Detailed assessment information and rubrics

Detailed information about each of the assessments, including rubrics and submission instructions will be available in the Assessment block in iLearn. Please make sure you read the assessment information carefully. Assessment forums for each assessment will be available on the unit iLearn – if you have an assessment question please check the assessment information and the relevant assessment forum to see if your question has already been answered. If not, please post your question on the assessment forum where it will be answered within 1-2 days (weekdays). Please do not email your tutor unless you have tried all the above sources and cannot find an answer to your question.

Essay Option One or Essay Option Two – What does this mean?

In this unit students must choose ONE of two possible dates to submit their essay. You do not need to advise your tutor or the unit convenor: you simply choose whether to submit half way through the unit, or at the end of the unit. Essay questions for the first essay option will relate to the first half of the unit; essay questions for the second essay option will relate only to the second half of the unit. Students may only submit ONE essay; no re-tries are permitted. Essay questions will be released four weeks prior to each due date. Please NOTE the following when selecting your essay submission date:

• Students selecting Essay Option Two will NOT have received their essay mark or feedback prior to the final examination in this unit. 
• Students are not at a disadvantage if they submit their essay for Essay Option One, in spite of having completed only half the unit at that time. Essay questions require knowledge only of the topics covered in the first half of the unit, and student essay results are not generally better at the end of semester.
• Please consider the fact that you may have several assessments due in other units at the end of semester'
• Please consider the fact that you will need to study for an Examination in this unit at the end of semester, which will  require you to answer questions from topics covered across the whole unit.

Special Consideration

Requests for extensions must be submitted via a Special Consideration request, which is available in the http://ask.mq.edu.au portal. Your request should be submitted no later than five days after the due date and will need to be accompanied by appropriate supporting documentation. Please see the Special Consideration policy in the list of policies at the end of this document for further details. Read the policy closely as your request may be turned down if you have not followed procedure, or if you have not submitted a request in a timely manner.

Late Submission Penalty

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of ‘0’ (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue. This late penalty will apply to written reports and recordings only. Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs) will be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special consideration application.

Academic Integrity

Academic honesty is taken very seriously, and a range of methods, including but not restricted to the use of Turnitin, are used to detect plagiarism. Misrepresenting someone else's work as your own may be grounds for referral to the Faculty Disciplinary Committee. If you have questions about how to properly cite work or how to credit sources, please ask the convenor for help and see also the  Academic Integrity Policy https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policies/academic-integrity

Note: All assignments in this unit are individual assignments. Collusion (unauthorised collaboration on individual assignments) is a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy. If in doubt, contact a member of teaching staff. 

A helpful resource if you would like to know more about referencing and avoiding plagiarism is  Macquarie's Academic Integrity Module, available here: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/skills-development. You will need to complete this Module before accessing the unit content, if you have not already done so. More information is available in iLearn. 

What about ChatGPT?

Information about this unit's policy on the use of AI will be made available in the Assessment block in iLearn. Please check that information and contact the convenor if you have any questions.

Academic Writing and Study Support

Macquarie University offers a number of services to help with academic writing, referencing and study skills. For details, see: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/skills/assignments

For information about policies related to Assessment, see Policies and Procedures section below.

NOTE: It is expected that students will attend/listen to ALL LECTURES and will complete ALL ASSESSMENT COMPONENTS in this unit. You do not need to have passed each assessment to pass the unit, but it is expected that all assessments are attempted. The final examination will cover all sections of the unit.

General Submission Procedure: Written assessments must be submitted via TurnItIn at the correct link provided on the Unit iLearn site. You may only make ONE submission for each assessment, and you will NOT be able to view your TurnItIn match similarity report for your assessment before you submit it. You must ensure that you use the correct link for your assessment, and that you upload the correct final version of your assessment. No re-submissions will be permitted.

DELIVERY:

Lectures in this unit will be in-person (on-campus) with recordings available online via Echo360 and the unit iLearn site.

Online forums for weekly discussions are located on the unit iLearn site under each week's topic.

READING: All required readings are available in Leganto on the unit iLearn site. Supplementary reading is required for Essays. Suggestions for Supplementary Reading will be provided in lectures and on iLearn.

SECTION I: (WEEKS 1–5) FRAMEWORKS FOR AN ETHICS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

WEEK 1 (beginning July 24):  What is ethics? What is ethical reasoning?  (A/Prof Lotz)

Required reading:

Cohen, S.: ‘What is Ethics?

• No Online Forum Discussion Exercises in Week 1.

 

WEEK 2 (beginning July 31):  How can ethical theories help us think about bioethics and biotechnology?  (A/Prof Lotz)

Part I: Consequentialist and Autonomy-based ethics.

Required reading:

Thomson, A.: ‘Moral Principles and Moral Theories’.

Grace, D. and Cohen, S.: Chapter 1 pp.15-20, sections on ‘Consequentialism’ and ‘Nonconsequentialism’ in Business Ethics: Problems and Cases.

• Online Discussion Exercise due: by 11.55pm Sunday 6 August.

 

WEEK 3 (beginning Aug 7): How can ethical theories help us think about bioethics and biotechnology?  (A/Prof Lotz)

Part II: Rights-based, Virtue-based, and Care-based ethics.

Required reading:

Rachels, J. Chapter 11, ‘Feminism and the Ethics of Care’, pp. 133-142.  

Grace, D and Cohen, S.: Chapter 1 pp.21-24, section on ‘Virtue Ethics’ in Business Ethics: Problems and Cases.

 

WEEK 4 (beginning Aug 14): Does biotech have lessons to learn from eugenic history?  (A/Prof Lotz)

Required reading:

Wikler, D. and Barondess, J. ‘Bioethics and Anti-Bioethics in Light of Nazi Medicine: What Must We Remember?’

Buchanan, A. et al: Excerpt from ‘Eugenics and Its Shadow’

Optional additional reading:

Buchanan, A. et al: Excerpt from ‘Genes, Justice and Human Nature.’

 

WEEK 5 (beginning Aug 21): How do we do ethical science and research? (Prof Lipworth)

Required reading:

Emanuel, E et al. ‘What Makes Clinical Research Ethical?’ Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA), Vol. 283, No. 2 May24/31: 2701-2711.

Glass, B. ‘The Ethical Basis of Science.’

 

SECTION II (WEEKS 6–10): BIOTECHNOLOGY IN HUMAN HEALTH AND REPRODUCTION

 

WEEK 6 (beginning Aug 28): Human embryo research – Do human embryonic stem cells have moral status? What about synthetic embryos [SHEEFs]?  (A/Prof Lotz)

Required reading:

Harris, J. ‘Stem Cells, Sex and Procreation’

Pera, M. et al. ‘What if stem cells turn into embryos in a dish?’

Optional additional reading:

Aach J. et al. ‘Addressing the ethical issues raised by synthetic human entities with embryo like features’.  eLife 2017;6: e20674. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.20674

 

WEEK 7 (beginning Sept 4): Would anything be wrong with human cloning for procreative purposes? (A/Prof Lotz)

Required reading:

Brock, D. ‘Cloning Human Beings: An Assessment of the Ethical Issues Pro and Con.’

Optional additional reading:

Holm, S. ‘A Life in the Shadow: One Reason Why We Should Not Clone Human Beings.’

Kass, L. ‘The Wisdom of Repugnance.’

 

MONDAY 11 SEPT – FRIDAY 22 SEPT (inclusive): MID SEMESTER BREAK

 

•  ESSAY OPTION 1 DEADLINE: 11.55pm Sunday 17 September

 

WEEK 8 (beginning Sept 25): Genetic screening, testing and diagnosis – Is it always better to know? (Prof Lipworth)

Required reading:

Clarke, A. ‘Genetic Screening and Counselling.’

Steinbock, B. ‘Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis and Embryo Selection.’

 

WEEK 9 (beginning Oct 2): Should we edit the human genome for future generations?  (Prof Lipworth)

• No Online Forum Discussion Exercises in Week 9.

Required reading:

Chadwick, R. ‘Gene Therapy.’

Smolensky. S. 'CRISPR/Cas9 and Germline Modification: New Difficulties in Obtaining Informed Consent' 

Optional additional reading:

Elias, S. and Annas, G.: ‘Somatic and Germline Gene Therapy.’

Warren, MA. ‘The Moral Status of the Gene.’

 

WEEK 10 (beginning Oct 9): If genetic therapy is ok, what about genetic enhancement?(Prof Lipworth)

Required reading:

Singer, P. ‘Parental Choice and Human Improvement’.

Ter Meulen, R et al: ‘Ethical Issues of Enhancement Technologies’.

Optional additional reading:

Resnik, D and Vorhaus, D. ‘Genetic Modification and Genetic Determinism’.

 

SECTION III (WEEKS 11-12):  BIOTECHNOLOGY IN WIDER CONTEXT – COMMERCE AND FOOD

WEEK 11 (beginning Oct 16):  Should human genes be privately ownable and commercially exploitable? (Prof Lipworth)

Required reading:

Chadwick, R. and Hedgecoe, A. ‘Commercial Exploitation of the Human Genome’

Optional additional reading:

Munzer, S. ‘Property, Patents and Genetic Material'

 

WEEK 12 (beginning Oct 23):  Synthetic and food biotechnology: Solving environmental and food scarcity problems? (Prof Lipworth)

Required reading:

Scott, D. 'The Technological Fix Criticisms and the Agricultural Biotechnology Debate'  

Rogers, W. ‘Ethical Issues in Synthetic Biology: A Commentary’

Optional additional reading:

Thompson, P. ‘Ethical Issues in Food Biotechnology’

 

Week 13: (beginning Oct 30): Writing/Exam Preparation Week

• No tutorials/SGTAs this week
• ESSAY OPTION 2 DEADLINE: 11.55pm Sunday 5 November

Changes to topics and readings. Removal of timed online test, replaced by 10 online quizzes.