CGS-3092 Summer A 2001 Syllabus

Office
Room: ECS 316 Phone: (305) 348-3329 (FIU-D-DAY)
Regular mail: My mailbox is in the ECS building, 3rd floor, Computer Science, room 354
Office Hours
I have two types of office hours: general and advising. Everyone may see me during either type of hours, but advising students will be given priority during advising hours. All office hours are handled on a walk-in basis.
Mon, Wed Advising 5 - 6:30 pm General 12:45 - 1:45 pm
Tue, Thu Advising 1 - 3 pm General 3 - 5 pm
Internet Information
E-mail: downeyt@cs.fiu.edu Web: http://www.cs.fiu.edu/~downeyt
Outline of Grading Policy

You will be required to read each chapter of the text. For each chapter, you will be required to write a paper that lists four major ideas from the chapter. These must be listed at the start of the paper. Then summarize what these four major ideas are in your own words. Each paper should be from 1 to 2 pages in length.

Have you summarized and discussed four major ideas?

At the end of the course, you will be required to write a paper that summarizes your ethical view of each of the topics that has been discussed in the class. You must briefly summarize the major issues that we have discussed, and must describe your view on each.

Have you expressed and supported your view completely?

Class Participation. Be prepared to discuss the topics from each chapter. You may also bring up your own experiences with respect to the topics, and to discuss current ,related topics from the news media.

Have you made a significant contribution to the class discussion?
Papers and Class Participation
  Chapter Papers Ethical View Paper Attendance/Participation
% of Grade 50% 25% 25%
Dates Due the first day the
chapter is discussed		 Due the last day of class: Wednesday, 6/20 Each class is graded
Text
Computers Ethics, Cautionary Tales and Ethical Dilemmas in Computing; Forester and Morrison; Second Edition; MIT Press; 1994
Room and Time
Section 01: ECS 138 MW 1825-1940

Special Dates
No class: Monday, May 26 Drop Date: Monday, June 2
Late Assignment Policy The papers for the readings are to be uploaded to the web prior to class, and a printout is to be handed in during class. If they are not uploaded before class, then they are late.

Working Together on Assignments is NOT ALLOWED. There is a large difference between discussing general aspects of the course and discussing specific aspects of an assignment. Assignments that are too similar will not be graded. With a second occurrence, you will earn an F in the course.

Course Objective. At the end of the semester you will be aware of the ethical issues involved with being a computer programmer in this technical age. You will have formed your own opinions on these issues, and will have started the process of building your own set of ethical standards.

Evaluation.

  1. You will be required to attend every class. You earn 1 point towards your final grade for every class you attend. 13 points total.
  2. You will be required to participate in each class discussion. Class discussions will be based on the readings from the text, on news items that relate to the current topic, on personal experience, and on personal opinion. You earn 1 point towards your final grade for each class discussion that you contribute to significantly. 12 points total.
  3. For each chapter in the text, you will be required to submit a paper that summarizes and discusses four major ideas from each reading: 1 page per reading. Summarize the ideas and give your opinion about each. They will be due on the first day of discussion for the reading. These papers must be submitted on-line, and a printout must be submitted in class. 50 points total.
  4. On the last day of class, you will be required to submit a paper that summarizes and supports your ethical views on the topics that have been discussed in the class: 2 to 4 pages. Support your view with references from the text or references from news articles. This paper must be submitted on-line, and a printout must be submitted in class. 25 points total.
  5. You may submit news articles to me for extra credit. The articles must relate to the current topic. Articles for a topic must be submitted before we finish discussing the topic in class. Only one student will be given credit for any news article. If several students submit the same article, only the first one received will garner credit. News articles should be submitted by e-mail, I will respond, indicating whether credit was earned. 1 point for each article, 1 article per reading. 7 points total.

Major Topics