CSC 395: Algorithms, Ethics, and Society

About

Instructor: Leah Perlmutter (she/her)

Instructor office hours: calendly.com/leahperl

Class meeting times: MWF 10:00 - 11:50 am, Noyce 1245

Schedule

Welcome to CSC 395, Algorithms, Ethics, and Society!

In CS, we use algorithms to solve problems big and small, but what are the consequences? This course will introduce students to ways of thinking about how computer science impacts humans, and place algorithms within cultural context. We will begin with considering dimensions of identity such as race, ability, and class. We will then move to ethical questions applied to recent events. This course will center around reading and discussion.

Instructor

You can call me Leah or Professor Perlmutter, whichever you are most comfortable with. This is my second year teaching at Grinnell, and I am excited to teach Algorithms, Ethics, and Scoiety for the first time! I grew up in Ohio, went to Colby College in Maine, then moved to Seattle, Washington to work in software industry and get my PhD. My PhD dissertation is about students building a sense of bleonging in college computer science.

The same perspective that makes me curious about belonging in CS also drives me to teach this class: I believe that computer science is not just about the bits and bytes and lines of code, but also about who gets to be a computer scientist, why we make the technology that we do, and what impacts that technology has on society.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Understand identity and the ways in which it is defined (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexual identity, and ability).
2. Define intersectionality.
3. Understand historical trends that impact organizational cultures and technology development.
4. Understand cultural competence, ethics, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
5. Identify the impact of different technologies on various identities.
6. Identify strategies for creating more equitable and inclusive technical environments and software for diverse identities.
7. Critically anticipate adverse technology outcomes.
8. Engage in current ongoing discussions of algorithms, ethics, and society.
9. Understand advanced algorithms in the context of their application(s).

Communication

Teams -- (Coming soon.) We will use Teams for course related Q&A and informal discussion. When you have a question and others in the class could benefit from the answer, please post in teams.

Email -- I will make important announcements via email.

Getting in touch with the instructor -- If you need to get in touch with me privately, send an email. I try to reply to messages within about 24 hours, excluding weekends and holidays. If you do not hear back within that amount of time, please send a reminder.

Gradescope -- You will submit assignments via gradescope.

Course Website -- Syllabus, schedule, and other relevant course information (except reading materials) will be posted on this website.

Blackboard -- Reading materials will be available via Blackboard. Navigate to our course in Blackboard, click "Course Reserves," and search for the title of the assigned reading. (Unfortunately, I can't create direct links to each of the reading materials.)

Deliverables

Reading Responses -- Before each day of class, you will complete a reading response, such as answering questions about the reading. We might experiment with different reading response formats, depending on the needs of the course.

Projects -- During the semester, there are 5 projects, one for each module of the course, completed individually. Some involve programming and others do not.

Class Facilitation -- You will be expected to facilitate class discussion on 1-2 days of class. This includes preparing an introduction to the discussion, discussion questions, and helping the class stay on track.

Participation Reflections -- A few times during the semester, you will write a reflection about your participation and contributions to the class. You will set goals for future participation and/or reflect on your achievement of past goals as applicable.

Late Days

Late days are a currency that you can spend to turn in assignments late.

• You start the semester with 5 late days.
• You may spend late days on reading responses and projects.
• You may spend one late day to submit any of the named assignments up to 24 hours late.
• You may spend up to two late days on any given assignment, for a maximum lateness of 48 hours on that assignment.
• You are responsible for keeping track of your own late days.
• Late is better than never. If you are not sure whether your work is done well enough to receive credit, you should still turn it in. To incentivize this, late days will not be charged for an assignment that is completed too poorly to receive credit.

The late day policy offers flexibility in the case of minor illness or unforseen circumstances. If you find yourself needing to take lots of time away, and the late days policy is not enough, please talk to your instructor.

Grading

Reading Responses

• Graded S/N
• S = Satisfactory -- good faith engagement with all the assigned questions
• N = Not Satisfactory
• Many reading responses will ask you to reflect on the text. I expect you are familiar with reflection, but there are some common pitfalls, which I describe in these reading reflection guidelines.

Projects

Graded S/N with redo opportunities

Projects are opportunities for you to demonstrate mastery of the course learning goals by applying these concepts and skills to assignments larger in scope. Projects will be graded on a scale of satisfactory (S) or not-satisfactory (N). If you receive a grade of N, you may resubmit the assignment one time without penalty. You may receive an S on each project by meeting the following criteria:

• The project must be complete, by providing answers to all questions, and/or following all instructions.
• It must show a good faith effort on every component of the project
• Key learning is shown for each relevant learning outcome (this will vary by project).

Revise and Resubmit

For any project which you turn in and receive a grade of N you may resubmit it for no penalty. You may not resubmit an assignment which you did not turn in.

Timing of Resubmissions

Resubmissions are due during finals week but may be turned in at any time. In order for your instructor have a reasonable grading load, no more than three of your projects or revisions will be graded in a single week. While revised work is not officially due until the last day of finals, this means that you may need to turn in some things earlier than that.

Class Facilitation

• Graded S/N
• More details to be announced when class facilitation assignments are announced

Participation Reflections

• Graded S/N
• More details to be announced when participation reflections are assigned

Letter Grades

This course will rely on ideas of specifications grading. One of the fundamental principles behind this grading scheme is that you will have opportunities to re-try some assignments if they do not originally obtain a satisfactory grade. My goal in using this schema is to reduce the stress that accompanies typical grading rubrics and give you permission to make mistakes and learn as much as possible. Ultimately, my goal is for each student to learn as much as possible, and I would be very happy to give every student an A.

Project pieces include

• Project 1: The un-essay
• Project 2: Algorithmic decision making
• Final project proposal
• Final project peer review
• Final project milestone 1
• Final project milestone 2
• Final project milestone 3

Adjustments to base grade

• Possible tiers in Grinnell's grading system are: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, D, F
• If you meet both requirements for B and one requirement for A, rise one tier
• If you meet both requirements for C and one requirement for B, rise one tier

• If you did not demonstrate achievement of the goals you set for yourself in your participation reflections, drop one tier
• If you had an advising role in a secondary final project that earns a satisfactory grade, rise one tier

• An advising role is one that involves an essential contribution to the project and doing a meaningful amount of work, at least 1/3 the workload of other teammates. To be eligible, your team must write a reflection detailing each team member's contributions inside and outside of class, which can be submitted as part of milestone 3.

Notes

• P1 and P2 eligible for revision opportunties
• If you satisfactorily completed the canceled reading (on social media bubbles and online advertising, initially assigned for 11/4 and later canceled), it can count toward your number of satisfactory reading responses even though it is not one of the 22 required reading responses

Participation

This is a reading discussion class, and as such, I expect you to actively participate in class discussion every day of class. Participation reflections will give you an opportunity to think about and set goals for your participation. If the discussion based format is difficult for you, let's chat and figure out how you can contribute meaningfully on your own terms!

As you participate in class, both inside and outside the classroom, follow the class norms that we collaboratively ideated and discussed on the first day. We will revisit and revise the class norms as needed.

Attendance

I expect you to attend class every day. If you need to plan absences for religious observance, athletics, travel, etc. let me know far in advance. Any day that you will miss class unexpectedly, please contact me before class (or after class on the same day) so I know you're ok. If you miss a few days in a row, I'll start to worry about your wellbeing and how your absence might affect your learning.

Please stay home if you are sick. Wait to come back to class until you truly feel well enough to learn. When you do come back, wear a mask until there is no more than the usual concern of contagion.

Access Needs

I strive to meet access needs for everyone in the class. If you would like to talk about your access needs, let's chat!

You can also talk with Disability Resources about getting formal accommodations for a documented disability.

Title IX and Pregnancy Related Conditions

Grinnell College is committed to compliance with Title IX and to supporting the academic success of pregnant and parenting students and students with pregnancy related conditions. If you are a pregnant student, have pregnancy related conditions, or are a parenting student (child under one-year needs documented medical care) who wishes to request reasonable related supportive measures from the College under Title IX, please email the Title IX Coordinator at titleix@grinnell.edu. The Title IX Coordinator will work with Disability Resources and your professors to provide reasonable supportive measures in support of your education while pregnant or as a parent under Title IX.

Attribution

This course is derived from an earlier offering, CSC 395: Algorithms, Ethics, and Society, designed by Nicole Eikmeier and taught in fall 2023.