Assignments & Grading
Overview
This course is worth two credits. According to ABA Standard 310, for a two-credit course you are expected to spend at least four hours per week on course-related work outside of class.
Your grade will be based on:
- Weekly reading responses (25%)
- Class participation (25%)
- Final paper and presentation (50%)
Weekly Reading Responses
By midnight on the Monday before each class, please email me a 250-500 word reading response to that week’s assigned reading. To be sure that I do not miss your email, please use the subject line “Reading Response.”
Your reading response should articulate your initial reactions to and thoughts about the theories, concepts, arguments, and ideas from the week’s reading.
I highly encourage you to take notes as you read. Reading without taking notes is not reading at all. Jotting down notes only after finishing the assigned reading will almost always result in a subpar reading response. As you work through your reading assignments, don’t read passively and don’t take anything for granted. As you read, write down questions that come to mind. Ask yourself: What aspects of the author’s argument do you agree and disagree with? Why? Why not? What are the opportunities and limitations of these ideas? What assumptions are being taken for granted? What questions have been left unasked? What questions would you like to ask the author?
Your reading response should take the form of an edited collection of those notes. With reading responses, you are not expected to have arrived at answers that can resolve difficult and thorny issues. Rather, a good reading response thoughtfully probes at important questions.
These reading responses are not busy work. They are the foundation of our classroom discussions. Each week, I will incorporate your questions and thoughts into a visual mind map that will guide our discussion. During class, the mind map will be projected or shown on the in-class television and will be shared with the entire class on the course website.
Class Participation
Class preparation is required. I expect that you will come to class having completed the reading and ready to speak about the materials assigned for that day. You are expected to participate actively in class discussions every week.
I also expect you to ask questions of each other in class, and you should always feel free to ask me questions as well. In particular, I would encourage you to ask about anything unclear from the readings. Please don’t be embarrassed to ask about things you don’t understand — there will likely be others with the same question.
Final Project & Presentation
Final projects should be conducted in teams of 1-3 students. You are allowed to work in pairs or teams but may also choose to work independently. You must complete a research paper (approximately 10 single-spaced pages) and related presentation (approximately 15-20 minutes) that is inspired by the course material. These projects are an opportunity for you to examine a wider range of techniques, domains, and moral and legal principles than we have covered in class.
Although you have flexibility in constructing these projects, I anticipate that most projects will take one of two forms:
Describe the use or potential use of an algorithm in a part of our legal system and analyze the positive and negative implications of this development using the principles and theories explored in class.
Analyze how current law and policy may need to adapt to a new development in algorithmic technology.
Students are encouraged to discuss ideas for final projects in class. Later in the semester, we will carve out time in class for students to discuss potential projects and recruit partners and teammates.
To help formulate your final project, students are highly encouraged to schedule office hours with me before the end of March.
Student presentations will be held on our final two weeks of class: November 14th and November 21.
Final papers are due Tuesday December 5th. You are encouraged to use the questions and reactions to your in-class presentations to refine your final paper.