| Instructors | Calvin Deutschbein (503) 370-6486 |
Time | MWF 12-1 Ford 201 Fall 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shouvik Ahmed Antu | Office | Ford 306 1 PM - |
| College Colloquium | Thinking Machines | |
|---|---|---|
| Topical seminars designed to pursue significant issues and questions of special interest to instructors and students. Seminars invite students into the intellectual life of the university, model rigorous engagement, and help them develop qualities of good scholarship -- effective writing, careful reading, critical thinking, and cogent argumentation. Seminars do not count toward majors or minors. Required for all entering firstyear students. | Artifical intelligence, machine learning, big data, and large scale computing have captured the collective imaginations of millions people across a range of technical expertise. Yet each of these buzzwords is rooted in a central promise: that machines may think. Guided by student inquiry, we will learn how to construct thinking - or the appearance thereof - from basic computation. Using the shared language of computer code, we use programming as a way to bridge the gap between thinking humans and thinking machines. With this shared experience, we will be able to reflect more thoughtfully on the implications of thinking machines on the self, culture, and society. |
Assignments in this course will have the sole purpose of student learning. For assessment:
The following material is adapted from “Information for Syllabus” recommended language on syllabus prepartion provided to instructors in the College of Arts & Sciences and represents the views of the instructor's employer other than minor edits for clarity and sensativity.
Willamette’s Credit Hour Policy holds that for every hour of class time there is an expectation of 2-3 hours’ work outside of class. Thus, for this class you should anticipate spending 6-9 hours outside of class engaged in course-related activities. Examples include reading course materials, preparing for discussion, preparing and writing papers and exams.
Students of Willamette University are members of a community that values excellence and integrity in every aspect of life. As such, we expect all community members to live up to the highest standards of personal, ethical, and moral conduct. Students are expected not to engage in any type of academic or intellectually dishonest practice and encouraged to display honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility in all they do. Plagiarism and cheating are especially offensive to the integrity of courses in which they occur and against the College community as a whole. These acts involve intellectual dishonesty, deception, and fraud, which inhibit the honest exchange of ideas. Plagiarism and cheating may be grounds for failure in the course and/or dismissal from the College. Read more.
As an educational institution, the College of Arts & Sciences is committed to supporting the ideals and standards that help create a constructive and healthy learning community. That requires, among other things, encouraging positive classroom behaviors, discouraging disruptive classroom behaviors, and setting clear standards for both of those things.
Constructive classroom behaviors are those that support learners and teachers in an environment that promotes trust, respect, and collaborative learning.
Disruptive classroom behaviors are those that undermine or interfere with the abilities to learn and to teach. Clear examples of disruptive behaviors include, but are not limited to: interrupting others or persistently speaking out of turn; distracting the class from the subject matter or discussion at hand; making unauthorized recordings or photos of a class meeting or discussion (except as permitted as part of an Accessible Education Services-mandated accommodations); and in extreme cases, any physical threat, physical, psychological, sexual harassment, ridicule, or abusive act towards a student, staff member, or instructor in a classroom or related setting.
Willamette is committed to supporting our DACA/Undocumented students in a variety of ways. This year, Emilio Solano, Assistant Provost for Institutional Equity and Community Engagement, is the contact person for all DACA/undocumented students. Emilio can provide those students with a number of external and internal resources that are available. His contact information is easolano@willamette.edu, Office: 302 UC, Phone: 503-370-6027.
Willamette is a community committed to fostering safe, productive learning environments, and we value ethical sexual behaviors and standards. Title IX and our school policy prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, which regards sexual misconduct — including discrimination, harassment, domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. We encourage affected students to talk to someone about their experiences and get the support they need.
Please be aware that as a mandatory reporter I am required to report any instances you disclose to Willamette’s Title IX Coordinator.
If you would rather share information with a confidential employee who does not have this responsibility, please contact our confidential advocate at confidential-advocate@willamette.edu. Confidential support also can be found with SARAs and at the GRAC (503-851-4245); and at WUTalk - a 24-hour telephone crisis counseling support line (503-375-5353). If you are in immediate danger, please call campus safety at 503-370-6911.
I am always appreciative of the opportunity to address you by your preferred/affirming name, pronouns, and any other gender or identity markers. Please advise me of this at any point in the semester so that I may may best respect you at all times.
If I ever misgender or misidentify you in any way, I would greatly appreciate that you let me know, in whatever manner makes you comfortable, so that I can correct my error and work to repair any harm I have caused you.
I am always appreciative of the opportunity to work with you to achieve the best possible accommodation for your religious practice. Please let me about course conflicts with holy days or any other religious practice so we can work together to achieve an ideal outcome.
Willamette University values diversity and inclusion; we are committed to a climate of mutual respect and full participation. My goal is to create a learning environment that is usable, equitable, inclusive and welcoming. If there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or accurate assessment or achievement, please notify me as soon as possible. Students with disabilities are also encouraged to contact the Accessible Education Services office in Smullin 155 at 503-370-6737 or accessible-info@willamette.edu to discuss a range of options to removing barriers in the course, including accommodations.
The Students Organizing for Access to Resources (SOAR) Center provides free, confidential, and equitable access to food, toiletries, professional clothing, textbooks and scholarly resources for all WU and WU-affiliated students. The SOAR Center is located on the Putnam University Center’s third floor. The space houses the Bearcat Pantry, Clothing Share, and First-Generation Book Drive and is maintained by committed students and advisors. Please check www.willamette.edu/go/soar for current hours of operation and email soar-center@willamette.edu for any questions or concerns.
If you have a day that you are able to be in class but feel that you cannot participate and engage as you usually do, all you need to tell me at the start of class is “handle with care.” You can do this via an email, a direct message via zoom, a note left on my desk, or a quick, private verbal exchange at the start of class.
What asking to be handled with care means for class: You will not be called on (I do not call on people that are not volunteering as a general rule, but I want to remind you of that fact). You will not be asked to turn on your camera if we are meeting via Zoom. You will not be asked to provide any information or context. I do not need to know why you need to be handled with care, but here are some examples of why you might ask to be handled with care:
If we are completing small group work and a student requests engagement from a group member and gets the response “handle with care,” all group members must respect that request and may not ask any follow up questions.
I have this policy because I know that it can sometimes be hard to be in class but it may be even more stressful to miss class. Also, sometimes class can be a welcome distraction when you have negative things going on so you want to go to class but are worried about holding it together if participating/engaging.