Syllabus

 

Location and Meeting Time

LAB 1 1047     Every Wednesday 6-10 pm; alternate Sat, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm (April 5, 19 and May 3, 17, 31)

 

Credit

8 quarter hours 

Credit awarded in: ethics, political philosophy, chronic illness and disability studies

 

Faculty

Stephen Beck  360-867-5488   becks@evergreen.edu  Office: Lib 3227  (Mailbox: L 3220)

Joli Sandoz    360-867-6850  sandozj@evergreen.edu  Office: COM 205   (Mailbox: COM 301)

 

Program Secretary

Sharon Wendt  360-867-6588   wendts@evergreen.edu Office:  Lib 3225  (Mailbox: L3220)

 

Evening and Weekend Studies Academic Advisor

Academic Advising   360-867-6312    advising@evergreen.edu

 

Program Description

What's the best way to respond to disability and chronic illness (and any significant difference) personally, politically, professionally? We'll study several frameworks of ethics and political philosophy relevant to the lives of disabled and chronically ill people, including the ADA and roles of helping professionals. This program is for anyone who wants to learn how to do practical philosophy, reflect on chronic illness and disability in particular, and think about significant difference. Program content relates to careers in counseling, social work, health care, social justice activism and public policy development. Credit will be awarded in ethics, political philosophy, and chronic illness and disability studies.

 

Guiding Questions

What do we as human beings owe each other? How do significant differences — especially those in physical or mental abilities, or in physical or mental health — impact our obligations and our responsibilities to each other? How can we best give and receive from each other in emotionally charged circumstances? How does our perception of ourselves as healthy or ill, abled or disabled, affect our sense of self, our identity, and the meaning we find in our lives and those of others? How do we define health, and happiness? Does significant difference significantly affect our definitions?

 

Important Note

Please abide by the spirit of Evergreen’s air quality policy! This means refraining from wearing “scented products” — natural or artificial perfume or fragrances — to class, or in any public space on campus. (Cologne, aftershave, hair spray, anti-static dryer sheets, strong-smelling lotions and some brands of deodorant are frequent sources of problematic scents that may also be allergens. Products without fragrance are available in many brands.) Also, please do not come to class in smoke-saturated clothing (tobacco or wood smoke), or hand in written work on paper or in folders or notebooks that smell of tobacco or wood smoke. The full text of the official Evergreen policy can be accessed at http://www.evergreen.edu/user/pol_proc/g-air.htm .

 

 

Course  Learning Objectives

By the end of the quarter, each of us will be farther along in her or his ability to be mindful, both intellectually and emotionally, in our social and professional interactions with people significantly different from ourselves, and in emotionally-charged circumstances.

 

In addition, each of us will have a better understanding of the following, as measured by improved ability to apply relevant concepts to practical situations:

Social contract theories of ethics (concerning the nature of our rights and duties)

Virtue ethics (concerning the nature of the good life and ideals of character)

The social construction of difference, especially chronic illness and disability

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Selected concepts of “self”, “identity,” and “health in illness/disability”

Selected issues and techniques in communicating across significant difference

By the end of the quarter, each of us will have improved his or her abilities to:

 

 

 

Upper Division Credit

“Upper division” is a designation on the faculty evaluation of student (that is, the official record of your credit earned), which indicates that your performance was at the junior/senior undergraduate level. There is no requirement to earn any upper-division credit in order to graduate, unless you are pursuing a B.S. degree — in which case, you need 45 upper-division science credits, which we cannot award in this program. If you are planning to attend graduate school in any field (not just science), you may decide that you want to upper-division credit to show on your transcript.

                                                   

Individual Evergreen faculty have different policies regarding upper-division credit. Some faculty never designate any credit as upper-division, preferring to reflect the quality of the students’ work in the evaluations themselves. Some faculty prefer to ask students to successfully complete extra work, rather than or in addition to performance at a certain level. It’s important to remember that, like credit in general, “upper division” must be earned — it’s not automatically awarded because a particular course or program is designed as an upper-division course. (And you may be able to earn it in a “lower division” course, depending on the faculty.) If you are interested in upper-division credit, please let us know by Wednesday, April 9. We will discuss specific requirements with you at that point. But in general, we will expect your attendance and spoken and written work to reflect and demonstrate a deeper level of engagement with course content and with learning than is generally expected of first and second year students.

 

 

 

 

 

Student-Written Evaluations

You are expected to write a formal self-evaluation and an evaluation of faculty for your seminar leader. Please include your self-evaluation in your portfolio (due Wednesday, June 4). You may submit your evaluation of faculty directly to Sharon Wendt, program secretary, located at Library 3225. Please note that our evaluation of you will reference your self-evaluation, and Evergreen will not consider your transcript complete without it. Please take special care with the grammar and spelling of all evals you write; when you apply for a job or for graduate school, others will read them to determine your skill in writing. Your evals also become part of faculty hiring portfolios read by Evergreen deans.

o       Evaluations are to be placed on the proper forms, available in Library 1414 (Student Support Services), on computers at Evergreen computer centers, and at http://www.evergreen.edu/ academiccomputing/download.htm. (But don’t wait until the last minute and expect to grab them off the web address on your home computer – many people have trouble accessing the forms this way.)

We will also give you a student evaluation of the program to fill out during class time. This document is not official, and is your chance to provide feedback on the course materials, content, etc.

 

 

Faculty Evaluations of Students

Our overall assessment of your work will be based primarily on the fact and quality of your participation during class sessions and activities, and on your portfolio of written work. Evaluations for students in half-time programs are generally one paragraph long. We plan to base our official evaluation of your work in the course learning objectives above.

 

 

Course Requirements and Credit Policy

·        Attendance at all class sessions, if at all possible. However, please do not come to class when you are contagious! And you must make the decision about where attendance fits into the management of your condition, if you are a person living with CID. One “free” absence (no make up) per quarter is our standard policy. For additional misses, it is your responsibility to initiate a make-up conversation with your seminar faculty. We reserve the right to accept work instead of attendance for one additional missed class only  (that’s two total) before reducing the amount of credit awarded to you at the end of the quarter. Again, it’s up to you to initiate a “make up” discussion with faculty.

 

 


 

 

 

 

Please remember . . .

 

·        Attendance does not by itself guarantee credit or a good faculty evaluation of student, which students earn through active participation, grasp of course content as demonstrated in verbal and written work, and projects (when applicable).

·        Faculty in Evergreen’s Evening and Weekend Studies programs and courses cannot award incompletes. Credit awards are made at the end of Week 10. The amount and type of credit will be based on the amount and type of work successfully completed at that time. If you need a particular type of credit -- including upper division credit, or credit with a certain title -- please negotiate this with your seminar faculty early in the quarter.

·        The campus air quality policy makes presence in Evergreen’s classrooms possible for a number of students and faculty who could not otherwise be there.

 

Thanks!


 

Class Meeting Times

 

Week

 

Date

 

Day

 

Time

Due

 

Class Session Content

 

Week 1

 

Apr 2

Wed

6 to 10 pm

0 pages reading

 

Introduction to program, participants, concepts

 

Apr 5

Sat

9:30 to 4:30

43 pages reading

1-2 page paper

Computer workshop

Doing philosophy

Concepts related to ethics and philosophy

 

Week 2

Apr 9

Wed

6 to 10 pm

41 pages reading

1-2 page paper

What are chronic illness and disability? 

 

NO SATURDAY CLASS

Week 3

Apr 16

Wed

6 to 10 pm

47 pages reading

1-2 page paper

Intro to American with Disabilities Act

Rawls, from Political Liberalism

 

Apr 19

Sat

9:30 to 4:30

38 pages reading

Doing philosophy: ADA & social contract theory

Rawls, from A Theory of Justice

 

Week 4

Apr 23

Wed

6 to 10 pm

45 pages reading

1-2 page paper

Experiencing CID

selections from Habermas

 

NO SATURDAY CLASS

Week 5

Apr 30

Wed

6 to 10 pm

25 pages reading

Negotiating Self and Identity in CID

MacIntyre, from After Virtue

 

May 3

Sat

9:30 to 4:30

135 pages reading

Negotiating Self and Identity in CID

MacIntyre, Dependent Rational Animals

 

Week 6

May 7

Wed

6 to 10 pm

61 pages reading

1-2 page paper

Virtue Ethics: The Virtues

CID as difference

 

NO SATURDAY CLASS

Week 7

May 14

Wed

6 to 10 pm

28 pages reading

1-2 page paper

Virtue Ethics: Virtues in relation to others
Relating to Difference in Practitioner/Client Setting

 

May 17

Sat

9:30 to 4:30

51 pages reading

Doing philosophy: Exploring professional/client relationships

 

Week 8

May 21

Wed

6 to 10 pm

18 pages reading

1-2 page paper

Is difference valuable?

Doing philosophy: Reconciling the public and the private

 

NO SATURDAY CLASS

Week 9

May 28

Wed

6 to 10 pm

51 pages reading

1-2 page paper

Presentation (or 5/31)

Presentations

Doing philosophy: A case study exploring the concept of “human”  (Part 1)

 

May 31

Sat

9:30 to 4:30

31 pages reading

Presentation (or 5/28)

Presentations

Doing philosophy: A case study exploring the concept of “human”  (Part 2)

 

Week 10

June 4

Wed

6 to 10 pm

0 pages reading

Portfolio due

Wrap up

 

NO SATURDAY CLASS

Wk 11

June 9 –13   EVALUATION APPOINTMENTS AND GRADUATION


 

Evergreen’s
Five Foci

Evergreen's goal is to assist students in developing personal strengths, abilities and a sense of their own work in order to participate effectively, individually and collaboratively in a diverse, complex world. The Five Foci are the principles that guide teaching and learning and direct how the curriculum is structured to accomplish this goal.   

·         Interdisciplinary learning

  • Collaboration
  • Personal engagement
  • Linking theory and practice

·         Learning across significant differences

 

Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate
In May 2001, Evergreen faculty agreed upon a set of expectations they believe Evergreen students should achieve. 

 

1. Articulate and assume responsibility for your own work
For example:  Discussing your work in a self evaluation

·                                Conducting an individually directed research project

·                                Maintaining an up-to-date portfolio and academic plan

2. Participate collaboratively and responsibly in our diverse society
For example:  Assuming varied roles in seminar discussions and other group projects

·                               Conducting internships and community service projects

3. Communicate creatively and effectively
For example:  Developing written essays

·                                Presenting in a public forum

·                               Creating works of art, music or poetry

·                               Demonstrating information literacy

4. Demonstrate integrative, independent and critical thinking
For example:  Writing about and discussing nonfiction, fiction, poetry

                       Writing about, discussing, analyzing scientific research articles, mathematical proofs, charts

                       Writing about, discussing, analyzing works of art, performance, arguments

5. Apply qualitative, quantitative, and creative modes of inquiry appropriately
     to practical and theoretical problems across disciplines

For example:  Evaluating quality and accuracy of information and resources

                       Making estimates and critically evaluating their limits of validity

                       Formulating good questions based on need for information; identifying potential
                            sources of information and developing and applying successful search strategies
                            to access varied sources of information including computer based technologies

6. As a culmination of your education, demonstrate depth, breadth, and synthesis of learning and the                                                                    ability to reflect on the personal and social significance of that learning
For example: Complete research projects that incorporate collection and analysis of data

                       Generate theoretical models, compare predictions with observations

                       Understand issues of academic freedom, copyright, and plagiarism

                       Create written work or works of art

                        Write a summative self evaluation