Graded assessments for the course will include a mix of individual and group work, as well as in-class, online, and on-site assignments.

In addition, students will be appraised on their overall contributions to the course (20%), including seminar attendance and activity completion; fulfillment of online learning objectives (submitting feedback on at least one lecture/seminar and one reading); and in-class discussions and peer review. The readings quiz that will be held on January 26 will account for part of this score, and students are encouraged to submit potential questions related to specific readings no later than January 20 to help shape this assessment.

In addition, there are three major, linked written assignments that will take place over the course of the term: 1) individual urban forest analysis report (15%), 2) individual urban forest assessment (20%), and 3) group urban forest design project (30%).

Finally, an in-class midterm (worth 15%) will be held on February 16.

Assignment 3 (Group Project)
The primary component of this final project is a formal, in-class group presentation, to be held across the final three class sessions, as follows.
Thursday, March 30: UBC Hospital C, Arbutus B, Arbutus C
Tuesday, April 4: Pacific Spirit Park, UBC Hospital A, UBC Hospital B
Thursday, April 6: Northeast False Creek A, Northeast False Creek B, Arbutus A

Each group should prepare a single presentation, with the first two slides providing an overview of your proposed redesign and the reasoning behind your design decisions. Following this initial overview, each group member will prepare and present two slides of their own (for a total of eight to 14 additional slides, depending on the group size).

In-class presentations will be evaluated by the course instructors as well as a group of your peers. With this in mind, we ask you to attend all three of the final course sessions and arrive on time to avoid interrupting your classmates.

Final grades will be based primarily on the instructors’ appraisals of your presentation, but the peer review component will also be factored in. In addition, students are required to individually submit a one- to two-page written summary following their presentations. This summary is an opportunity to expand on your individual slides as well as to integrate any feedback received during class.

A complete package comprising the two group overview slides, your two individual slides, and the one- to two-page written summary must be submitted as a single PDF attachment via e-mail to Sara Fryer Barron by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 12.

Assignment 3 Overview
Group Rosters

Assignment 2
Assignment Two may be submitted either as a hard copy at the start of seminar or via e-mail to Sara Fryer Barron by 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 9. The assignment overview (posted below) is also meant to serve as a template for drafting your report: simply delete the instructions on the first page and fill in the sections on the remaining pages.

Overview and Template
Perceived Restorativeness Scale

Midterm
The midterm will cover all of the content presented in the course so far, including both lecture and seminar presentations and readings. Only required readings will be included: optional readings are posted for students who are interested in a more in-depth exploration of a topic. Students are encourage to review all of the lecture and seminar presentations, because this material will form the core of the exam.

In terms of its design, it will consist primarily of short-answer questions requiring answers of a few sentences each along with one essay question of around a page.

Assignment 1
Please note that Assignment One may be submitted either as a hard copy at the start of seminar or via e-mail to any of the instructors by 4 p.m. on Thursday, February 2. If you choose the latter option, please combine the main report, the mind map (only if you didn’t complete it during seminar), and the POST worksheet into a single document before attaching it to your e-mail.

Assignment 1 Overview
Public Open Space Tool (POST) Worksheet

Mental Map Sheet
If you submitted a map tied to your selected site as part of Week Three’s seminar, you do not need to include it as part of Assignment 1. Otherwise, please complete the sheet and attach it to your assignment.

Site Analysis Elements
Please use this list to inform the narrative component of this assignment. You do not have to provide an answer for every point.

Finally, we’ve received some questions about the graphic component of the assignment, and whether it it’s acceptable to use images retrieved online for this part. In general, we would prefer for you to use solely your own photos or drawings to describe the site. You may use images from Google or another source if you want to show the site from a perspective or timepoint that you cannot access, but you must appropriately cite this material. In addition, you must also include original graphical material in order to meet the minimum requirements of the assignment.

Reading Quiz
As mentioned, a short reading quiz will be form part of your grade for your overall contributions to the course. To help you prepare, we recommend looking over the list of potential questions that may appear on the quiz, which is based upon your feedback both in class an online.