Course Syllabus

Overview

This course examines how different genders experience studying and working in engineering. Specifically, we will discuss different forms of sexual harassment, their underlying causes, their effects, and how we can work to eliminate them in our universities and workplaces. Some attention will be paid to other minoritized identities including race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability status, but the focus will be on the experiences of gender minorities in engineering.

Prerequisites: none :)

Learning Objectives: at the end of this course, students will be able to

  1. Differentiate between forms of sexual harassment and related concepts, including sexual assault, sexual coercion, unwanted sexual attention, gender harassment, and heterosexist harassment.
  2. Summarize how physical and mental health, job performance, and job satisfaction are impacted by harassment.
  3. Participate constructively in classroom discussions on topics of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, and age as related to harassment.
  4. Compare and contrast how harassment arises in engineering programs at universities and in the engineering workplace.
  5. Summarize how the COVID-19 pandemic affected occurrence of harassment at universities and in the workplace.
  6. Identify methods that can be used by early-career engineers to reduce harassment and contribute to a more inclusive workplace.
  7. Write a research paper that makes a convincing argument in support of a thesis concerning the experience of an underrepresented minority group in engineering.

Textbook: there is no required textbook. However, the book entitled Sex, Gender, and Engineering by VanAntwerp & Wilson, 2021, is an excellent reference.

Class meetings, attendance, participation, and readings

We meet from 2:30 to 3:50p every Tuesday and Thursday during Fall quarter. You are expected to attend and participate actively in these 20 class sessions, and your participation will make up 20% of the final grade, so participation in each session contributes 1% to the final grade. I will call on people in random order using a "deck" of enrolled students that I will shuffle regularly. 

If you need to miss a class session, you must message Prof Burden prior to the start of the class to request an excused absence. Excused absences will not receive the session credit of 1% of the final grade, but they will be excused from that day's quiz. If you are called on during an unexcused absence you will be penalized 5% of the final grade. Please notify me as soon as you know you will be absent -- ideally well before class starts, but of course I understand that illness, injury, and other life events can arise last-minute. 

Most weeks, there will be assigned reading. Multiple documents may be provided, and you may be expected to read all or a subset of your choosing. We will discuss the readings during class in small and large groups. You will be responsible for answering questions including but not limited to: 

  • What's one thing you learned from the reading?
  • What citation in the paper are you most interested in reading?
  • How does this material relate to material in another document / in lecture?

I encourage you to take notes as you read so you are prepared to answer these questions. Performing the reading and answering questions is required to earn Participation credit for the day, i.e. you will forfeit these points if you do not do the reading.

Class discussions

This is a discussion-focused class on a topic that can be emotionally charged, triggering, or otherwise distressing. It should go without saying that we will treat each other respectfully and engage in the discussion with civility. We will also endeavor to treat each other with care, and to recognize that the experiences and backgrounds of others may be very different than our own. To be explicit: it is inappropriate to engage in name calling or ad hominem attacks, to be dismissive, to put down, or otherwise make someone else feel unwelcome in the classroom. It's also important to keep an open mind -- we are all here to learn. If you feel uncomfortable participating in class for any reason, please come talk to me.

Quizzes

There will be one quiz for each class session, usually during the synchronous meeting. Each quiz is worth 1% of the course grade, so quizzes overall make up 20% of the final grade. Credit for will be awarded solely for effort. It is not possible to make up a missed quiz, but credit will be given for excused absences. Quizzes are intended as formative assessments that provide quick feedback to you and/or us about your understanding of and engagement with course material. 

Homework

There will be a weekly homework assignment due by 11:59p on Friday for +10% bonus points. Each homework is worth 2% of the course grade, so homeworks overall make up 20% of the final grade. However, everyone automatically receives an extension to 11:59p on Sunday (you do not need to request this extension); submissions after Friday will not receive the bonus points. Homeworks are intended as formative assessments that provide feedback to you and/or us about your understanding of course material.

Project: research paper and presentation

You will build on the knowledge obtained in this class by writing and presenting a research paper on a topic of your choosing. This project is worth 40% of the course grade. There will be two checkpoints spaced out in the quarter where you submit a thesis statement and research prospectus, and an end-of-quarter presentation where you teach your peers about what you have learned. You will be evaluated on your ability to navigate the academic literature and synthesize a convincing argument in support of a clear and interesting thesis. Your research paper will consist of ~5 pages of carefully reasoned prose with ~20 citations. Approximately 15 minutes will be dedicated to your presentation. This project is intended as a summative assessment to provide information to me about what you learned from the course.

Grading

Your grade will be determined by your active participation in class meetings (20%), quizzes (20%), homeworks (20%), and a project (40%).

Generative "AI" and LLM

We live in interesting times for pedagogy. Many faculty are concerned about how the broad availability of generative "AI" tools like large language models (LLM) affects the acquisition and application of knowledge (as well as the risks to broader society). I am curious about how these tools can be used in the context of this course. Thus, I have no objection to you using generative "AI" or LLM in this class's coursework.

Consistent with my policy on citing external sources (textbooks, websites, etc), you must specify the tool (GPT-3.5 or -4, Bard, LLaMa-2, etc) and the prompt used to generate the solution. Of course, incorrect or incoherent answers will be penalized regardless of the source. I understand that commercially-available tools are nondeterministic, so if I input your prompt it may not generate output identical to what you observed. But I am interested to learn what kinds of prompts generate course-relevant outputs. You must supply all prompts and responses used in the course of researching and writing your paper.

Notes and caveats:

  • this policy only applies to my course -- it is your responsibility to adhere to the policies in other courses, your workplace, and your professional community;
  • these tools regularly generate falsehoods or nonsense -- it is your responsibility to vet the output before putting it into practice (whether in this course or in your career);
  • these tools are being used to cause real harm -- it is our collective responsibility to determine best-practices that enable productive use and prevent abuse.

Canvas

We will use Canvas (i.e. this site) extensively for interaction outside the classroom.  

The instruction team will provide homeworks, example code, etc. through Canvas; you will submit homeworks electronically through Canvas as described above.

If you have a question -- about a concept, HW problem, etc. -- it's likely someone else in the class does as well. Please consider posting your question to Canvas Discussions.

If you are unfamiliar with Canvas, here are some links to help you get started:

https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/canvas/getting-started

https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/canvas/how-do-i

https://community.canvaslms.com/community/answers/guides/

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

I strongly believe that all must be provided with equality of opportunity to pursue and advance in engineering careers and that no individual should experience marginalization or non-inclusiveness of their contributions or talents because of visible or invisible differences. For example, among others, these differences include age, belief system, disability status, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, race, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and any other visible or non-visible differences. I am committed to increasing the participation, inclusion, and empowerment of historically under-represented segments of society in our research fields, including pre-college, university, and industry environments as well as professional organizations.

If any aspect of your experience in this class (or your involvement in our Dept or University) is causing you to feel excluded, othered, discriminated against or harassed, I want to know about it. I aspire to have you regard me as an advocate and ally.

Disability and access accommodations

Your experience in this class is important to me. I have made a number of intentional design decisions in an effort to make this course as accessible as possible, but if you need additional accommodations then I welcome receiving them from Disability Resources for Students (DRS). In particular, the following elements of course design are included to improve accessibility:

  • There are no exams. There will be brief in-class quizzes, but they will be graded on participation only. There will be a final project and presentation, but you will have the option to record the presentation so we can review it asynchronously.
  • You are welcome to take breaks. There is an in-class participation requirement, but if you happen to be out of the room when I call on you I will simply wait for the next opportunity.
  • There will be brief quizzes both in and outside class sessions and weekly homework assignments. I am open to proposals for alternative due dates for any coursework.
  • I plan to handwrite material using a tablet during class sessions and post those digital files on Canvas after class. You are welcome to record any of the materials or parts of the class session audiovisually. 
  • You are welcome to use any assistive device during class, including but not limited to hearing protection, noise cancelling headphones, or microphones.

If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires additional accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical, or health impacts), I encourage you to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu.  DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.  Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS.  It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.

If you are unable to obtain needed accommodations through DRS, you are welcome to contact me directly to see if I am able to provide the accommodation.

Religious accommodations

Effective July 28 2019, Washington State Senate Bill 5166 required that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities.  I am proud that my UW ECE colleague Rania Hussein contributed to drafting and promoting this legislation and I am happy to implement accommodations.

The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Faculty Syllabus Guidelines and Resources. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form available at:  https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/

Safety

Call SafeCampus at 206-685-7233 anytime – no matter where you work or study – to anonymously discuss safety and well-being concerns for yourself or others.  SafeCampus’s team of caring professionals will provide individualized support, while discussing short- and long-term solutions and connecting you with additional resources when requested.

Academic misconduct

Engineering is a profession demanding a high level of personal honesty, integrity and responsibility. Therefore, it is essential that engineering students, in fulfillment of their academic requirements and in preparation to enter the engineering profession, shall adhere to the University of Washington’s Student Code of Conduct.

Any student in this course suspected of academic misconduct (e.g., cheating, plagiarism, or falsification) will be reported to the College of Engineering Dean’s Office and the University’s Office of Community Standards and Student conduct. (See CoE website for more detailed explanation of the academic misconduct adjudication process). Any student found to have committed academic misconduct will receive a 0-grade on impacted academic work (e.g., assignments, project, or exams).