Florida International University

Course Syllabus ENC 1101 / 1102  Section U3

FIG   Pre Med

Fall 2004


Class Meets:   T   R   11:00 –12:15

Room:  PC 424 

Dr. Joan Baker

Office:   DM 454C   348-3873 (voice mail)        bakerj@fiu.edu

Office Hours:   W  3:00 – 4:00  R   1:00 –  2:00 and by appt. 
 

REQUIRED TEXTS: 

Classic Cases in Medical Ethics,  Gregory E. Pence  Fourth Edition

The Plague,  Albert Camus

Illness as Metaphor  Susan Sontag

Course Packet to be purchased at University Copy Center

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES: 

Composition:

The content, requirements, design, and activities of this course are intended  

·        to strengthen your skills in reading comprehension and analysis

·        to develop skills in writing and presenting case summaries

·        to develop skills in writing chemistry lab reports

·        to develop skills in discussing your responses to readings, in listening to those of others, and in formulating and clearly expressing your own ideas

·        to promote integration of ideas derived from your reading in your own writing

·        to strengthen your ability to employ rhetorical strategies and sustain an argument in a coherent essay.

  • to guide 1102 students in self-directed research and the integration of such research (and appropriate documentation) in a sustained argument

 

Humanities and Pre-med:

The course integrates your studies in Psychology and Chemistry with literature in ways that  

  • help develop your skills of observation
  • enhance your capacity for empathy and your ability to interact constructively with others
  • illustrate the complexity of the philosophical, dramatic, and human considerations at the center of bioethical conflicts
  • raise your awareness of the ethical imperatives and dilemmas inherent in scientific inquiry

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: 

10%     Attendance / Participation  Attendance will be taken daily.  Should you have to miss class, leave a message on my e-mail requesting an excused absence. An excused absence is granted for illness and personal or family emergency.  It is your responsibility to get assignments from a classmate. Please notify me in advance if you wish to be excused for a religious holiday. You are expected to be present for other groups' presentations; should you be absent on the day of your group's presentation, you will receive a failing grade for that project.                 

20%     Collaborative project: case presentations, lab project

70%     Essays:   four page oral history project, 2 3 – 4 page papers plus a final paper of 6pp. minimum that is an expansion of the 4 page paper on ethics case. Students taking the course for 1102 credit will be required to do independent research to develop an expanded research paper on ethics (minimum 8 pp) for the final assignment.  

Gordon Rule: you are expected to write a minimum of 20 pages (typed, double-spaced) during the semester.  If you do not meet this requirement, you do not pass the course. 

My Rules:

·        Absences will significantly affect your grade.  Three unexcused absences or more will jeopardize your passing this course.

·        Late papers will not be accepted unless an extension is granted prior to the due date.

·        Failure to document sources in research papers will result in a failing grade.

·        Plagiarism:  failure in course and report to university administration.  Consult FIU student handbook. 

 

COURSE READINGS AND ACTIVITIES: 

Chemistry “bridge”:

We begin the semester with an experiment designed to challenge our skills at observation and interpretation.  Professor Graves anticipates that we’ll be working on solving the problem much of the semester.  You will also have an opportunity to prepare for your lab report assignment. 

Empathy:

 A diagnostic label profoundly affects the patient who is a “living human document.” An oral history assignment in which the student interviews a family member, friend, or willing stranger is designed to help us appreciate the personal story (as opposed to the medical history) that each patient embodies and the ways in which a diagnosis affects the self, or one’s identity.    

Ethics:

  Our work with Classic Cases in Medical Ethics will consist of collaborative work in small groups on a written report and a case presentation.  Each group will focus on one case from each of the four sections of the text providing a one page summary or synopsis for the class as a whole.  

Empathy/Ethics:

 To place issues discussed throughout the course in a literary context we will read Susan Sontag’s classic work Illness as Metaphor and Albert Camus’s classic novel The Plague in which disease serves as a metaphor for social ills 

 SCHEDULE of ASSIGNMENTS 

Readings and Assignments are to be completed on the date assigned. I will give precise instructions for writing assignments and any group work in separate handouts. 

Week 1

            T          8/31     Introduction to Course   FIG 

            R          9/2       In Class:  Diagnostic Essay

                                    Introduction to Oral History Project

            F          9/3       Joint Experiment    Chem Lab   Prof. Graves 

Week 2

            T          9/7       Lab Experiment   [1 - 2 pp]  

                                    In Class:  Interpreting Lab Experiment    with Prof. Graves           

            R          9/9       Reading in Pence:  Chapter 1 “Moral Reasoning” pp. 1 - 10       

Week 3

T          9/14     Reading in Pence:  Chap. 1 “Ethical Theories”  pp. 10 - 25       

                        In Class:  Review of Chapter 1 in Classic Cases in Med Ethics

                         Preparation for group assignment 

R          9/16     Reading:  Classic Cases in Medical Ethics   Part I

                        In Class:  Oral History Project:  Drawing Lots—the Diagnosis

Week 4

T          9/21     Library Session:  Class Meets in Library     

R          9/23     In Class:  Group Presentation  Classic Cases in Med Ethics  Part I     

 

Week 5

T          9/28     Oral History Project due   (5 pp)      

                        In Class:  Group Presentations Part I (cont)                                                                                                      

R          9/30     Reading:  Classic Cases in Medical Ethics  Part II

                        In Class:  Group Presentations  Part II              

Week 6

            T          10/5     Reading : Classic Cases in Medical Ethics  Part III

In Class:  Group Presentations  Part III                       

            R          10/7     Reading:  Classic Cases in Medical Ethics  Part IV

                                    In Class:  Debate/ Discussion

Week 7

            T          10/12   Catching Up on Medical Ethics if necessary

                                    In Class:  Constructing an Argument/Incorporating Evidence           

            R          10/14   NO CLASS    

                                                           

Week 8

            T          10/19   Ethics Case Summary and Analysis due  (4 pp)                                     

            R          10/21   Reading:  Susan Sontag  Illness as Metaphor

                                               

Week 9

            T          10/26   Reading:  Susan Sontag  AIDS and Its Metaphors                                                                                                                                   

            R          10/28   Reading:  Albert Camus  The Plague

Week 10

T          11/2     Reading:  Albert Camus  The Plague                                                               

            R          11/4     Reading:  Albert Camus  The Plague

Week 11

            T          11/9     Essay on The Plague [and Sontag] due  (3pp)

                                    In Class:  Video “Weapons of the Spirit           

            R          11/11   HOLIDAY  

Week 12

            T          11/16   Writing Workshop

            R          11/18   Draft of expanded ethics paper due for 1101

                        Draft of researched ethics paper due for 1102

In Class:  Peer Review                                                                                                                                             

Week 13

            T          11/23   Student Conferences

            R          11/25   HOLIDAY

 

Week 14

            T          11/30   Student Conferences  

            R          12/2     Student Conferences

 

Week 15

            T          12/7     Essay   Final Revision due  [1101 6 pp min.; 1102 8pp minimum]   

            R          12/9      In Class:  Exit Essay