Assessment Overview

In line with the aims of the module, the assessments are designed to enable you to think through the following questions:

• What global connections are there, and how do they influence our every-day experiences?
• What is cultural literacy? How can cultural literacy help us make better sense of cultural objects and experiences?
  

• How do we utilise cultural literacy in our academic and social lives? How do our personal experiences inform our academic practices in these contexts?
  
  

There are three assessments for this module. Lengths of submission stated are for 15 CATS.

1) Reflective Journal: "Commonplace book" (30% of final mark)

For your first assessment, you will create your own commonplace book centred on cultural literacy. Commonplace books were fashionable intellectual repositories in the early modern period; individuals would purchase blank books and fill them with philosophical commentaries, sermons, poems, recipes, and jokes that interested them. They were important tools for reflecting on the day's events in a pre-digital age. As a result, a commonplace book is an exciting and eclectic reflection of the interests and passions of a person at a particular moment in time. Your commonplace book can either be a physical book (i.e., a notebook) or a virtual one (i.e., a blog or digital repository). After each seminar, you will take up a video clip, piece of music, image, academic article, or other cultural/intellectual object that responds in some way to the day's session and use it as a focal point for reflecting on your personal understanding of the session and cultural literacy more broadly. It is important that you write something after every session and we will ask you to share your entries at the end of every week with the module convenor. However, please note that the final submission has to be made via Tabula. We will only assess 2,500 words of your journal - if it is longer, we will ask you to either only submit sections of it or to indicate which sections you would like us to assess, otherwise word limit penalties will apply.
You may also choose a more creative format with the approval of the module convenor before submission, but we will need to ensure it is equivalent in effort to a written piece of that size.

The following criteria will be used for the marking of your commonplace book:

Class	Grade Point	Description
First	Excellent 1st	Exceptional work of the highest quality, demonstrating excellent knowledge and understanding, analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills. Work demonstrates highly creative and original interweaving of personal and academic experiences with cultural artifacts and critical insights. Demonstrates a very highly developed ability to identify intellectual structures and methodologies across disciplines and in personal practices. Draws on a very wide range of artifacts, experiences, and concepts to great effect. Demonstrates a very clear and engaging narrative of personal intellectual growth over the course of the project.
	High 1st	Very high quality work demonstrating excellent knowledge and understanding, analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills. Work demonstrates a creative and original approach to blending critical insights with personal experience and reflection. Draws on a wide range of artifacts, experiences, and concepts to strong effect. Demonstrates a clear and interesting narrative of personal and intellectual growth over the course of the project.
	Mid 1st
	Low 1st
Upper Second (2.1)	High 2.1	High quality work demonstrating good knowledge and understanding, analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills. Work demonstrates solid insight into critical practices through personal experiences, drawing on a range of artifacts, experiences, and concepts to illuminate aspects of original thought related to classroom discussions. Shows evidence of personal and intellectual growth over the course of the project articulated in a thoughtful fashion.
	Mid 2.1
	Low 2.1
Lower Second	High 2.2	Competent work, demonstrating reasonable knowledge and understanding, some analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills. Work demonstrates some insight into critical practices, but may rely on personal anecdotes that are not used to full effect and/or do not relate clearly to classroom discussions. Some evidence of personal and intellectual growth may be present, but it may be unclear or poorly articulated (and may demonstrate evidence of having been composed after the conclusion of teaching).
	Mid 2.2
	Low 2.2
Third	High 3rd	Work of limited quality, demonstrating some relevant knowledge and understanding. Work relies heavily on descriptions of personal experience, with limited or unclear relevance to academic practices or classroom discussions. Limited evidence of personal and intellectual growth, which may be unclear or poorly articulated (and may demonstrate evidence of having been composed after the conclusion of teaching).
	Mid 3rd
	Low 3rd
Fail	High Fail (sub Honours)	Work does not meet standards required for the appropriate stage of an Honours degree. There may be evidence of some basic understanding of relevant concepts and techniques, but little or no attempt is made to engage with classroom discussions in anything other than a superficial fashion. Work may be very poorly organised or presented, with little or no evidence of productive reflection and development over time.
	Fail	Poor quality work well below the standards required for the appropriate stage of an Honours degree.
	Low Fail
Zero	Zero	Work of no merit OR Absent, work not submitted, penalty in some misconduct cases

2) Group Presentation (20% of final mark)

The group presentation is closely linked to your individual essay and will focus on the same topic (see: 3. Individual Essay for more details on topics). During the course you will team up with a student from another discipline to work on a topic both of you are interested in and prepare a presentation outlining the topic from both your and their academic discipline (and others if you wish). The goal of this teamwork exercise is to help you approach your chosen topic from an interdisciplinary perspective and gain some different perspectives on it in line with an approach revolving around the notion of cultural literacy. We will have an additional seminar meeting at 8am on March 15 in order to see all the presentations prepared. Presentations should not exceed 15 minutes in length and should be supported by some form of visual aid, be it a PowerPoint, Prezi, poster or other more creative means, if approved by the modul convenor.

3) Individual Essay (50% of final mark)

The essay is a formal academic writing exercise addressing moments of conflict or collaboration through the lens of cultural literacy. These 'moments' can be historical events, literary texts, films, artwork, musical pieces, works of academic criticism, scientific papers/experiments, legal documents, or policy briefs. These 'moments' should be considered from a range of critical perspectives, incorporating a variety of primary materials and academic criticism. The essay builds on the team presentation you have done before. However, it is not solely a written report of what you have covered in the presentation; instead, we expect you to have taken the topic further and to have developed more individual ideas. This essay will be marked on the 17 point scale in line with the rubric below. The word limit is 3,000 words for 15 CATS (+/- 10%; 2,000 words for 12 CATS).

Class	Grade Point	Description
First	Excellent 1st	Exceptional work of the highest quality, demonstrating excellent knowledge and understanding, analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills. Work is based fundamentally on multiple disciplinary methodologies and knowledge in original and creative ways to articulate profoundly inter- or trans-disciplinary insights. Work may achieve or be close to publishable standard. Bibliography and references demonstrate evidence of wide and creative reading leading to substantial and sustained original insights.
	High 1st	Very high quality work demonstrating excellent knowledge and understanding, sustained and original analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills. Work which may extend existing debates or interpretations, and draws on multiple disciplinary methodologies and knowledge to very strong effect throughout. Bibliography and references demonstrate evidence of wide and creative reading fuelling original insights.
	Mid 1st
	Low 1st
Upper Second (2.1)	High 2.1	High quality work demonstrating good knowledge and understanding, analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills. Uses knowledge and methodologies from several disciplines to strong effect in key areas. Consistent evidence of analytical thought, with descriptive sections utilised clearly and effectively. Bibliography and references demonstrate evidence of wide reading and source analysis.
	Mid 2.1
	Low 2.1
Lower Second	High 2.2	Competent work, demonstrating reasonable knowledge and understanding, some analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills. Uses knowledge and methodologies from two or more disciplines effectively, but analysis relies heavily on a single approach. Bibliography and references demonstrate use of some appropriate secondary academic sources.
	Mid 2.2
	Low 2.2
Third	High 3rd	Work of limited quality, demonstrating some relevant knowledge and understanding. Little evidence of multiple disciplinary perspectives and knowledge, or inappropriate application of multidisciplinary approaches demonstrating a lack of critical framework analysis. Work is primarily descriptive and may contain factual errors. Writing and structure may be unclear at points. Bibliography and references may show evidence of limited or tangentially relevant reading; formatting may be unclear or inconsistent.
	Mid 3rd
	Low 3rd
Fail	High Fail (sub Honours)	Work does not meet standards required for the appropriate stage of an Honours degree. There may be evidence of some basic understanding of relevant concepts and techniques, but there is little or no visible attempt to engage with material across disciplines. The bibliography may be very limited, inappropriately developed, or missing altogether.
	Fail	Poor quality work well below the standards required for the appropriate stage of an Honours degree.
	Low Fail
Zero	Zero	Work of no merit OR Absent, work not submitted, penalty in some misconduct cases