AP/MODR1730 6.0 G: Reasoning About Social Issues
Offered by: MODR
Session
Fall 2020
Term
Y
Format
LECT
Instructor
Calendar Description / Prerequisite / Co-Requisite
This is a skills-based course focusing on critical thinking, research-based writing, and qualitative and quantitative analysis. The particular focus will be on different positions taken within the social sciences on issues such as abortion, euthanasia, pornography, immigration etc. Typical examples are to be analyzed. Course credit exclusions: AP/MODR 1760 6.00, AP/MODR 1770 6.00.
Course Start Up
Course Websites hosted on York's "eClass" are accessible to students during the first week of the term. It takes two business days from the time of your enrolment to access your course website. Course materials begin to be released on the course website during the first week. To log in to your eClass course visit the York U eClass Portal and login with your Student Passport York Account. If you are creating and participating in Zoom meetings you may also go directly to the York U Zoom Portal.
For further course Start Up details, review the Getting Started webpage.
For IT support, students may contact University Information Technology Client Services via askit@yorku.ca or (416) 736-5800. Please also visit Students Getting Started UIT or the Getting Help - UIT webpages.
Professor Philip MacEwen
pmacewen@yorku.ca
Virtual office hours: Students may access the Course Director with questions about the course anytime at my email address, pmacewen@yorku.ca If students want more opportunity for consultation, please send me your phone number and a time when I can call you.
Expanded Course Description: This course aims to help students gain facility in a wide range of critical skills, including language analysis, reasoning/argument analysis, fallacy analysis, conceptual analysis, and writing analysis, and apply them to an examination of some contemporary social issues.
Technical requirements for taking the course: This is a fully asynchronous, on-line course. In other words, there are no lecture times and no classes to attend. All course activities are conducted remotely. In order to take the course and fully participate in it, students need the following: 1) an email account, 2) access to the course Moodle site and 3) access to the Zoom lectures, which are posted on the course Moodle site.
Students are invited, but not required, to access the Zoom lectures live. They can do so via a live image of themselves, a picture of themselves, or by name only. At the end of each Zoom lecture, there will be a question-and-answer (Q & A) period. Students are invited to participate in the Q & A periods visually, audibly, and/or by sending text messages.
Times and locations: Please note that this course depends on remote teaching and learning. There will be no in-person interactions or activities on campus. Instead, the course will operate remotely on a weekly basis. The written lectures will be posted on the course Moodle site week-by-week in advance of the Zoom lectures. The Zoom lectures will be accessible on the course Moodle site and posted there each week. Students may access the Zoom lectures either at the time they are given (to be announced) or after they have been posted.
There are no required texts for the course. It is entirely self-contained. All required readings come as part of the course.
To facilitate interaction among students, the course is weighted on completing and submitting five short, small-group writing assignments, each worth 20% of the final grade (20% x 5=100%). There are no tests, exams, or other types of assignments for the course.
Please note that this course depends on remote teaching and learning. There will be no in-person interactions or activities on campus. Instead, the course will operate remotely on a weekly basis. The written lectures will be posted on the course Moodle site week-by-week in advance of the Zoom lectures. The Zoom lectures will be accessible on the course Moodle site and posted there each week. Students may access the Zoom lectures either at the time they are given (to be announced) or after they have been posted.
The objectives of the course are threefold: to help students i) understand the nature of reasoning/argument, its role at the university, and its significance in academic and professional life, ii) gain facility in a wide range of other critical skills, and iii) apply these skills to some contemporary social issues.
Course Policies:
The writing assignments must be submitted during the relevant weeks indicated in the Course Outline. The Course Outline will be posted as a file on the course Moodle site and delineated on its main page.
Each student will be assigned to a small writing group during the first week of the Fall Semester.
Please complete your writing assignments with the other members of your writing group. You will be sent the contact information of the other members of your writing group during the first week of the Fall Semester.
If you are unable to submit your writing assignments on time, please contact me by e-mail before the assignments are due, giving the reason/s why you are unable to do so.
Please note that the Course Director holds the copyright on all the material used in MODR 1730 6.0G. Students must obtain the express, written permission of the Course Director if they wish to use any of this material outside this section of the course.
Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help:
Zoom@YorkU User Reference Guide
- Academic Honesty
- Student Rights and Responsibilities
- Religious Observance
- Grading Scheme and Feedback
- 20% Rule
No examinations or tests collectively worth more than 20% of the final grade in a course will be given during the final 14 calendar days of classes in a term. The exceptions to the rule are classes which regularly meet Friday evenings or on Saturday and/or Sunday at any time, and courses offered in the compressed summer terms. - Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities