CS 195 is a discussion-intensive course about the social implications of computing. The purpose of this course is to help computer science students make informed and thoughtful choices about their careers, participation in society, and future development activities. Readings and lecture topics are drawn from a range of fields that together seek to describe our contemporary global society: sociology, philosophy, economics, public policy, etc.
The week before each Friday class meeting will be used to prepare for the upcoming discussion-oriented class section.
Lecture topics will not be determined only by the wisdom of your instructor. Instead, you will collectively choose your own adventure through the material. A brief survey about each upcoming topic will be emailed to the class each week. Before class begins, please complete the survey, in which you can vote on the issues or questions most interesting to you. The results of these surveys will guide our discussions.
In addition, you will write three short essays (500-1000 words) that contain your original thoughts about issues from the class. Students will choose their own essay topics, and your work will be reviewed by your peers. Essay assignments will appear in the reading list and be announced in class.
The course is graded P/NP. The reason for that policy is to ensure that you can feel free to express opinions different from those of the instructors, both in class meetings and in written work.
In order to receive a passing grade in CS 195, you must earn at least 80 points.
The expected way to pass the course is as follows:
However, to give you a small degree of flexibility, you may design your own way to reach 80 points according to the following point values:
In the event that you do not earn the required number of points, we will provide an opportunity to make up extra work, though you should not count on this.