This is an OPTIONAL assignment.

Final Exam Date

• Firm Due Date: By 11:59 PM on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, the end of the last day of exams.

What I Want You to Do

Prepare to complete a performance review form by evaluating your work in the course and proposing the course grade you should receive on the final. Gather information from your Weekly Activities and Major Projects to support the course grade you propose for yourself.

Why I Want You to Do It

You will write performance evaluations in the workplace, both to assess your own work and to assess the work of colleagues. The final exam focuses on this type of writing while also evaluating your work in this course. The final exam gives you the chance to demonstrate your productivity and accomplishments in the course, using your best persuasive abilities to argue your case for your course grade.

Show/Hide Relevant Course Objectives

Relevant Course Objectives

• Identify and define a problem or subject related to your particular field (or another specific problem according to your assignment’s directions) and assemble and analyze research related to this problem. [CLO 1]
• Analyze the context of this problem or subject and determine appropriate audiences for the unit’s deliverables. [CLO 2]
• Practice workplace genres associated with a team-based research project: a research proposal, meeting minutes, a progress report, a recommendation report or an informational report for non-expert readers, a slide deck presentation of the report, and a video presentation. [CLO 3]
• Practice team and collaborative work in all phases of project management. [CLO 4]
• Design strategies for evaluating the overall effectiveness of the suggested approaches to the researched problem. [CLO 5]
• Illustrate the ethical and human implications of the solutions proposed for solving the problem. [CLO 6]

Where You Can Find Help

• Guidelines for Writing Your Employee Self-Assessment, from UC-Santa Barbara Human Resources
• Evaluation Resource Central: Peter Elbow, from Evergreen State College
• What is a Self-Assessment? from the Ohio National Guard
• Tracking Performance Accomplishments and Writing Self-Assessments, from the USDA

How You Do It

1. Decide whether you want to complete the final exam:
   1. Check your tentative course grade in the Effort Expectations-Based Course Grade Assignment.
   2. Decide between these two options:
      • If you agree with the tentative grade indicated for the Effort Expectations-Based Course Grade Assignment, do nothing. The grade in the rubric will become your course grade. You can skip the final exam (and the rest of these preparation instructions).
      • If you disagree with the tentative grade indicated for the Effort Expectations-Based Course Grade Assignment and want to propose a different grade, complete the optional final exam to argue for the grade you believe you deserve. Move on to the next step.
2. Familiarize yourself with the characteristics and features of performance reviews, using resources from the “Where You Can Find Help” section above.
3. Review your completed course activities to gather your data. You are conducting primary research on your accomplishments in the course this term. Consider these questions:
   • What work did you complete in the course?
   • Are there tasks that you were unable to complete? If so, explain which ones and why you were unable to complete them?
   • Which document demonstrates your highest quality work? Why?
   • What evidence demonstrates that you invested your best effort in the course?
4. Gather the relevant evidence (e.g., links to examples, quotations or other evidence from your work). Be sure that you consider your work in the entire course, and if relevant, be honest about where you fell short. You can use tables and charts as appropriate to present your evidence.

5. Tip for Calculating Your Grade

   

   Your course grade begins with the number of Major Projects you have earned a Complete on, and it can move up or down a half-level or two. For example, a course grade might move from a C to a C+, but it is unlikely to move from a C to an A-.

   Compare your findings to the completed rubric for the Effort Expectations-Based Course Grade Assignment. Use the information in the rubric as the baseline for the course grade you propose in your Final Exam.
6. Use the information you have gathered to complete your final exam. Be sure to submit your exam by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. There is no grace period on the final exam.

How to Assess & Track Your Work

• I will review your final, looking for evidence that supports your argument for a specific course grade. Specific details will be most convincing.
• I will read your performance review and the notes that I have on your work. In most cases, I will record the grade you suggest as your course grade. I reserve the right to change your grade if appropriate. I typically change grades in these situations:
  • When someone proposes a course grade that is lower than they deserve for reasons that have nothing to do with learning in the course.
  • When someone proposes a course grade higher than their effort merits, such as proposing an A when the student has not met any of the effort expectations for an A.
  • When someone proposes a course grade that does not use the review form and/or does not include evidence that supports the proposed course grade.
• Your course grade will be indicated as the grade on the final exam.