<aside> ⏳ I recognize that we are all still living through an intense time of war and violent conflicts, social movements for justice, quickly devolving conditions due to climate change, and more. These have far reaching and often very personal implications. This class is designed to be collaborative, where learning happens because of the perspectives, experiences, and knowledge that we all bring. How we show up in the course matters.
Compassion and flexibility will help us all get through this course together. I’ll check-in with you all periodically, and am open to hearing how you are doing and what might help you get through the course in a way that feels satisfactory to you and supports your well-being. If you tell me you’re struggling, I won’t judge you or think any less of you. I hope you extend me and your fellow classmates the same consideration.
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What does academic integrity mean in this course? Our class focuses on collaborative learning and skill building—not simply on the memorization and recall of facts. In this style of class, academic integrity means that when you reference or rely on someone else’s work in an aspect of the performance of a task—no matter how big or small—you will give full credit in the proper form as discussed in class. It is always better to imperfectly credit external influences and work than to not credit at all!
“Citation is how we acknowledge our debt to those who came before; those who helped us find our way when the way was obscured because we deviated from the paths we were told to follow.” ~Sara Ahmed, 2017
If there is no specific attempt to credit ideas and work, the assignment will receive no credit. Next, we will have a conversation about how to ensure appropriate attribution and citation going forward. Additional instances of missing attribution and citation will be handled according to the college's Code of Conduct policies.
For the first part of the semester, I request that you do not use any form of algorithmic tool outside of basic spelling and grammar corrections on work and assignments. What you do with the notes you create for your own learning and self-study is up to you—this request is simply for work turned in.
Why the first part of the semester? This is the crucial time where you’re developing the skills and knowledge needed to be able to do high quality historical thinking. And, these skills and knowledge are vital for you to be able to effectively process and vet the responses from ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, etc.
Students in past semesters have overwhelmingly noted that using these tools can be useful if used to accomplish specific tasks and when the student has the ability to evaluate the quality of the output. The only way to develop this ability is to do the work yourself and through first-hand practice. Then, later in the semester, the opportunity to use these tools to augment your project will be available, and hopefully, actually useful!
Around midterm, we will have a class discussion about the benefits and limits of algorithmic tools and develop a course policy for their use.
So, until you are explicitly given direction that it’s ok to use algorithmic tools—don’t use them!
Another aspect of academic integrity is the respectful exchange of ideas. Discussion is encouraged in this course, with the firm expectation that all aspects of the class will be conducted with consideration for differing ideas, perspectives, and traditions. We will encounter challenging topics and materials in this class including things that are heavy, difficult, and may conflict with what we have learned before or may currently think.
This is a rare class where we all have direct experience in the topic: we are all part of families (broadly defined) whose histories have shaped us. You are welcome to share from your own personal and family experiences and bring in knowledge you’ve learned from other contexts and classes if you wish. There is no requirement to disclose. As folks share their own lived experiences, check in on your own assumptions and biases before responding. In any moments of friction, please pause and consider what elements may be jarring, and know that you can always ground your responses back in the course materials.
It takes courage to be vulnerable and learn in front of others. When in doubt, please reach out to me for guidance and clarification before posting or responding to a classmate.
Having Zoom meetings (or using any other video messaging tools) blurs the lines between what is private space (home, work, or other places) and what is the classroom space.
To preserve privacy for all: everyone will blur their backgrounds when joining a video meeting with DrS or with peers. Blurring will be used instead of putting up a background image.