| Instructor: | G. Hill Price |
| Meeting Time: | Various |
| Meeting Place: | Various |
Course Text.
none.
Course Objectives.
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will have gained an increased awareness of the relative impact that the technological development of the digital computer has had and is expected have on society. The primary focus will be on the problems posed by and benefits offered by computers. Students will research areas of computers in society along with the technological hardware advances and the software that are used in the systems. Students will explore the applications of computers in education, government, business, transportation, medicine, and the home. The secondary focus will evaluate the impacts of computers on personal privacy, constitutional issues, computer crime and fraud, and the importance of studying reliability and encryption. The views and opinions of all students will be presented in open forum discussions on specific topics. The students will be partly responsible for the "current events" component of the lectures. The text focuses more on the problems and their possible solutions in relation to the secondary focus. We will utilize other resources to augment the benefits portion of our discussions.
Course Limitations.
The subject area of "Computers in Society" is so vast that CS 300 can do nothing more than scratch the surface. We will aim for breadth rather than depth in the lectures and for depth rather than breadth in written assignments. We will strive to strike a balance between a systematic approach and a current-events dominated approach. Current event presentations will begin each class period, and may consequently drive each lecture.
Course References.
Supplements from the World Wide Web will be utilized. The instructor's web page contains copies of the syllabus, project, and forum descriptions. It also contains copies of the presentation slides used in the lectures and a list of useful URLs.
Course Topics.
The following topics are planned:
Course Requirements.
Each student will complete an assignment that will consist of a final paper. The project must address issues relevant to the spectrum of course topics. There is also a short Forum paper taken from a list of topics.
There will be three takehome tests.
Course Evaluation.
Grading will be on the following numerical scale (90-100 A, 87-89 B+, 83-86 B, 80-82 B-, 77-79 C+, 73-76 C, 70-72 C-, 67-69 D+, 60-66 D, below 60 F). Final grades will be based on the following weights:
| Forum Paper | 20% |
| Reasearch Paper | 20% |
| Three Tests | 20% each |
Course Logistics.
The following dates should be noted:
| Jan 20 | First class |
| Feb 3 | Written paper prospectus due |
| Feb 24 | Test ONE due |
| Mar 24 | Test TWO due |
| Mar 30 | Last Day to Withdraw |
| Apr 7 | New Forum Paper due |
| Apr 21 | Written project due |
| Apr 28 | Test THREE due |
| Apr 28 | Last class |
Course Policies.
Read the Classroom Rules. (Some items are NOT applicable to TV classes.)
If the course research paper is not turned in on the due date or the forum dates are missed, a grade of ZERO will be assigned for the missed grading element unless the instructor has given permission.