Course Syllabus

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Description

The official descriptions of CS210 and CS211 are available on the Siebel School website and in Course Explorer. What follows is an informal description of the course.

The goal of this course is not to dictate what is right and what is wrong. We hope to help you think about and develop your own moral code, compatible with your existing personal values. The ethical issues we face as technology professionals are rapidly shifting and complex. You should be informed about them, so you can establish clear boundaries for yourself. What values would you never compromise? What lines would you refuse to cross? This course will give you a space to explore these questions, so you can enter our field prepared.

Ethical dilemmas involving technology rarely have simple solutions. You should be equipped to discuss these issues, even with people who disagree with you. To that end, this course aims to help you become familiar with controversies that show up repeatedly in our field and provide you a shared vocabulary for discussing them. This course will also expose you to a diversity of perspectives, some of which might challenge your existing opinions.

As your instructor, my goals are simple. I want you to be proud of what you do. I want you to live with a clear conscience. I want you to look out for one another and the public. I want you to build technology that will make our world a better place.

Weekly Schedule

The class meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 3:00 - 3:50pm in 1404 Siebel Center for Computer Science. Friday's session is for CS211 students only, so the CS210 students need not attend.

Though our schedule will shift around, a typical week will look something like this:

  • Wednesday will be lecture, where the instructor will introduce new course concepts and vocabulary. Weekly assignments will usually be due on Wednesdays.
  • Monday will be discussion section, where you interact with your classmates and TAs to explore the topics of the course.
  • Friday (211 only) will be writing lab, where you will work with your CS211 classmates and course staff on a series of writing projects.

Staff

If you have a question about an assignment or other course-related topic, please use the discussions section of Canvas. If you have a personal problem or grading issue, please contact the course staff directly.

Name Role Email Office Hours
Ryan Cunningham Instructor rcunnin2@illinois.edu Wed, Fri 2pm-2:50pm
In person: 2211 Siebel Center
Online: Zoom
Yi-Shyuan Chiang TA ysc6@illinois.edu

Tue 13:00-14:00 via Zoom
Jina Hur TA jhur10@illinois.edu

Thu 9:30-10:30am via Zoom
Zirui Wang TA ziruiw3@illinois.edu Fri 11:00am - 12:00pm via Zoom

Grading Policies

Weights

Below, you'll find the weighting of each grade category for the course.

CS210

Your 210 grade will be based on the following weighting:

Category Weight
Class Participation 15%
Weekly Assignments 20%
Presentation 10%
Midterm Exam 25%
Final Exam 30%

CS211

The weighting above for CS210 will form the 66.67% of your grade. The remaining 33.33% of your grade will come from four (4) equally-weighted writing projects.

You will submit multiple drafts for the writing projects. All of the drafts you submit for a project will be graded by course staff using the same rubric. The overall project grade will be the equally weighted average of all of the drafts, including the final draft.

However, you will receive formative feedback and the opportunity to improve each draft. This can retroactively improve your earlier draft grades. 

Here are the details of how this works. For each project, your initial submission grades will be re-calculated as the average of your final submission grade. Here's an example for an assignment with a first and final draft. If you receive a 75% on your first draft and a 95% on your final draft, your true first draft score will be LaTeX: \frac{75+95}{2}=85. Your overall grade for the writing project will be LaTeX: \frac{85+95}{2}=90. In other words, if you get a C on your first draft, you can still get an A on the project if you work with course staff to improve your work.

Cutoffs

Below, you'll find tentative grade cutoffs. I reserve the right to modify these cutoffs, but they will never be revised upward. In other words, I will only change the cutoffs in your favor.

Grade Cutoff
A 92%
A- 90%
B+ 88%
B 82%
B- 80%
C+ 78%
C 72%
C- 70%
D 60%

Regrade policy

You can request regrades for assignments. A different grader will grade your assignments, and they will independently regrade the assignment. This could raise or lower your grade. All regrade scores will be final. You should use this form to initiate a regrade request; other forms of requests, such as emails or verbal requests, will not be accepted. We want the regrade request process to be as fair and consistent as possible. You can only submit requests for grades that are no more than two weeks old. 

Weekly Assignments

Weekly assignments will usually be distributed on Wednesdays. They will be due the following Wednesday. Your submission will then be graded by course staff.

  • Late assignments will not be accepted unless you have an excused absence.
  • The lowest weekly assignment grade will automatically be dropped.

Class Participation

Class participation will be checked during lectures and discussion sections using iClicker. You will need to either obtain a physical iClicker or pay for a subscription to the app. The university has instructions for setting up iClicker available here.

iClicker grades will be based on participation. I will also slightly curve the grades at the end of the semester, so failing to answer the occasional question won't impact your score much. We're not asking for perfection. As long as you consistently show up and answer the questions, you'll receive a good participation score.

Two participation scores will automatically be dropped. Further absences must be excused absences.

Presentation

You will give a brief presentation during class time on October 13th, 15th, or 17th. More details about this assignment are available here.

Writing Projects (211 Only)

There will be four substantial writing projects over the course of the semester: a persuasive essay, a research paper, an instruction manual, and a second persuasive essay. Each project will be introduced in writing lab and will go through multiple rounds of revision. You will submit a first draft, which will be graded by course staff. You will then have the opportunity to revise your first draft based on feedback. We will then grade your final draft. There will be a total of 9 writing assignments: three first drafts, one outline, one peer-review, and four final drafts. Each of the four writing project will be weighted equally toward your final grade.

Exams

There will be a midterm and a final in this course in the CBTF. Both exams will consist of multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, and short essay questions. A study guide with practice questions will be posted for both exams.

  • The midterm is scheduled for October 14th-16th. You can reserve a time starting October 2nd.
  • The final exam is scheduled for December 11th-15th. You can reserve a time starting October 17th.

This course uses the Grainger College of Engineering’s Computer-Based Testing Facility for its exams.

  • The policies of the CBTF are the policies of this course, and academic integrity infractions related to the CBTF are infractions in this course.
  • If you have accommodations identified by the Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services (DRES) (http://www.disability.illinois.edu/) for exams, please submit your Letter of Accommodations (LOA) through the CBTF website (https://cbtf.illinois.edu/students/dres) as  soon as possible.  It  can take up to five days for your LOA to be processed and if you make a reservation before your LOA has been processed, your reservation will not include your testing accommodations and you will be required to reschedule. This must be done each semester you use the CBTF.
  • If you have any issue during an exam, inform the proctor immediately. Work with the proctor to resolve the issue at the time before logging off. If you do not inform a proctor of a problem during the test then you forfeit all rights to addressing the problem you experienced during your exam.
  • Take  the CBTF Orientation (https://go.illinois.edu/student-orientation)  (10 minutes) and review all instructions on the CBTF website (https://cbtf.illinois.edu/students) before your first exam.

Textbook

The textbook is not required, but any edition of it will help supplement the class material (e.g. by helping you understand definitions and concepts more deeply.)

  • Citation: Tavani, Herman T. Ethics and technology: Controversies, questions, and strategies for ethical computing. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
  • Edition: 5th
  • ISBN: 978-1-119-18657-1

Resources

Over the course of the semester, we will post potentially useful resources below.

Course Policies

Excused Absence

An excused absence for the course should fall into one of the categories described for obtaining an absence letter in the Student Code. This includes things like: prolonged illness, life threatening injury of an immediate family member, death of a family member, religious beliefs, volunteer emergency work, or significant and compelling circumstances beyond a student's control. Note: Job interviews and personal travel are explicitly excluded. You are responsible for resolving conflicts in your own schedule. This is, after all, a course about being professional.

If you have a significant life event, an absence letter might help.

Academic Integrity

Since this is an ethics course, I will be very strict about academic integrity in this course. Please be aware that when you submit an assignment in this course, you are representing that submission to the world as your own independent work. That work will be held to the standards of the university academic integrity policy. If you are uncertain if something constitutes an academic integrity violation, you must ask before you submit your assignment. Once you submit your assignment, it is too late.

There are a few details of the university's academic integrity policies I want to make crystal clear: 

  • If you use someone else’s ideas or quote someone in your work, proper acknowledgement must be given. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism.
  • If another person's exact words appear in your paper, they must be quoted. Failing to quote another person's work constitutes plagiarism. Rewriting someone else's exact words to avoid quoting them also constitutes plagiarism.
  • Words generated by software (e.g. an LLM) are not your own. If you use them in your paper, this constitutes plagiarism.
  • Using invented facts or sources is explicitly against the university's academic integrity policy. This includes so-called "AI hallucinations." It is your responsibility to verify the information in your work. If you include false information in your submission, this constitutes fabrication.
  • Draft submissions are also subject to the academic integrity policy. Academic integrity violations in submitted drafts will also be sanctioned.

WARNING: A reduced course grade and zero on the assignment will be the minimum sanction I recommend for any form of academic dishonesty in this course.

Late Registration

If you register for this course late, you are responsible for submitting all prior assignments within one week of your registration as well as keeping up with future due dates. If you are considering registering late, you are welcome to contact the instructor to get access to view and submit assignments prior to being officially registered.

Mental Health

Diminished mental health, including significant stress, mood changes, excessive worry, substance/alcohol abuse, or problems with eating and/or sleeping can interfere with optimal academic performance, social development, and emotional well-being. The University of Illinois offers a variety of confidential services including individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, psychiatric services, and specialized screenings at no additional cost. If you or someone you know experiences any of the above mental health concerns, it is strongly encouraged to contact or visit any of the University’s resources provided below. Getting help is a smart and courageous thing to do -- for yourself and for those who care about you.

Counseling Center: 217-333-3704, 610 East John Street Champaign, IL 61820

McKinley Health Center:217-333-2700, 1109 South Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801

Course Summary:

Course Summary
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