Assignments
If you find that you will be unable to complete all course requirements,
then contact the instructor for your section to discuss your options as soon as possible.
1. Attendance and Participation
To receive credit for completion of the course, you must attend and participate in all seven meetings of the course, including a review of any assigned readings before the scheduled class time. If you must miss a class meeting, please contact the course instructor and review options for alternate assignments at: Missed Meetings
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2. Presentations of Current Events
To receive credit for completion of the course, you must prepare a presentation based on a current event relevant to an assigned topic. You will be randomly assigned to one of the course topics, for which you should find a relevant story/article/blog posting/video clip/novel/book of interest. Both the lay press and the scientific literature regularly report on events relevant to the discussion of science and research ethics. The goal for this assignment is that you choose a current event, which means publication no earlier than 12 months, and ideally 3 months, before the start of the course.
Since more than one student will be assigned to the same topic, you will be expected to collaborate with others assigned to the same topic to minimize the risk of duplication of current events, approaches, and/or content. To ensure adequate time for preparation, you should forward your plans by e-mail to the course instructor, and others assigned to the same topic, no later than 72 hours before your presentation is scheduled.
You should use your current event as a way to clarify or problematize key issues of your assigned topic, and engage the class in discussion. In preparation, you can use the information found at www.research-ethics.net and any other sites or resources to help contextualize your current event.
You are not meant to simply convey all the information that you’ve learned about the topic. Each of you is supposed to be reading all the modules on the research-ethics.net site, so everyone starts with the same basic information. Therefore you should focus on something compelling, essential, or problematic about the topic, as suggested by or evidenced in the current event.
Your presentation should not be a simple lecture. You should incorporate one or more of the approaches listed at research-ethics.net/discussion-tools, or create your own approach. For example, one group recently staged a game show format for addressing elements of publication. Please note that simple case studies are not among the choices you can use to augment your current events presentation. Be creative in finding ways to encourage discussion and interaction.
The course instructor is also available to meet or assist by email with additional resources if necessary.
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3. Faculty Panel
Course participants will be asked to recommend faculty for an open discussion of the ethical dimensions of the practice of science to take place during the final class meeting. Class members will prepare for this session by submitting 2-3 questions each. Questions should be well-formulated to reflect the course assignments and discussion. Questions will be asked, anonymously, of the faculty panel by the instructor.
The panel questions are the final assignment of the course and must be submitted by email to the instructor no later than 24 hours before the panel to receive credit for completion of the course.
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4. Evaluation
On completion of the course, you will receive a brief questionnaire designed to assess knowledge, perceptions, and/or attitudes relevant to the topics of the course. These questionnaires must be completed and submitted to help assess the impact of the course.
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