Learning Log
Before each group meeting, Climates of Resistance participants are expected to spend self-paced time exploring and reflecting on a curated set of resources. All required materials are freely available online. Students will record research findings and insights in their Learning Log via Google Forms, which will automatically save their progress and send a copy of submitted entries to their inbox.
This assignment will support students in achieving Learning Objective 2: Compare similarities and differences between the environmental inequities experienced by various marginalised people in the US and around the world, especially Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and diasporic Asian communities.
Assignment Details: Learning Log responses are used by the Teaching Team to inform class sessions. Even though final grading for content happens at the end of the course, it is important that each session’s entry be completed well in advance of class, so that everyone’s thoughts can be reflected in group materials and all participants are prepared for community conversation.
Specific details for each week’s preparatory work, including any required word counts, are indicated via spacing and/or instructions throughout the Google Forms.
The professor will regularly review Learning Log entries, and is happy to provide students with an indicative grade at any time. Students may make changes to previous entries based on instructor feedback and class discussions at any time before the final submission is due. (Submission emails will include a link allowing participants to make edits directly in each Google Form.)
Rubric: grades for the “Learning Log” assignment will be determined using the criteria below, up to 1 point per entry (together making up 15% of the final course grade).
you submitted the session’s Learning Log by the deadline, well in advance of class (0.5 points)
Tips for meeting the criteria:
Don’t procrastinate: Each Learning Logs is available online at least a week before it’s due.
Plan ahead: Some weeks are ‘heavier’ than others; make sure to give yourself enough time to tackle the particular topic and required resources.
Complete and submit at least some of the Log on time. It’s okay to include notes like ‘I need to come back to this’ or ‘I would like us to discuss this in class’, if you’re unsure of something or are crunched for time. The key is that you at least skim the resources and provide a few of your insights before class, so the professor can use the group’s collective wisdom and confusion to shape class time.
you fully completed each exercise in a non-cursory manner (0.1 points)
Tips for meeting the criteria:
Make sure to address each question (and every part of each question!).
When you’re initially completing the Logs as pre-class preparation, it’s entirely appropriate to make a note of questions you need to come back to...just be sure you do come back to them!
your responses to prompts are reflective and unique to you and your positionality (0.1 points)
Tips for meeting the criteria:
These exercises aren’t meant to be pop quizzes, where the focus is on getting things exactly ‘correct’. Thoughtfulness and honesty (including statements such as ‘I’m really not sure how I feel about this issue’) is key to learning, and will result in a much better score than attempts to be ‘right’.
Your responses can - and should - read more like a ‘train of thought’ than a well-crafted essay. Jotting down your initial ideas and ‘gut reactions’ to each session’s resources is a helpful way to track your intellectual journey. (There are separate, substantive assignments where you’ll have the chance to demonstrate your advanced understanding of key concepts - the Learning Logs are meant to be an informal record of your thought processes.)
you brought prior knowledge, external research, and/or the week’s multiple media into your entries (0.1 points)
Tips for meeting the criteria:
Each week’s Learning Log is intentionally designed to help you ‘connect the dots’ between issues. Your responses should reflect that, linking your experiences and interests to the session’s themes.
Be curious! Fall down the ‘rabbit hole’ looking up an artist you found interesting, or learning more about an event you hadn’t heard of before.
you highlighted ideas and information that will aid you in contributing meaningfully to class and/or support your other assignments (0.1 points)
Tips for meeting the criteria:
These Learning Logs are not meant to take up your time just for the heck of it! The topics and questions all actively feed into class time and/or the substantive assignments...your responses should do the same.
Especially for those students who are less comfortable speaking in front of the class, Learning Log responses are a way to get your perspectives (anonymously) into the common pool for discussion. Make use of that by including sentiments, questions, and ideas you would like to share and/or have addressed with the larger group.
you specified which group(s) particular issues apply to and bring a comparative perspective across contexts, synthesising information (0.1 points)
Tips for meeting the criteria:
“Climates of Resistance” explores a wide variety of contexts. Learning Log content highlights many marginalised communities. It’s important not to lump them all together! Be sure to be specific about who and what you are talking about. At the same time, drawing comparisons and finding connections helps to draw out wider themes and system-level issues.