Tag: Assignment

Final Project: Evoking Empathy Through Virtual Reality

For your final project you will use all of the readings and discussions we have had throughout this semester to inspire your own creation: a virtual reality experience that evokes empathy. You may draw from your own personal experience, the fiction we have read and watched, and outside research to design a short VR application intended to induce empathy in your audience. You will design this simulation as an entry to the grant competition being held by the U.S. Department of Education:

https://haptic.al/department-of-education-virtual-reality-42f5ce1187dc#.bvdpaqmgi

Please review the specific criteria here:

https://www.edsimchallenge.com/

Winner Selection Criteria

When judging the finalist submissions, including a prototype, judges will recommend to the Department the winner(s) from the pool of the finalists. Each of the following six selection criteria may be assigned up to five points during the selection of the winner(s) (for a total of up to 30 points). The following criteria will be used to select the winner(s):

  • Learning Outcomes. The extent to which the simulation prototype (1) contains clearly defined academic, technical, and employability learning objectives; (2) spurs change or improvement in the user’s knowledge and skills; and (3) provides data to the user and instructor with respect to progress toward achievement of the learning outcomes.
  • Engagement – User Experience. The extent to which the simulation prototype demonstrates an engaging user experience on par with commercially available entertainment games.
  • Engagement – User Interface. The extent to which the simulation prototype exhibits a thoughtful user interface design on par with commercially available entertainment games.
  • Commitment. The extent to which the submission: (1) demonstrates the entrant’s evolution and improvement of the concept; and (2) illustrates the entrant’s ability and intention to improve upon and scale the simulation beyond the Challenge timeframe.
  • Implementation Strategy. The extent to which the submission describes a detailed plan for implementation that takes into account potential barriers such as cost and technological constraints, including integration with existing and future technology, and proposes potential solutions to overcome such barriers.
  • Long-term Vision. The extent to which the submission: (1) demonstrates a plan for encouraging collaboration among the developer community, including making aspects of the solution available through open source licenses; and (2) provides a vision of how the entrant’s plan will stimulate the broader educational simulation market.

To accomplish this task, the project will be broken down into steps.

  1. Individual pitches: each student will conceptualize and present their idea for a project in 3 minutes. The class will vote on the top 4 or 5 projects. (10 points)
  2. Group contracts: in small groups of 3-4, students will outline their plan for this project and assign roles and responsibilities for each student to accomplish. A timeline and due dates will be established. (15 points)
  3. Formal proposals: each group will compose a 3-5 page proposal for their project meeting the criteria of the competition. The proposal will include outside research, citations, and a bibliography. (50 points)
  4. Demo/script/storyboard: each group will create a demo of the simulation by making script and either a video, animation, storyboard, or game prototype. (25 points)
  5. Final presentation: this is your mock presentation to the U.S. Department of Education. You will present all of your research and your prototype using: PowerPoint, Google Slides, Prezi, Emaze, handouts, poster, etc. You have 12 minutes plus 3 for questions (15 total). The final presentations are 12/13 from 1:30-3:30pm, please bring food/drinks to share! Assignment sheets will be provided for each stage.

    100 points total

 

Midterm Assignment: What defines our humanity?

We have the privilege of shaping our midterm essays to fit a real publication with guidance and feedback from the editors. Cyborgology, an academic, peer-edited blog, has agreed to work with our class to contextualize and format this assignment for submission to their publication. This publication takes issues presented in literature and contextualizes their overarching questions by relating the content to relevant political and cultural events. Therefore, you will take the themes we have discussed regarding Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and present them to an educated audience in terms of a current event you consider parallel in some significant way. The goal is to shed light on both the novel and our society by pairing them together. In class on 9/27 the editors will come to provide background information on Cyborgology, discuss their expectations, and answer your questions.

Using the audience, format, genre, and style of a typical Cyborgology post (see list of examples here) as your model, you will craft a ~2,000-3,000 word blog post that answers the question “What Makes Us Human?” with a particular emphasis on the concept of empathy. In order to address this question you must frame it in terms of the texts we have read. Every paper must use Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep as the primary example, and use at least two of the articles we have read as secondary evidence. You are also welcome to include up to two additional sources from either our course readings or reliable outside sources that you consider essential to make your point. (In other words, you must have a minimum of 3 sources, and a maximum of 5 sources.) All sources must be integrated through summary, paraphrase, or quotation with proper MLA formatting (use OWL at Purdue for guidance).

Please see the Cyborgology submission guidelines for further information. You can and should include hyperlinks to your sources as indicated in this guide. You are also encouraged to use images, videos, or infographics that demonstrate your point (with captions and citations). Also, read this post on writing for a public audience by editor David Banks.

Sample outline: *From Cyborgology editor David Banks*

  1. Introduction to X
  2. Sentence telegraphing at the possibility that X is better understood with Y.
  3. Summary of coverage of X
  4. Why summary is wrong/incomplete/misunderstood by 3rd parties.
  5. Introduction of theory Y
  6. Application of theory Y
  7. Synthesis of X and Y
  8. Prescriptions and conclusions

Two printed copies of your draft in TNR, size 12, double spaced are due on 10/4 in class. Your final essay must be posted to our site under category “midterm” and tag “cyborgology” by 10/11.

 

The Right To Choose

A deeply questionable moment occurs in the first chapter of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick.

The protagonist, Rick Deckard, is having an argument with his wife, who doesn’t want to use the Penfield machine, which controls empathy/human emotions. He has also learned that twice a month she dials her machine to a Despair setting. He sees this as dangerous, telling her that “Despair like that… is self-perpetuating” (Dick, 5). She, on the other hand doesn’t feel right about not despairing when despair might ordinarily be called for, like when she hears all of the empty apartments in their building. The argument ends with Deckard declaring that “I’ll dial for both of us” and sets her setting to “pleased acknowledgement of husband’s superior wisdom in all matters” (Dick, 7). He then proceeds to go about his day, more or less as normal.

What I would like to field to the group is this: Is what has just transpired, a husband essentially choosing the way his wife is going to feel, morally dubious? Does the fact that his wife conceded the argument make this act acceptable, or is this a case of emotional manipulation, or possibly even emotional abuse?

 

Provocation Assignment

Throughout the semester you will notice “provocation” assignments built into our syllabus. They are often broken into groups and correspond to longer works of fiction. Provocations are meant to provide context and support for your student-led discussions in class. In order to complete these assignments you must:

  • Read the assigned text very closely and annotate it thoroughly.
  • Choose one section of the text you found most interesting/problematic/controversial/stimulating and summarize it in 5-7 sentences.
  • You should use at least one direct quote in this summary with an MLA citation.
  • Construct a complex question for your classmates to answer about that section of the text that will spark a lively debate.

On the blog, you will post your provocations BEFORE class time as indicated on the syllabus. ONLY post when your group is listed on the syllabus. Use the category and tag provided by your professor for each post.

These posts will be graded on a 5 point scale:

  • 5points= An engaging, thought-provoking post that shows attention to detail and comprehension of the text. Grammar and mechanics must be practically perfect (edit carefully!). Direct evidence from the text with a citation must be included.
  • 4points = An accurate summary and well-composed question that may contain a small, but not catastrophic, misreading or errors in grammar and mechanics.
  • 3points= A sloppy post that shows little effort and does not include the elements listed above.
  • 2points= A post that is a day late, or difficult to read, or phrased in a way that students would be unable to respond.
  • 1point= A post that is a week late, contains numerous errors, and does not contribute to the conversation.
  • 0points= The post does not exist.

Please create these summaries and questions yourself: DO NOT STEAL OTHER PEOPLES WORK. If I find you have plagiarized these posts you will be reported. If you are struggling please come see me or email me with questions.