Syllabus for FTS-100: Who Changes the World, and How? (Fall 2015)

Overview

This seminar introduces students to critical thinking and a discussion of values, and develops oral and written communication skills, through an investigation of the power to change the world that comes from technological know-how, rhetorical savvy, and social privilege. Digital technology, with its flexible ability to store, communicate, and process information, is at the heart of many recent changes. Without digital technology, mixed baby salad greens weren’t available nationwide and year-round. Without digital technology, very few people knew my interests—which Google will now sell to the highest bidder. We’ll learn about how these technologies work and why they are so powerful; this will include some hands-on activities, including a small amount of programming. However, our focus will be larger. Change doesn’t happen because of technology, it happens using technology. The people who change the world don’t use technology alone. They also use their ability to communicate persuasively, and in many cases, they use their privileged positions within society. Technology and rhetoric can help overcome differences in privilege, but they can also amplify those differences. We’ll learn rhetoric hands-on too, by making and analyzing persuasive arguments. We’ll also think critically about how the power to change the world is distributed among its inhabitants.

Office hours

I welcome visitors to my office (OHS 306) on a drop-in basis as well as by appointment. You may send me electronic mail at max@gustavus.edu.

World Wide Web

All course materials will be available through my World Wide Web page. The URL for this course is https://gustavus.edu/+max/courses/F2015/FTS-100/. After this syllabus I will give hardcopy handouts only to those students who ask for them.

Texts

We will read the following three books. Additionally, you are expected to use the College's standard writing handbook (Lunsford's Everyday Writer) for reference.

• Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness after the Digital Explosion by Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen, and Harry Lewis. Addison-Wesley, 2008.

• Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion by Jay Heinrichs. Three Rivers Press; Revised and Updated Edition, 2013.

• Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology by Kentaro Toyama. Public Affairs, 2015.

Email communication

I will send email to your Gustavus address. It is your responsibility to either check that email at least daily or arrange that it is forwarded to an address that you do check. You are always welcome to contact me at max@gustavus.edu.

Grading

You will have the opportunity to earn up to 281 Grade Points (GP) throughout the semester. The opportunities, which are described in subsequent sections, are summarized in the following table:

Your course grade will be recorded as follows:

Writing assignments with revisions

This course includes three main writing assignments, each of which you are to submit twice: first an initial version and then a revised version. All six due dates are shown in the schedule.

Each assignment has a list of 10 objectives that you are to accomplish. I will grade your initial version on a 20-point scale: 2 points for each of the 10 objectives. (A score of 2 indicates satisfactory achievement of the objective. A score of 1 indicates that that the objective is only partially achieved. A score of 0 indicates a complete disconnection with the objective.) You will then have the opportunity to revise and resubmit. This time around, each objective satisfactorily achieved will earn 4 points, for a total of up to 40 more points. (Objectives that are still only partially achieved will earn 1–3 points.)

Ongoing assignments

There are three assignments that you need to keep track of all semester long:

1. Each week, you are to write a brief, informal "log" entry in which you describe some aspect of the world that you experienced during the week that was fundamentally changed from how it had been at some earlier time. Your entry should also reflect briefly on who played important roles in designing this change (choosing how it would be). You, or people like you? Government officials? Technologists? Entrepreneurs? Someone else? You are to submit one of these entries using our Moodle site by 3:00 PM each Tuesday other than the first day of classes.

2. On three occasions of your choosing, you can earn additional Grade Points by orally sharing your log entry with the class. When you want to do this, you should use our Moodle site to alert me. You'll only earn the points if you actually speak, which may not be possible if you wait until the end of the semester.

3. On three occasions of your choosing, you can earn Grade Points by orally sharing a relevant news story with the class. When you want to do this, you should use our Moodle site to alert me. You'll only earn the points if you actually speak, which may not be possible if you wait until the end of the semester.

Other assignments

In addition to the three main writing assignments and the three ongoing assignments, there are three special one-of-a-kind opportunities for you to earn Grade Points:

1. You'll be writing a paragraph in class as part of our discussion of how to be a skillful student. After we work on these in class, you'll turn your paragraph in using Moodle.

2. View at least two of the Nobel Conference presentations, either live or on video, and submit using Moodle a sentence of the following form: "[Name 1] presented more skillfully than [Name 2] by [doing some specific thing better]."

3. You'll give an oral presentation advocating for a policy change intended to broaden knowledge of digital technology. We'll discuss this more as we near the end of the semester.

Honor

Students are encouraged to discuss the course, including issues raised by the assignments. However, everything you submit should be individual original work unless otherwise specified.

Any substantive contribution to your solution by another person or taken from a publication should be properly acknowledged in writing. Failure to do so is plagiarism and will necessitate disciplinary action.

You are expected to be familiar with the college academic honesty honor code policy and to comply with that policy. If you have any questions about it, please ask.

Grade changes

Please point out any arithmetic or clerical error I make in grading, and I will gladly fix it. You may also request reconsideration if I have been especially unjust.

Accessibility

Gustavus Adolphus College is committed to ensuring the full participation of all students in its programs. If you have a documented disability (or you think you may have a disability of any nature) and, as a result, need reasonable academic accommodation to participate in class, take tests or benefit from the College’s services, then you should speak with the Disability Services staff, for a confidential discussion of your needs and appropriate plans. Course requirements cannot be waived, but reasonable accommodations may be provided based on disability documentation and course outcomes. Accommodations cannot be made retroactively; therefore, to maximize your academic success at Gustavus, please contact Disability Services as early as possible. Disability Services (gustavus.edu/advising/disability/) is located in the Academic Support Center. Disability Services Coordinator, Kelly Karstad, (kkarstad@gustavus.edu or x7138), can provide further information.

Support for English learners and multilingual students is available through the Academic Support Center’s Multilingual Learner Academic Specialist, Jody Bryant (jbryant2@gustavus.edu or x7197). The MLAS can meet individually with students for tutoring in writing, consulting about academic tasks, and helping students connect with the College’s support systems. When requested, the MLAS can consult with faculty regarding effective classroom strategies for English learners and multilingual students. The MLAS can provide students with a letter to a professor that explains and supports appropriate academic arrangements (e.g., additional time on tests, additional revisions for papers). Professors make decisions based on those recommendations at their own discretion. In addition, English learners and multilingual students can seek help from peer tutors in the Writing Center (gustavus.edu/writingcenter/). Please let me know if there is any accommodation in the course that would enable you to more fully show your abilities; for example, if I have used any unfamiliar idioms in stating a writing assignment, I would be happy to restate it in different terms.

Schedule

In the reading column, the letter indicates the first letter of the book's title and the number indicates the chapter. For example, B1 is Chapter 1 of Blown to Bits. This schedule is subject to change.