Discussion Requirements

SESSIONS WIKI

Discussions and Critiques

Discussions and critiques are an important component of every degree course. Discussions are designed to extend what you learned in your lectures and advance your critical thinking and writing skills. Through Critiques you have an opportunity to present your work to other students, sharing and receiving peer to peer feedback.

Discussion Guidelines

Three Types of Discussions

Each discussion includes detailed instructions for completing the assignment. You are expected to post your own response and post replies to two (2) other student posts. We encourage students to actively engage in discussions early in the week. The due date for the required posts is the end of day Friday (11:59pm, AZ time) of the week of your lecture.

There are three types of Discussions: Practice, Report, and Critique.

  • Practice:  Gives you hands-on experience in an important topic from the lecture. You may be exploring software techniques, developing a color palette, creating a website mockup, and more.
  • Report: Asks you to do some research or to read a passage and comment on specific aspects as they relate to the lecture material. Please note, it is important to cite the sources you used to support your ideas.
  • Critique: Asks you to review a design piece or writing sample in which you'll be asked to reflect on the positive and negative aspects of the work based on your knowledge from the lecture.

How Long Should A Discussion Post be?

  • Report and Critique posts should consist of two to three paragraphs.
  • A Practice post should include your creative work and at least one paragraph of comments addressing the work.

Guidelines for Crafting Your Posts

Please refer to the following guidelines.

  1. Do not complete a discussion until you have finished reading the associated lecture.
  2. Reply to at least two of your classmates' posts. Remember to be respectful when sharing constructive feedback regarding the work of your peers. We provide some suggestions below.
  3. We strongly recommend that you participate early in the week to increase your level of engagement with your peers, rather than waiting until Friday (the last day of the discussion week).
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Critique Guidelines

Critiques are scheduled for the middle and end of the semester. They are an opportunity to share your work, reflect on your progress, as well as share and receive feedback.

As with discussions, you are expected to post your own response and post replies to two (2) other student posts. Your posts must be provided by the end of end of day Friday (11:59pm, AZ time) during the scheduled week.

What is An Effective Critique?

All creative fields require critical thinking, so participating in critiques will be important to practice for your future career. You can create an effective critique in three easy steps: analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.

  1. Start by analyzing your peer's work. Consider the entire piece of work, and break it into pieces.
    Critiquing something by breaking it down into pieces is something we all naturally do. Here's an example: If you listen to a song, you might be able to say, "The lead singer is great, but I'm not a fan of the lyrics." Do the same thing for your critique of a peer's work. What are the different pieces that make up a photograph? The different pieces might be lighting, color, composition, the position of the subject, the overall visual impact...the list goes on. Your peer's use of lighting could be wonderful, but the colors might seem too bright. Whatever you're critiquing, first break it up into smaller pieces.
  2. Then evaluate the work.
    Consider these questions: Does this piece connect to the assignment, lesson, or discussion? If so, how or why not? Did it meet the requirements of the assignment? Here is an example, "I appreciate how you connected this poster design and choice of typeface to the lecture about Art Nouveau…"
  3. Now, the most fun part—synthesis.
    Does this piece/writing remind you of something else you have seen or read? Or did this piece "spark" a new idea? Connect the piece to something outside the class. This is your opportunity to share your personal ideas and perspective. Brainstorm with your peers to help each other become more effective creative professionals. Here is an example, "Wow, when looking at your piece, it gave me an idea. What if you used your same colors in this image, and made a new piece to like a Van Gogh painting?"

Now that you have conducted your analysis, evaluation, and synthesis—let's discuss how to "package" your message.

The Criticism Sandwich

Yes, there is a technique to deliver your critique, and it's close to lunchtime, so let's go with a "sandwich" analogy...

  1. Top piece of "bread" - Start with encouragement by acknowledging your peer's effort and work. Compliment them on something they did well.
  2. The stuff inside the "sandwich" – Based upon your analysis, evaluation, and synthesis, share your findings. Make sure to include new ideas, or relevant resources such as links to a website, podcast, or video to advance the discussion.
  3. Bottom piece of "bread" - Conclude with supportive language such as encouraging your peer to continue to further enhance their work—peer support really matters!

Building a Collaborative Community

Keep in mind, you and your peers are a part of a learning community within the classroom. Here are some thoughts to consider:

  • You can lead by example for your peers by providing respectful constructive feedback that can lead to collaboration. Your peers may choose to follow your example. :)
  • Avoid the use of sarcasm. Since you are in an online classroom, a peer cannot see that you are smiling when being sarcastic. They might think you are being mean, which may lead to them "shutting down" and choosing to no longer participate.
  • Be authentic. Don't feel like you have to say things you don't mean. Instead, expand your view, and consider aspects of your peer’s work that you personally think are effective and/or compelling.
  • Apply empathy. You know from first-hand experience, how challenging it can be to produce quality work and juggle one's life. Before posting your message, read it out loud, and consider how you might receive your own feedback. Maybe the feedback would be helpful, but your tone could be adjusted.
  • Remain curious and open-minded. Frequently, peer suggestions and discussions lead to the development of innovative ideas or concepts!
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Avoiding Plagiarism

Write in Your Own Words

Write all discussion posts in your own words. If quoting from a source or referring to a specific book or website, please mention the source and provide a link if possible.

Failure to properly cite your sources is plagiarism, a serious offense. According to plagiarism.org, all of the following can be considered plagiarism:

  • Turning in someone else's work as your own
  • Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
  • Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
  • Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
  • Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
  • Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not

Avoiding the Plagiarism Trap

To avoid plagiarism, simply cite any sources when using someone else's writing or images.

Even if you knew the information before writing your post or paper, and you paraphrase the ideas that you read in a resource, you need to cite the source.

You can cite each source during your post or essay in a variety of ways, always making sure the author and source are clear. Here are three commonly accepted samples of in-text citations that should be included in a discussion post or essay:

Get in the habit of collecting any cited sources as you write. MLA guidelines, the most generally used academic standards for writing, ask you to put together a "Cited Sources" page to be included at the end of any discussion post or paper.

Simply list any Cited Source following this general format:

Here's an example of a Cited Source citation added at the end of your post or essay, (for an article retrieved from the Web):

If you want to learn more about the MLA guidelines for citing sources, check out this Purdue OWL article on Cited Works and this one on how to Cite Sources in Your Essay. (Purdue's Online Writing Lab is a respected national exemplar for academic support content.)

If, at any point, you have any questions about plagiarism, contact your instructor. They will work with you to help you avoid the plagiarism trap.

Final Tips for Discussions and Critiques

  1. Keep your discussion prompt window open as you write, and refer back to its guidelines and concepts often.
  2. Write your discussion posts in a separate document so you have a record of your work that you can refer to later.
  3. Use the Sessions LIRN library (left menu in Canvas) for readings and other research texts, but also go outside the library and research using design Web sites, magazines, and other current materials. Share your sources with the class and build a personal library that you can refer to throughout your program and beyond.
  4. Return to the discussions throughout the discussion week to check for any new messages from students or your instructor.
  5. If you're posting or uploading one of your designs, save your finished design files as 72 ppi RGB JPEGs or PNGs for easy and fast uploading, unless the discussion requests otherwise.

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