This course uses an unconventional approach for assessing student learning called specifications grading. (If you’re curious about this approach, see this overview.) Instead of grading each assignment on a measure of “quality,” everything will be assessed as Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory based on whether a student demonstrates the stated learning goals. Assignments will be “bundled” into tiers that reflect a hierarchy of learning goals for the course. Final grades will be assigned based on which bundles of assignments a student satisfactorily completes—these final grades are not the goal or outcome of the course, but are designed to indicate which learning goals students demonstrate that they accomplished.

Since this approach will be new to most students, Professor Mittell agrees to take however much time is needed to ensure students understand expectations and practices, and are poised to succeed to their desired level within the system. His goal is to help each student achieve Satisfactory levels of learning on all components of the course that they undertake, and to be transparent about expectations for learning throughout the semester.

Learning Goals:

All students who pass the course (with a minimum grade of C) will have demonstrated the ability to:

  • Describe and identify major components of video essays, discussing how they convey ideas about films and media
  • Use the basic tools of video and audio editing to create a video essay analyzing film and/or media

Students who achieve a higher level of mastery (with a minimum grade of B) will have also demonstrated the ability to:

  • Analyze how video essays can convey both analytic ideas and explore the poetic and aesthetic material of film and media
  • Produce video essays that express analytical ideas and aesthetic responses
  • Engage in productive peer conversations and critiques of videographic works

Students who achieve the highest level of mastery (with a grade of A) will have also demonstrated the ability to:

  • Create original and distinctive videographic works that convey sophisticated ideas and employs a distinctive aesthetic sensibility

Grades:

Most assignments in the course will be assessed as Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory, with the specifications required for Satisfactory articulated on each assignment. In general, Satisfactory should not be viewed as “minimally competent” (as is typical for a C grade at Middlebury), but rather as a mark of having achieved the assignment’s learning goals and specifications (probably more like a B grade or higher in an average Middlebury course). Unsatisfactory does not mean failure, but rather that the assignment does not yet meet the required specifications. Either an assignment meets the goals, or it does not—there is no gradation of assessment except for the final video essay. This final project will include a third gradation: Sophisticated. This marker of excellence will be given to videos that demonstrate higher-level thinking, analysis, and creativity tackling the ideas and expression with complexity and nuance.

The only letter grade that will be given in the course will be your final grade, and it will reflect the “bundles” of assignments and requirements you have satisfactorily accomplished in the class. That final letter grade is not an assessment of your intelligence, your abilities, or your value as a person—in fact, Professor Mittell never will grade “you” directly, and grading is never a reflection of who you are as a person. Rather, the grade reflects what you demonstrated that you learned in the course: no more, no less.

Built into this system is a good deal of choice as to how much you wish to learn and how hard you want to work to demonstrate and apply that learning. You might choose that passing the course with a C is sufficient for your goals—it is perfectly appropriate and worthy of respect for you to make that choice, especially if it allows you to proactively allocate your time to other endeavors at Middlebury or beyond. If you strive to get an A in the course and maximize your learning, you should know that you are taking on that work and challenge yourself, and should make sure you are in a personal and academic situation to achieve that level of engagement.

C Bundle – Students who complete the following will pass the course with a grade of C:

  • Actively attend all course meetings, with up to four absences, per the attendance policy
  • Complete at least 6 weekly video commentaries to a Satisfactory level
  • Complete at least 5 of the weekly exercises to a Satisfactory level
  • Complete the Videographic Response essay to a Satisfactory level

B Bundle – Students who complete the following will pass the course with a grade of B:

  • Actively attend all course meetings, with up to three absences, per the attendance policy
  • Complete at least 8 weekly video commentaries to a Satisfactory level
  • Complete all 6 of the weekly exercises to a Satisfactory level
  • Complete the Videographic Response essay to a Satisfactory level
  • Complete the final Videographic Essay to a Satisfactory level

A Bundle – Students who complete the following will pass the course with a grade of A:

  • Actively attend all course meetings, with up to two absences, per the attendance policy
  • Have at least 4 days in class where Professor Mittell notes engaged participation
  • Complete at least 10 weekly video commentaries to a Satisfactory level
  • Complete all 6 of the weekly exercises to a Satisfactory level
  • Complete the Videographic Response essay to a Satisfactory level
  • Complete the final Videographic Essay to a Sophisticated level

Modified grades of + and – will be used when a student’s Satisfactory activities fall between the bundles. For instance, a student who met the requirements for the B bundle, as well as completing 10 weekly video commentaries would receive a B+, while a student who fell just short of the B bundle requirements would likely receive a B– final grade. Grades of D will only be given in rare cases where a student meets most of the C bundle requirements but falls short in one area—typically, a student who does not meet the requirements of the C bundle will fail the course.

Tokens & Flexibility:

Since every element of the course is assessed on an all-or-nothing basis, it might be stressful to strive for Satisfactory given that the stakes for not meeting that threshold may be significant. To ease stress, to allow for flexibility—and most of all, to maximize opportunities for learning—every student starts the course with 3 virtual tokens that can be “exchanged” for some leniency or opportunities for revision. Using a token will allow a student to do one of the following:

  • Eliminate an absence from their attendance record
  • Count an Unsatisfactory or not completed video commentaries as Satisfactory
  • Revise and resubmit a videographic exercise or assignment
  • Submit an assignment up to 48 hours late

Professor Mittell will track a student’s tokens throughout the semester. Exchanging them for absences or missed screening responses will happen at the end of the term, while late or revised assignments will require spending tokens at the time. If a student uses all of their initial tokens and needs to use more for revisions, they can be “purchased” at the cost of one gradation of the final letter grade—thus if a student achieves the expectations for the B bundle, but must revise assignments multiple times and uses three total tokens, that student would receive a B– for the course.