Lecture Structure

CSCI 3921w Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues in Computing
Adriana Picoral

Outline

  • About me and our staff
  • Class overview

Who am I?

  • Adriana Picoral (PhD) - you can call me Adriana
  • Assistant Teaching Professor
  • apicoral@umn.edu
  • Office: 300A Lind Hall
    • office hours (drop in):
      • Monday 12pm to 2pm
      • Tuesday 1pm to 3pm

Staff

In this course we have a graduate TA and two undergraduate TAs:

  • Risako Owan
  • Amvi Dwivedi
  • Sarah Peng

The TAs are responsible for: helping you succeed. They will check-in with you during discussions and grade assignments.

First Discussion

In your small group, each person should:

  • Introduce yourself by giving your (i) name and (ii) major
  • Explain why you are taking this class and what you expect to learn in this class
  • Mention something you are looking forward to this Fall (doesn’t have to be related to school)

About the Class

  • This course will cover topics in social, legal, and ethical aspects of computing. It will cover a breadth of topics rather than only a few.
  • It fulfills an ethics and computing requirement for CS B.A., CS B.S., and DS B.S. students, but students from other majors are also welcome.

About the Class

This is a “doing things” class:

  • Some of the things are in-class activities, so expect to come to class and participate
  • If you do the all or almost all the work you should not have trouble passing the class.
  • This is a writing intensive class – writing in class and as assignments

Discussion

  1. What has been your experience with learning to write?
  2. How often do you write? Why do you write?
  3. Do you enjoy writing? Do you avoid writing?

Be prepared to summarize your discussion (what do you all have in common, where do you differ) to a TA or the instructor

Writing to Learn

Writing is a way to not only communicate ideas but also to organize thought.

In this class, we are using writing a tool for processing, understanding, critically examining, reflecting, and making connections.

If you’re a writer, you think by writing. And thinking is the job. If you let your brain get used to the idea that there’s a shortcut, I really think it will get progressively harder to come up with new ideas, thoughts and observations. The muscles just atrophy. – Naomi Alderman

Lecture Structure

  1. First 10 minutes of class: Q&A
  2. Priming: Brief direct instruction on concepts, scenarios, frameworks, etc.
  3. Discussion
  4. Reflective Journal Writing
  5. The previous three steps might repeat depending of the topic

Discussion might be used as priming for instruction

Discussion

We will practice what Freire called “dialogic” methods, using discussion and dialogue to help develop our collective critical conscious of computing.

Reading

Reading assignments are meant to help you to engage in productive and critical discussions (and help with your writing as well).

Readings are available as links on the course assignments page, and on canvas as interactive social reading activities. (I’ll demonstrate this on Canvas)

Journal Writing

After each discussion/lecture, you will be asked reflect on what you learned.

  • Create a Google doc, and share it with me (apicoral@umn.edu)

Journal Writing

Here are some questions for your first journal entry(10-15 minutes):

  • What is the (i) name of one other person in your small discussion group from today? (You can ask them if needed.)
  • What is one important thing you learned in class today?
  • What is one question you have about today’s material, the class in general, or anything about ethics and computing?