Assessment
I’ll base your grade on your class engagement, a team presentation, and a series of written assignments. I have high expectations for class engagement — this seminar will work only if everyone prepares diligently, thinks critically about the materials, and engages in lively dialogue while we’re together. That said, I also recognize that our class discussions will raise distressing topics, so I’ll understand if you need to withdraw from our conversations from time to time. All I ask is that you work hard and approach class with empathy, openness, and humility.
At various points during this class, you’ll also engage in self-assessment by recommending the grade that you think your work deserves and briefly explaining why you selected that grade. I’ll ultimately decide your grades based on my own assessment of your work, but I may consider your recommendations and explanations in this process.
As you’ll see here and elsewhere in the syllabus, some assignments and deadlines refer to students being in the “Red Team” or “Black Team.” These teams serve two functions:
They determine the timing of some work related to your individual op-eds;
They signify your groups for the team presentation during our final session.
There’s no competition between the teams; on the contrary, everyone will collaborate and support each other throughout the semester. You’ll be assigned to your team soon.
Please submit your written assignments here.
All work done in this course is subject to the University of Georgia Law School Honor Code and Plagiarism Policy, the University of Georgia Academic Honesty Policy, and the University of Georgia Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy. For the avoidance of doubt, in the process of preparing your written assignments, you’re also specifically prohibited from generating text by using any artificial intelligence or machine-learning system.
Here’s the assessment breakdown:
Class Engagement (20%) — Engage in our class throughout the semester. Engagement comes in many forms and goes beyond attending and speaking. Taken holistically, engagement includes (but isn’t limited to):
Preparation (reviewing our assigned materials before class)
Focus (avoiding distractions during class)
Presence (being engaged and responsive during class discussions, guest visits, and team activities)
Curiosity (asking questions in and out of class)
Listening (hearing what others are saying and not saying)
Specificity (referring to specific ideas from our materials and discussions)
Synthesizing (making connections between our materials and discussions)
Weekly Reaction (5%) — Submit a thoughtful question or reflection for each of the first nine classes. Your weekly reaction shouldn’t exceed 150 words and may be significantly shorter, so long as you engage critically with something from at least one of the assigned materials. You may skip one weekly reaction with no penalty or explanation (i.e., you must submit at least eight). Each weekly reaction is due the day before our first nine classes, and a final collection of all your weekly reactions is due May 12.
No Tech for a Day (10%) — Spend 24 hours without using any internet-enabled technology, then write 1,000–1,500 words reflecting on the experience. Was it constraining? Was it liberating? Did it change how you think about your relationship with technology? If so, how? Do you think it’ll affect your technology use in the future? Why or why not? Due January 24.
Tech Diary (10%) — Keep a diary of every technology you use over the course of a week, then write 1,000–1,500 words reflecting on how at least some of these technologies might enable abuse. How could someone use any of them to invade your privacy or autonomy, coerce or threaten you, harm your reputation, injure you emotionally or physically, damage you professionally or financially, or cause you to doubt your reality? Is there anything you could do to protect yourself from this harm? If so, how effective would this protection be? Due February 14.
Team Presentation (20%) — Work in teams to identify a type of digital abuse and develop a plan to address it using legal and extralegal regulation. To encourage good collaboration, you’ll be graded (1) as a team based on the substance of the entire presentation and (2) individually based on the manner of your own presentation and how you respond to questions and comments. You’ll also confidentially recommend a grade for each of your teammates based on their contributions to this assignment. While I’ll ultimately decide on your final grade for this assignment, I may consider the grades recommended by your teammates. (Agreeing or colluding with teammates on grade recommendations is forbidden and violates the honor code for this course.) Your presentation will occur during our final class on April 19.
Social-Media Post (5%) — Draft a post for social media to raise awareness about digital abuse. You may design your post for any platform (e.g., Snapchat, Mastodon, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, or Tumblr). Your post should grab people’s attention, inform them, and make them care about something that’s underappreciated. You needn’t actually post anything online, though you certainly can. (With your permission, I might even publicize your posts on my own account!) Due May 12.
Op-Ed (30%) — Write an op-ed about regulating a form of digital abuse. This seminar should help you contextualize your topic, making your arguments accessible to a broad audience in around 1,000 words (and no more than 1,250 words). Start with a lede to grab the reader’s attention, state your thesis and defend it based on evidence, then circle back to the introductory hook or theme in your conclusion. Check out these resources from The Op-Ed Project, New York Times, and Duke for tips on writing effective op-eds, as well as the many op-eds assigned on our syllabus. You needn’t pitch your op-ed to any publications, but I’ll gladly support your efforts if you’re interested in publishing. Your grade will be based principally on your final op-ed, but you must also show diligence throughout the drafting process — including through your 1-page op-ed outline, speed pitch, initial draft, and one-on-one meeting.
Red Team: Outline due March 19, speed pitch in class on March 22, draft due April 2, and one-on-one meetings on April 5.
Black Team: Outline due March 26, speed pitch in class on March 29, draft due April 9, and one-on-one meetings on April 12.
All final op-eds are due May 12.