CSC 300 Basic Course Administration - Winter 2007

Current Course Catalog Description:

CSC 300 Professional Responsibilities (4)

The responsibilities of the Computer Science professional. The ethics of science and the IEEE/ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics, quality tradeoffs, software system safety, intellectual property, history of computing and the social implications of computers in the modern world. Applications to ethical dilemmas in computing. Technical presentation methods and practice. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory. *Prerequisite CSC 307 or CSC 309.*

Basic Course Requirements:

This is intended to give you an idea of how your grade is calculated. It is not a simple number calculated from objective tests. It is based on a wholistic view of your performance in each of these areas and in the classroom. The schedule itself is only a guideline, each class evolves a bit differently, but the goal is to cover all the scheduled topics to some level of depth, guided by individual class interests as discovered during class meetings.

CLASS ATTENDANCE, CLASS PREPARATION and SIGNIFICANT PARTICIPATION are ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL to your grade. Participation and attendance will be noted and used in evaluations, especially in borderline grading cases. Laboratory work is also crucial to your grade.

Termpaper              20%
Formal Presentation    20%
Labs                        10%
Midterm exam            30%       Midterm Exam 07
Final Exam W07 up!    20%
                                  ______
                                   100% *

* NOTE: Class preparation and participation: +/-10% to your final grade is possible regardless of all other grades. You will be subjectively evaluated weekly on your class preparation and participation.

Preparation, Participation, and a passing grade is required for each acitivity listed above. In other words, you cannot skip (or fail) a presentation and take a point penalty. You must take part in each and every activity with a passing grade in order to pass the course. Participate - even if you must do suboptimal work. (But try hard not to!)

Basic University honesty policies apply to this class. Though I usually encourage cooperation in your work, your work must be your own. You often MUST use other's work (other references, students work, quotations, etc.) and it MUST be properly referenced. Copying another source into your work without citation is considered plagiarism. Paraphrasing another source in your work as your own may also be considered dishonest, you must cite to sources and distinguish your interpretation from the original principles that sparked your interpretation. This is part of good research.

For your information, I have compiled a list of common characteristics that lead to failure in this class: How To Fail Turner's CSC 300 Class.

NOTE: Several CSC 300 students have submitted their termpapers to the CPSR essay writing contest, two have won cash prizes and had their work published! Have a look! The link to Eric Rall's paper submission is broken, you can see it here. Consider submission of your paper from this course.

I repeat: attendance and participation are mandatory in this course. Discussions in class require your input. The class process and class discussions are not contained in any slides or notes. Of course, if you must miss class, do your best to find out what transpired. However, you cannot just take exams, turn in a paper and make a presentation and hope to pass the course if you do not attend regularly.

The schedule and planning is tentative and is subject to change. Changes are announced in class and may be noted here. Always get notes from class if you cannot attend a given day because important information is given there that cannot be fully reproduced here. Always remember this is an participation driven class, let me know in advance when you have any important conflicts so that we can resolve them so as not to hurt your grade.

LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED without prior arrangement or medical excuse.

Updated: CST January 2007.