Details

Required Reading

There will be a collection of readings available on this class website. All assigned readings are to be completed before class on the dates indicated.

You are expected to read a daily newspaper. Current events are fair game for exams.

Email, not Voicemail

I am happy to meet with you in office hours, or at another time if my office hours don’t work for you. I also check email regularly. Do not leave voice mail for me on my office phone. I do not check voice mail.

Grading

midterm exam 100
final exam 100
big project 100
little assignments 100
400

Course grading follows the conventional brackets: 90’s are A’s, 80’s are B’s, etc  So for instance, to get an A, you need at least 90 percent of 400 points, or 360.

The exams will be essay and/or multiple choice tests covering the lectures, readings, and classroom discussions.

The “big project” will be a college-level show and tell. It is described here.

The “little assignments” will be quizzes, response papers, maybe a point or two for attendance now and then,  and other little projects that I may assign ahead of time or on the spot (as in pop quizzes). If you come to class after such a little assignment has been given, you will not be allowed to make it up.

Course Objectives

By the end of the semester, you will be stronger in a number of areas.
With respect to written communication skills, book reporters will have written multiple drafts of a carefully argued and written analysis. You will also be a veteran of essay exams.
With respect to multicultural knowledge, your understanding of the ways technology diffuses and is adopted within diverse cultural contexts will be much improved.
With respect to critical thinking skills, you will have practiced evaluating the assumptions of divergent theories and explanations of technology and sociotechnical change.
With respect to theoretical knowledge, your repertoire will be much expanded by the addition of theories such as SCOT, ANT, technological momentum, and others.
With respect to applications of sociology, you will no doubt feel excited by the practical and policy implications of knowing a bit more about our technologies and our technological predicaments.

Extra Credit

There is no extra credit.  There are 400 points of regular credit, some of which are crazy easy to collect – earn those.  Do not ask for extra credit.

Attendance and Make Ups

If you don’t attend regularly, you will certainly bomb this class. There are no make ups for little assignments missed due to an unexcused absence, so attendance is graded indirectly in that way. Students with poor attendance routinely make the lowest grades in my classes, in large part because the exams are based so heavily on classroom lectures and discussions. You really should come every day. I will be much more likely to round up borderline grades for students I have noticed attending regularly and participating in class.

Any make up exam that is allowed will be given at the end of the semester, during the final exam time slot. So if you miss the midterm exam, you would take both the midterm exam and the final exam at the end of the semester during the final exam period. Make up exams, for obvious reasons, may not ask the same questions as the regular exams. While it is not my intention to write make up exams that are more difficult than the originals, the peculiarities of the task often produce make up exams that students report to be more challenging than regular exams.

You absolutely will not be allowed to make up any little assignment without a note from a doctor or a funeral home showing that you had to miss class due to illness or a death in the family. Barring extraordinary circumstances, all such make ups must be completed within one week of the assignment’s original due date.

Students with Disabilities

I am happy to make reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities.  Any disability must be documented by the Office of Disability Services, and I need to know about the disability at the beginning of the semester.

Do Not Secretly Video the Lectures and Post Them on YouTube

Departmental statement: “The Department of Sociology reserves the right to limit or deny the use of any and all electronic devices in the classroom.”

Department Statement about Academic Dishonesty

(and I quote:)
“As members of the university community, students are expected to be aware of and abide by university policies regarding academic honesty. By the same token, members of the faculty within the university community are expected to enforce those policies. Members of the Department of Sociology operate on the assumption that each student has thoroughly reviewed the university policies regarding academic honesty and that the policies will be followed. Accordingly, members of the Department of Sociology will enforce all policies related to academic honesty. The specific policy statements in this regard are to be found at the following websites:

http://www.mrp.txstate.edu:16080/studenthandbook/rules.html#academic (Texas State Student Handbook)

http://www.txstate.edu/effective/upps/upps-07-10-01.html (Academic Honesty, UPPS No. 07.10.01)

The following is not a substitute for the statement of policies found in the above referenced material. Rather, it serves to call each student’s attention to the breadth and depth of academic dishonesty.

Academic dishonesty includes the following: Cheating, plagiarism, collusion and/or abuse of resource materials. Each term or phrase is defined in some detail in the above referenced material. Because the offense of plagiarism can be confusing to students, the following information is provided as essential reading by all students.

‘Plagiarism means the appropriation of another’s work and the unacknowledged incorporation of that work in one’s own written work offered for credit.’ (Texas State University Handbook, UPPS No. 07-10-01)
Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to:

  • downloading or buying a research paper
  • cutting and pasting information from several sources to create a paper
  • leaving out quotation marks around quoted material, placing quotation marks around some but not all copied information
  • leaving out quotation marks around copied information but adding a citation implying that the information is the student’s summary of the source
  • leaving out quotation marks for more than three consecutive words taken directly from a source
  • providing a reference/bibliography page but leaving out the reference citation in the body of the paper
  • faking a citation
  • unintentionally using words or ideas or quotes without citing them in the body of the paper and on the reference/bibliography page

(http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm)

Ignorance of what constitutes plagiarism or having plagiarized in the past without having been penalized does not excuse such acts in the Department of Sociology. Any student charged with plagiarism may appeal in writing in accordance with Texas State University policy.

The phrase, academic dishonesty, includes a variety of transgressions. It refers to acts such as cheating on a test to committing plagiarism when writing a paper. The Sociology Department assumes that it is the responsibility of each student to know what constitutes academic dishonesty. A lack of understanding of the phrase is no excuse when academic dishonesty is at issue. Similarly, a student may not be excused from a current transgression because he/she committed a similar act in the past and was not charged with a violation of university policy. Any student who is accused with academic dishonesty has the right to challenge the accusation, but the challenge must be submitted in writing and in accordance with university policy.

A complete statement on the policy of the Department of Sociology regarding academic dishonesty (including plagiarism) is available on the departmental website www.soci.txstate.edu Remember: ignorance of what constitutes academic dishonesty or having participated in academic dishonesty in the past without being penalized does not excuse such acts in the Department of Sociology.”