Substantiating paperwork (storyboards, lighting plots, scripts, talent releases) tends to be rewarded with higher grades if presented professionally (i.e., typed in easily-navigable folders or binders).  Written work submitted by e-mail should be formatted as .pdf (not MS-Word) files.

Raw footage must be submitted on properly labeled miniDV cassettes.  Improperly labeled tapes will not be accepted.  Really.

The majority of Video Production coursework will take the form of practical performance and projects.   If you are not present in class when your name is called to undertake a task, your work will be considered late.  If your work is submitted incomplete or otherwise outside the assignment's specified format parameters, it will be returned to you for correction.  Upon resubmission, it will be considered late work.

Late work can earn no more than a maximum of 64 points. Work is considered late if it is submitted (or, in the case of e-mail, time-stamped) after lecture begins on the due date. If, because of extreme and prolonged sickness, you miss a deadline and are able to substantiate a claim of incapacitation with a note from a reputable doctor or Calvin Health Services, the grades of your remaining assignments will be given greater weight to compensate. Otherwise, you will receive a zero for the assignment. Examinations must be taken when scheduled.

Quizzes may be given without warning to encourage attendance and reading throughout the term.

The grade for the course will be based on the following:

Projects		60%
Class Participation		20%
Final Exam		10%
Quizzes & Assignments		10%

Participation will be evaluated throughout the semester by the professor based on student contribution to class fraternity.  Assigning the grade, I am chiefly concerned with the following questions:

1)  To what degree and in what ways does the student demonstrate respect for his/her audience and co-laborers?
2)  To what degree and in what ways does the student model dependability and responsibility?
3)  In what ways has the student participated in work load, idea generation, and leadership -- apart from the work necessary to complete his/her individual assignments?
4)  Of what value are the student's criticism and suggestions for improvement valued by his/her peers?

Assignment grades will be based on the following scale:

Responding to students' desire for the most immediate feedback on their project work, grades and comments are reported via KnightVision.  It is therefore the responsibility of students to regularly consult KnightVision for the most current report of their grades.

Because there are no "right" and "wrong" answers in this field of study, I am open to a certain amount of discussion with regard to the grade awarded any given assignment. Appeals should be made in a timely fashion, within two class periods of grade notification/posting.  You may be notified of a grade by the return of paperwork or, more usually, in the posting of grades and comments to KnightVision.   Appeals should be made face to face (not by phone, in writing or by e-mail) and offered with rhetorical and presentational clarity (After all, this is a communication class).

The current edition of the Calvin College Student Conduct Code notes that "the student-faculty relationship is based on trust and mutual respect which can be seriously undermined by the suspicion or reality of academic dishonesty."  It elsewhere defines plagiarism as "the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment."

Though expected to abide by the document as a whole, Media Production students may benefit from specific awareness of conduct proscribed by Article IV of the Code:

Cheating, plagiarism, or other forms of academic dishonesty.

Unauthorized possession, duplication or use of keys or other access devices to any College premises or unauthorized entry to or use of College premises.

Use of computing facilities and resources in violation of copyright laws.

The standards of honesty and the penalties of dishonesty apply equally to words, ideas, visual images, auditory images, and all electrochemical means of storage and communication.

I will vigorously pursue prosecution of academic dishonesty to the very limit of sanctions allowed by the college (Article V, Sections D and E), up to and including failure of the course and expulsion from the college.  I will just as vigorously work with student to prevent even unintended lapses of integrity.  If you are uncertain about how to avoid plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty, please consult a member of the English faculty, the most recent edition of The Little, Brown Handbook,or (preferably) ask me.

While student media producers retain copyright ownership of their respective work, enrollment in this course constitutes your permission to let Calvin College, the Communication Arts and Sciences Department, the professor, their representatives, and successors, exhibit and distribute for promotional purposes those media projects submitted in fulfillment of course assignments.  Without any effect on your grade you may withhold or limit such permission by indicating your wish to do so in a note to your professor signed, witnessed and dated before the course’s drop date.