Meeting Times, Location, & Course Delivery Details
This course will be taught as a face to face course.
Contact Information
Materials will be provided by the instructor
The intent of this course is to educate the students on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and its impact on our society. The course will examine a variety of societal changes throughout civilized history as well as the impending Artificial Intelligence prevalence and how these changes mesh with the Wilmington College Quaker Values. Learning in this course will come from a variety of sources: lectures, movies, audio interviews, readings, conferences, and group discussions.
Tentative Schedule
| Dates | Topics | |
| 8/25/26 | Introductions/ Course Goals/ WC Values/ Big Questions | Mini-Essay #1 Core Values Personal Response due 9/1 |
| 8/27/26 | Societal Changes | Mini-Essay #2 Societal Changes Personal Response due 9/8 |
| 9/1/26 | Data Centers – Water Usage, Power Consumption, Noise |
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| 9/3/26 | Data Centers – Water Usage, Power Consumption, Noise (continued) |
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| 9/8/26 | Data Centers – Water Usage, Power Consumption, Noise (continued) | Identify Thesis Topic for Paper #1 due 9/10 |
| 9/10/26 | Data Centers – Water Usage, Power Consumption, Noise (continued) Outline conference scheduling | Establish outline for Paper #1 Due at outline conference |
| 9/15/26 | Individualized Outline Conferences (during class time, no class) | Bring two (2) copies of outline to your conference |
| 9/17/26 | Individualized Outline Conferences (during class time, no class) | Bring two (2) copies of outline to your conference |
| 9/22/26 | Individualized Rough Draft Conferences (during class time, no class) | Bring two (2) copies of rough draft to your conference |
| 9/24/26 | Individualized Rough Draft Conferences (during class time, no class) | Bring two (2) copies of rough draft to your conference |
| 9/29/26 | Artificial Intelligence – What does it entail? Harlan Ellison reading, futuristic TV episodes/Movie |
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| 10/1/26 | Futuristic TV episodes/Movie | Final Draft of Paper #1 Due |
| 10/6/26 | Westheimer Peace Symposium – Attend events in lieu of class | Mini-Essay #3 Personal Reaction to one of the Westheimer Events Due 10/15 |
| 10/8/26 | futuristic TV episodes/Movie | Mini-Essay #4 Personal Response to dystopian short stories, Star Trek episodes, and Movie Due 10/20 |
| 10/13/26 | Professor Out Service Day – No Class |
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| 10/15/26 | Artificial Intelligence vs art |
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| 10/20/26 | Artificial Intelligence vs science |
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| 10/22/26 | Artificial Intelligence vs sport |
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| 10/27/26 | Artificial Intelligence vs companionship/intimacy |
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| 10/29/26 | Artificial Intelligence vs employment |
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| 11/3/26 | Artificial Intelligence vs military/force | Identify Thesis Topic for Paper #2, due 11/5 |
| 11/5/26 | Professor out of town – No Class | Establish outline for Paper #2 Due at outline conference |
| 11/10/26 | Individualized Outline Conferences (during class time, no class) | Bring two (2) copies of outline to your conference |
| 11/12/26 | Individualized Outline Conferences (during class time, no class) | Bring two (2) copies of outline to your conference |
| 11/17/26 | Individualized Rough Draft Conferences (during class time, no class) | Bring two (2) copies of rough draft to your conference |
| 11/19/26 | Individualized Rough Draft Conferences (during class time, no class) | Bring two (2) copies of rough draft to your conference |
| 11/24/26 | Discussion of Presentations/Presentation Preparation/Raffle of Time slots for presentations | Receive final rough draft markups back from professor |
| 11/26/26 | Thanksgiving Break – No Class |
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| 12/1/26 | Research Presentations | Final Draft of Paper #2 Due Bring one (1) hard copy of your presentation for instructor |
| 12/3/26 | Research Presentations | Bring one (1) hard copy of your presentation for instructor |
| 12/8/26 | Research Presentations | Bring one (1) hard copy of your presentation for instructor |
| 12/15/26 | Final Exam – 10:15 instead of regular class time |
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Subject to change during the semester. Adequate notice of changes will be given.
The course will involve in-class discussions, presentations, in-class writing, and research papers. There will be a handful of "Mini-Essays" some of which may be performed in class, along with a 5 page research paper and a 15 page research paper.
The grading scale will be as follows:
| In Class Participation | 9% | A >92.5, 89.5< A- <92.4, 86.5< B+ <89.4 |
| Mini-Essays (4% each) | 16% | 82.5< B< 86.4, 79.5< B- <82.4, 76.5< C+ <79.4 |
| Paper #1 | 20% | 72.5< C <76.4, 69.5< C- <72.4, 66.5< D+ <69.4 |
| Paper #2 | 30% | 59.5< D <66.4, F <59.4 |
| Research Paper Presentation | 10% | |
| Final Exam | 15% | |
| Total | 100% |
Instructor Course Policies
Attendance will be taken in every class and be an important part of class participation. More than three unexcused absences will significantly lower your grade. In the case of excused absences, the student is responsible for calling or emailing the professor ahead of the class they expect to miss and is also responsible for obtaining a note from a professional documenting the reason for absence and the dates. Partial attendance (i.e. leaving during a break without returning) will be counted as such. Students who are absent from in-person class meetings FOR ANY REASON are required to make up the work independently or will receive a zero for the weekly grade.
Illness in the Age of COVID: Any student feeling ill during the semester is advised to contact your personal medical provider or the WC Health Center at wchealthcenter@wilmington.edu or 937-481-2217 immediately. Please request a written excuse from your provider for an excused absence. It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to contact your professors immediately in order to determine how best to maintain engagement with course content and assignments during any absences.
See the current Student Handbook for the college Attendance Policy especially as it pertains to excused absences.
Please adhere to the following Classroom Etiquette, in place to enhance a student’s engagement and minimize distractions to others. Upon warning, failure to follow these classroom rules may result in a student being given an UNEXCUSED ABSENCE for the class period:
Classroom Etiquette
• Arrive on time & do not pack up early to leave
• Take notes, complete in-class worksheets, & be engaged
• Sit toward the front of the room
• Do not use cell phones or Smart watches or other such devices
• Do not use electronic music devices (earbuds must be out of ears)
• Do not use laptops or iPads for anything other than note-taking and looking up information needed for immediate classroom discussions WITH PROFESSOR’S PERMISSION ONLY
• Do not “rest” with eyes closed
• Do not hold sidebar conversations
• Do not work on homework, other coursework, or any materials that are not being used for the current class meeting
Integrity and respect are Wilmington College Core Values, and honesty is our mutual responsibility. Students are responsible for following Wilmington College’s rules relating to academic integrity & other conduct. Cheating, plagiarism, or other forms of academic misconduct (including misuse of generative AI for assignment completion - see below) WILL result in a grade of 0% on the work in question, & the professor reserves the right to notify the Office of Academic Affairs. In the case of serious infractions, the Academic Standards and Appeals Committee may take further action. Please see the current Student Handbook for the college’s Academic Integrity policies as they pertain to examinations, plagiarism, classroom behavior, & the process for handling academic misconduct charges. Students are expected to behave with integrity & respect within the classroom & while carrying out any GL320 assignments.
You are not permitted to use generative AI tools for any work in this course. This includes the use of popular tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, GitHub Co-Pilot, as well as all other tools built on generative AI technologies. Due to the nature of this course, work can only be fairly and accurately evaluated if student writing has NOT been assisted by generative AI. Use of generative AI for assignments in this course will be considered a violation of the College’s academic integrity policies. Research and writing assignments in this course are designed to develop independent skills and critical thinking. Use of AI undermines that work, its purpose, and ultimately any benefit that it could provide towards students’ learning experience. Therefore, the use of any generative AI to help with any assignments will be considered cheating/plagiarism and will be graded and handled accordingly. Tools such as spell check and grammar check within word processing software is expected and encouraged.
Institutional and Program-Level Policies
All exams will follow the Final Exam Schedule. Students scheduled to take three or more final examinations on one day may request to arrange their examination schedule, so no more than two exams occur on one day.
Requests for early or late exams are considered only under extreme circumstances. Prior to the exam period, the student must file a written request on the Early/Late Exam Form available in the Student One Stop Center, Academic Records, and on the WC portal. The form must be signed by the Instructor and the Academic Dean, approving the alternate exam time. This process must be completed prior to the scheduled exam period.
Undergraduate: FA26 Final Exam Schedule
Out-of-class Work Expectation A minimum of 2 hours of out-of-class student work is expected for each hour of in-class time for traditional face-to-face courses. For online and hybrid courses, the combination of face-to-face time and out-of-class work should be equal to 3 hours per credit hour per week. |
Instructional Course Delivery Definition of Courses |
Academic Integrity Policy The use of generative AI is prohibited except where expressly allowed in assignment instructions. Academic Integrity Policy |
Class Attendance Policy Institutional Class Attendance Policy |