CS 4001 HP: Computing, Society, & Professionalism

Instructor: Amy Bruckman
Email: asb at cc.gatech.edu
Office Hours: Find me after class or email for an appointment.
TA: Ciabhan Connelly
Email: ciabhanconnelly at cc.gatech.edu
Office Hours: Find me after class or email for an appointment.

Class Schedule

Learning Objectives

In this class, you will learn about:

Ethics
What do "right" and "wrong" mean anyway? How is "ethical" different from "legal"? We'll learn about several philosophical approaches to ethics including utilitiarianism, Kantianism, social contract theory, and virtue ethics. The goal is for students to be able to address ethical dilemmas with reasoned arguments, grounded in a combination of these ethical theories.
Professional Ethics
What special responsibilities do we have as computing professionals? What does the ACM Code of Ethics say, and how can we use it in our daily practice?
Computing and Society
In what ways does computer technology impact society? How should we consider the implications of actions, both broadly (e.g. global, economic, environmental, or societal) and for individuals? We'll talk about a host of issues including privacy, intellectual property, impact of algorithmic decion making, and freedom of speech.

Texts

Required Texts:

Assignments and Grading

  • Attendance (10%)
  • Participation (10%)
  • Homeworks (20%)
       Note that the term paper proposal and outline count as homework assignments.
  • Midterm (15%)
    (sample midterm)
  • Group Project (10%)
  • Term Paper (25%)
  • Final Exam (10%)

Attendance and Participation
Class attendance is required.

You may have two unexcused absences, and this will not affect your attendance grade. Please remember to get notes from a classmate if you miss a lecture.

If you need to miss class for a legitimate reason, please email the instructor and TA before class. Legitimate reasons for missing class include illness, a job interview, or attending a professional conference. Excuses that will NOT be accepted include for example picking someone up at the airport, having something due in another class, or having furniture delivered. If you need to miss class for the career fair, you may use one of your two unexcused absences. (You don't get a third.)

If you are sick, please stay home. Please ask a classmate for notes.

No Multi-Tasking in Lecture
Please keep your laptops and phones in your bags (except for an accommodation). Please take notes on paper.

Reference Format
Please use APA format for all references. APA format is described here. We are interested only in the format of your in-text citations and biliography (not other parts of the document.)

Assignments
Homeworks will be graded on a list of criteria (specified on the assignment) such as quality of writing, completeness, insight into technical issues, insight into social issues, etc. For each criterion, you will receive either a check plus, check, or check minus. Most criterion will receive a check. A plus means "you impressed me." A minus means the assignment is incomplete, incorrect, or sloppy in some fashion with respect to that criterion.

Please hand all assignments in on Canvas unless explicitly instructed otherwise.

If English is not your first language, you may request to not be graded on your writing for a particular individual assignment, including the term paper. This means you won't be penalized for bad writing, but you also won't get credit for good writing. To take advantage of this option, you must mark "ESL" (English as a Second Language) on the first page of your assignment/paper. This option is not available for group assignments. We still of course expect you to try to write in correct English, and will do our best to offer useful feedback on your writing.

Late Policy
Assignments are due 15 minutes before the start of our assigned class time on the day they are due (3:15 pm ET). Late assignments will be penalized at a rate of 3 pts (one grade step: A becomes A-) per day. Assignments more than one week late will not be accepted.

Please double space your assignments.

Over the course of the term, you have three "late days" where work may be late with no explanation needed. Please mark 'use my late days' on the first page of your assignment/paper if want to use your late days when you make late submissions. Use your late days wisely as different submissions have different weights. If you have used your late days on a low-value assignment like a homework, you can't later transfer them to a different assignment.

Honor Code
This class abides by the Georgia Tech Honor Code. All assigned work is expected to be individual, except where explicitly written otherwise. You are encouraged to discuss the assignments with your classmates; however, what you hand in should be your own work.

Canvas detects plagiarism. The plagiarism score is visible to you--please don't hand in anything with a plagiarism score above 15%. Plagiarism will be reported to the Office of Student Integrity.

Please be careful not to copy sentences from readings/references into your assignments verbatim. Sometimes this happens accidentally. For example, a student may copy and paste a sentence into their file of notes, and then later refer to their notes and forget that the sentence is not their own. If you copy anything into notes, make sure to write where you got it from. Other times, students who are struggling with English as a second language may copy sentences because they are struggling with the language. Do not do this. Remember that we have a lenient policy on grading for ESL students.

If copied sentences are detected and the copying appears incidential, the assignment will be penalized for 5 to 10 points per sentence. If the copying is more extensive, the student will be refered to the Office of Student Integrity.

Policy on Use of AI

  • Use of spelling and grammar checkers are encouraged.
  • Use of generative AI is discouraged (except when explicitly asked to do so), but not prohibited.
If you choose to use generative AI, you must do so responsibly. Please consider the following risks:
  • Reduced learning. The purpose of academic writing assignments is to help you learn the material. You should be aware that using generative AI typically lessens the amount you learn from the assignment. This includes both reduced content learning, and reduced learning about how to write independently. This reduced learning may diminish what you get from the course, and may impact your grade later in your performance on exams.
  • Factual errors. AI may introduce factual errors. If your work contains factual errors, we will deduct points for each error (typically 5 or 10 points per error) or may give a zero on the assignment, at the instructor’s discretion.
  • Bias.. AI may introduce unfair biases, for example against certain groups. You are responsible for any biases in work you submit.
  • Fake references. AI may provide fake references. Citing a paper is asserting that it exists, you have read part or all of it, and that it supports the point being made. If you have a reference for a paper that does not exist in your bibliography, you will be reported for a violation of academic integrity, and this may result in a grade of zero on the assignment or F in the course.
  • Poor style. AI sometimes writes in an awkward or clichéd style. The quality of your writing is part of your grade, and we will deduct points for poor writing style.
Because the use of generative AI is new, we may need to update this policy over the course of the semester. If this occurs, you will be given a copy of the new policy and the date that it goes into effect. You will be given an ungraded Canvas quiz asking you to affirm that you have carefully read the revised policy.

Statement of Intent for Inclusivity
As a member of the Georgia Tech community, I am committed to creating a learning environment in which all of my students feel safe and included. Because we are individuals with varying needs, I am reliant on your feedback to achieve this goal. To that end, I invite you to enter into dialogue with me about the things I can stop, start, and continue doing to make my classroom an environment in which every student feels valued and can engage actively in our learning community.

Acknowledgments

Assignments and ideas on this syllabus build on those from everyone who has taught it before, especially Colin Potts, Mary Jean Harrold, Bill Ribarsky, and Spencer Rugaber.