Be aware that the process of team collaboration is as important as the outcome. Before you start working, your team must agree on issues such as: How do you collaborate? Who is in charge of what activity (e.g., data collection, data analysis, writing, copy-editing, etc.)? How do you control quality? How do you avoid plagiarism by individual team members? How do you make sure that deadlines are met? How do you deal with free-riders?

ATTENTION: you need to conclude a pre-project training and the Pre-Project Readiness Test by 3 March, 2014 (late enrollers, please contact the instructor asap). For this purpose, you will receive an e-mail with instructions on how to access the training module. Without having passed the training module, you cannot participate in X-Culture. Students who fail the Pre-project Readiness Test must see the instructor to discuss an alternative piece of assessment. All deadlines are displayed below according to the Student Instructions.

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS AND ORAL PARTICIPATION IN CLASS

Short individual tests
Over the duration of the course, there will be administered short individual tests. These tests, which cover the course content, are based on the required readings as indicated in the column “Required Readings” of the table in section 1.3. The aim of this assessment are to help you verify whether or not you have adequately prepared for your class, whether or not you are up-to-date with your readings and whether or not you have a correct understanding of the concepts covered by the course.

The date for this test is 22 March.

Exercises
A second form of assessment in this category encompasses individual exercises assigned for homework. These assignments are assessed on three levels: (i) assignment not submitted; (ii) unsatisfactory; (iii) satisfactory. A satisfactory solution of a problem-based exercise requires that the student links relevant concepts and theory to the managerial problem; develops an in-depth analysis and elaborates a valid line of arguments (see 6. Assessment Criteria for details). Feedback and related students’ questions are discussed in the following class after the deadline for the exercise.

The dates for these assessments are 10 May and 31 May.

Two of the three assessments will be taken into account for your final grade. Together, they will count 10% of your final grade.

Oral participation
Your participation in class is essential to the course as we will construct knowledge through student-centred in-class discussions. Basically, your participation will be assessed using three levels: (i) (almost) never participates; (ii) participates occasionally; (iii) makes significant contributions to the development of knowledge. Significant contributions are characterized by critical, analytical thinking and well-argued thoughts. Oral participation will count 10% of your final grade.

FINAL EXAM
The final examination consists of problem-based exercises. To get a ‘feel’ for it, several problem based exercises will be discussed in the classroom during the course .
Assessment marks prior to the final exam will be displayed on the course website. Students are encouraged to check their marks and notify the lecturer-in-charge of any discrepancies. Legible handwriting and the quality of English expression are considered to be integral parts of the assessment process. Marks may be deducted in the final examination because of poor hand-writing.