You can send me an e-mail anytime if you want to talk with me. Make sure any emails are sent to stewart@rohan.sdsu.edu and the Subject field states CS301 and some idea of the topic of your query. I teach 2 course this semester and this helps me follow your train of thought.
25Jan2009
I am personally indebted to Professor Sara Baase, who has been a collaborator in my 24 years of teaching at SDSU, and to Cyndi Chie, who has taught cs301 many times and has been gracious in sharing her thoughts and materials with me on my first teaching of this course.
Sara Baase, A Gift of Fire (Third Edition)
Blackboard: http://blackboard.sdsu.edu
This course deals with the impact of computers on us as individuals and on our society. The widespread use of computing technology has changed the way we work, play and interact with other people. These changes have created a flood of new social and legal issues that demand critical examination.
Here are a few examples of the issues we will be talking about:
There are (at least) two sides to almost all of the questions we will consider in this course. We will spend much of our class time discussing the issues and exploring different points of view.
After successfully completing this course, you will:
Most of the issues discussed in this course do not have simple or 'pat' answers that everyone will agree with. An important part of the course will be discussing the issues and debating various points of view. Most of these discussions will take place online using Blackboard. The course will also have an online component dealing with current events related to the course material.
Each student will write a term paper on some topic related to the course. This paper will focus on a social impact of computing technology or on a computer-related public policy or legal issue. The paper will include background research, a discussion of related issues and critical evaluation by the student. Each person will also read and comment on another student's paper.
There will be one midterm exam and a final exam. Exams may cover anything from the text and supplemental material. Much of this information will not be repeated in class or in the assignments. Be sure to keep up with the assigned reading. (You may want to check your understanding using the questions at the end of chapters in the text -- some of these same questions may appear on an exam.)
Your course grade will be calculated (approximately) as follows:
| Online discussion assignments (9 discussion assignments and 4 current events: 200 pts total) | 25% |
| Term paper (topic, paper: 105 pts total) | 20% |
| Midterm exam (multiple choice, short answer and take-home essay: 100 pts) | 25% |
| Final exam (multiple choice, short answer and take-home essay: 100 pts) | 25% |
| Attendance | 5% |
Your grade will be calculated as follows:
(total discussion points/200)*.25 + (total term paper points/105)*.2 + (total midterm points/100)*.25 + (total final exam points/100)*.25 + (total attendance/18)*.05)*100
This will calculate a grade between 0 and 100. I use +/- grading:
| 100-93 | A |
| 92-90 | A- |
| 89-87 | B+ |
| 86-83 | B |
| 82-80 | B- |
| 79-77 | C+ |
| 76-73 | C |
| 72-70 | C- |
| 69-67 | D+ |
| 66-63 | D |
| 62-60 | D- |
| 59- | F |
| Credit/No Credit | |
| 100-73 | Cr |
| 72- | N/Cr |