Assignments and Assessments

Students will engage in four sorts of activities and assessments during the quarter.

Reading Papers. Read extensively in the Value Sensitive Design and related literatures (see readings below).
Short Writing Assignments. These will be assigned periodically throughout the quarter. We will frequently use these assignments to help focus discussion during a class meeting. Thus, NO late short-writing assignments will be accepted. Our expectation is that these writing assignments should be finished documents.
In-class Design Studio Activities. As we introduce Value Sensitive Design theory and methods, there will be in-class design studio activities that allow you to focus on a single aspect of the methodology in a relatively well-defined domain. The in-class design studio activities will position you to apply the Value Sensitive Design methodology to your quarter long project (see below). Occasionally, we will ask you to write short reflective papers (typically 1-page) on the design activity.
Value Sensitive Design Project. Over the course of the quarter, students working in small groups or individually will propose and carry out a Value Sensitive Design project of a specified domain. For example, students might identify a specific technology (e.g., location aware system on a mobile phone, court records available online) and analyze its value implications. Alternatively, students might choose to identify a specific value (e.g., autonomy, trust) and analyze that value across a range of information systems. In each project, students should employ and integrate (albeit to varying degrees) the three types of investigations – conceptual, technical, and empirical – that lie at the heart of Value Sensitive Design.

Grading Criteria and Percentages

General grading information for the University of Washington is available at:
http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/Grading_Sys.html

The iSchool has adopted its own criteria for grading graduate courses. The grading criteria used by the iSchool is available at: http://www.ischool.washington.edu/resources/academic/grading.aspx

This is a graded course (decimal grades).

10%      Class Participation (including discussion and student led presentations)
5%       Short Writing Assignments
25%      In-class Studio Activities
60%      VSD Project (due Wednesday December 16 at 5 pm)