Current Course Catalog Description:
CSC 300 Professional Responsibilities (4)
The responsibilities of the Computer Science professional. The ethics of science and the IEEE/ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics, quality tradeoffs, software system safety, intellectual property, history of computing and the social implications of computers in the modern world. Applications to ethical dilemmas in computing. Technical presentation methods and practice. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. Prerequisite CSC 357 & Junior Standing
Ask yourself, what is this reference to a "professional" and why is it part of the course description? Understand this and you have a large part of the class solved.
Basic Course Requirements:
This document is intended to give you an idea of the critical aspects of the class and how your grade is calculated. Your grade is not a simple number calculated from objective tests. It is based on a holistic view of your performance in each of these areas and in the classroom. You should also refer to your student agreement that contains my list of common characteristics that lead to failing grades in this class. In order to ensure you have understood the basic course requirements, you must sign a Student Agreement for CSC 300.
Class attendance, class preparation and participation measures are directly utilized in your final grade as noted in the student agreement.
Take Note: in order to pass this class, you must receive passing grades on the Final Termpaper, the Formal Presentation, and the Final Exam.
Grading
| Assignment | Percent of Grade |
|---|---|
| Critical Analysis Essay (In-Class) | 5% |
| (Group) Reading Presentation and Guided Discussion | 5% |
| (Group) Ethical System Presentation | 2.5% |
| Professional Portfolio | 2.5% |
| Labs | 10% |
| Formal Term Paper Proposal | 10% |
| Term Paper Peer Review 1 | 2.5% |
| Term Paper Half-Draft | 10% |
| Term Paper Peer Review 2 | 2.5% |
| Term Paper Final | 25% |
| Formal Presentation | 15% |
| Final | 10%
|
Attendance & Participation |
+/- up to 10% to final grade |
Lab Work Late Policy
Lab work turned in late that is missing any part of the assignment or that is incomplete will automatically receive a score of 0.
If the assignment is complete but late, it will recieve a penalty of 10% per day plus an additional penalty of 0-10% each day (this will be randomly determined each day past the due date). So if you turn something in a day late, you will lose 10%-20% of the credit. Just like working in industry, turning work in late can cause minor issues or major damage without warning, so be careful.
There is currently one exception to this policy: the fallacy lab will be worth 0 points if turned in after Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 at 11:59 PM.
Assignment Summaries
Critical Analysis Essay
During the second week of class, each person will write an in-class essay on a topic related to the reading done during week 1. The essay will be expected to include in-depth analysis, proper citations, good grammar, and clear prose. The standards will be similar to the term paper, and your grade on this assignment will hopefully give a good indication of where your writing and analysis skills are at the start of the course.
Reading Presentation and Guided Proposal:
Your class group will assemble a brief (10 minute maximum) summary of the key points in one of the reading assignments and some discussion questions to guide the class in a one hour (all of one discussion section) conversation about the reading. Both teams and individuals will be graded for their contributions to the presentation and their ability to facilitate a successful and focused discussion for the entire allotted time.
Similar to the reading presentations, your group will present a brief summary of one ethical system that will be useful to the class topics. These usually include utilitarianism (act and rule), Rawlsian justice, and deontology. Sign-ups for these presentations will take place during the second week of class.
Professional Portfolio
Each person will make a portfolio with a resume and key evidence they are accomplishing important professional goals. These may then be shown to employers (try showing them even if they don't request it, they'll be impressed) and others to succinctly demonstrate your work.
Homework
Various course supporting assignments will be assigned, such as the fallacy challenge, to cement everyone's understanding of key aspects of argumentation and ethics.
Term Paper Peer Reviews
There will be two peer reviews, one before the half-draft and one before the final paper. Each person will pair up with another person to critically analyze their paper, and will then write a brief critique to both assist the other person in best formulating their arguments and also to familiarize each student with the work of their peers.
The proposal helps define your topic so you can begin writing, and gets a fair amount of the initial research and scoping out of the way. For more information, please click on the assignment title to view the official assignment spec.
Term Paper Half Draft and Final Paper
Please see the appropriate assignment descriptions.
Office Hours
Tuesday 2-5 PM
Wednesday 2-3 PM
Friday 1- 3 PM.
Furlough Days - Please note that this does not necessarily mean there is no class that day!
Tuesday, 6 Apr.
Friday, 23 Apr.
Tuesday, 11 May
Wednesday, 19 May
Tuesday, 1 June
Tuesday 8 June,
Academic Honesty
Basic University honesty policies apply to this class. Though I strongly encourage cooperation in your work, the work you author must be your own. You really MUST use other's work (other references, students work, quotations, etc.) and it MUST be properly referenced. It is a GOOD THING to use others' smart ideas and cite to their work while you do analysis and build your own variations on their ideas. Copying anothers' work without valid citation is considered plagiarism. Paraphrasing another source in your work as your own may also be considered dishonest, you must cite to sources and distinguish your interpretation from the original principles that sparked your interpretation. This is part of good research. This class strictly enforces the policy and lack of proper references for any facts, figures, tables, pictures, well-known principles or student contributed ideas will result in serious consequences, as noted in the student agreement. This policy is also further explained in the student agreement.
I repeat: attendance and participation are mandatory in this course. Discussions in class require your input. The class process and class discussions are not contained in any slides or notes. Of course, if you must miss class, let me know and find out what transpired from other students in the class.
CSC 300 Student Agreement (W10 Version)
Late work will not be accepted without prior arrangement or acceptable medical excuse (see late policy for labs for exceptions).