Assignment
Assignment
Course: Hopeful Citizenship for the 21st Century
Institution: Saint Mary's College
Faculty: Megan Zwart
Assignment: Learning Activities (LAs) and reflective journals
If philosophy is training for living well, then we need to practice philosophical living!
Throughout the semester, there will be six activities that students need to complete, which will ask them to undertake a specific practice and then reflect on that experience in a journal. Journals should be about 500–600 words and should include specifics of what practice they adopted, how it went, and what they learned from it. Journal entries will be graded according to the journal rubric.
LA 3: Curiosity
Social Media Inventory. Our engagement with technology can either stoke our natural curiosity or stifle it. A key to wise use of social media is an accurate reflection on how you are using it, how it is serving you, and how you feel before, during and after use of social media. Monitor your social media usage for 48 hours and reflect on what you notice. What is serving you about your social media usage? What isn’t serving you? How do you feel before, during and after you spent time online/on social media?
LA 4: Intellectual Humility
Critiquing your own view. Choose an article in the news that is written from a partisan perspective that you tend to agree with (in other words, an article that starts from a particular point of view and aims to convince the reader of that point of view). Cross-check the claims of this article with several different reliable sources, including one with a different partisan lean. Is the initial article being fair and honest in its assessment of the issue? If someone disagreed with the article, what would their strongest objection against it be? What has this exercise shown you about the role of viewpoint diversity and editorial choices in media in a liberal democracy?
LA 5: Intellectual Responsibility
Choose a case study from the news that touches on a controversial use of data by AI. (See the online resource for examples.) Using at least three articles from reputable sources, describe the issue and the potential ethical implications of the use of data in this way. What would you recommend to avoid unethical use of data in this case?
LA 6: Courage
Speaking up: Writing an Op-Ed. Choose a topic that matters to you and write an
op-ed about it (750–800 words). Then write a 250-word journal explaining how you integrated some of the best practices from the articles.
About
Students in class: 20-30
Teaching modality: In person
Grade level/year: Undergraduate students
Course type: The class fulfills the requirement for critical thinking and philosophy; it is also a part of the Digital and Public Humanities Minor.
Virtues integrated: attention, empathy, curiosity, intellectual humility, courage, and intellectual responsibility
Course: Hopeful Citizenship for the 21st Century
Institution: Saint Mary's College
Faculty: Megan Zwart
Assignment: Learning Activities (LAs) and reflective journals
If philosophy is training for living well, then we need to practice philosophical living!
Throughout the semester, there will be six activities that students need to complete, which will ask them to undertake a specific practice and then reflect on that experience in a journal. Journals should be about 500–600 words and should include specifics of what practice they adopted, how it went, and what they learned from it. Journal entries will be graded according to the journal rubric.
LA 3: Curiosity
Social Media Inventory. Our engagement with technology can either stoke our natural curiosity or stifle it. A key to wise use of social media is an accurate reflection on how you are using it, how it is serving you, and how you feel before, during and after use of social media. Monitor your social media usage for 48 hours and reflect on what you notice. What is serving you about your social media usage? What isn’t serving you? How do you feel before, during and after you spent time online/on social media?
LA 4: Intellectual Humility
Critiquing your own view. Choose an article in the news that is written from a partisan perspective that you tend to agree with (in other words, an article that starts from a particular point of view and aims to convince the reader of that point of view). Cross-check the claims of this article with several different reliable sources, including one with a different partisan lean. Is the initial article being fair and honest in its assessment of the issue? If someone disagreed with the article, what would their strongest objection against it be? What has this exercise shown you about the role of viewpoint diversity and editorial choices in media in a liberal democracy?
LA 5: Intellectual Responsibility
Choose a case study from the news that touches on a controversial use of data by AI. (See the online resource for examples.) Using at least three articles from reputable sources, describe the issue and the potential ethical implications of the use of data in this way. What would you recommend to avoid unethical use of data in this case?
LA 6: Courage
Speaking up: Writing an Op-Ed. Choose a topic that matters to you and write an
op-ed about it (750–800 words). Then write a 250-word journal explaining how you integrated some of the best practices from the articles.
About
Students in class: 20-30
Teaching modality: In person
Grade level/year: Undergraduate students
Course type: The class fulfills the requirement for critical thinking and philosophy; it is also a part of the Digital and Public Humanities Minor.
Virtues integrated: attention, empathy, curiosity, intellectual humility, courage, and intellectual responsibility