Work & Grading
Summary
In this course you will complete 3 projects and weekly assignments.
Projects
Over the course of the semester you will complete 3 projects, demonstrating that you can apply the skills we’re learning to your own ideas. Project specifications and details will be covered in lecture.
Projects will be submitted as part of a corresponding weekly assignment - see the schedule for due dates.
Because projects are submitted as part of a weekly assignment, they follow the exact same deadline and late penalty policies applicable to assignments (described below).
Weekly assignments
In this course you will complete weekly assignments (administered via Canvas) designed to guide you through the course material and project development via a combination of open-ended prompts and comprehension checks.
There is no time limit on assignments (aside from completing them before the deadlines described below).
Timeline
- Assignments are released in Canvas each Tuesday before midnight.
- The deadline for each assignment is Tuesday @ 11:59pm Eastern the week after it was posted.
Example timeline for a given week:
| Sun | Mon | Tue Lecture videos posted by 8pm Assignment released by 11:59pm |
Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| Sun | Mon | Tue Assignments due in Canvas by 11:59pm |
Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| Sun | Mon | Tue 11:59pm cut-off for late assignment submissions |
Wed Grades released by 11:59pm |
Thu | Fri | Sat |
Late work
- You have 4 late passes you can use through the semester.
- Each pass gets you at 24 hour extension.
- You can use multiple late passes on a single assignment.
- Work submitted late without a late pass will receive a 5% deduction for every 24 hour window submitted late.
- Late work will only be accepted up to +7 days after the submission deadline.
- There is a section at the end of every assignment where you can indicate how many late passes (if any) you wish to apply to that assignment.
Graduate credit
Students taking this course for graduate credit will be required to complete an additional component (automated testing) in the final project of the semester. This component will be worth 10% of graduate student’s final project score.
Grading weights
Most weekly assignments are worth 5% of your total grade.
The exception are the 3 weeks of the semester when you’ll be completing a project. These weekly assignments have a higher weight to accommodate these milestones.
View the schedule and note the percentage value next to each week.
Grading policies
This course’s grading schema is designed according to the Harvard Extension School Letter Grade Criteria and uses the following point scale:
| Percent | Letter | HES Description |
| 0 | E | Earned by work that is unsatisfactory and unworthy of course credit. |
| 56 | D- | Earned by work that is unsatisfactory but that indicates some minimal command of the course materials and some minimal participation in class activities that is worthy of course credit. |
| 60 | D | |
| 64 | D+ | |
| 68 | C- | Earned by work that indicates an adequate and satisfactory comprehension of the course material and the skills needed to work with the course materials, and that indicates that the student has met the basic requirements for completing assigned work and participating in class activities. |
| 72 | C | |
| 76 | C+ | |
| 80 | B- | Earned by work that indicates a strong comprehension of the course material, a good command of the skills needed to work with the course materials, and the student’s full engagement with the course requirements and activities. |
| 84 | B | |
| 88 | B+ | |
| 92 | A- | Earned by work that indicates a strong comprehension of the course material, a good command of the skills needed to work with the course materials, and the student’s full engagement with the course requirements and activities. |
| 96 | A |
Out of fairness to all students, grades...
- are based on mastery of content and quality of work delivered, not effort.
- are not influenced by a student’s desired outcome (e.g. needing to meet a certain threshold to meet program requirements or to be reimbursed from your place of employment).
- will not be rounded at the end of the semester (full explanation).
Please keep these points in mind when emailing with grade related questions.