LOL Spring 2014 Assignments

Program Engagement – Full attendance and participation in all program activities, as well as completion of all program assignments, are pre-requisites for full credit in LOL. This includes student team meetings outside of class. Answers about unavoidable absences and late assignments can be found in the program covenant.

Classes – Come to all program classes and activities prepared. Have your readings done and bring with you any assignments that are due. Respect yourselves and your colleagues (faculty and fellow students) by attending and participating genuinely in all classroom activities. Be alert and ready to learn – i.e., not too stoned, too hung over, too tired, too sick, or too stinky. In all classes, we often divide into small groups of five or six students for discussions, learning exercises, etc. We reconvene in our classrooms for reporting out before the end of each period.

Seminars – The learning community holds reading and legal studies seminars on Thursdays, at 12-1:30 and 2-3:15 respectively. We reserve Thursday seminars for discussion of assigned readings. We tie our readings together with interdisciplinary discussion, reflection, and written responses about larger program materials and themes. Each student team will be responsible to lead one noon seminar during the quarter. Faculty will provide a worksheet for teams to use as a guide.

Readings – All readings listed in the syllabus are required. We understand the reading load is heavy. Because we are committed to notions of contemplative education, we would rather you read some portion of each reading quietly and deeply rather than blow through the whole thing at a surface level. This reflects long-term goals for this three-quarter program. With a year to plan for and practice contemplative reading, you will develop over time the motivation and focus to completely engage program readings and ideas.

Reading Response Papers – Your written response to the assigned readings is due every Thursday at 2pm at the end of seminar. In one or two pages, you should make a brief summary and assessment of the week’s assigned readings and make note of any particular ideas or questions you may have or want to discuss in class. This short but serious assignment each week is meant to help you focus your thoughts for discussion in seminar on Thursday afternoons. It should reflect a thoughtful engagement of all program materials and themes. It can be formal or informal, according to your taste. It must be printed in a normally sized font, double-spaced, and turned in on time.

Teams and Team Meetings – We will organize students into teams based on affinity of interests. These groups will meet in and out of class periods and will stay together for the Spring Quarter. In the last two weeks of the term, we will conduct a mini-conference, where panels of three or four students will  present and discuss their achievements and learning during their time in LOL. Student teams or panels will be responsible to schedule and attend their own meetings outside of class for planning and preparation of their presentations. Mondays 3-5pm are reserved for this purpose, but teams are free to choose another time if more convenient.

Internship and ILC Students – Must attend class on Thursdays 12-5pm. This period will include our reading seminars and individual and group reporting about the previous week’s activities. Since there are only 10 of these class meetings in the quarter, it is critical that each student attend each meeting. Even unavoidable absences will interfere with a full completion of the quarter’s curriculum.

ILC Students only – Must attend, in addition to Thursdays, a Writing class on Mondays 12-3pm. This period will include discussion, p2p editing, and reporting of the previous week’s progress. Since there are only 10 of these class meetings in the quarter, it is critical that each student attend each meeting. Even unavoidable absences will interfere with a full completion of the quarter’s curriculum.

Film Series – Students may attend a film series on Fridays 1-5pm to view and discuss The Wire and thematically similar films.

Spring TERM PROJECT: Wikipedia /Research Article  – Students will complete a research paper, ideally for publication on Wikipedia, that supports either 1) the professional field of their internship; or 2) a scholarly topic relevant to program content and themes. Alternative arrangements are open for discussion. Papers may contribute an article new to Wikipedia, develop a stub, or substantially revise and augment an existing article. Final drafts will be due in Week 9 of Spring Quarter.

SELF EVALUATION  and Evaluation Conference – Informal self evaluations are required to receive full credit for each quarter you stay in LOL. Formal self evals, an evaluation conference, and an academic statement, are required when your membership in the program ends. We will have several workshops for evaluation and statement writing throughout each term.

PORTFOLIO – At the end of each term, each of you will turn in a portfolio of your collected notes and assignments for the term to your seminar faculty. Portfolios should include the seminar papers you turned in, plus any notes from panels research, class lectures or activities, research for you Winter Term Project, a formal copy of your Winter Term Project, and a Winter quarter self evaluation.