Crown 80A – Ethical and Political Implications of Emerging Technologies
Winter 2018
Instructor: Marilyn Patton
Office Hours: Crown 110, MW 12 to 1 and by appointment
831-234-1697, text or call
Course Description: You are going to be in charge of the world. What are your plans? How are the technological sectors in which you are going to be developing new products and new applications also going to make life better for humans and make the planet a better place to be? Can you do right while doing well?This quarter will be your chance to develop strategies and guidelines for making ethical decisions within the different technological fields and to think about those plans with your fellow students before you implement them.
Required Texts:
A reader, some handouts, and a number of readings available online on the webpage that is part of Ms. Patton’s website. https://sites.google.com/site/marilynpattonspage/home/crown-80a-1
Required Coursework:
There will be five opportunities to express yourself in language through “compositions/ essays/ papers/ online writing” and a formal debate. One paper will be a short addition to your summer paper, one will be an analysis of a personal choice, one will be analytical, one will be multi-modal, and one will be a blog (or another choice). The required “papers,” most of which will be on paper, will allow you to practice a variety of writing skills. If you can, try to make them readable and enjoyable, and to use a variety of prose styles.
Most of your work will undergo multiple revisions and receive structured feedback from your fellow students and from your instructor. Most essays will be developed from short, informal writings that enable you to practice the required sub-skills before you write a formal draft. Because many of these short writings will be important in developing your ideas and your writing, you should bring a notebook to class. A smartphone will NOT substitute for the notebook.
Form on all papers:
Double-space everything, including indented quotations.
Italicize titles of books, compact discs, full-length plays, television series, movies, and book-length poems.
Put double quotation marks (“ “) around titles of essays, stories, poems, chapters, short plays, and songs.
Use single quotation marks (‘ ‘) only for quotations within quotations.
If a quotation is 4 lines or more, indent the entire quotation two tabs from the left and omit quotation marks.
Notes!!
If you have any problems, please tell me. I have been through every sort of writing block myself!
Policies: If you take this class, you are thereby agreeing to these policies.
· More than two absences will lower your grade. Please let me know by text or email or phone in advance (if possible) when you cannot attend.
· Keep up-to-date on the readings and writing assignments.
· Active participation in class is a significant part of your grade. Try to talk at least once during each class. Your oral presentation is part of your participation grade.
·
· Academic integrity and scholarship guide our conduct as members of a university community. You must properly cite all sources; see http://library.ucsc.edu/help/howto/why-cite-your-sources. Plagiarism can and will result in not passing and possible suspension from UCSC. See UCSC’s Rules of conduct: http://www2.ucsc.edu/judicia/handbook.shtml
· All students must have a UCSC email account and check it regularly; there will be periodic updates.
· There will be times during many classes when using a laptop or smartphone is helpful. However, in general, keep them in your backpack until you are requested to use them.
Classroom accommodations:
If you qualify for classroom accommodations because of a disability, please let me know as soon as possible, outside of class.
Don Rothman Writing Award: Several students will receive acknowledgment and monetary awards up to $800 total for essays written in a first-year writing course. Please consider submitting your essays. See website for details: http://writing.ucsc.edu/about/rothman-award.html
Grading Policy and Rubric:
Final grades given in Core 80A are comprehensive. They account for all aspects
of a student's work over the quarter --the conceptual work of reading, thinking, and writing; the cooperative work of participating in a writing community; and the procedural work of completing reading and writing assignments, meeting deadlines, and attending class and conferences.
A
The grade of “A”” is appropriately given to students whose preparation for and execution of all course assignments (for example, reading, in-class discussions, presentations, group projects, informal writing, essay drafts, and revisions, etc.) have been consistently thorough and thoughtful. In addition, by the end of the quarter students who earn an A are consistently producing essays that are ambitiously and thoughtfully conceived, conscious of the demands of a particular assignment, purposeful and controlled, effectively developed, and effectively edited.
B
The grade of “B” is appropriately given to students who have satisfactorily completed all class assignments, although some of these efforts may have been more successful than others. By the end of the quarter, students who earn a B are consistently producing essays that are clearly competent in that they meet the demands of assignments, are controlled by an appropriate purpose, are sufficiently developed, and are accurately edited. A B performance may well reveal areas of strength that are not sustained throughout.
C
The grade of “C” is appropriately given to students who have fulfilled course requirements although, in some instances, minimally so. By the end of the quarter, students who have earned a C have provided sufficient evidence that they can produce focused, purposeful writing that satisfies the demands of an assignment, is adequately developed, and is carefully edited although, in some instances, achieving that standard depended on multiple revisions.
D
The grade of “D” is appropriately given to students whose work has been unsatisfactory in some significant way: they have not completed all the course requirements and/or their essays have not yet achieved the level of competency described in the Writing Program's standard for passing work in Writing 1. Students receiving a D must repeat Writing 1 to satisfy the C (composition) requirement.
F
The grade of “F” is appropriate for students whose work in Writing 1 is so incomplete or so careless that it does not represent a reasonable effort to meet the requirements of the course.
What is required in the class:
Attendance at the Social Fictions Conference – I will give you credit when I see you, so find me!
Helping to start class discussion one day (see sign-up sheet)
3 papers, including the summer assignment with additional work
1 blog/ website/ story/ play or other choice discussed with the teacher
1 debate with a group, including 500 words of writing about the position you take during the debate and why
11 quizzes, about one per week, and I drop the lowest or the one you missed
Regular attendance (please text, call, or email me if you must miss, even just one day)
Participation in the class discussions
Keeping up on the reading
One individual meeting with me about your writing
One group meeting with me to work on Paper #3 (Analysis)
One group meeting with me to discuss your debate in advance of your debate day
Your grade in numbers: 900 possible points
50 points: Attendance at the Social Fictions Conference – I will give you credit when I see you, so find me! One blog post about the conference will be required.
25 points: Helping to begin class discussion on one day of the quarter.
100, 100, and 150 points: 3 papers, including the summer assignment with additional work
125 points: 1 blog/ website/ story/ play or other choice discussed with the teacher
100 points: 1 debate with a group, including 500 words of writing about the position you take during the debate and why
100 points: 11 quizzes, about one per week, and I drop the lowest or the one you missed. The quizzes are on the readings so try to keep up.
25 points: Regular attendance (please text, call, or email me if you must miss, even just one day)
50 points: Participation in the class discussions
25 points: One individual meeting with me about your writing
25 points: One group meeting with me to work on Paper #3 (Analysis)
25 points: One group meeting with me to discuss your debate in advance of your debate day