Social, Professional and Ethical Aspects of IT/Course Guide

NOTEː THE COURSE IS INACTIVE AT THE MOMENT. THE INFORMATION BELOW CONFORMS TO THE LAST RUN IN SPRING 2020.

Aims of the course

The course is an English-language twin to its Estonian counterpart that has been running in Wikiversity since 2009. The goal is to provide participants with broad knowledge about connections between IT and the 'rest of the world' (topics run from ethics and laws to history, technoculture, privacy and security). The ultimate aim is to make people think about the consequences of their activities and develop attitudes and thinking that may be beneficial in the later career.

The main learning outcomes (as defined in the course programme) for a student areː

• understands the topics of the course, is able to follow and discuss the topics as well as present them at the exam;
• writes a paper about a course topic and presents it at a seminar;
• writes a review on a peer's paper and optionally on 1-2 course-related books;
• is able to write short analytical texts about course topics to a weblog, using relevant written sources.

The e-version adds another oneː ability to work in an open online environment and participate in discussions in a meaningful and civilized way.

Noteː the initial run in Spring 2020 differs somewhat from the typical way. It started mid-term and thus has less topics (although the six earlier ones will be included in the examǃ) and a different point system.

The tools needed

• a blog - an existing one can be used (in this case, a separate category or tag should be used, e.g. SPEAIT2020) or a new one may be created. Attentionǃ The blog should support RSS for reading the posts (the two most common ones, https://www.wordpress.com and https://www.blogger.com, are fine).
• a Nabble account (for the forums)
• e-mail

The names and blog addresses should be added to the Participants page. Alternatively, you can e-mail the address directly to the supervisor - but doing so would keep others from reading - and possibly contributing to - your blog.

How do we work?

Weekly texts

There is a reading text for each week (see the main page). While reading it does not give direct points, it should hopefully provide some information and ideas.

Blogging

Each weekly text has a "Study & Write" section at the end, containing a blogging task. These tasks should be written about in one's blog (each task as a separate blog post, not all togetherǃ). The approximate volume would be around one page (depending on the topic, can be a little less as well). Each weekly post gives up to 4 points, thus it is possible to receive up to 36 points (NBǃ This is under the 2020 system).

Attentionː blogging should be done weekly, the deadlines are Monday noons (12ː00) (the first one being March 23). Alsoː for the last week, the deadline is shorterː Friday, May 15 noon (12ː00) (ending the course in Friday can reduce potential hassle, especially considering the conditions).

Forum discussions

Participants should create an account at the course forums and make weekly at least 2 posts there - both creating a new topic and contributing to existing ones count (so it pays to check first if something similar already exists - too many topics would lose focus). For each week, up to two posts (1 point each) will count for points - it is OK to post more, but the additional ones would be 'just for fun'. In the 2020 system, you can thus receive up to 18 points. While the general deadline is the same as with blogging (Monday noon; Friday noon for the last week), it is not that strict in the forums, thus responding to a couple of weeks old topics is acceptable (but not waking up in the last week and starting to solo in really old topicsǃ).

In addition to the Discussions, there is an Other Topics forum that can be used for any reasonable and civilized topic (e.g. asking about other courses or announcing a party). These posts do not qualify for points however. There is also the Housekeeping forum which is meant for course-related (in the organizational sense) topics - most importantly, you will find the supervisor's weekly feedback there.

Attentionː Please use either a recognizable name (full name is not mandatory, as long as it can be identified - e.g. Mr Michael Monroe could be MikeM, as long as there is no Mike Manning). If you really need to use something cryptic, let the supervisor know (via e-mail) that it is you.

Paper

In general, the course papers here will be wiki-based groupworks. However, in the 2020 run, we will write individual ones - note that if you already set the topic with the supervisor before March 13, you can keep it. There will be no live presentation (due to strictly distance learning enforced), instead we will let others review them during the last weeks of the course. Therefore, the papers should be published via your blog (upload them somewhere and link to the blog post - the papers are a little too long to publish directly in posts) by Friday, May 8 noon (12ː00). This will leave some time for reviews - others will pick them up from your blogs and choose something of interest.

The requirements for the paper will stay the same as originally intended (see the original course page). The paper will give up to 25 points (like in the original system - but please note that in the new system, there is only one paper instead of possible two due to blogs and forums added).

Review

In the 2020 run, we review the individual papers that are written by others. During the last weeks of the course, everyone should pick up a paper from others' blogs and write a review in your blog (so both the papers and reviews will be publicǃ). The review gives up to 5 points and should be posted by Friday, May 15 noon. You could evaluate the paper's topic, viewing angle(s), thoroughness, sources/references, language/form etc.

Book reviews

Book reviews stay the same as in the original course - you can pick up to two books relevant to the course and write a 0.5-1 page review. You can either post it to your blog (preferred, as others can read it too) or send it in e-mail. The deadline is May 8 noon (the same as papers), you can write two reviews for up to 5 points each.

There is choice...

As there are several ways to collect points, different combos can work (blog-paper-exam; forums- -reviews-exam etc; it is still possible to get even the max without exam). The main recommendation is to participate throughout the course to get the maximum effect from the course. We have enough people to benefit from the community effect, or learn from each other (as opposed to the typical Student Syndrome "I'll start studying three days before the exam, three days after exam I will remember nothing.") ː)

Broadcasting the points

The feedback system consists of the weekly feedback in the forums (under Housekeeping) and a password-protected PDF table containing the current standing. Details are set in the kick-off meetings.

In 2020, we will use the same URL that is up on the original course page (using also the same password as at group registration). The weekly points and feedback will appear at least for Tuesday noon (if possible, Monday night; Saturday noon or Friday night for the last week of the course) following the Monday noon deadline (see above).

Exam and grading

The exam is typically done in contact form (face-to-face). If circumstances allow, the exam will take place as announced earlierː

• express version - by answering 10 randomly picked questions based on lecture notes. This is the fast way, but the results vary much more, so this is recommended if you a) know the material well, or b) need just a couple of points to reach the desired grade.
• essay version - by writing a 2-page essay in about 1.5 hours, the topic can be chosen from 3 randomly picked topics. It somewhat simulates the situation of your boss dropping in and saying "We need an opinion piece on X in two hours, do it!" - the point is to promote quick thinking and analytical skills (rather than proper research of the homework papers). This kind of exam is a safer bet - it is difficult to flunk but also difficult to earn the max.

The exam will add up to 30 points to the final score. In 2020, if the contact exam is still impossible by May, we do just the essay version from the distance. For this scenario, details will be announced later.

The grading system is genericː

• over 91 - 5
• 81-90 - 4
• 71-80 - 3
• 61-70 - 2
• 51-60 - 1
• under 51 - 0

Course Calendar

• March 16 - beginning of the e-course
• March 23 - the first weekly deadline (Monday noon)
• May 8 - deadline for papers and book reviews
• May 11 - the last Monday noon deadline (for the second last week)
• May 15 - deadline for paper reviews and last week's blogs/forums; end of the e-course (exams will come later but are not mandatory if enough points have been collected).

Exam dates

If the situation allowsː

• Friday, May 22 at 9:00-17:00 (room reservation time - the actual exam will not actually take that long)
• Friday, May 29 at 9:00-17:00
• Friday, June 5 at 9:00-17:00

In case contact is still not allowed, we will do the over-the-distance essay version on the same days.

Back to the course page