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Making Judgments about Technology
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Unit I: Introduction to Course
Unit II, Exploratory Essay: Initiating an Inquiry into Technology
Generic Goal: Students will consider an issue based on their reading,
as well as their own experiences. The purpose of this assignment is to encourage
students to think about an issue, to integrate their own experiences with their
reading, and to develop an idea about that issue. To do this they must evidence
the ability to think critically about texts, to link ideas found in outside
sources together and with their own ideas, and to incorporate material from one
of the unit essays to support and/or connect with their ideas .
Primary task: To identify a technology that presents an intriguing
question, one that students can investigate in a variety of ways for the entire
semester. The essay will serve to pose their question, through personal
observations and stories and through consideration of one of the essays.
Two of the following Presence of Others essays on science and technology:
Rifkin, Oppenheimer, J. Q. Wilson, Samuelson.
Requirements:
Read at least two essays in the unit
Paper: 2-3 pages, with 12 pt. font (at least 500 words)
Mode of arrangement: Process analysis.
Stylistic concept: Purpose and audience.
Research concepts: Incorporation of quotations; in-text citations and
Works Cited (MLA format).
Grammar concepts: To be determined after seeing first draft.
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The purpose of this sequence is to provide the
structure for a semester-long inquiry into technology. Every essay
builds–or has the potential to build–to the final essay. Students
do have the capacity to consider a question over an extended period of
time, and the quality of their writing–and of their engagement with the
course–can improve significantly as a result.
The purpose of the first essay is primarily to
prompt the students to connect their own experience and observations to a
question related to technology, initiating a process of investment in the
subject. A shortened version of this essay may serve as the
introduction to the research essay.
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Unit III, Analytical Essay I: The Role of the Media in Relating to
Technology
Generic goal: Students will examine a visual text, interpret its
meaning, and develop an argument in which their ideas about the image are
developed by serious examination of ideas about images in one or more of the
essays they have read. The purpose of this assignment is to further develop
students’ analytical skills by considering different types of texts in
conjunction.
Primary task: To analyze an image (or set of related images) connected
to the technology they’ve chosen, using one of the essays in the images
section of The Presence of Others as models.
Presence of Others essays on images: Plato, Updike, Churchill,
Gates.
Requirements for Analytical Essay I:
Paper: 2-3 pages (500-750 words)
Mode of arrangement: Division and classification
Stylistic concept: Figurative language
Research concept: Note taking; further practice in all previous techniques
Grammar concepts: To be determined after reading first drafts
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Students enjoy talking and writing about images.
Here they get a chance to think about the image that their technology has in
the U.S.
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Unit IV, Analytical Essay II: Critiquing an Argument on Morality
Generic goal: Students will closely analyze a text, consider the relationship between
what is said (the argument being made/ the thesis) and how it is said
(rhetorical strategy, tone and stance, audience, language), evaluate the value
of the ideas, and develop an argument about the relationship of content to form
based on this judgment. The purpose of this assignment is for students to
further develop their reading and analytical skills and to construct an argument
based on their observations.
Primary task: To critique one of the essays on morality using a
framework they
establish either by using the perspective of another essay or by using a
perspective they develop on their own. (Students must examine Carter, Gilligan, etc, for
framework they establish; e.g., Carter does it through anecdote and
being hypothetical; Gilligan through analysis of interviews; Shalit through comparison
of two eras.)
Presence of Others essays on morality: Carter, Gilligan, Shalit, E.
O. Wilson, Shoumatoff..
Requirements for Analytical Essay II:
Paper: 2-3 pages (500-750 words)
Mode of arrangement: Comparison/contrast
Stylistic concept: Bias in language
Research concept: Paraphrasing and summarizing; further practice in all previous
techniques
Grammar concepts: To be determined after reading first draft
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The Shoumatoff essay offering a Native American on
“American” values, the Gilligan essay on gender and moral development,
the E. O. Wilson essay on genetic basis for morality, and the Carter essay
on the nature of integrity–each provides
interesting perspectives that students can use to develop their thinking
about how to make an ethical judgment about their chosen technology. |
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Unit V, Persuasive Essay: The Role of Ethics in Assessing Technology
Generic goal: Students will write a paper taking a position on an
issue, with the focus on developing a persuasive argument. They must use at
least two of the text essays to support their position. The purpose of this
assignment is to develop students’ ability to construct a convincing argument
and use textual material in support of that argument. Part of this process
should include the consideration of a perspective (or perspectives) different
from the student’s own.
Primary task: To apply an essay from the moralities unit, most likely
the one that they critiqued in Unit IV, to their technology issue.
Most likely moral issues to apply to technology will have to do with
gender, culture, and the nature of ethics.. For example, gender may influence one’s
perception about the isolating effect of computers. One’s culture can be
affected by industrialization and modernization. Presence of Others essays on
values: Shoumatoff, Gilligan, E. O. Wilson, Carter; also possibly Sullivan
and Turkle. In addition they will need reread an essay from the technology
unit and incorporate its perspective.
Requirements for Persuasive Essay:
Paper: 3-5 pages (750-1250 words)
Mode of arrangement: Definition
Stylistic concept: Tone and stance
Research concept: Analyzing and evaluating web sites; further practice in all
previous techniques
Grammar concepts: To be determined after reading first draft
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Part of their final essay will require taking a
moral position on technology. This essay helps them develop a
perspective on some aspect of morality. |
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Unit VI, Research Essay: Taking an Informed, Nuanced Position on One
Aspect of Technology
Generic goal: Students will develop a researched argument paper, going beyond the text
essays and finding at least two or three outside sources of different types to
connect with their position. They will be required to acknowledge and evaluate
differing opinions in their essay. The purpose of this assignment is to prepare
students for the type of research writing they will be expected to do in their
classes, using outside sources and the full range of research writing
techniques.
Primary task: To integrate much of the thinking students have
done surrounding their inquiry into technology in an essay that revisits at least
one of the essays from the previous units and that incorporates material from
sources they have discovered on their own. Specifically, a superior essay will make a judgment about an aspect of technology that (1) relies on analysis
of technology’s image, (2) their critique of the basis of morality, and (3)
their own sources. Presence of
Others essays on technology: Students will revisit the essay they looked at in Unit II and possibly Shelley
and Martin.
Requirements for Research Essay:
Paper: 3-5 pages (750-1250 words)
Mode of arrangement: Cause and effect
Stylistic concept: Logical fallacies
Research concept: Further practice in all previous
techniques
Grammar concepts: To be determined after reading the first draft
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In this last essay, students have a chance to pull
together all the threads from the semester to answer their initial (though
probably revised) question. In addition, they will have a chance to
find sources that further develop and support their thesis. |
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