6 April, 2005

Lab Topics for CSC 300

These topics will be the subject of one or two lab classes and several hours outside the lab (for preparation and writeup).  The objective is to give CSC 300 students some "learning by doing" experience with ethics and professionalism in computing activities.

Keys:

Is the activity something that students can reasonably accomplish in a few lab classes with some extra investment of time?

Is the activity ethical in its approach to the subject (something akin to "wardriving" but completely and unambigously legal and ethical?)

Does the activity exhibit the professional and ethical dimensions inherent in computing technology?

Is there a basic set of materials and technologies available on the lab topic?

Is there a good set of questions or a reasonable format for a lab report that exhibits the accomplishment of the lab goals?

Possible lab topics (only a suggested list.  Put in SE Code provisions for each one as reference):

1.	 Use of computing technologies to assist the physically disabled.  (Think about the blind trying to navigate the web.  Can you envision a lab where the students in the group are blindfolded and tasked to buy AA batteries from the Wal-Mart site?)

2.	 Demonstration of wireless [in]security to the unsuspecting public.  (Can you envision setting up a public demo with a few laptops on a wireless network where one laptop is "stealing" the images from every webpage that the other laptop displays.  Have posters and group members to explain the simple wireless security protocols and show how simple program, say, Etherpeg, can "snoop" on the network.)

	 a) Also a possibility of knocking on a door and asking if their wireless is secure, seeking out management to check for them,	   and explaining why it is important, referring them to professionals to help  (check SECOE provision)

3.	 Career / Life Goals Development process.  Develop a complete software development process model to model the career goals of the lab student 10 years out?

4.	 Study the gender / ethnic diversity in CS / SE Departments across some spectrum.  Start with Cal Poly  data on CPE/CSC/SE and gather (compare) data for other programs in other places.  Attempt some basic conclusions.  (Need to find some basic resources for such study and data gathering.)  

5.	 Password security.  Demonstrate (using publicly available cracking programs on non-networked machines) weakness of names.  Show the increasing time it takes to bruteforce crack passwords with punctuation, etc.  Possible?

6.	 

*** other possibilities :

UCITA scenarios
IP stuff regarding other schools IP policies
Testability - Formal Methods - Reliability lessons via a lab?
SE programs ethicality (our papers, ABET accreditation, SWEBOK, etc.)