QQCR: Question, Quote, Comment, Reply

This assignment facilitated asynchronous discussion of weekly reading assignments in the context of a large seminar course.

Author: Lisa Yan, Assistant Teaching Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Course Number & Title: CS195: Social Implications of Computer Technology

Grant Type: Teaching Excellence Colloquium

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Question, Quote, Comment, Reply

Assignment Title	QQCR: Question, Quote, Comment, Reply
Delivery Format	Online asynchronous instruction
High Impact Practices (HIPs) Categories (Review definitions for each category.)	Collaborative Assignments and Projects Learning Communities
Learning Objectives	Students complete an assigned reading and discuss with others Students summarize the assigned reading with key quotes Students compare perspectives of the assigned reading with those of their peers through discussion
Brief Summary of Assignment	This assignment facilitates asynchronous discussion of weekly reading assignments in the context of a large seminar course (> 80 students). To receive credit for completing a set reading prior to the associated lecture, students must make three posts to the course forum: pose a question about the reading(s), reflect on a quote in the reading(s), make a comment about the reading(s), or reply to another student’s comments about the reading(s). The assignment is delivered through Ed Discussion. Students can post anonymously and grades are managed through Canvas (bCourses). An autograding script is run weekly.
Innovative Teaching Reflection	Our course—a required, non-technical ethics course in a technical degree program—tends to have low engagement, so I’m very satisfied with how well this assignment works in the large asynchronous classroom environment. This assignment has facilitated active, thoughtful, respectful student discussion over the readings and has provided me, the instructor, with much more insight—over hundreds of comments a week—into how my students are engaging with the course material.
Assignment Length	5 minutes, plus time it takes to complete the corresponding assigned reading.
Step-by-Step Instructions	With each published set of readings, create an Ed Discussion megapost associated with the reading. Point students to the assignment handout for QQCRs. Remind students that QQCRs (as well as readings, by extension) should be completed before the corresponding lecture/synchronous session. Every week, download the Ed Discussion posts and run the autograder script, then upload and publish the grades in Canvas. The first few times that this assignment is published, remind students that Replies are a necessary and critical component of receiving credit each week.
Impact & Feedback	Because our class studies social implications of computing technologies, we engage very closely with student identities and current events, and we discuss many contentious issues. After a few weeks of this weekly assignment, we also announced a set of Community Guidelines so that all students could feel safe and comfortable expressing their opinions within the large classroom.
Assignment Details	See handout 1, handout 2, handout 3.

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