CS 2190, Spring 2014 – Beginning of Course Memo

Seminar Manager:  Dr. Tom Horton.   horton.uva(at)gmail.com    Phone:  982-2217
Office Hours:  Mon., 11am-noon; Wed., 2-3:30pm; Thu., 9:30-10:30am; Fri., 11am-noon
On-line class site: See Collab.

Description:     This seminar is required experience for students in the 2nd year of their BSCS degree.  (Others are welcome, but there are some different goals and rules -- see below.)

1. One goal is to expose 2nd years to state-of-the-art research in computer science. Learning about areas of computing will help you choose electives, choose a senior thesis topic, decide on directions for your career or graduate school, identify faculty with whom you'd like to do research with during the summer or academic term, etc.
2. A second goal is to explore professional, ethical, legal, security and social issues and responsibilities relevant to computing, and also local and global impacts of computing on individuals, organizations, and society. These may include "contemporary issues" relative these ideas (e.g. patents, privacy, whistle-blowing, open-source, socially-relevant computing, work-force issues, education).
3. An additional goal is to give BSCS students in their second year a chance to get to know each other and develop a stronger relationship as a "cohort".  Activities will be structured so that students interact, and thus class participation in such activities is explicitly part of what you do in this course.
4. [Possibly, probably not. TBD.] You will see that you can engage in independent learning of computing topics or skills, so that you can end up being an effective “life-long learner”.

In summary, this course is intended to help you grow as a computer scientist in a variety of dimensions. We believe that having this kind of experience in the 2nd year will improve what you get out of the rest of your BSCS degree. This is one reason why we require this in the 2^nd year.

Course Objectives:  Upon completion the course, a student will:

·       Have been exposed to a wide range of state-of-the-art research topics in computer science and related disciplines.

·       Be better prepared to to undertake an in-depth research project in computer science or a related field, and to choose sub-areas of computing to learn more about.

·       Have been exposed to issues and questions in ethics and professionalism in computer science.

Readings:  There is no textbook, but readings will be assigned of web-articles and possibly articles or short chapters of library books on reserve.    Students must do assigned readings by the deadline stated, and quizzes or other means may be used to ensure compliance.

What’s Expected of You:  This course is unlike most academic courses in the program, and what’s expected of you and what will help you earn your grade will probably seem different too.

Participation matters! You're in this class for 50 minutes a week, and there is not much outside work. To meet the course goals we will insist that you attend class and be focused on whatever is going on that day.  This means:

• On certain days, we may say that the use of notebook computers or other electronic devices is not allowed. 
• Reading of materials, doing course-work, Sudoku, etc. isn't allowed.  (We'll wake you up if you fall asleep, too.)
• Attendance is required. Excused absences may be possible with advance notice, but there may be some extra reading or report (wiki entry etc.) required.
• How will we measure that you were there and paying attention?  We’ll likely ask you to complete a short on-line quiz by noon on Friday on the topics discussed in Thursday’s class.
  • Or, we may find a way to take roll for this large class.  If we do, then you can miss one class without penalty.  The 2nd absence is 5% off your final grade, and each absence after that is 10% off your final grade.  (But we’re more likely to use quizzes as noted above.)

Assignments and Grade Components:  Final grades will be based on the traditional 10-point scale.

• Attendance or weekly quizzes that measure attendance:  50%
• Quizzes on readings related to Goal 2 listed above: 30%
• Final Quiz: 10%
• Research Write-up:  10%

Final Exam period: There will a final quiz and possibly another activity in the final exam period. This period is Thursday, May 1, 9am-noon. Plan on this!

Assignments and readings related to Goal 2:  There will be a number of short readings (perhaps weekly) related to problems in the area of ethics, computing professionalism, or computing in a broader context.  There will be an on-line quiz for these readings.

Research Write-Up:  Details will be forthcoming on this, but 2^nd years will be expected to write something related to their understanding and interest in several of the research topics presented in the course.   The goal will be to show that you understand a wide-range of topics that form the field of computer science.  Those who will soon take STS4500 (e.g. third-years) will be expected to explore and write-up at least two possible ideas of their senior thesis. Those who have already started STS4500 will be expected to write a longer, more focused paper on research in an area of computer science (other than their senior thesis area).

Honor Policy:  The University of Virginia Honor Policy is in effect in this class.  Rules for collaboration will be discussed for each assignment.  If in doubt, ask.  If you’re not sure, assume the assignment is an individual assignment.