Evaluation and Grading
This course offers students multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning. The major components of the course grade are:
Deliverable | Point total |
Class Participation and Attendance | 18 (10 for live-tweeting 2 guest speakers—5 tweets per speaker of your choosing; 8 for attendance and in-class participation) |
Individual Presentation | 22 (20 for presentation, 2 for Twitter discussion prompt) |
#MIS3538 Weekly Tweets | 24 (2 points each for 12 weeks) |
Weekly Reading Summaries | 36 (3 points per reading per week over 12 weeks) |
Final Assignment (Group Project) | 100 (spread over six assignments) |
TOTAL | 200 |
Each deliverable is described in more detail below. Grading is based on the following criteria:
Assessment Criteria | Grade |
The assignment consistently exceeds expectations. It demonstrates originality of thought and creativity throughout. Beyond completing all of the required elements, new concepts and ideas are detailed that transcend general discussions along similar topic areas. There are few mechanical, grammatical or organizational issues to detract from the ideas. | A- or A |
The assignment consistently meets expectations. It contains all of the information prescribed for the assignment and demonstrates a command of the subject matter. There is sufficient detail to cover the subject completely but not too much as to be distracting. There may be some procedural issues, such as grammar or organizational challenges, but these do not significantly detract from the assignment’s goals. | B-, B, B+ |
The assignment fails to consistently meet expectations. The assignment is complete but contains problems that detract from intended goals. These issues may relate to content detail, grammar or a lack of clarity. Other issues may include not fully following directions. | C-, C, C+ |
The assignment fails to meet expectations. It is incomplete or in some other way consistently fails to demonstrate a firm grasp of the assigned material. | Below C- |
Class Preparation and Participation
To encourage active learning, a substantial portion of the course grade is earned through preparation for class, participation during class and participation between classes. Evaluation is based on a consistent demonstrated engagement with the process of learning. Recognizing that students sometimes have unavoidable conflicts, the baseline for expected participation is assessed on one fewer week than the number of scheduled class meetings.
- Preparation for class – at the beginning of each class you will turn in, in hard copy, a brief summary of the reading assigned for that class period. To facilitate discussion, you should keep at least a digital copy for yourself in addition to the copy you turn in.
Your weekly summary will briefly address these questions:
- For each assigned reading of the week: what is one key point you took away from that reading? How does this connect to other topic(s) we’ve covered in the course? Provide 2-3 sentences of reflection per reading (approximately a half page total). This page will also include a screencap of your weekly tweet. See No. 4 below.
Here is an example of a reading summary that would receive full credit.
How Dictionary.com’s Twitter account got so cleverly woke
Twitter has always been a place for “what’s happening”. In fact, “See what’s happening” was the social network’s slogan for years and continues to be used in marketing and advertising campaigns today. This article describes how Dictionary.com has taken full advantage of Twitter’s offering of current events and news to provide simultaneously informative, important, and a bit silly content. Although there has been a few complaints of the service being “too political”, the company rarely deletes tweets and slyly comments on current issues by offering an objective definition, saving the account from being scrutinized for being socially tone deaf, like discussed in class. Dictionary.com has mastered its Twitter social media strategy by injecting its core service offering, definitions of words and connotations, into Twitter’s news and events culture.
How’s It Sound? Seven Brand Voice Tips for Your Website
This article outlines seven tips to creating your company’s Brand Voice: Defining your target audience, using clear language, characterizing your communication, defining your competitive advantages, choosing a target social platform, addressing your audience personally, and lastly, defining goals that influence your copy and CTAs. Though many of these tips aren’t new to me, addressing audiences as “you” jumped out to me the most. I often forget the importance of personal communication when writing ad copy and find it hard to identify the fine line between professionalism and sounding childish and cliché. Connecting this topic back to class discussion, I think that this relates heavily to our conversation of companies being stale and not evoking emotion on social media, such as posting clip art on Thanksgiving.
Brand Twitter Grows Up
The Brand Twitter Grows Up article outlines the history of how Brands have acted on Twitter over the past ~13 years. These accounts have evolved from tweeting quirky, clever puns to roasts and straight-up deep fried memes. Although these companies have attracted a decent amount of publicity and following, there have been many slip ups. As discussed in class, Brands often fail to do the research behind current trends and hashtags before using them, such as DiGiorno’s “#WhyIStayed you had pizza” insensitive tweet that received criticism and backlash.
- Participation during class – Each class includes in-depth discussion of multiple topics. All students are expected to provide substantive contributions to class discussion and in-class activities.
- In-class presentation – Each student is responsible for making a 5- to 10-minute presentation to the class highlighting a social media issue or trend. There will be an online signup sheet to schedule your presentation date. The format for the presentation is: (a) introduce yourself, (b) give your topic, (c) explain the issue/trend and your analysis on the topic, and (d) provide visual aids and examples to help illustrate your points. Full instructions are on the Google Doc of presentation prompts.
- Twitter discussion thread – To facilitate ongoing learning of course material, we will discuss course topics on Twitter by using the #mis3538 hashtag with your tweets. You are responsible for tweeting once per week. During the week you are scheduled for an in-class presentation, you are also required to tweet a discussion prompt related to your presentation topic. To earn points for each tweet, screencap and paste it to your hard-copy reading summary you submit each class. You are more than welcome to engage more frequently than once per week, but that is the minimum.
Final assignment (group project) – An essential component a social media management role is auditing a brand or organization’s social media presence, benchmarking it against competitors, analyzing how its channels could be improved, and suggesting specific, evidence-based ways to enhance content. That’s the assignment for the final, team-based project in MIS3538. Teams of five will engage in a real-world consulting exercise for a brand or organization. Assignments will be detailed on the Course Community Site.
Extra Credit
Extra credit will not be offered in this course.
Citation Guidelines
When you use material created by others, you must identify the source and clearly differentiate your work from the material references. Failure to do so is plagiarism.
There are many acceptable formats you may use to cite the work of others; in this class, the format is not as important as the intent. This includes referencing pictures (photos, images, tables or figures) in addition to text. You must clearly distinguish your work from someone else’s work and, if necessary, the source of other’s work.
Late Assignment Policy
Unless otherwise stated, all assignments are due at the beginning of class (Thursday, 5:30 p.m.) on the day noted in the course schedule. An assignment is considered late if it is turned in after the assignment due date. No late assignments will be accepted without penalty. Plan ahead and back up your work. Equipment failure is not an acceptable reason for turning in a late assignment.
MIS Course Policy
A grade of a ‘C or better’ is required for all MIS courses in order to move onto the next course in sequence. MIS students are ONLY permitted to repeat a course one time. Any MIS student repeating a course should seek the guidance of the Senior Program Specialist or their Fox School undergraduate advisor. MIS majors WILL NOT be permitted to register for a course a third time. Each time a student registers for a course and earns a grade, including a “W” when withdrawing from a course, will count toward this limit.
Special Needs and Accommodations
Any student with need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible. Contact Disability Resources and Services at 215-204-1280 in 100 Ritter Annex to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.
Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities
Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. Temple University has a policy on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy #03.70.02), which is available at: http://policies.temple.edu/getdoc.asp?policy_no=03.70.02.
Academic Honesty
Source: Student Conduct Code. Available at: https://secretary.temple.edu/sites/secretary/files/policies/03.70.12.pdf
Temple University believes strongly in academic honesty and integrity. Essential to intellectual growth and the university’s core educational mission is the development of independent thought and respect for the thoughts of others. Academic honesty fosters this independence and respect. Academic dishonesty undermines the university’s mission and purpose and devalues the work of all members of the Temple community. Every member of the university community is responsible for upholding the highest standards of honesty at all times. Students, as members of the community, are responsible for adhering to the principles of academic honesty and integrity.
Unethical behavior will not be tolerated in this class. In cases of cheating, both parties will be held equally responsible—both the student who shares the work and the student who copies the work. Penalties for such actions are given at the professor’s discretion and can range from no credit for an individual assignment to a failing grade for the entire course.