CS 301: Social Implications of Computer Technology
Course Syllabus
Spring, 2025
Section 1001: 1-1:50am Mon; TBE B-176
Section 1002: 1-1:50pm Wed; TBE B-176
Section 1003: 10-10:50am Tues; TBE B-176
Prof. Hal Berghel; office: TBE B-378A;
phone: 702-895-2441;
pick one: {hal.berghel \\unlvdomain, hlb \ \acm/ /org, hlb \ \computer/ /org }
office hours: Monday-Friday - 8:30 am to 9:50 am and by appointment
Teaching Assistant: Bao Phung,
phungb2 \\unlv.nevada // edu
Course Description:
Examination of ethical and social issues relating to the use of computing and networking technology. Discussion of social trends and their possible effects. Review and discussion of the ACM Code of Ethics for computing professionals.
General notes:
- the Syllabus for this course will be maintained on the instructor's website at www.berghel.net/sat.
- You will be responsible for 84 pages of assigned readings during the semester. These assigned readings will be provided in the form of an ONLINE TEXT. come from online resources, many if not most of which were written by the instructor - think of them collectively as the course textbook. There may be an occasional external resource as well. In either case, URLs for the readings will be clearly identified as such in this syllabus. Time permitting, I will discuss all reading assignments in the lectures. However, you will be responsible for all reading assignments whether or not they are discussed in the lectures.
- Test questions covering the reading assinments are available in the class STUDY GUIDE . All exam questions will come from this study guide. If an assigned reading is not covered in the study guide, there will be no questions on that reading on an exam. (Note that I use this study guide for several classes, so not all study guide content relates to CS301).
- UNLV POLICIES AND RESOURCES
- The current UNLV policies that govern instruction are posted on the website of the The Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost at https://www.unlv.edu/policies/students.
- In addition, these resources may be of interest::
- Writing Center Statement
- Tutoring Availability
- UNLV Annual Security Report
- UNLV campus police crime log
- UNLV Institutional Metrics
- Additional University Policies: https://www.unlv.edu/policies/additional
- Supplementary course references (f.y.i.):
- Jaron Lanier, Ten Arguments for Deleting your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Picador reprint, 2019.
- Richard Spinello, Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace, 7th ed., Jones and Bartlett, 2021.
- 2023 ACLU Report on School Surveillance
- FORMATS for written work. Provide references for all non-original material.
Quotation according to the principles of "fair use" under the U.S. Copyright laws apply. i.e., quoting and identifying
a source is acceptable, but plagiarizing a source is not. Any student found to have plagiarized will receive an "F" for
the assignment. If you have any questions about this policy, consult with the instructor.
- GRADING SCALE : Grading will be on a standard "university scale," i.e., 90-100=A; 80-89=B; etc. The contribution of exams, homework, projects, etc. will vary but will be explained in the syllabus at the time of assignment.
- Your FINAL GRADE will be determined by two components, in equal measure::
- or, in the case of exceptional circumstances (e.g., audio or visual impairment) - and with the permission of the instructor-
- [2](B): a WRITTEN REPORT, consisting of both:
- 25 powerpoint slides (same requirements as above), and
- a written paper
- minimum of 3,000 words
- references in any format acceptable at UNLV
- All written reports in hardcopy (duplex printed and collated) are due.the week after the mid-term exam at the start of class. Late penalty will be 5% per day.
EXTRA CREDIT: If your mid-term exam is lower that you expected, you may elect to submit a written paper as extra
credit which may elevate your exam score by 0-20 points depending on quality of work. The due date for this report will be your
class following the mid-term exam. The subject of this written paper may be any topic covered in class lectures or
reading assigments that deals with social issues in computing..
- Policy on the use of GENERATIVE AI in your presentations and slides:
The use of generative AI to create content or make translations for use in coursework must be completely transparent.
This transparency is needed to mitigate against violations of existing copyright laws and UNLV policies as well as to ensure fair and accurate grading of student work. A minimum complete disclosure of the (a) use, (b) name, (c) URL, (d) user, and (e) timestamp associated with the affected content, and (f) authorship credit to the generative AI platform must be acknowledged.
NOTES:
- Presentations will be scheduled alphabetically by last name around the 4th week of class. Due to the large class sizes, re-scheduling will not be allowed unless student provides a written excuse from UNLV student health, a registered health care professional, the UNLV office of student affairs, or a UNLV administrator three weeks before the scheduled presentation..
- Any topic relating to Social Issues in Computing is acceptable for purposes of presentations, slides and reports. However the topics, themes, and references of the slides and presentations must correspond with one another.
- I may change the syllabus based on the feedback on, and pace of, the lectures, so check the syllabus frequently and note changes. If you have any questions about the syllabus, ask them in class or send email to instructor or TA.
- There is no final in CS301.
- The mid-term exam will be "closed everything": e.g., "closed book," "closed notes," PDAs and computers turned off, cell phones off, etc. Any student caught with an active mobile device during an exam will receive a grade of F for the exam.
- ATTENDANCE will be taken. Perfect attendance (i.e., no missed classes, attendance for full class periods, confirmed by the attendance sheet circulated in each class) will be rewarded with a mid-term grade increase of one letter grade - e.g., B would be raised to A. C+ raised to B+, etc.)
- A few times each semester the University will cancel classes for holidays. You are responsible for the material covered that week as described in the online syllabus, so plan to attend one of the other sections if your class is cancelled; else contact instructor or TA for other arrangements.
- NOTE: UNLV experiences several power outages each year (many unannounced or announced on short notice) that crash
college computer systems, so plan ahead and download the content you need well in advance of exams. As a precaution,
I recommend that you download the CS 301 Online Text so that you can store the URLs for readings covered on the exams offline.
What you will need for your presentation:
- A small USB memory stick formatted in either NTFS or FAT32 (preferred) for your presentation slides. I recommend against accessing your slides from a cloud service because of the delays involved. If you choose to download your slides from a network resource, understand that
the time spent accessing your slides will be deducted from the 10 minutes provided for your talk.
- You will need access to a computer that can be used to prepare your presentation slides. The UNLV Office of IT has Windows labs for students on campus. Alternative formats such as PDF are acceptable so long as OIT can confirm that they can be rendered by the classroom computer.
- Only hardcopy will be accepted (these documents will be retained for ABET accreditation purposes). To minimize the amount of paper used, you must submit the slides "handout style" 4 or 6 to a page, double sided. Failure to use handout style will result in a 25% grade penalty. The course TA will provide advice on how to print handout style should you need help.
ABET Course Outcomes:
Syllabus
(reminder: When UNLV closes during the classweek, students are advised to attend other sections. You are still responsible for the material covered.)
General Overview of Course
- How to use the online course resources (syllabus, readings, links to digital libraries)
- Discussion of Required in-class presentations
- Calculation of final grade: presentation and slides -or- semester report will each count 50% toward your final grade. The mid-term exam will also count 50%. There will be no final in this class
- quality of presentation slides (at keast 25 slides to be submitted to me in hardcopy on the day of presentation: 4/6 slide/page handout style)
- quality of oral presentation (10 minutes maximum; you are not expected to cover all of the slides. This will be your opportunity to have fun sharing the more interesting information with the class.)
- quality of 3000 word written report fully referenced (any style of your choosing)
- Grading Criteria for Presentation, Slides and Report: (Re: ABET Student Learning Outcome 3, above).
- Click here for an illustration of an acceptable slide format.
- Click here for Grading Crideria for Slides and Presentations
- assignment: look over the assigned readings and think of a few topics that might suit you for an in-class presentation. Finalize a topic within the first two weeks of class. If you want my opinion on the suitability of the topic(s), just ask in class, speak with me after class or during office hours, or send me an email.
- Study Guide to the assigned readings
- Video:
Dr. Chuck's iPad Steering Wheel Mount. What is wrong with this message?
- about Pa$Sw0rDZ
Lectures by date and topics: (see the CS301 online text for links to reading assignments.)
Week of January 20: Technology, Information, and Innovation
Week of January 27: Disinformatics (note: UNLV is closed for Labor Day on September 2)
Week of February 3: Information Technology and Democracy
Week of February 10: Computing Crime, Education and Professional Ethics
Week of February 17: study week: office hours held during classtime
Week of February 24 - Mid-Term Exam -Exam is "closed everything": e.g., "closed book," "closed notes,"
PDAs and computers turned off, cell phones off, etc. The detection of any mobile device in use will result
in an exam grade of F. Make sure to confirm that you have the latest revision of the study guide.
Student Presentations Begin (Speakers: provide slides in handout form to
instructor on your way to the lectern. USB port available on lectern computer. Attendance
will be taken!)
Week of March 3- Student Presentations / written reports due
- section 1001 (Monday)
- Chad Alberto
- Katya Alimov
- Adrian Arcenas
- Jacob Chanhthavong
- section 1003 (Tuesday)
- Zavier Bodager
- Hareign Casaclang
- Alex Cheda
- Thomas Feng
- section 1002 (Wednesday)
- Lucas Beers
- Michael Bellantoni
- Kosuke Carlson
- Kwasi Clouden
Week of March 10-- Student Presentations
- section 1001 (Monday)
-
- section 1003 (Tuesday)
-
- section 1002 (Wednesday)
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Week of March 17-- No Class - Spring Break
Week of March 24 - Student Presentations
- section 1001 (Monday)
-
- section 1003 (Tuesday)
-
- section 1002 (Wednesday)
-
Week of March 31 - Student Presentations
- section 1001 (Monday)
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- section 1003 (Tuesday)
-
- section 1002 (Wednesday)
-
Week of April 7- Student Presentations
- section 1001 (Monday)
-
- section 1003 (Tuesday)
- section 1002 (Wednesday)
-
Week of April 14- - Student Presentations
- section 1001 (Monday)
-
- section 1003 (Tuesday) -
-
- section 1002 (Wednesday)
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Week of April 21- - Student Presentations
- section 1001 (Monday)
-
- section 1003 (Tuesday)
-
- section 1002 (Wednesday)
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Week of April 28- - Student Presentations
- section 1001 (Monday)
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- section 1003 (Tuesday)
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- section 1002 (Wednesday)
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Week of May 5 - (all sections) Student Outcome Assessment, review of ACM Code of Ethics, and course review (Re: ABET Student Learning Outcome 4, above). Attendance in this Class is Mandatory!