Systems Analysis

How to Succeed in This Course

This course is a studio, not a lecture series. Most meetings are working sessions: you will draw, model, compare, and argue in groups, and that work is not recoverable afterward by reading someone’s notes. Come to them.

You will be inquiring into a real situation, one you are inside of rather than observing. That is the difficulty of the course and also its point. You cannot stand outside what you are analyzing, and learning to do the analysis anyway is most of what there is to learn here.

The inquiry is governed by a set of ground rules covering consent, attribution, and what leaves this course. They are conditions on the work being honest, and we will work through them together in the first week.

Evaluation & Grading

Course grades will be determined as follows:

The peer critique round (due Sun 11/1) is required but ungraded.

Points will be converted to letter grades as follows:

100-95: A
 94-91: A-
 90-88: B+
 87-85: B
 84-81: B-
 80-78: C+
 77-75: C
 74-71: C-
 70-68: D+
 67-60: D
  < 60: F

See the UNC Catalog for definitions of these letter grades.

A note on grading and this subject matter

There is no correct answer about the situation we will study, and I am not grading you as though there were. I am grading how you conduct an inquiry: whether you can hold a worldview you don’t share long enough to model it faithfully, whether your thinking visibly changed in contact with what you found, whether you can tell an accommodation from a consensus, and whether you can say where you are standing.

That statement is itself a piece of course content! Grading normally enacts the assumption that there is a correct account of the world and that your job is to approximate it. That assumption is precisely what this course puts in question. I can’t fully escape the contradiction, but I can be transparent about it.

Participation

Reading notes are ten percent of your grade. Roughly 250 words on each assigned reading, submitted on this site before the meeting it supports. See the assignments page for more details.

Being in the room. Most meetings in this course are studio sessions, not lectures. Groups draw, model, compare, and argue during class time, and the work is not recoverable by reading someone’s notes afterward. An absent member does not only miss the session; the group is short a role for it. If something is going to keep you from a session, tell your group first and me second. Groups are small enough that one silent absence is felt.

Communicating with me

Zulip chat is the best way to communicate with me outside of class.

If you have a question about course content (rich pictures, root definitions, CATWOE, activity models) or administration (deadlines, schedule changes, clarifications about a prompt), post it to the appropriate Zulip stream, so that others can benefit from the answer, or can answer it themselves.

If you need to discuss a personal matter, send a direct message in Zulip, or email me.

If you want face-to-face assistance with understanding a concept or completing an assignment, make an appointment for my office hours.

If you have questions about how a piece of work was evaluated, then you must make an office hours appointment. I will not discuss your grades or my evaluation of your work over email or direct message.

Student Code of Conduct

You are expected to know and follow the UNC Student Code of Conduct, and in particular to be aware of its policies on academic integrity. Collaboration, discussion, and seeking assistance from other students is encouraged in this class and is not inconsistent with those policies. What counts as acceptable collaboration does change from one activity to another, though, so please see my guidelines for each activity, and ask me to clarify if you are unsure. In the case of written work, all words drawn from others must be attributed appropriately.

Attendance

As stated in the University’s Class Attendance Policy, no right or privilege exists that permits a student to be absent from any class meeting, except for these University Approved Absences:

• Authorized University activities, about which the University Approved Absence Office (UAAO) publishes FAQs for students.
• Disability, religious observance, pregnancy, or short-term military service, as required by law and approved by the University Compliance Office — or, for short-term military service, the Dean of Students.
• A significant health condition, or a personal or family emergency, as approved by the Office of the Dean of Students, Violence Prevention and Advocacy Services, or the University Compliance Office.

If you need to miss a class for a reason that is not one of these, please talk to me, and we will work out the best approach to any work you miss.

Changes to This Syllabus

I reserve the right to make changes to this syllabus, including to project due dates and test dates. Any such changes will be announced as early as possible.

Accessibility and Accommodations

The university facilitates the implementation of reasonable accommodations, including resources and services, for students with disabilities, chronic medical conditions, a temporary disability or pregnancy complications resulting in barriers to fully accessing courses, programs and activities.

Accommodations are determined through the University Compliance Office (UCO) Accommodations Team, which receives requests for accommodations for disability, pregnancy and related conditions, and sincerely held religious beliefs and practices, and determines eligibility and reasonable accommodations in accordance with applicable state and federal laws. See the UCO Accommodations website for contact information or email: accommodations@unc.edu

Counseling and Psychological Services

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is strongly committed to addressing the mental health needs of a diverse student body through timely access to consultation and connection to clinically appropriate services, whether for short or long-term needs. Go to the CAPS website or visit their facilities on the third floor of the Campus Health building for an initial evaluation to learn more. You can also call CAPS at 919-966-3658 at any hour for immediate assistance.

Dealing with Discrimination, Harassment, Violence or Exploitation

Any student who is impacted by discrimination, harassment, interpersonal (relationship) violence, sexual violence, sexual exploitation, or stalking is encouraged to seek resources on campus or in the community. Reports can be made to the University Compliance Office (UCO), formerly the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office, or by contacting its Report and Response Managers (reportandresponse@unc.edu). Note that instructors are designated Responsible Employees, and must report to the UCO any information they receive about the forms of misconduct listed above. Confidential resources include Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS; see above), the University’s Ombuds Office, and the Gender Violence Services Coordinators at Violence Prevention and Advocacy Services (VPAS) (gvsc@unc.edu). Additional resources are available at https://safe.unc.edu/.