Spring 2009 CSE302 Professional Ethics in Computer Science

 

Locations and Hours:

Tuesday, 12:50-2:10pm, Earth and Space Sciences Building 131.

Instructors: 

Instructor: Prof. Jie Gao, 1415 Computer Science Building. Email: jgao at cs dot sunysb dot edu. Office hour: Thursday 5:20-6:30pm or by appointment.

Announcements:

·       Term paper due date: May 8^th.

·       If you have not signed up for the presentation time slot, please email me.

·       The first class is on Jan 27th. See you there!

Course Description:

Ethics in Information Technology is designed to educate existing and future business managers and IT professionals on the tremendous impact ethical issues play in the use of information technology in the modern business world. The topics covered in this course are extremely current and relevant to anyone preparing to enter the field of IT. The course will give students the foundation they need to make appropriate decisions when faced with difficult situations and make a positive impact in the field of information technology. Please refer to the course page for more information.

Course Objectives:

    Students understand and apply professional ethics.  

• Students are aware of themselves as members of a profession, with shared community principles.
• Students are aware of the ethical implications of their professional choices, and of the communities (employer, customers, society at large) whose interests they serve.
• Students can apply ethical principles to resolve situations that arise in their professional lives.
• Students know of professional organizations that can help them deal with professional issues.

Prerequisites:

    CSE 219 (Computer Science III) or CSE 260 (Computer Science B: Honors)

 

Texts:
   George Reynolds, Ethics in Information Technology, Thomson Course Technology, 2007. ISBN 13: 978-1-4188-3631-3

Grading:

    Attendance (taken at random sessions): 10%
    Term paper: 50%
    Class presentation: 40%

Assignments:
    Students will be expected to perform the following:

• Reading Assignments: The topics discussed in the lectures correspond to the various chapters of the course textbook. The course outline gives the approximate dates for each major topic to be discussed. You are responsible for reading the appropriate chapter from the text and the appropriate set of transparencies from the lecture notes before each class.
• Term paper: You will write an 8-page term paper on a topic related to professional ethics in computing, drawing on one of the case studies in the syllabus or on personal experience. See also the Topics Page for a source of possible topics. The term-paper topic is due at the end of week 4; a draft is due at the end of week 9; and the final draft is due at the end of the semester.
• Class Presentation: You will make a 10-minute class presentation (Powerpoint) on the topic of his term paper. The presenting student will be evaluated on his coverage of the topic and his ability to engage fellow students in discussion. Students in the class will be asked to evaluate their fellow students' presentations on content, clarity, and excitement level.

Schedule:
    Watch this course webpage as more detailed schedule develops. There will be 14 sessions in total.:

Date	Topic	Reading (chapters)	Notes
1/27	Introduction to computer ethics	Reynolds: 1, 2	Lecture 1
2/03	Computer and Internet crime	Reynolds: 3	Lecture 2
2/10	Privacy	Reynolds: 4	Lecture 3
2/17	Freedom of Expression	Reynolds: 5	Lecture 4
2/24	Intellectual Property	Reynolds: 6	Lecture 5
3/3	Software development	Reynolds: 7	Lecture 6
3/10	Student presentations
2/17	Student presentations
3/24	Student presentations
3/31	Student presentations
4/14	Student presentations
4/21	Student presentations
4/28	Student presentations
5/05	Student presentations

Possible topics for term paper and class presentation:
    Here a list of possible topics and sources of topics for your term paper/class presentation. You can choose a topic not on the list as well.

• A very good source of topics is the course textbook, Reynolds, Ethics in Information Technology. In particular, each chapter of the book ends with a section called Cases, which provides a brief introduction to several case studies relevant to the chapter in question.
• Online Ethics Center. Clicking on several of the menu items just below the page header (Engineering Practice, Diverse Workplace, Computers & Software) brings up a list of items including cases.
• The Case Materials page of ComputingCases.org describes several case studies.
• Stony Brook Computer Science Professional Ethics
• Case Studies in Information and Computer Ethics
• Some general topics of interest are software piracy, intellectual property protection, user privacy, software reliability, computerized medicine, and safety critical systems

Useful links:

• Online Ethics Center
• ComputingCases.org
• Stony Brook Computing Society

Course policies:
     NO INCOMPLETES will be given for this course. Collaboration on assignments is not permitted. Students found in violation of this rule of conduct will automatically receive an F on the assignment in question. The official university position on academic dishonesty is the following:

Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is always wrong. Any suspected instance of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Academic Judiciary. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic judiciary website.

    For students with disabilities, please consult with the instructor or take a look at disabilities support services at Stony Brook University.

Some information on this page is based on inputs from Klaus Mueller.