1. Hybrid Courses
  2. CSC110
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Professional Practices IT

  • Teacher
    Dr. Muzafar Khan
  • Category
    Computer Science
  • Duration
    32

Course Introduction

Course Highlight
  • Level
    BS/Master
  • Credit Hours
    3
  • Lessons
    32
  • Type
    Hybrid
About the course

This course is specifically designed to critically analyze and evaluate the consequences of computing on individuals, organizations and society. This course will help to examine the Information Technology professionalism, ethical decision making, and codes of ethics. With the help of this students will gain depth knowledge mainly in Social Implications of Computing and Networked Communication, Impact of Social Media on Individualism and Collectivism, Ethical Argumentation, Theories and Decision Making, Moral Values, Professional Ethics, Community Values, Nature of Professionalism, Self-assessment, Professional Certification (Such as ACM/IEEE-CS, SE, AITP), Role of Computing Professional in Public Policy, Intellectual Property Rights, Forms of Professional Credentialing, Copyrights, Patents, Trade Secrets, Trademarks, Plagiarism, Privacy and Civil Liberties/Human Rights, Legal Foundations of Privacy Protection, Privacy Implications of Widespread Data Collection, Surveillance Systems and Cloud Computing, Technology based Solutions for Privacy Protection, Privacy Legislation in Areas of Practice, Cultural and Religious Differences, Freedom of Expression and its Limitations, The Global Social and Environmental Impacts of Computer Use and Disposal, IEEE CS/ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Practice.

Syllabus

Course Objectives

  • Acquaint the students with the meaning and significance of Islam as the universal and practical religion.
  • To develop the qualities of practical Muslims for understanding and full filling their duties towards Allah and His creation in order to better their life in this world and hereafter.
  • To develop the sense of belongingness to Islam and responsibility through the text of Holy Quran and Hadith.
  • To develop strong faith in the basic concepts of Islam and individual doctrine of responsibility towards Allah and His creation.
  • To aware students about the understanding of Islam as the practical code of life for all the times.
  • To promote the knowledge of the revelation of the Holy Quran as God given book.
  • To aware new generation about the modern Islamic world and its problems.

Teachings and Learning Strategies

  • Lectures provide an introduction to the ideas and learning materials. Participation from the students is encouraged.
  • Educational movies and clips will be incorporated into the module to facilitate understanding
  • There will be ungraded quizzes within the delivery to ensure learning is achieved

Course Learning Outcomes

  • Describe positive and negative ways in which computer technology alters modes of social interaction at the personal level.
  • Evaluate ethical / social tradeoffs in technical decisions
  • Evaluate the professional code of ethics from the ACM, the IEEE Computer Society, and other organizations.
  • Identify contemporary examples of intangible digital intellectual property
  • Investigate the impact of technological solutions to privacy problems.

Course Calendar

Lecture Topics
1 Introduction to Ethics
2 Good Business Ethics, Ethics in Information Technology
3 Introduction to Ethical Theories, Subjective Relativism, Cultural Relativism, Divine Command Theory
4 Ethical Egoism, Kantianism, Act Utilitarianism
5 Rule Utilitarianism,Social Contract Theory,Virtue Ethics,Comparing Workable Ethical Theories
6 Spam, Internet Interactions
7 Text Messaging, Censorship, Freedom of Expression
8 Children and Inappropriate Content, Breaking Trust, Internet Addiction
9 Professional Ethics: Introduction, How Well Developed Are the Computing Professions?
10 Eight Principles Identify Morally Responsible Relationships
11 Eight Principles Identify Morally Responsible Relationships (cont)
12 Intellectual Property: Introduction, Intellectual Property Rights, Protecting Intellectual Property,
13 Protecting Intellectual Property (cont), Fair Use
14 Fair Use (cont), New Restrictions on Use
15 Peer to Peer Networks and Cyberlockers
16 Protections for Software, Open Source Software
17 Open Source Software (cont),Legitimacy of Intellectual Property Protection for Software
18 Privacy (cont), Information Disclosures
19 Data Gathering and Privacy Implications, Data Mining
20 Data Mining (cont), Examples of Consumer Backlash
21 Computer and Network Security: Introduction. Hacking, Malware
22 Malware (cont), Cyber Crime and Cyber Attacks
23 SCADA Systems, Online Voting
24 Computer Reliability: Introduction, Data Entry or Data Retrieval Errors, Software and Billing Errors
25 Software and Billing Errors (cont), Notable Software System Failures
26 Therac-25, Computer Simulations
27 Software Engineering, Software Warranties and Vendor Liability
28 Work and Wealth: Introduction, Automation and Employment, Workplace Changes
29 Work and Wealth: Workplace Changes(Continued), Globalization, The Digital Divide
30 Work and Health: The Digital Divide (Continued); Privacy and the Government
31 Privacy and Government (continued)
32 Summary

Course Material/Videos

Available Resources

Course Readings

Text book

Ethics for the Information Age, Quinn, M.J., 6th Edition (2014), Pearson Education

Reference books & Material

Ethics in Information Technology, Reynolds, G., 6th Edition (2018), Cengage Course Technology.

Ethical and Social Issues in Information Age, Kizza J. M., 6th Edition (2017), Springer-Verlag

A Gift of Fire, Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing Technology, Baase, S., 5th Edition (2017), Pearson Inc.

Courses Online Resources

Videos on YouTube

COMSATS CourseWare, abbreviated as CCW offers open materials developed by the faculty of CUI, the country’s foremost institution of education and research. The CCW is an expression of mission of COMSATS University Islamabad which states to "extend frontiers of knowledge”, “instigating inquiry”, “benefit students, scholars and communities across the country, the Muslim Ummah and the World, at large”, “share knowledge among non-degree seeking students” and “ extend, apply and exchange knowledge between the institute and society”.

COMSATS University Islamabad, Virtual Campus
Park Road, Tarlai Kalan, Islamabad, Pakistan
digitallibrary@vcomsats.edu.pk