CSCE 390 Spring 2010: Syllabus (subject to change)

Reference materials:

  • Robert N. Barger. Computer Ethics: A Case-based Approach. Cambridge University Press, 2008 (required text, referred to as [B]). Supplementary materials from the publisher are available online.

    • The last day to withdraw without failure is Monday, February 23, 2010. The final exam for the course will take place on Friday, April 30, 2010, at 1730 in the classroom (300 Main B213). This is the regularly scheduled time for courses taught from 1530 to 1620 on Thursdays. ( See the university exam schedule.) The syllabus is subject to change: this is especially true of homework.

    DayTopic Homework
    (1) January 14Philosophical inventory; Introduction; The Computer as a humanizing agent (Chs.1-2 [B]) TBD
    (2) January 21 Philosophic Belief Systems: Idealism and Realism (Ch 3 [B]) TBD
    (3) January 28 Philosophic Belief Systems: Pragmatism and Existentialism (Ch 3 [B]) The possibility of a unifying ethical theory. (Ch. 5 [B]) TBD
    (4) February 4 Talk on careers by Ms. Helen Fields of the USC Career Center: The Value of Experiential Learning TBD
    (5) February 11 The ethical decision-making process (Ch. 6 [B]). TBD
    (6) February 18 Colloquium talk by Dr. Homayoun Valafar on Bioinformatics. TBD
    (7) February 25 The computing field as a profession; Computer-related codes of ethics (Chs.8-9 [B]) TBD
    (8) March 4 Colloquium talk by Dr. Csilla Farkas on Computer Security and Information Assurance TBD
    March 11 Spring Break NA
    (9) March 18 TBD TBD
    (10) March 25 Colloquium talk by Professor Duncan Buell on Electronic Voting Machines TBD
    (11) April 1 Three case studies for the Joint Software Engineer's Code. TBD
    (12) April 8 TBD TBD
    (13) April 15 TBD TBD
    (14) April 21 TBD TBD