Professor	Daniel Stearns
Office	14-222
Office Hours	Posted on office door and on Web page
email address	dstearns@galaxy
Web URL	http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~dstearns

Course Catalog Description:
CSC 300 Professional Responsibilities (4)
The responsibilities of the Computer Science professional. The ACM Code of Ethics, software economics, quality tradeoffs, software safety, intellectual property, history of computing and the social implications of computers in the modern world. Technical presentation methods and practice. 4 lectures. Prerequisite: CSC 441.

Course Objectives:
Students will:

1. be able to discuss their responsibilities as computer professionals.
2. be able to estimate the time and personnel required to complete a software project.
3. be intimately familiar with the ACM and IEEE Codes of Ethics.
4. be able to write and give professionally competent oral presentations.
5. be able to discuss the variety of social impacts of computing on our society.
6. be familiar with the regulations and laws pertinent to the computing profession.
7. experience a software design process.
8. have fun, at least some of the time.

Course Textbooks:
Baase. A Gift of Fire , Prentice-Hall, 1997
Weiner. Digital Woes , Addison-Wesley, 1994

Class Communications
The best communication medium is our classroom; there will be lots of time available to ask questions. There are also daily evaluation forms that can be used to ask questions in writing; they will be answered during the next class period.

Electronic mail is another medium for communication; I will respond to your email questions, usually within 24 hours.
Perhaps most important is the class Web page. There you will find class notes, reading assignments and lots of other information.

Plagiarism
Cooperative work is an important part of learning; you are encouraged to study together, discuss the class and its many issues. But,

It is cheating to turn in duplicate work (even one small sentence)
It is cheating to copy work (even one line) from another student's assignment or file.
It is cheating to copy work (even one line) from a published source without credit.
It is cheating to lend another student your assignment.
It is cheating to write part (even one line) of another student's assignment.

Oral Presentations
Each student is required to give oral presentations in class as follows:

• Three informal oral presentations of no longer than 2 minutes.
  The presentations can be on anything pertinent to the responsibilities of the computer science professional. Informal presentations are not scheduled but are limited to 5 per class period. Ideas: press releases, news articles, history tidbits, TV shows, journal articles, jokes, Dilbert cartoons, ... Topics cannot be discussed by more than one student except as a response.

• One formal oral presentation (8 minutes maximum) on a topic pertinent to the responsibilities of the computer science professional. Formal reports are scheduled in advance; topics must be approved in advance. Overheads must be preapproved by your instructor prior to the presentation; failure to do so will result in cancellation of the talk.

Course Notebook
Each student is required to maintain a course notebook containing the material listed. Notebooks will be collected on a sporadic basis during Thursday class time. Material must be organized chronologically , by week, so it is easy to find; it is suggested that you use a loose-leaf notebook. The assignment page lists reading assignments and summarizes what should be added to your notebook each week. See the journal guidelines regarding written entries in your notebook.

• Reading notes (optional - see final exam)
  Write informal notes, in complete sentences, giving your reaction to each assigned reading. Do NOT summarize the reading; I want you to react to what you read. And please don't do bullet writing! These notes can be handwritten if your handwriting is legible. The notes should include some or all of the following depending on your interest or reaction:
  1. Your reaction to key ideas
  2. Ideas you find surprising or new
  3. Evidence given for or against the author's arguments
  4. Relationship of the article to other articles or class discussion
  5. Problems you see with the author's arguments
  A reading note is required for each assigned chapter or paper and must be a minimum of 200 words. In some cases, more words may be required to express your thoughts.
• Exercises (optional - see final exam)
  Write solutions to exercises given as homework. Exercises will be listed in the course notes.
• Personal journal entries (1 entry per week)
  Document any insights you have about the class, your major, Cal Poly or the Computer Science field. Write a minimum of 300 words in this entry and follow the journal guidelines. Some examples are available for your perusal.
• Individual Assignments
  You will receive a number of individual assignments during the quarter; these are to be completed by yourself. You may be asked to submit assignment deliverables separate from your notebook. But, always keep all of your assignments in the notebook.
• Informal Oral Presentation summary
  Write a short summary of each two minute report you give in class including the date and the topic discussed.
• Participation (1 entry per week)
  Document anything that demonstrates your active participation in CSC 300. Participation activities might include outside reading, active class participation, use of daily evaluation forms or extra credit work done.
• Self evaluations
  You will be asked to write self evaluations of your CSC 300 performance; write these evaluations in your notebook.

The choice must be made, in your notebook, by January 30, 1998. Once the choice is made, you may not change your mind.

Students who choose to take the final examination must receive a passing grade on the final in order to pass CSC 300.

Grading
All written material is graded using the WPE grading standard (see attached). Other work is graded using the same scale (1-6); grading standards will be made available for each type of work.

I reserve the right to assign different individual grades on a project based on an individual's contribution to that deliverable.

Failure to follow directions will result in a grade of 0 on a project or assignment.

You must receive at least a grade of 3 on your formal presentation to pass CSC 300.

Grading (final exam taken)
Formal Oral Presentation - 10%
Notebook - 20%
Assignments - 15%
Group Projects - 15%
Final Group Project - 20%
Final - 20%

Grading (final exam not taken)
Formal Oral Presentation - 10%
Notebook - 40%
Assignments - 15%
Group Projects - 15%
Final Group Project - 20%

Plus and minus grades will be subjectively given based on your overall class participation as documented in your journal. Students who do not participate in CSC 300 will receive a grade of F without regard to any other grades.

Submission of late work

• Projects
  A late project deliverable will receive a grade of 0.
• Reading Notes, Exercises and Personal Entries
  These late notebook entries will receive a grade of 0 but may be made up. Your notebook grade may be adjusted upward at my discretion.
• Assignments
  A late assignment deliverable will receive a grade of 0.