HSS1000 Understanding Social Complexity Tutorial Guide

AY22/23 Semester 1
This document provides useful information relating to tutorials and the related assessment components.

Tutors’ contact information and classes

Mr Jimmy Lim Mr Chai Jing Wen
[email protected] [email protected]
Classes: TD20, TD22, TD25, TD27, TE20, TE22, Classes: TD18, TD19, TD29, TD30, TE18, TE19,
TE23, TE25, TE26 TE27, TE29, TE30
Ms Dianne Araral Ms Pan Ling Wan
[email protected] [email protected]
Classes: TD03, TD04, TD26, TD28, TD31, TE03, Classes: TD07, TD08, TD09, TD14, TD17, TE08,
TE04, TE28, TE31 TE09, TE14, TE17
Ms Heng Jia Min Ms Gwendaline Ng
[email protected] [email protected]
Classes: TD01, TD02, TD11, TD13, TE01, TE02, Classes: TD15, TD16, TD21, TD23, TD24, TE15,
TE11, TE13 TE16, TE21, TE24
Mr Li Nianze
[email protected]
Classes: TD05, TD06, TD10, TD12, TE05, TE06,
TE07, TE10, TE12

Please refer to LumiNUS, EduRec or NUSMods for the day/time of your tutorial class and attend the
class that you are registered into. Tutorial classes are held biweekly from Week 3 to Week 11, or Week 4
to Week 12. There are no tutorial classes in Week 13. Each tutorial group will attend 5 tutorial classes.

In-person tutorial classes

Tutorial classes are in person. Please check what your classroom venue is on LumiNUS/EduRec. Please
keep up and comply with current NUS Safe Management Measures (SMMs) (accessible at
emergency.nus.edu.sg under “NUS Circulars”). As of 11 August 2022, you are required to wear masks
indoors. Unvaccinated students are required to do regular FET testing, while vaccinated students and
those with proof of Covid-19 infection and recovery are exempted.

Policy on absence from tutorials

NUS FASS maintains the policy that attendance for tutorials is mandatory. If you are absent from
tutorials, you need to produce a valid reason (e.g. a Medical Certificate) and submit it to your tutor.
Please also get in touch with your tutor as early as possible so that they may assist you in alternative
arrangements. Namely, you should first check if you can attend other tutorials conducted by your tutor.
If not, please arrange to attend another tutor’s in-person tutorial class within the same fortnight, and let
your tutor know. Only in the unlikely event that you are unable to attend another in-person tutorial
class, will the tutor grant you the option of submitting a written 150- to 200-word response to the case
studies discussed during the tutorial you missed. Your tutor will provide you with further information on
the written response. As long as there is a valid reason for absence and you attend a replacement class
within the same fortnight, or submit the written response on time, your absence will not affect your
class participation grade.

Office hours
In addition to tutorial classes, your tutor will also be available for consultations during their office hours,
which may be online or in-person. Your tutor will inform you about their office hours arrangements in
due course. Otherwise, for other communications, please refer to the table containing the tutors’ email
addresses above.

General format of tutorials

Tutorial sessions are held biweekly. Each tutorial will cover 1-2 lecture topics and will be centred upon
case studies selected by the relevant lecturer(s). You will be expected to discuss these case studies with
the support of discussion questions and prompts provided by the lecturer, and your tutor’s facilitation.
Prior to tutorials, your tutor will inform you about specific case studies to familiarise yourself with, and
supporting information such as readings and/or questions to think about.

Tutorial Assessments
Tutorial assessments will make up 50% of the total grade of this module. The components are:

Component Weightage Format Deadline

In-tutorial 15% Verbal and/or written Throughout the semester

Participation participation

In-tutorial Group 20% 10-minute recorded group Online submission by 4

Presentation presentation on an assigned case November 2022 (Week 12
study Friday)

Post-tutorial Forum 15% Posts and/or replies to posts on 2 weeks after each
Engagement Tutorial Microsoft Teams group relevant tutorial session
after tutorial (i.e. before your next
tutorial)

More details regarding the format of each of these components and expectations are given below.

In-tutorial participation
Assessment for this component is based on regular attendance and verbal/written contributions during
the tutorial activities (i.e. participation in class discussions, including in-class written contributions on
collaborative documents, whiteboard, etc.). Some of the steps you can take to make meaningful class
contributions include listening to the lecture, familiarising yourself with the case studies in advance of
tutorials, and preparing some responses and questions. Optional resources to support your engagement
with the topics include the live Zoom Q&A and the additional readings and resources listed on LumiNUS
by the respective lecturers.

Recorded group case study presentation

Your tutor will randomly assign you to a group of 3-5 members, based on the enrolment number of your
class. In your group, you are to:
 • Select a lecture topic that your group wishes to focus on
• Select an appropriate case study that develops the lecture’s key idea(s)
• Prepare a 10-minute presentation that includes a brief description of the case, and a nuanced
discussion of how the case relates to the lecture topic and key idea(s)
• Record the presentation and send the video recording to your tutor (details on how to do this
will be communicated at a later date)

It is up to the presenting group to decide if any forms of visual aid such as PowerPoint slides or other
modes will be used to deliver the presentation. The group can also decide and elect the number of
speakers to deliver the presentation. However, we expect that every group member contributes
significantly to the preparation of the case study presentation whether they are presenters or not. If you
face an issue with the dynamics of your group, you are encouraged to speak to your tutor.

The deadline for all recorded case study presentations is 4 November 2022 (Friday) 2359, regardless of
the lecture topic in relation to which you have chosen your case study.

All members of the group will receive the same score for the presentation, based on the following
rubrics.

Grading rubrics for the case study presentation

Passing Meets expectations Exceeds expectations
Case Study 2 out of 5 3-4 out of 5 5 out of 5
Selection Case study chosen by the Case study chosen by the Case study chosen by the
(out of 5) group is distally selected; its group is appropriately group is well-selected,
connection to the chosen selected, with a clear with its connection to the
lecture topic is unclear and implicit connection to the chosen lecture topic clear
unexplained chosen lecture topic and well-explained

The details/elements of the Chose details/elements Explained how specific

case study that the group of the case study that details/elements of the
focused on were mostly were relevant to the case study were relevant in
irrelevant and/or topic, but did not use complicating and
redundant them well in complicating developing ideas from the
or developing ideas from chosen lecture topic
the lecture
Presentation 4-5 out of 10 6-7 out of 10 8-10 out of 10
Content Presentation only provided Demonstrated a Demonstrated a nuanced
(out of 10) an overview of the facts of competent and logical understanding
the case study, without understanding of the of the case study (e.g. by
much evidence of reflection case study (e.g. by highlighting different
on how the facts relate to comparing and perspectives; by analysing
the ideas from the lecture contrasting the empirical assumptions; by
facts of the case study demonstrating an
Presentation may contain and ideas and arguments awareness of context,
illogical arguments (e.g. raised in limitations or implications
hasty generalisations that lectures/readings) of the case, etc.)
 fail to consider context,
conclusions that contradict Described some Evidence of critical
what the case study seems challenges, questions or reflection of some of the
to demonstrate) evidence the case raises challenges, questions or
for ideas and arguments evidence that the case
Presentation may be poorly raised in lectures/ raises for some of the ideas
organised such that viewers readings, but these and arguments raised in
need to connect the dots by connections are not lectures/readings
themselves adequately articulated
Well-organised with a
Well-organised with a clear presentation flow
clear presentation flow
Presentation 2 out of 5 3-4 out of 5 5 out of 5
Delivery Presentation may have run A well-paced delivery A well-paced delivery that
(out of 5) over time that kept to time kept to time

Verbal and non-verbal Speakers spoke clearly Excellent verbal and non-
engagement of the and were easy to follow verbal engagement of the
speakers was poor (e.g. speakers (e.g. tonal
looking bored, monotonous Supporting material, if variation, appropriate
delivery, distracting any, was clear and added emphasis and pauses,
movements, no eye contact value to the speakers’ confident delivery)
with the camera lens) points
Supporting material, if
Supporting material (e.g. any, enhanced the
slides), if any, took away presentation
attention from the
speakers’ points

Post-tutorial forum engagement

The post-tutorial forum is the platform for you to ask questions, share your thoughts on questions posed
by others and additional content you wish to share with everyone in the class. For example, you may
share interesting articles you come across, questions you have, or individual opinions you formed about
the case studies and class discussions. Its purpose is to encourage you to take your curiosity beyond the
classroom, follow-up on what you have learnt in tutorial classes and engage in self-directed learning.

The forum for each tutorial will close 2 weeks after your allocated tutorial date and time, so you should
post any thoughts relating to Tutorial 1 after Tutorial 1 but before Tutorial 2, for example, since tutorials
take place once every two weeks. Any posts after the deadline will not be factored into your grade.

The tutors will monitor and assess the frequency and quality of your participation in the forum. Hence,
we encourage you to be active in leading and taking part in further discussions that take place in the
forum. If you are absent from a tutorial class, do continue to take part in your class’s forum and engage
with the week’s material even if you have attended another class.
The post-tutorial forum is held on Microsoft Teams (not LumiNUS). Please see information in the next
section on how to set up and use the application.

Setting up and using Microsoft Teams

There are two ways to use the application:

1. Access Teams using a web browser (e.g. Google Chrome) OR

a. Go to Office 365 Portal and login with NUSNET ID and select Teams.

2. Install the desktop or mobile app

a. Visit https://teams.microsoft.com/download

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please access and use Teams using your NUSNET account.

Joining the team

By Tutorial 1, all students should automatically have been added into a Team that contains yourself,
your tutor, and your classmates. If you are not in a Team by then, please inform your tutor so they can
assist you.

You can check if you have been added by clicking on “Teams” in the left sidebar.

Using Teams for post-tutorial forum engagement

Go to your Team’s main page by clicking on the Team from the “Your Teams page”. Dedicated channels
for discussing tutorial content can be found on the left side bar shown in the picture below.
In each of the channels, you can start or reply to conversations. Use these functions to ask questions
and/or follow-up with content etc.

Starting a conversation
To start a conversation, click on the “New Conversation” button as shown above. Besides typing a
paragraph of text, you may also insert attachments, emoticons, GIFs etc. Make use of the various on-
screen functions to post your conversation.

HELPFUL TIP: If you want to insert a link to your conversation, do note that there is no on-screen
function to do so. Use Ctrl + K (or CMD + K for mac users) to call up the function to insert a link.

Replying to a conversation
You can reply to an existing conversation by pressing “Reply” located under every conversation bubble.
The process of inserting your reply is similar to that for starting a conversation. Your reply becomes part
of the conversation bubble.

Note on Conversation vs Reply

To make the forum easy to follow-up, it is crucial for all team members to keep the forum tidy and
organized. The UI of the forum is similar to Facebook or other social media apps. If you are initiating a
new response, use the “New Conversation” function. If you are replying to an existing comment, use the
“Reply” function. Avoid posting new conversations as replies to existing posts.

Uploading materials to the Team

After your group presentation of the assigned case study, your tutor may request you to upload your
presentation materials to the Team so that your classmates may access them and start follow-up
conversations using the forum.

On the top bar, besides “Posts” which is where the forum is located, clicking on “Files” brings you to the
page for uploading materials. Materials that you upload are accessible only to members of the Team.
This includes your tutor and your classmates.
Use the on-screen functions to upload your materials. Your tutor may give you further instructions if you
should upload files to a specific sub-folder.

We hope that these instructions are helpful for you, and we look forward to meeting you in our
respective tutorial classes.

FINALLY...
If you have any health or learning related concerns throughout the semester, please do not hesitate to
reach out to your tutors. We hope to make our classes as conducive and accessible as possible.