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150006 UE 5th Book Club Popular Culture: Visual Novel (2025W)
Continuous assessment of course work
Labels
REMOTE
Details
max. 25 participants
Language: German, English, Japanese
Lecturers
Classes
This course will primarily be held online on Moodle, mostly asynchronously; should we decide to meet (via BBB or in person), our default weekly slot is on Mondays, 6:30 to 8 p. m., please reserve!
(We’ll decide whether and to what extent there’ll be mandatory in-person meetings this year by the time the course starts at the latest—in previous years, all in-person meetings were optional, and we set the times & dates together.)
Information
Aims, contents and method of the course
Assessment and permitted materials
Assessment happens continuously throughout the semester, based on:* regular assignments re. the weekly reading, e.g. summary, comprehension questions, (partial) translation, research (re. content or language), …
* active participation in the course, especially asking and answering questions on the forum, contributing to discussions, …
* any extra assignments, e.g. research and presentation of the results to the class.The lecturer reserves the option, especially with regard to the regular assignments, to mark only a sample, selected in such a way as too guarantee each participant gets about the same number of turns (like being called up to the blackboard, only digitally).Most contributions are to be made asynchronously on Moodle, though some may require participants to be (virtually) present, for example oral discussions, presentations, …
Students may be asked to submit assignments individually or in groups, depending.Where it is possible and makes sense, students’ contributions will be shared with the class at large (similar to contributions made during conventional lessons).Students have to do all work themselves. Plagiarism, the use of ghostwriters, as well as relying on, blindly and/or secretly using machine translations, LLM/AI and such is strictly prohibited (expulsion from the course and the annotation “unerlaubte Hilfsmittel” [‘cheating’] on the transcript).
Otherwise anything goes. In particular, participants are encouraged cooperate (outside solo assignments).
* active participation in the course, especially asking and answering questions on the forum, contributing to discussions, …
* any extra assignments, e.g. research and presentation of the results to the class.The lecturer reserves the option, especially with regard to the regular assignments, to mark only a sample, selected in such a way as too guarantee each participant gets about the same number of turns (like being called up to the blackboard, only digitally).Most contributions are to be made asynchronously on Moodle, though some may require participants to be (virtually) present, for example oral discussions, presentations, …
Students may be asked to submit assignments individually or in groups, depending.Where it is possible and makes sense, students’ contributions will be shared with the class at large (similar to contributions made during conventional lessons).Students have to do all work themselves. Plagiarism, the use of ghostwriters, as well as relying on, blindly and/or secretly using machine translations, LLM/AI and such is strictly prohibited (expulsion from the course and the annotation “unerlaubte Hilfsmittel” [‘cheating’] on the transcript).
Otherwise anything goes. In particular, participants are encouraged cooperate (outside solo assignments).
Minimum requirements and assessment criteria
* More than 50 % of the point total is required to pass the course: > 50 % → 4/D; > 62,5 % → 3/C; > 75 % → 2/B; → 87,5 % → 1/A.
They comprise regular assignments pertaining to the reading (1st item above), ⅔; and active participation (2nd item above), ⅓. Extra assignments (3rd item above) generally go in the second category, except when they’re similar in kind and function to the regular assignments.* The regular assignments re. the text receive a mark of 0 points if they’re not submitted, though if only a sample is marked, this only applies to participants who are actually selected. At the end of the semester the worst marks in the category are struck and the remainder averaged. I reserve the right to weight the individual assignments according to the amount of text covered / effort required, if there are significant differences, e.g. due to holidays.* Extra assignments may be mandatory, no submission → 0 points, or optional, meaning it’s only considered if something has been submitted. Students are not entitled to do optional extra assignments.Late submissions may not be accepted at the discretion of the lecturer.Not least because this is an experimental course, the yardstick for a pass is making an honest effort, and progress is deemed as important as absolute skill, if not more so.* No-shows for the orientation/introductory session may be de-registered (like they would be from a conventional course).
* Students who, without a good reason, are inactive on Moodle for two weeks, fail to submit two mandatory assignments in a row, or miss two mandatory meetings receive a failing grade and are excluded from further participation (the online version of the usual attendance minimum).
They comprise regular assignments pertaining to the reading (1st item above), ⅔; and active participation (2nd item above), ⅓. Extra assignments (3rd item above) generally go in the second category, except when they’re similar in kind and function to the regular assignments.* The regular assignments re. the text receive a mark of 0 points if they’re not submitted, though if only a sample is marked, this only applies to participants who are actually selected. At the end of the semester the worst marks in the category are struck and the remainder averaged. I reserve the right to weight the individual assignments according to the amount of text covered / effort required, if there are significant differences, e.g. due to holidays.* Extra assignments may be mandatory, no submission → 0 points, or optional, meaning it’s only considered if something has been submitted. Students are not entitled to do optional extra assignments.Late submissions may not be accepted at the discretion of the lecturer.Not least because this is an experimental course, the yardstick for a pass is making an honest effort, and progress is deemed as important as absolute skill, if not more so.* No-shows for the orientation/introductory session may be de-registered (like they would be from a conventional course).
* Students who, without a good reason, are inactive on Moodle for two weeks, fail to submit two mandatory assignments in a row, or miss two mandatory meetings receive a failing grade and are excluded from further participation (the online version of the usual attendance minimum).
Examination topics
All course content, in particular the work we’re reading and everything we generate in the course of reading it, including forum discussions etc., plus the materials provided on Moodle.
Reading list
For information re. where the work to be read may be obtained (possibly for a fee), see Moodle. All other required materials will also be provided via Moodle.Enrolment key for self-enrolment in the perennial Moodle linked at the top: A$w5
Association in the course directory
BA: M16, Modul Alternative Erweiterungen
MA M4
MA M4
Last modified: Mo 28.07.2025 16:25
Depending on the work additional tasks and/or impulse topics for discussion will be provided, especially when the text offers opportunities for exploring something in more depth. For a short work, we may even go beyond simply reading it (e.g. making a playable translation).PREREQUISITES / TARGET AUDIENCE
* decent grounding in Japanese. Something like an A in Theorie and Praxis 1 and 2, plus plenty of experience in the self-study of Japanese as well as with various adjacent Japanese pop culture media would probably be the minimum; a B in Theorie 4 is more realistic, provided you’ve at least tried to read something that wasn’t from a textbook.
* high motivation. Any shortcomings may be overcome provided you bring enough motivation and invest enough time – whether it’s possible in the time-frame specified by the ECTS rating is another matter.
* Obviously both the above factors depend on the work we choose, so please participate in the selection!
* some German. You should be able to understand it at least. Some or all announcements and assignments may be in German, and other participants may prefer to communicate primarily in German; but it’s perfectly acceptable to write assignments / reply in English.
* Computer running Windows or Linux (maybe MacOS, if you have a lot of experience running games for Windows), stable internet connection, microphone for teleconferencing (camera optional).
* Steam-Account (possibly, depending on the game).See Moodle for more on the estimated difficulty and time investment required (u:space has a character limit).