General

Make sure that you are on the class email list. Please send me email requesting to be added to the list if you do not receive email from me by the beginning of the second week of class. Your class email listing must be your UIC email. Forward your mail from there if you generally read your mail somewhere else. I'm assuming students check email every day. All critical announcements, changes to assignments, etc. will be distributed via email. Be sure to check the course web page for further information, handouts, assignment descriptions, and hints.

You will be given the opportunity to take a make-up quiz or exam only in cases of medical or personal emergencies, which must be verified. If such an emergency occurs, call me or leave a note (or phone message) with the department secretary as soon as possible.

You are responsible for all information (handouts, announcements, notes, etc.) covered during class. You should ask fellow classmates for missed information, not the instructor or the T.A.

No incompletes will be given for poor performance in the course. An incomplete can only be given if there are extenuating circumstances and the student has at least a 'C' average in the course. No extra work or extra credit will be given.

If you feel that you deserve more points than you have been given on a quiz or assignment, you must see the instructor about this within one week of the time the work in question is first returned to the class. After this deadline, no claims will be considered, justifiable or not.

As a two-hour class, I assume that you will spend an average of 4 hours a week outside of class working on readings and assignments.

Grading Criteria

Letter grades are assigned on a curve at the end of the semester. Current grades will be posted on the grades page. Note that there are no exams, however you will need to keep up on your reading to do well on the quizzes and position papers.

Leading Discussion or Debate

Students may choose a topic, a partner, and a presentation week up until the end of the second week of class. This information must be entered by students on the Google docs page for this class. After the second week students will be assigned topics and partners, information which will again be entered on the Google docs schedule page. For your assigned topic area you must then select a specific topic to use for your presentation, discussion or debate. To help you do this I suggest you look at each section's links on the course schedule, as well as a previous text book's associated web site (A Gift of Fire, by Sara Baase).

For your chosen topic you will then give a presentation, lead the class in a discussion, or have a debate. By the beginning of the third week of class you must post your specific topic for my approval, as well as indicating whether you will be lecturing, moderating the class discussion or having a debate. Your prepared portion of your discussion or debate should last 20 - 25 minutes, including at least 5 minutes at the end for questions / interaction with the class. Part of your discussion/debate grade will be the extent to which your presentation stimulates thought or questions, and your ability to answer questions/challenges given by the class in response to your comments.

For discussions, students should share responsibility for preparation and presentation.The focus here is to engage the class, to get them interested, and to get them talking along the specific lines of your topic. (See this discussion of ways to get the audience involved.)

For debates (in a group presentation), students should again share the time evenly, presenting views and rebuttals of opponents positions. You should be empassioned in your argumentation, attempting to pursuade the listeners to your views by facts, analogy, and logical arguments.

• Approach to Take
  There are different ways to analyze your topic. You may want to take a look at the section on Analysing a Scenario found here. Take a look at a description by John Artz of applying the Socratic method to discussing computer ethics. Under the "Putting it Together" section, Artz describes the steps you should take in facilitating discussion, using the example of the topic of software piracy. You may also want to look at Maner's catalog of different approaches used to analyze an ethical issue. In particular see Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning (see also here), as the ethical decision making plan of the Department of Defense (DoD). I encourage you to explore the topics links on the course web pages, as well as take a look at the course resources page.
  
  
• Grading for Presentation, Discussion or Debate
  Students (if in a group) should share responsibility for preparation and presentation. For Leading Discussions, everyone in the group will receive the same grade. For Debates, you will be graded individually. You will be graded on a scale of 0 to 4 for each of the following 5 areas:

1. Interesting. Engages the class and stimulates discussion. Well thought-out questions for the class.
2. Communicates verbally effectively. (Argues convincingly for debates)
3. Use of visual aids (overheads, board, web, handouts, etc.)
4. Understands the issues; Knows the facts, main points, uses supporting cases/scenarios/questions.
5. Well-prepared; Knows exactly who is doing what in the group; Uses appropriate amount of time, including 5 minutes at the end for interaction with class.

This gives a possible total of 20 points. For each area, a grade of 3 is considered normal, for a "normal" total score of 15. Only truly outstanding performance will get a score higher than a 3 (out of 4) for any of the above 4 areas.

Quizzes

Quizzes will be given at the beginning of class. Those who arrive late will have less time or will entirely miss the quiz, which will last around 5 minutes. Quizzes will be based on previous lectures and assigned readings. I suggest you look at the sample quiz questions given on the text's web site. No makeup quizzes will be given, but the lowest quiz grade will be dropped.

Position Papers

Position Papers will be graded on a scale of 0 to 3. A grade of 2 is considered average, and a 3 will only be given for work that shows unusual insight or extra thought. Note that you will be graded on the final result, not on how much work you put into it. As a guideline, each paper should be 1 - 2 pages long if it were typed double-spaced. You papers need to show evidence that you have done the reading. They must have your own thoughts and reactions to the readings along with your logically supported thoughts.

Position papers must be turned in to the Blackboard discussion forum that corresponds to that paper. Make sure it is a file format (e.g. text, html, or MS Word, ) that students can easily access from ACCC lab or home machines. (See the Position Papers page for more information.) You will also be asked to read one of your classmate's papers, adding your response to that paper as a reply to that post in Blackboard. No late papers will be accepted, but the lowest position paper grade will be dropped.

Class Participation

Discussion is a critically important component of this class. Class participation means being actively involved in discussions and asking questions, demonstrating you have read the material and thought about it ahead of time. After I have assigned readings or position papers I will choose members from the class to comment. I will ask you to read your classmate's position papers (I'll tell you which ones) and will ask random students for their thoughts. I will keep track of who is prepared and who isn't. You have to be present to comment, so I will take roll regularly by asking questions using the class list.

Many of the course web pages are in a format that you can edit. Your adding to these pages is what is meant by "Generative Content."

Academic Dishonesty