about Mission 2015syllabusour communityweb designclass gradinglinksclass news Click on this header to return to the home page
Grading
Grading & Expectations
Although your final grade for 12.000 will be a pass (P) or will not appear on your record at all (NR), you should know that your instructors for this subject will not judge your work as passing or failing. On the grade sheet that you will receive at the end of the semester you'll see an actual grade, but as stated before, it doesn't appear on your permanent record. The grade is an important message from your instructors to you, and it reflects how closely you met their (and your) expectations. We understand that everyone will participate in different ways and some will be much more vocal than others. If you don’t participate you’ll be letting down your team and the entire class. It is hard to fail 12.000 but it can be done if you never show up for team meetings or class.

Overview
In our second class, we will divide the class into approximately ten teams, each of which will be charged with proposing a component for the final plan on Triage for Planet Earth. bison and the tetonsEach team will develop a proposal in the form of a Team Wiki. This work - which is best considered the "research phase" of 12.000 - is expected to to be complete by early November. Subsequently, the class will discuss the various proposals and decide on the basic structure of a final plan by November 5th. Each team will be assigned one or two undergraduate teaching fellows (UTF's) and one or more Alumni Mentors to serve as information resources. The UTF's, most of whom are veterans of 12.000, can give you tips on how best to work toward a successful conclusion. The Alumni Mentors can provide more general suggestions as to how they tackled complex problems like those posed in Mission 2015. An important aspect of 12.000 is its emphasis on teamwork. Consequently, 70 percent of your grade depends on the performance of your team and the class as a whole, whereas the remaining 30 percent comes from your individual performance.

Major Assignments:
The challenges presented to the class on the home page will be fulfilled when two assignments are completed.

First, the class must create a content-rich web site to describe and justify its overall design. More details regarding the Project Web Site are located here.

Second, the class will make a final, one-two hour, oral presentation of its solution in early December 2011. This presentation will be open to the entire MIT community and will be broadcast over the Internet. In addition, a panel of experts will be invited to attend the presentation and to critique them in open forum. Because it would be logistically difficult for everyone to speak during the presentation, staff recommends that each team elect one member to join a "presentation committee" that will choreograph a present the final broadcast. The committee member should not bear sole responsibility for the work involvedin developing the presentation: pull your weight!

Individual Grade Component
Thirty percent of your grade reflects how well you, as an individual, met the expectations of the teaching staff over the course of the semester. They expect that you will: sunset over playa
  • attend all scheduled meetings;
  • arrive promptly for all meetings;
  • collaborate with other members of your team;
  • contribute to Team Wiki development and final presentations;
  • participate in the Case Study discussions; and
  • treat others and their ideas with respect.