TECH

4220: Information Policy Analysis GROUP POLICY ASSESSMENT

Critical thinking is essential to policy assessment. That is, in order to examine current or pending policies that impact the flow of electronic information with any credibility, we must critically evaluate such policies by exploring how such policies were initially developed, mapping out the key players and key industries involved, assessing where and to what degree the impact of this policies will be felt, and arriving at a series of scenarios for these policies as each becomes diffused it into our society and others. Throughout this semester, I have presented different contexts for such policies for you to critically examine, typically playing off ideas from each other in the discussion forums. Of course, while such examination is interactive and somewhat collaborative, it still largely reflects individual work and not that of small groups. Certainly, individual examination is important, but unfortunately avoids the type of small group work each of you would typically be involved with in your careers. A fully collaborative examination of any policies, from the very inception of an idea to the evaluation of evidence to the determination of scenarios, by means of a group consensus, is critical in a wide variety of different industries and situations. Hence, the Group Policy Assessment. Notes on this assignment 1. I have divided the class into several small groups of 3-4 people. Each group will have access to a Google Docs file for synchronous & asynchronous collaboration. 2. Each group must select a spokesperson who schedules and organizes any predetermined virtual meeting times, mediates and moderates any ongoing conversation or debate over content or wording, attempts to resolve any concerns voiced by group members, and actually deposits the final product in the digital drop box. In short, the spokesperson for each group need to make certain the assignment stays on-course and on-schedule. 3. Each group is responsible for developing a discussion forum for an upcoming week, based on current or proposed state or federal policy, which will likely have a significant impact on some aspect or layer of our global information infrastructure. The policy in question must have enough of an impact that would necessitate further study to assess the potential effects in different fields or industries. If the policy in question is a proposed one, it does not necessarily have to be one that is still being actively considered. That is, the discussion forum could focus on a particular piece of failed or otherwise shelved piece of legislation, since it is equally important to examine what contributing factors may have led to proposed legislation sinking or swimming. 4. The product each group must arrive at should look similar to many of the weekly discussion forum questions I have posted throughout the semester. It must focus on a specific policy; it must incorporate concepts, ideas, or other themes covered in at least

TECH 4220: Information Policy Analysis

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one article of the Spinello text (preferably from the Unit 3 or Unit 4 chapters); it must include a specific question or series of questions that can be addressed in ways beyond mere right or wrong answers. These questions should also prompt or otherwise encourage active discussion and interactivity among group members, as opposed to question that primarily elicit direct responses and answers. That is, discussion forums are just that: discussion forums. Questions must reflect this venue. Each discussion forum developed must incorporate four external readings from non password-protected web sites (even those site that require free registration to access content). Additionally, there must be a brief, annotated bibliography associated with these sites to contextualize them, including information about the author(s), intended audience, and environment in which the article was written. The external readings must reflect differing perspectives on the topic or technology covered. That is, they cannot all be overtly for or overtly against the technology. The link to these external readings must be clickable, for ; lack of a better term. Each discussion forum developed will be active as a part of out normal class discussion forums later in the semester, based on a schedule I will determine shortly. Each group member will be jointly responsible for helping moderate and guide their discussion forum when becomes active, in order to have a meaningful conversation about the policy at hand. Each member of each group will receive 75% of the same final grade for this assignment, with the other 25% of the grade coming directly from a peer evaluation sheet (see next item for more information on the peer evaluation sheet). This means each group member must go out of their way to pull their own weight, since these are relatively small groups and failure to do so would almost certainly result in a poor final grade for this assignment. Each of you will be required to complete a peer evaluation sheet, where you rate not only your own performance but also that of your fellow group members. Ratings will consist of specific criteria, on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the least effective and 5 the most effective).

Evaluation Criteria The evaluation of this assignment will include the following categories, with a maximum combined total of 40 points: Content: (18 points) Your group selected a suitable policy to forecast, with the intent on developing an online discussion forum, and used appropriate sources to research it. Your group provided an explanation of the key arguments posed by specific groups and individuals central to this policy, and the evidence presented by these groups or individuals to support their argument. Your group then developed some central questions associated with this policy which required additional reading and synthesis,

TECH 4220: Information Policy Analysis

and which prompt engaged responses, in order to post and respond in an online discussion forum environment. Your group submitted four clickable urls to external web sites. These web sites reflect a broad range of perspective on the topic or technology being addressed, including one that provides a neutral overview. The name of the article or web site is included, along with the authors name (if known), a brief summary of the article, the intended audience for the article, and the context or environment in which the article was written (if known). Grading for content will be done in 2 point increments. Organization: (6 points) Your group submitted an organized discussion forum topic of suitable length (roughly 500 words) with defined ideas and questions based off external readings, making the forum easy to read and understand. Grading for organization will be done in 2 point increments. Mechanics: (6 points) o 6 points - Editing and revision are obvious; the forum contains proper grammatical constructions, few, if any, language mistakes, accurate links to external web sites, has been spell-checked, with all materials accurately cited using proper APA formatting. o 4 points - Editing and revision are fairly obvious; the forum largely contains proper grammatical constructions, few language mistakes, accurate links to external web sites, and has been spell-checked. o 2 points Editing and revision are somewhat evident; the forum contains some improper grammatical constructions and some language mistakes, and/or has seemingly not been spell-checked. o 0 points Editing and revision are not evident or involve serious grammatical errors and/or language mistakes, and/or has not been spell-checked. Peer Evaluation: (10 points) Please see the following pages for specific information about peer evaluations.

TECH 4220: Information Policy Analysis

Peer Evaluations This rubric will be used to partially assess the quality of your participation in this group assignment. In addition to the guidelines below, each group member will also be evaluated on their leadership abilities as group moderators for this forum, during their assigned week that it becomes active. Please rate yourself and each of your fellow group members using the following point scale: 8-10 points (full credit) Regularly stayed in contact with other group members, either by way of email, phone, or via meetings in the virtual classroom Contributed well to the overall brainstorming about potential topics for this assignment, and respected the views and perspectives presented by other group members Completed some series of tasks toward this assignment Provided comments, new information, and useful feedback to group members in a consistent and equitable manner After researching, revealed a solid understanding of the topic as evidenced by thoughtful responses and questions once the forum became active 5-7 points (partial credit) Stayed in contact with most group members, either by way of email, phone, or via meetings in the virtual classroom Contributed to the overall brainstorming about potential topics for this assignment, and respected the views and perspectives presented by other group members Completed some clearly-defined task toward this assignment Provided comments, information, and feedback to group members in a consistent and equitable manner After researching, revealed an adequate understanding of the topic as evidenced by posts indicating superficial knowledge once the forum became active 1-4 points (low partial credit) Sporadically stayed in contact with one or some group members, either by way of email, phone, or via meetings in the virtual classroom Superficially contributed to the overall brainstorming about potential topics for this assignment Partially completed some task toward this assignment Sporadically provided comments, information, and feedback with some group members. After researching, revealed a minimal understanding of the topic as evidenced by loosely related posts once the forum became active

TECH 4220: Information Policy Analysis

Each of you will complete this peer evaluation by way of a single email message to me. In the subject line of the message, please put [Your Last Name] Evaluations. In the body of the email, first rate yourself and provide a brief description of why you feel you deserve the point value you are assigning, based on the criteria listed above. Next, rate each of your group members using the same technique. So, the body of your email should look something like this: ME: 8 points [1-2 paragraph explanation] Joe Smith: 6 points [1-2 paragraph explanation] Jill Smith: 9 points [1-2 paragraph explanation] Dave Smith: 3 points [1-2 paragraph explanation] The Group Policy Assessment must be uploaded (via the View / Complete assignment link) no later than 11:55pm on the date indicated in the online course calendar. No late assignments will be accepted. The person actually depositing the file should be the spokesperson for each group. Peer evaluations will be due once your respective discussion forum has been activated, has been run for a week, and has been archived. Please check the online course calendar for specific dates.