Participation

Ten per cent for arriving with the thing the tutorial needs — because this seminar runs on your kitchen, not on the reading

Why this is assessed#

Almost every tutorial requires you to bring something from your own life: advertisements in week 2, photographs of off-season food in week 3, a fridge interior in week 4, a private position in week 5, a door and a feed in week 6, 5–10 date labels in week 7, a full week of waste records in week 8, honesty in week 9, three inferences in week 10, a clean jar in week 11, and a pitch and a dish in week 12.

None of that can be borrowed, and none of it can be done in the room. A tutorial where half the group arrived empty is a different and much worse class — and much worse to be in, whichever half you’re on. Reading the assigned material won’t get you through it; this is exactly what this course is trying not to be.

Hence ten per cent: small enough not to distort the marks, large enough to be worth your Wednesday.

What counts#

Holistically, on the pattern across twelve weeks rather than any single session:

• Arriving with the week’s material. This is most of it.
• Engaging with other people’s. Much of the course is on comparison — pooled advertisements, the shared power map, group label forensics, paired drawings. Reading somebody else’s fridge carefully is participation.
• Consistency. Twelve adequate weeks beat three brilliant ones and nine absences.

How it is marked#

Assessed on whether you arrived with the week’s material and engaged with other people’s, not on how much you spoke. A quiet student who consistently brings their jar, their photographs and their audit marks higher than a talkative one who rarely does.

If you’ll miss a session#

Missing a tutorial with advance notice, and doing the preparation anyway, is not penalised — email whoever teaches that week (see People). Two exceptions can’t be made up later regardless of notice: the week 1 blind tasting and the week 8 waste audit. Full detail is on the Policies page.