Summary: Explains course activities, policies, and recommendations.
Contents:
This class meets three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8 a.m. The class will be taught as an interdisciplinary seminar, emphasizing reading, discussion, and research. In addition to the readings and your independent research, six guest lecturers will help us to consider technology from a variety of perspectives. There will be no midterm or final examination.
Graded activities will include the following:
| Activity | Points |
| Class participation | 100 |
| Study team participation | 60 |
| Leading discussion | 60 |
| Eight reading responses | 80 |
| Six rough drafts | 60 |
| Three polished essays | 300 |
| Reflective essay | 100 |
| Research project | 300 |
A total of 1060 points are possible. I will use the following scale as a basis for final grades:
| A | 930 points or more |
| A- | 900 - 929 points |
| B+ | 870 - 899 points |
| B | 830 - 869 points |
| B- | 800 - 829 points |
| C+ | 770 - 799 points |
| C | 700 - 769 points |
| D | 600 - 699 points |
| F | 599 points or fewer |
I may revise these boundaries to assign higher final grades if I believe it is warranted, but I will not assign lower grades. I do not believe in grading on a curve, and I would be thrilled if every student earned an A.
Particular activities are discussed in more detail below.
Participation is extremely important in this class.
I expect everyone to contribute to our class discussions, and so you will need to prepare carefully for each class session, not only doing the reading but really thinking about it. In particular, I expect you to annotate your readings, noting important ideas, quotations, and questions. You may already have a system of annotation, perhaps highlighting, underlining, or marking with stars or brackets. If you usually work with a highlighter, I encourage you to add a pencil to your tools: it's much more useful for writing questions and comments. If you do not like writing in books, try using sticky notes or index cards! Depending on your learning style, you might find it helpful to get the big picture by skimming the entire chapter or article before you start annotating, or you might prefer to just dive in and review your annotations after you are done.
I also expect you to really listen to your classmates. Good listening takes patience, a sense of humor, and mutual respect.
Because participation is so important, you will be evaluated on your participation. Students who are present, on time, and prepared, and who make positive contributions to discussion or other classwork, can expect to earn 90 points (an A-) for their participation grade. I will reward students whose participation is especially helpful to the class with a higher score. Students who fail to participate regularly or who participate in counterproductive ways (e.g., by dominating the conversation or making inappropriate comments) can expect to earn a lower score.
One unexcused absence (your "oops" day) will have no effect on your participation score. After the first unexcused absence, each will cost 10 points from your participation score.
To have your absence count as excused, you must either (a) ensure that I receive documentation of the circumstances of your absence from Health Services or Student Affairs, or (b) contact me to make suitable arrangements at least a week in advance.
Because I care about you, if you do miss class unexpectedly, I would appreciate a quick call or email as soon as you are able. Don't be surprised if I call or email you to make sure you are OK.
When you do miss class, it is your responsibility to talk with a classmate about what you missed and then to see me to discuss any further questions or concerns. (See below.)
Because this class is larger than most I have taught, and students benefit from working in small groups, I am experimenting with the idea of study teams.
Study teams meet regularly outside of class to study together, read and review course materials, comment on each other's written work, and help each other with difficulties in the course. Study teams are guided by the idea that students benefit from peer teaching---explanations, comments, and instruction from their classmates.
Study teams form the basis of three activities in this class:
During weeks when we have guest lecturers, each study team will take a turn leading the Friday discussion.
During other weeks, study teams will be responsible for preparing reading responses. Each study team will be "in the fishbowl" one day every such week.
Study teams will provide feedback on each other's formal written work.
I also hope that your study team will be the first place you turn for help understanding the material, a partner to brainstorm with, a sounding board to bounce ideas off of, or a classmate to ask for notes when you have been absent.
Based on your input, I will assign study teams during the first week of class. I expect study teams to arrange their own meeting times---at least one meeting during most weeks---and to maintain private blogs on Blackboard documenting their activities.
Because I won't be there for your study team meetings, study team grades (60 points) will be based on the completeness of your team's blog and on peer evaluations. Each of you will rate your teammates' contributions on four dimensions:
I will also check in with each team periodically to see how things are going and whether there are problems that need to be addressed.
During weeks when we have guest lecturers, each study team will take a turn leading the Friday discussion. Each study team will lead one Friday discussion on a date that I assign.
During the assigned week, team members should be especially thorough in annotating the week's readings and taking notes during Monday's and Wednesday's class. Your notes should include not only important ideas, but also questions. You may want to ask these questions of either our guest lecturer or the class (or both).
The team should spend some time giving their interpretation of the guest lecturer's most important points, but not more than five or ten minutes. The remainder of the class should be devoted to some form of discussion.
The team should come prepared with questions for the class to discuss. However, the form of that discussion can be as simple or elaborate as you wish. A reasonable and straightforward approach is to divide the class into smaller groups, with each team member leading one group in discussion. If you are feeling creative and ambitious, you might develop a more elaborate structure: a debate, a game, show-and-tell, role playing, or group problem-solving. You may wish to bring handouts or worksheets. In short, the class is yours to teach for one day.
Aim for about 45 minutes of presentation and discussion so that there is time left at the end of class for your classmates to provide feedback.
The team should plan to meet soon after class on Wednesday (and ideally Monday as well) to compare notes and plan for Friday. The team should also plan to meet with me on Thursday (or email me if meeting is not possible) so that I know what your plan is and can provide suggestions and support.
Each team will be reviewed by their peers on the following dimensions:
During weeks when we do not have a guest lecturer, each student will be responsible for preparing a reading response on either Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. After the first week, I will assign days by study team. However, responses will be submitted individually via a Blackboard discussion board by 5:30 7:30 the day before the class meeting. Study teams need not meet in advance to discuss the material, although they are welcome to do so.
I will pose some questions for the assigned students to answer for each reading. Two questions you can typically expect to see: (1) What was the author's main point (or points)? (2) What is one question about (or inspired by) the reading that you would like to discuss? When I ask for discussion questions, I want questions the class can really discuss---for example, you might ask the class to interpret or debate a quotation from the reading.
Assigned students will be expected to take an active role during class discussion. I may ask these students to sit in front or to form an "inner circle" in the classroom.
This structure is intended in part to ensure each student prepares for class on at least a semi-regular basis, and in part to ensure that every study has an opportunity to contribute to class discussion.
There will be a total of eight reading responses. Each will be graded on a scale of 10/9/7/0. I expect most responses to earn a 9: I simply wish to see evidence of thought that addresses the readings and questions. Exceptionally insightful or thorough responses may earn a 10, while a 7 is a sign that you should be putting more effort into your responses.
In some respects, I see this interdisciplinary seminar class as an extension of the Tutorial. I also think that you will get more out of thoughtful writing on the course material than out of taking exams.
During the semester, you will write six rough drafts of short essays (500-800 words), due roughly once every two weeks. These will be graded on a scale of 10/9/7/0, similar to the reading responses. I will provide a choice of prompts or questions to respond to, but you may propose another topic if you wish.
You will revise and polish three of these essays, with due dates spaced throughout the semester. These will be graded on a 100-point scale, with a rubric to be distributed. With your polished essay, I expect you to turn in the first, rough draft (with my comments), and also feedback from a member of your study team. I encourage you to revise at least twice: once before obtaining feedback from your study team, and again afterwards.
You will also write a final essay in which you reflect on what you have learned. The reflective essay will be worth 100 points and will be due at the end of our final exam time slot.
Here are some requirements for your essays, which should be observed for both rough drafts and polished essays:
Each essay should be substantively your own work; however, no one writes in a vacuum. One form of writing support is built into this class: the study teams. I also encourage you to take any of your essays to the Writing Lab for additional support.
Each student will conduct library research on the evolution of a particular technology of your choice, culminating in a 1500 - 3000 word research paper. You will write the paper in several, scaffolded stages:
| Stage | Rough due date | Points |
| Topic ideas | Week 3 | 10 |
| Research question and potential sources | Week 7 | 20 |
| Prospectus and annotated bibliography | Week 10 | 100 |
| Draft paper | Week 12 | 20 |
| Final paper | Week 14 | 150 |
We will discuss various aspects of this assignment in more depth as the semester progresses.
I expect to stay in touch with students throughout the term. Please come by during my office hours to discuss course content, get extra assistance, get feedback on an assignment, relate a concern about your study team, or just talk about how the course is going. My office hours will be posted weekly outside my office (Science 3809); if you wish, you may sign up for one or two 15-minute slots. You may also email me (davisjan@cs.grinnell.edu) to schedule an appointment outside of office hours; please include 3-4 possible meeting times so that I can pick one that works for me.
If you would like to have a conversation in a more informal setting, please consider inviting me to a meal; I also invite you to join me on my walk. I also read plans, though I intend to limit my time spent doing so.
As a rule, email is the most reliable way to get in touch with me. However, please allow 24 hours for my response. You may also call me in my office (x4306) for more urgent matters.
In this course, as in every course you take, you must abide by the College's rules on honesty in academic work, outlined in the student handbook, which require each student to "acknowlege any expressions, ideas, or observations that are not his or her own."
In addition to acknowledging published sources, academic protocol demands that you include a written note of thanks to all the people who help you in producing academic work. Specifically, every formal paper for this class must include a note acknowledging any assistance you received in producing the paper, including any feedback or ideas you got from the instructor, Writing Lab staff, or other students.
If an assignment is to be turned in as a group, you need not indicate who produced what part of the assignment unless I say otherwise.
Because I have found that students who turn in work late tend to dig themselves into deeper and deeper holes and because many of our in-class exercises will require the work due that day, I impose fairly severe penalties for late work. All unexecused late work receives an immediate penalty of 20%. For every day late beyond the first day, I impose another penalty of 10%. In case you can't tell, this means that you should always get your work in on time!
If health or significant personal issues interfere with your ability to complete work on time, you should do your best to notify me before the deadline and arrange an approved extension.
Absolute deadline: In accordance with College policy, all work must be turned in by Friday, May 15 at 5 p.m.
If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities and require accomodations, let me know early in the semester so that we can work together to meet your learning needs. You will also need to provide documentation of your disability to Joyce Stern in the Academic Advising Office, located on the third floor of the Rosenfield Center (x3702).
Janet Davis (davisjan@cs.grinnell.edu)
Created January 12, 2009