This half-unit course is graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis. To receive a Satisfactory grade, each student must...

1. Maintain consistent attendance. We meet only 12 times over 6 weeks, so your presence and participation in each class session is crucial. You may have only one unexcused absence in this course.

2. Participate in the class diligently. Finish the readings and contribute to discussion forums posted on Moodle by the dates they are assigned. Prepare to ask our fieldtrip hosts and classroom visitors questions.

3. Be on time to our class meetings and throughout our fieldtrip itineraries. We'll travel to 1-2destinations each Friday, typically to meet Hudson Valley farmers taking time out of their busy days. To be courteous to them and efficient with our own time, please be punctual.

4. Cowrite a minimum 500-word essay with one other student about one of our five scheduled class fieldtrips. This essay will be published within one week of the fieldtrip on our course blog. For instructions on this assignment, click here.

5. Write a minimum 500-word essay about an independent trip you make to a Hudson Valley farm or other agricultural destination (from an approved list). This essay will be published within one week of your independent trip on our course blog. For instructions on this assignment, click here.

6. Publish a Wikipedia entry on one of the farms, organizations, initiatives or issues that we encounter in our class fieldtrips. A list of topics for Wikipedia entries will be provided; some topics may need more than one student to address adequately. You'll need to adhere to the research and writing conventions of Wikipedia: citations, writing tone, narrative organization, hyperlinks to other entries, etc. For instructions on this assignment, click here.

7. Write a self-assessment of your Wikipedia entry (not for publication) explaining your research process, source selection, and other decisions and obstacles that shaped your entry. 

Policy on student computers: You're welcome to use laptop computers or iPads for our Wednesday classroom meetings. However, you must turn off texting, e-mail, Facebook, and other social media. Violating this policy more than once will result in you being forbidden from bringing personal technology into our classroom again. On our Friday fieldtrips, you're also welcome to bring smart phones in order to take photographs; the same spirit of etiquette applies.