CS 3604: Syllabus

Fall 2002, Dr. Rosson

This course studies the impacts and implications of computing technologies on society, and the corresponding responsibilities of computing professionals with respect to managing and directing these technologies. These issues are presented and explored through a mixture of lecture, in-class activities, Web-based readings, group discussion, and debates. In addition to discussing professional and ethical issues for computing (e.g., freedom of speech in the digital age), the course also introduces and provides considerable practice with professional communication. A number of writing assignments ranging from small special-purpose documents (e.g., a resumé) to longer essays (e.g., a technical proposal for a hypothetical workgroup). The course also provides several opportunities for oral presentations, enhancing students' abilities to present themselves well when interviewing and in the workplace.

Course Goals and Objectives
Students completing this course should be able to...

• review and analyze the effects—both anticipated and observed—of the insertion of computer technology into many aspects of society;
• combine their understanding of technology's effects with their personal values, to express and carry out ethical behavior with respect to computing and its impacts, including an ability to articulate and weigh the pros and cons associated with diverse ethical positions;
• identify, analyze, and act upon work situations that have potential ethical, legal, or other professional implications;
• produce written documents of varying type and size in a competent and professional fashion, including the ability to review and critique colleagues' work;
• design and carry out an interesting, concise, and relevant oral presentation with technical content.

Prerequisites
All students must have successfully taken CS2604 and COMM 2004 and must have junior standing. These prerequisites are strictly enforced. Warning: This course does not fulfill the requirements for CS minors as a 3000-level course option, or as a higher level course for potential internal transfer applicants.

Textbook:
Dupré, L., BUGS in Writing: A Guide to Debugging Your Prose. Addison Wesley, 2002 (Revised Edition). ISBN 0-201-37921-X. This book provides assistance for the writing assignments; readings covering professional issues and ethics will be made available online, borrowing from the extensive site established by Professor J.A.N. Lee. Links to all required online readings can be found in the calendar.

Contact Information:
The course instructor is Dr. Mary Beth Rosson, Department of Computer Science and Center for Human-Computer Interaction; 504 McBryde; rosson@vt.edu, office hours: 9-10am MWF.

The course GTA is Jonathan Howarth, jhowarth@vt.edu, office hours 11:00-12:30 T/H, in McBryde 133 Cubicle H.

Students can send questions or comments to the entire class using the class listserv, CS3604_96285@listserv.vt.edu.

Grading:
Grades will be combination of writing assignments, debates, class participation, and professional activities, and a final exam. Please keep all graded assignments until the end of the semester; with such a large class, it is possible for data entry errors to occur. For more information see the grading page.

Class Policies:
Late assignments: All assignments must be received by the end of class on the assigned due date to be considered on time. Assignments that are turned in within the next 24 hours will be penalized 15%; within 48 hours 30%; and within 72 hours 50%. Assignments turned in more than three days late will not be graded.

Exceptional circumstances: On occasion illness, family emergencies, or other unavoidable circumstances will prevent you from completing an assignment on time or participating in a class activity. In these cases, please document the circumstance and notify the instructor or GTA as soon as possible. When relevant, an appropriate grace period or make-up opportunity will be provided.

Honor code: The Virginia Tech Honor Code should be applied to all work in this course, whether individual or group-based. This means that all written or oral work should be completed alone; group work should be done only within the group. However, any student is allowed (indeed encouraged!) to get assistance from the Writing Center.

Plagiarism: Because this course relies extensively on digital resources (online articles, debate comments from other students, other Web sites, etc.), we will be especially zealous in detecting and prosecuting Honor Court cases relating to plagiarism from the Web or Internet. The activities in this course will expose you to many ideas and concepts that you can use in your assignments; please be very careful to get permission to reuse others' work and/or to give them appropriate acknowledgement in your own work.

Special needs: We wish to make any accommodations needed by any student who has a disability. Please contact the instructor during the first week of class.