May 13, 2026

As the semester concludes, please consider the following guidance.

1. I am happy to talk about individual assignment grades that have not been entered. I am not willing to talk about final grades. Your final grade is the product of many individual assignments, so I can not simply ignore a semester’s worth of work. As well, it is not ethical for faculty to raise or lower a student’s grade based on their personal preferences.
2. I encourage you to review the syllabus before emailing about an individual assignment grades.
3. My grades are due by May 19th at noon. I can change grades (I legally own the grades) anytime with a form.
4. Your grades represent work you did over four months, not who you are or your intelligence. I do not have evidence there are A or F students, only students whose interest, motivation, preparation, and life circumstances supported them doing a certain amount of work for this class.
5. If someone impressed you this semester, please reach out to them to say thank you. It was likely a Team mate, so you know how to get in touch.

May 5, 2026 At this point in the semester, students like to know what I’m grading each day. So, I have a page for you to check for that.

April 28, 2026

😪 I'm exhausted by the academic integrity issues students in this class raise. More than half the class have used Gen Ai to produce work. If this were week 3, I'd dig in and try to help you learn why using Gen Ai is a bad idea.

However, at this point, I have limited options.

So, for your final projects, if any part of your team project has Generative Ai writing or images, the entire team will fail the assignment.

April 27, 2026 The Ganntt chart I’ve included for this week is a project management tool. I’ve created a simple excel sheet that has tasks, who is doing the task, and dates. I created a simple default that has the correct due date (May 12) but you are welcome to download a copy and fill in the chart as it works for your team.

I included this chart because a) it exposes your team to a standard project management tool (that is often used for history projects) and b) teams need help organizing their work so that it is done and ready to be edited by the team by next Thursday.

April 26, 2026

❓A question from a classmate: what is “distant reading?”

Distant reading is the use of computers to "read texts." Distant reading is the umbrella term for all the large language model, algorithm, Gen Ai work you've done the last two weeks.

Close reading is the usual way we read, word by word. Distant reading means we use computing power to "read" that is to count words, break words into parts so we can recompile them with code, or compare words. We "stand back" from the words and put a computer between us, which is the metaphor of "distant reading.

💡There are two different files for the next two weeks in our Week 15 work. The Gantt chart is a work chart to help you project managers organize the work. Please change the dates to best reflect your Team workflow. I’ve filled in some default tasks and dates, but you can add and change details in the chart as your team needs. The final project is due Tuesday of finals week, so you have about two week’s to work.

As well, all students please fill out a Report Back form by Thursday both week 15 and 16. This gives me a sense of how the project is going and what other support teams might need. It’s also a chance to hold yourself accountable, which feels good know you’ve contributed to your Team.

April 12, 2026 I’ve updated the grades for Reflections weeks 9-11, and I find most students write with wonderful insight into their learning and future careers.