Academic Discord

Academic Bulletin Description

An exploration of interpretation and communication of data in the digital world. Students participate in class discussions and hands-on activities to investigate how data may be used to draw logical conclusions, to make informed decisions and to create policies with potentially far-reaching implications. Students reflect on current practices for collecting data, its uses, abuses, and impacts on society. The coursework emphasizes the development of effective oral and written communication skills with a focus on description, summary, and critical thinking.

Course Objectives

There are two main parts of this course

• This course serves as a discussion point of how data is used in our time. For instance, data and information play prominent roles in seemingly all parts of our society. For instance, in the news, one is exposed to many different aspects of data usage which are used to convey facts and inform readers of current phenomena. While it is a good usage of data to create meaning to facilitate comprehension, there are other types of uses of data which may not be desirable or healthy for the progression of a society. Part of this course is to learn the differences between how data may be used or misused, and to understand how to think about information which could be used to make decisions and eventual policies. In addition, to these main objectives of the course, we spend time to discuss how data may be converted to information.

• This course also serves as an introduction to college thinking, working, and living. Specifically, FS 101 prepares you for academic and career success by developing foundational communication and critical thinking skills. More notably, these skills of success for your college career include the following.

  • Recognizing and expressing interesting ideas of intellectual value.
  • Developing an engaging voice as a speaker and writer.
  • Organizing ideas effectively to communicate in specific contexts.
  • Using language clearly, powerfully, and with appropriate detail.

Throughout the semester, we also discuss how to thrive at Allegheny College and to make the most of the resources that our learning community has to offer. In particular, we discuss the following types of themes.

• How to be a student
• How to study and learn
• How to pick a major and minor
• How to manage time
• How to use library resources
• How to keep motivated at a college student
• Other qualities that will help you to learn, grow and flourish

Students who want to improve their technical writing skills may consult the following books

This class will have readings which will be handed out to you. There is no textbook necessary but below are two books that might help you with (technical) writing that the instructor uses very regularly.

• Crapsi, Linda. Bugs in Writing: A Guide to Debugging Your Prose. Technical Communication 42.4 (1995): 665-667., ISBN-10: 020137921X, ISBN-13: 978-0201379211, 704 pages, 1998.

• Zobel, Justin. Writing for computer science. Vol. 8. New York NY: Springer, 2004., ISBN-10: 1852338024, ISBN-13:978-1852338022, 270 pages, 2004.