Syllabus

Bucknell University Honor Code

As a student and citizen of the Bucknell University community:

1. I will not lie, cheat or steal in my academic endeavors.
2. I will forthrightly oppose each and every instance of academic dishonesty.
3. I will let my conscience guide my decision to communicate directly with any person or persons I believe to have been dishonest in academic work.
4. I will let my conscience guide my decision on reporting breaches of academic integrity to the appropriate faculty or deans.

Academic Responsibility

We will take very seriously the Bucknell Honor Code and the principles of Academic Responsibility. Proper credit must be given to any sources uses in journals, poster, papers, and presentations whether the sources are on-line or in-print. Unsolicited reading or copying of other student or faculty files is as wrong as looking at or removing papers from a student or faculty member’s desk. It constitutes plagiarism to appropriate content from sources in print or online and submit it as being of the student’s authorship; this is one example of academic misconduct. It is the faculty’s role to report acts of academic misconduct the Board of Review on Academic Responsibility. Students are expected to read and abide by the principles explained in the Student Handbook.

Learning Goals

In this course, students will:

1. Recognize, construct, and evaluate connections among different intellectual methods, ways of learning, and bodies of knowledge.
2. Advance their critical thinking skills. Working with various kinds of materials, students will refine their ability to ask meaningful questions that help one to identify key points, evaluate evidence and arguments for relevance, logic, veracity, and completeness.
3. Advance their skills for self-reliance and independent learning. Starting from class provided materials, students will learn to seek additional sources and to identify those that truly advance their understanding of concepts and arguments.
4. Evaluate the intersection between technology and the humanities. Through course readings,written reflections, in-class activities and discussions, students will learn how digital technology has changed human experience and what it means to be human

Instructional Materials and Sources

We will read, reflect upon, and discuss one novel and one play. The course schedule specifies the dates when students are expected to start reading these books, as well as dates for the completion of sections of each title.

• Machines Like Me, Ian McEwan
• Rossum’s Universal Robots, Karel Capek

Additional reading materials will be made available through our Moodle site.  Our Moodle site will specify the dates by which students are expected to complete readings and to turn in assignments.

Method of Instruction and Evaluation

Class periods are designed to include a variety of activities, which include short lectures, small group discussions, debates, videos, student presentations, and short writing. Most of these activities are student-centered and therefore require advance preparation and participation.

• Attendance
• Reflection Journals
• Writing Assignments
• Reading Engagement
• Group Project

Grades to individual assignments will be posted on Moodle’s grade book throughout the semester.

Attendance: The COVID-19 pandemic is making everyone’s lives more difficult and your instructors are sensitive to that. Although on occasion we expect to switch between in-person and online modalities of instruction according to safety conditions, we expect your attendance and engagement. If you are experiencing any hardship that compromises your class attendance, please let us know immediately, whether you are following classes in-person or remotely. In the absence of reasonable justification, missing poor attendance will have a significant impact on a student’s final grade.

Reading Engagement and Reflection Journals: For most classes, you will be expected to comment and annotate on the course readings through Perusall or (if the readings are not pdf files) on Slack. From time to time, you will find a different prompt on Moodle for writing a journal entry. These assignments will have prompts that get you to reflect on the contents of readings or on your work for the class. The due date of journal entries will be clearly specified on Moodle.

Assignments: In lieu of mid-term exams, you will demonstrate their achievement of the course’s learning outcomes through deliverables in the form of shorte essays, podcasts, screencasts, or essay films. The prompts for these assignments will be given on Moodle together with an assessment rubric. 

Project: In lieu of a final exam, you will demonstrate your summative, comprehensive understanding of the material covered in the course through a group project. The project will culminate in a class presentation at the end of the semester. Again, the project assignment will be posted on Moodle together with an assessment rubric. 

Letter grade assignments: At the end of the semester, the students’ letter grades will be determined according to what we call a “labor contract” described as follows:

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the course material and the varied academic backgrounds of your classmates, grading in this course will be weighted more towards intellectual effort than the accumulation of particular knowledge. You will have opportunities at the midpoint and end of the semester to formally reflect upon the labor you have put into this course, and let us know your perception of what grade you should earn.

UNIV 200.07 Labor Contract

If you complete all of the assigned labor, you are guaranteed a grade of at least a B. If you miss classes, skip assigned readings, do not participate fully, turn in late or incomplete assignments, or otherwise demonstrate a lack of commitment to the course, you will get a lower course grade. Our hope, however, is that you will engage with the reading material, regularly volunteer your thoughts in class, and push yourself to do excellent intellectual work on the major assignments – which will earn you a grade above a B. Our feedback to your work will thus be more about how you can stretch your thinking and/or what you need to do to think and write better than it will be about what you got “wrong.” YOU are setting the expectations and the parameters for success; WE are helping you to get there.

Expectations for a B:

• All major writing assignments and revisions are taken seriously, completed with earnest effort, and turned in on time. Extensions will be readily granted, provided that you ask us at least a week in advance; after that point, they will be granted very selectively, usually only for medical reasons.
• No more than 2 unexcused absences. Attendance is required, so if you are going to miss class due to illness or an official university activity, you must email us in advance.
• Participate in group activities and discussions in class. We may call on you even if you don’t volunteer, so come prepared to speak.
• In order to participate fully, you must have also completed the daily assigned reading – these readings will be integral to our class discussions.
• No more than 2 skipped reading responses. The Perusall and Slack discussions are designed to be a springboard for in-class work, so these cannot be submitted late.

Expectations for an A:

• All of the above, as well as…
• Volunteer to share your thoughts during class discussions regularly. This is an opportunity for you to improve at articulating your ideas in front of others – one of the most important life skills that college can give you. We do not require brilliance (although it is always welcome), just a willingness to try.
• Take full advantage of the opportunity to interact with your peers via Slack and Perusall. Some of the texts in this course will be very challenging, and these reading response assignments are a way to begin wrestling with them.
• Challenge yourself on the major assignments. In addition to the quality of your writing, we will be looking for the ambitiousness of your thinking. Within the structure of these writing assignments, there is a lot of room for creativity and intellectual exploration, as well as the inclusion of ideas from your disciplinary specialty.
• Consciously and creatively use the methods of humanistic and scientific thinking that we have read about and discussed in class (and/or others that you have found yourself).

Labor Log

For the final group presentation, you will hold yourselves accountable to each other by creating a shared labor log in which you will divide the responsibilities and work between yourselves and report back on what you did. This is designed to help you to plan, share, and perform the tasls involved fairly and to the best of your ability. We will also ask you to reflect on your work levels in your reflective writings too.

Bucknell University expectations for academic engagement:

“Courses at Bucknell that receive one unit of academic credit have a minimum expectation of twelve hours per week of student academic engagement. Student academic engagement includes both the hours of direct faculty instruction (or its equivalent) and the hours spent on out of class student work.”

Access Statement

If you have a disability that may have some impact on your work in this class and for which you may require accommodations, please see the instructors and Heather Fowler, Director of the Office of Accessibility Resources at hf007@bucknell.edu, 570-577-1188 or in room 212 Carnegie Building so that such accommodations may be arranged.

Mental Health

In this classroom and on Bucknell’s campus we support mental health efforts. Any student who is struggling and believes this may impact your performance in the course is encouraged to contact your Associate Academic Dean or the Dean of Students at 570-577-1601 for support. Furthermore, please approach me if you are comfortable in doing so. This will enable me to provide resources and support. If immediate mental health assistance is needed, call the Counseling & Student Development Center at 570-577-1604 (24/7).

Student-Athletes

If you are a student-athlete, remember that you are a student first and an athlete second. This means that academic work is your first priority. As per University rules, you will not be penalized for being away to take part in athletic events. It is your responsibility, however, to manage your time wisely so that you can do well in this and in your other classes. Please make sure to notify the instructors well in advance of your travel schedule and plan ahead to meet the deadlines for your assignments.

Academic Engagement

Courses at Bucknell that receive one unit of academic credit have a minimum expectation of 12 hours per week of student academic engagement. Student academic engagement includes both the hours of direct faculty instruction (or its equivalent) and the hours spent on out of class student work. Half and quarter unit courses at Bucknell should have proportionate expectations for student engagement.