This page provides information about preparation questions on Sakai, which usually accompany discussion exercises or readings.
Overview
- Preparation questions are not actually your main preparation for class.
- Your main preparation is as stated on the Daily syllabus page; it will usually consist of a reading assignment and/or some hands-on practice with Praat or an online demo.
- The prep questions are a quick check on your preparation for class and mastery of course material. They encourage you to keep up with the assigned preparation, they sometimes set the stage for points we will build on in class discussion, and they give me a way to see which concepts people already understand and which are potential sticking points that we should talk about more during class.
- The prep questions are graded A/B, and the lowest 10% (probably 2) of your scores
will be dropped, so these are not high-stakes assignments.
But these questions are designed to help you see how well you are mastering the material, so
taking them seriously should be good preparation for class discussion, larger assignments,
exams, and the final project. (If you start feeling like you are falling behind in this course, consider:
should you be spending more time preparing before class and reviewing material from past classes?)
- Format for your answers: Very short answers are perfectly fine (as in, just a few words), unless otherwise specified.
Feedback and grading
- Within a few days of submission,
you will receive feedback and grading on your prep-question responses.
This will appear inside the "Tests & Quizzes" area, and also in the Gradebook.
The feedback and grading will consist of three parts:
- A grade of A or B (or 0 if not submitted). This can be found in the top-level "Comments for Student" box for the overall assignment. Or, in the Gradebook, you can click on the speech bubble icon to see the A/B grade.
- A numerical accuracy score, usually 1 point per question. This accuracy score gives you a more detailed indication of how on-track your answers are. (0.75 means you are close, but missing a minor aspect. 0.5 means you are missing a more significant aspect. 0.25 means your answer is not addressing the question, or is missing a major aspect.)
- Individual comments to you from me on each question, in the "Grader's comments" box. Sometimes there is also general "Feedback" as well, which is the same for everyone.
Troubleshooting
- If at any point things aren't working for you,
or if the process seems more inconvenient than it
should be because of the way I have some setting specified, please let me know
(by email is probably best).
My goal is for prep questions to be helpful for you in mastering the course material,
not just to be a source of Sakai frustration!
- If you do send me an email to get clarification or report a problem or an inconvenience, please be as specific as possible about what you need clarified or what isn't working. If it's a technical problem, please tell me what your operating system is (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, ...) and what your web browser is.