-class activities in a meaningful way. There are generally not deadlines or specific schedules for these tasks; rather, you must take the initiative to complete these tasks throughout the quarter.

During final grade calculation, the last 0.25/4.0 of your grade in the course comes from the number of Engagement Points you have accrued across the quarter. Accumulating eight or more points gives you this full +0.25. If you have fewer than eight points, you will have (POINTS/8) * 0.25 added to your final grade in the class.

How do I get Engagement Points?

This list may be expanded through the quarter as new opportunities become available.

  • Strong In-Class Engagement. Consistent active participation during lecture (speaking up, asking questions, etc.) can earn you up to two Engagement Points across the quarter.
  • Consistently responding to class participation threads. This can earn you up to one engagement point across the quarter.
  • Discussing Outside Experiences. Make a post on Ed sharing an example of how you have brought principles from this course into other contexts. For instance, you might describe something you did to improve accessibility in a course you TA, or you could discuss a particularly inaccessible scenario you encountered and reflect on the social justice implications of that situation. You will gain one Engagement Point for each of these posts, and can do this as many times as you like throughout the quarter.
  • Exceptional Submission. When submitting an individual assignment, if you go significantly beyond the requirements of the assignment and show deeper engagement with the course content, you can be awarded an Engagement Point.
  • Reflecting on AT Around Us. Watch both sections’ AT Around Us presentations and share a reflection on the range of AT discussed, some of the ATs you find most interesting, some of your overall thoughts about the technologies you’ve seen, etc. Respond to this thread with your reflection: AT Around Us discussion Ed Post.
  • Engaging with Audio Description. Watch a movie, tv show, or other content with Audio Description enabled and reflect on the experience. More details here: Audio Description Engagement Ed Post. Share a reflection back, answering one or more of the following questions:
    • What is/isn’t included or emphasized in the AD, and how does this differ from the visuals?
    • What is the experience like of consuming both the audio of the program AND the AD?
    • Are there specific types of media you can find that feel better/worse suited for this style of AD?
    • How would you redesign the current approach to AD?
    • This is a lot of work, but if you really love audio description, you can gain an extra engagement point by writing one of your own. You can do this on YouDescribe and post the result on Ed in the Audio Description Engagement Ed Post
  • Accessible Presentation. Watch a presentation, on any topic. Then respond to the Accessible Presentation Ed Post with the following:
    • List the accessible presenting principles you think are relevant to the presentation
    • Provide a link to a presentation (e.g. your presentation in class for AT around us, a TEDx talk, or anything else you find interesting to watch or presented)
    • Reflect on which of the principles you think you succeeded or failed to meet
  • Responding to Reading Questions. Consistently responding to each week’s thread of Reading Questions will earn you an Engagement Point. (You are allowed to miss two of the eight weeks’ discussions; as long as you respond to six threads, you will receive this point.)
  • Participating at Guest Speaker Talks. Asking a question or posting a comment at any guest speaker’s talk will earn you an Engagement Point. Doing so at multiple speakers’ talks will earn you a second point.
  • Participation in Fabrication Week Activities. If you attend and actively participate in all the hands-on activities for our Fabrication unit (Week 8-9), you will earn one Engagement Point. If you complete your AT Fabrication project (and post documentation of it on Ed), you will earn a second point.
  • Current Events Reflection. Find a news article or other post about current events that is relevant to the topics discussed in this course. Summarize the article and reflect on it in this thread: Current Events Engagement Ed Post. You may do this twice throughout the quarter, earning one point each time.
  • Attend a talk. Attend a disability related talk and write a brief reflection on how what you learned relates to at least one competency in this class. Even better if you share it here BEFORE going so others in the class know about it, then share back what you learned. Share the talk ahead of time if possible, and then respond to this thread with your reflection: Attend a disability related talk
  • Provide thoughtful feedback to help us improve the class. Engagement in the class design is another important way of engaging. Thoughtful feedback about the class design, and especially a willingness to engage in conversation about this, is not only welcomed but also counts towards engagement. Thanks to all who have provided this!

Finally, we have an engagement post just for letting us know if we missed something. Feel free to reach out to us.

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