Homeworks

There are three sorts of homework assignments: a series of written homeworks, weekly reading commentaries, and a proposal and outline for the term paper.

Homework	Due Date	Weight Toward Grade
HW1: Therac and the Boeing 737 MAX	Feb 2	3%
HW2: The Politics of Computing	Feb 9	3%
HW3: Applying Ethical Frameworks to a Dilemma	Feb 23	3%
Term Paper Proposal	Feb 25	5%
HW4: Fair Use	Mar 9	3%
Term paper Outline	Mar 18	5%
HW5: New ACM Code	March 30	3%

Reading commentaries

The goal of reading commentaries are twofold: to give you an opportunity to practice (i) thinking critically about readings; and, (ii) communicating your thoughts about how to apply what you’ve learned in this class. The goal is not to summarize the readings.

Some examples of appropriate topics to address in a commentary are:

• connections between the readings and your own personal experiences
• why the reading does/doesn’t seem important
• disagreements you might have with the asserted viewpoints
• why the reading is/isn’t effective at getting its message across
• how the reading has changed your opinion or outlook on a topic

Deliverable for Commentaries

Each week, there will be a reading commentary assignment on Canvas. You should write a commentary for the specified assigned reading(s).

Each reading commentary should be a short paragraph (~4 sentences) for each reading, and should end with a question or discussion prompt, related to the reading, that you would like to have covered in your discussion section. The TA will try to look through the commentaries before the discussion section. You should be prepared to discuss your question during your discussion section, even if the reading(s) in question are not part of the planned discussion (i.e., if there is extra time, in that case).

Commentaries are due an hour before the scheduled class time on the day the reading is scheduled to be discussed at 11:59pm for those due Monday and 10am for those due Wednesday; this will be the deadline on canvas.

Grading

Commentaries will be graded either as a check, check-plus or check-minus, according to the following rubric:

• Check Plus: The commentary is very detailed and engages with the intellectual content of the reading deeply. The discussion question is compelling and relevant.
• Check: The commentary is sufficiently detailed and engages with the intellectual content of the reading at a moderate level. The discussion question is relevant, but lacks depth.
• Check Minus: The commentary is inaccurate, shallow or insufficiently detailed. The discussion question is missing and/or irrelevant.

If you only get “checks”, you will end up with a 90 (9/10 on the “commentaries” part of the class grade). The more “check pluses” you get, the higher your grade. Likewise, the more “check minuses”, the lower your grade.

Reference Format

Please use APA format for all references in all homeworks and submissions. APA format is described here.