There are two assessment exercises in EDC, each worth 50% of your overall mark.
The online exhibition
From the beginning of Week 2 you will create a gallery of digital artefacts for each of the thematic course blocks (Cyberculture, Community culture, Algorithmic culture). You should add six artefacts per thematic block which means you will need be highly selective about what you add, guided by the assessment criteria below. Detailed information about this exercise can be found on the exhibition page on this site. Your work will be graded on how the gallery spaces demonstrate critical reflection, knowledge and understanding.
Assessment criteria
- Activity Are the gallery spaces well-maintained? Do they demonstrate coherent and accessible activity across a range of internet spaces, services and applications? Are all the structured activities (the cyberculture visual artefact, mini-ethnography, algorithmic play) and the end of block catalogue entries in place?
- Reflection Does the content presented within each gallery space demonstrate an appropriate level of critical reflection upon the course readings and themes?
- Knowledge and understanding Do the gallery spaces indicate a good level of engagement with the course themes and curriculum? Does material reflect a good level of knowledge and understanding?
The deadline for completing your work in the online exhibition is Monday 6 December at midday (UK time). We strongly encourage you to maintain your gallery spaces week-by-week, however the submission deadline is a week after the end of the third thematic block (Algorithmic culture) in order to allow you some final refining if you feel the need.
The digital essay
For this assignment we want you to prepare a digital essay that critically examines any aspect of the EDC course. The essay title and medium should be discussed with the Course Organiser before you begin to compose your essay. There will also be a synchronous session dedicated to the digital essay during Week 11 where we will discuss how to choose an essay title and medium that best enables you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding. In terms of the digital format we are looking for something more than a conventional word-processed essay, and rather a piece of work that takes advantage of the rich potential that digital environments provide to produce work which is simultaneously creative, multimodal and critical. Technical prowess is not formally assessed – instead, we are looking for imaginative and rigorous ways of representing your knowledge and ideas in digital form. As this is not a conventional written essay we do not have a fixed word count, something that we will discuss at more length at the beginning of Week 11.
Please note that, while we welcome assignments which reflect the instability of digital texts and ways of working, assessment regulations require that you produce a piece of work (or a version of it) that is stable enough to be preserved for several months beyond the end of the course.
Assessment criteria for the digital essay
- Knowledge and understanding of concepts Does the essay show a critical engagement with the content of the course? Does it demonstrate breadth of understanding of the concepts and theories covered?
- Knowledge and use of the literature Have the relevant key references been used? Have other relevant sources been drawn on and coherently integrated into the analysis? Is a critical and creative stance taken towards the new kinds of literatures which exist on the web?
- Constructing academic discourse Is the essay produced with careful attention to the quality of the writing and the skilful expression of ideas? Does it use digital modes in an effective and appropriate way? Is it scholarly in its approach to topic and form?
The deadline for submitting your digital essay (within Moodle) is midday on Monday 13 December.
Feedback
As the EDC course places a strong emphasis on collaboration and the co-production of knowledge, you can expect to regularly receive formative feedback from those around you. In return, you are expected to offer advice, comments and encouragement to your fellow students as they develop their own gallery spaces. This will be augmented by comments and encouragement from the Course Organisers, mostly around the structured activities and catalogue entries within the exhibition activity.
Please note that you will not receive the same frequency of feedback as is provided in the 40-credit An Introduction to Digital Environments for Learning course.
By way of mid-course feedback, the course team of James Lamb and Michael Gallagher will provide feedback at the end of Block one (Cyberculture). We will view, although not comment upon, every artefact presented in your gallery.
Within 15 working days of completing the course you can expect to receive detailed summative feedback, comprising comments on each of the two assessment exercises, alongside grades and percentage scores. If you are concerned about your progress or understanding at any stage of course, please do not hesitate to contact Michael by email at the earliest opportunity.