SULTAN QABOOS UNIVERSITY

COURSE OUTLINE
                             PROGRAM: B.Sc. in Computer Science
 

  1.       Course Code COMP4100

2.       Course Title ETHICS AND SKILLS FOR COMPUTING PROFESSIONS
3.       Credits 2
4.       Pre-requisite Course(s) COMP3401
5.       Co-requisite Course(s) -
6.       Equivalent Course(s) -
7.       Incompatible Course(s) COMP3100
8.       Course Category

Department Requirement
 

9.       Course Owner College: Science Department: Computer Science

10.    Course Type  Lecture/Tutorial
11.    Language of Instruction English
12.    Course Description
This course has two parts. The first part provides theoretical backgrounds about the social, ethical, legal, technical and
professional issues encountered in the information age including the historical and social context, intellectual property,
computer crimes, risks and liabilities, and professional responsibilities. The second part of this course provides students with
the technical communication skills and research methodologies. It aims to help students learning how to read, analyze, write
and present technical documents related computer science.
13.    Teaching/Learning Strategies
All course materials are posted in Moodle.
14.    Assessment Components and Weight [%]
☒  Project    30%  ☒  Assignment    10%
☒  In-term examination   20%  ☒ Final examination 40%
15.    Grading Method
 A-F Scale                     
16.    Textbook(s) and Supplemental Material
1. Ethics for the Information Age (7th Edition); Michael J. Quinn, Pearson 2016-02-21
2. Ethical and Social Issues in the Information Age Springer London 2013 5th Joseph Migga Kizza (Available from the
SQU Main Library as an e-book. Main chapters to be covered are posted on the course Moodle site.)
3. Christian W. Dawson. 2009. Projects in Computing and Information Systems: A Student's Guide (2nd ed.). Pearson
Prentice Hall.
Weekly Lecture Notes and Handouts/Moodle
17. Matching Course Objectives with Program Outcomes and SQU Graduate Attributes
SQU Graduate Attributes
A. SQU graduates should be B. SQU graduates possess C. SQU graduates should
able to: 1. interpersonal communication skills and
1. apply the knowledge and alignment with culture of international labour relish good citizenship qualities, be
skills relevant to the market to assist them in practical life and in conscious of their national identity
specialization living successfully and be socially responsible, engage
2. communicate effectively and 2. skills and motivation for independent in community affairs and be mindful
use information and learning and engagement in lifelong learning of contemporary issues.
communication technologies and research
3. critically analyze complex 3. work ethics and positive values, and
information and present it in intellectual independence and autonomy
simple clear manner 4. teamwork skills and display potential

1
 leadership qualities
1.
 

Program SQU
SLO # Student Learning Outcome Educationa Postgraduate
l Objectives Attributes
Recognize the ethical issues that arise in professional decision SO7 B3, C
1 making.
Describe current computer-based threats to security and SO6 C
2 privacy.     
3 Distinguish among patent, copyright and trade secret protection. SO6 C
Discuss the ethical and legal issues related to software ownership SO6 B3
4 and protection
Discuss the elements of software quality, and explain the role of SO6 A1
5 software quality in solving many software liability problems.
6
Describe trends in computer crimes and different cyber attacker SO7 A1, C
approaches.
7 Identify the major ethical issues in cyberspace. SO7 C
Communicate effectively orally and in writing in a variety of SO5 A2
8 professional contexts.
 
 

18.    Student Responsibilities
It is the student’s responsibility to know and comply with all University Academic Regulations relevant to
participation in this course. These regulations specifically include attendance requirement and students`
academic code of conduct.
For attendance, it is the student’s responsibility to be punctual and to attend all classes.
Students are expected to perform their work with honesty and avoid any academic misconduct, which is
defined as the use of any dishonest or deceitful means to gain some academic advantage or benefit.  This can
take many forms, including but not limited to, the following: copying, plagiarism, collusion and forging
documents. For full details, please refer to the Undergraduate Academic Regulations and to the Student
Academic Misconduct Policy.

  COURSE INFORMATION
Course Code COMP4100 Course Title ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES FOR COMPUTING PROFESSIONS
Semester/ Year Fall 2021 Section 10
Day, Time, and Place Tuesday (10:00 - 10:50 @ CMT/D08) & Thursday (08:00 – 09:50 @ CMT/D08)
 

Course Coordinator Prof. Dr. Zuhoor Al-Khanjari

Office Location Room #0009 Office Hours Tuesday & Thursday (11:00 - 12:00)
Office Tel. Ext. 2463 Email [email protected]
Tentative Schedule
Week Lecture/Topic Material to be covered Assessment
W1 Introduction W1L1: Introduction to the course outline, course project Project, Exam1
5/9/2021 format, project proposal and literature review. and Final Exam
W1L2: Historical development of computing and information
technology, development of the Internet and WWW,
emergence of social and ethical problems in computing.
W2 Ch1: W2L1: Introduction and Milestones in Computing. Project, Exam1
12/9/2021 Catalysts for W2L2: Milestones in Networking, Milestones in information and Final Exam
Change storage and retrieval, Information technology issues.
W3 Ch2: Introduction W3L1: Introduction, Nine ethical theories (First four Project, Exam1
19/9/2021 to Ethics “unworkable theories: Subjective Relativism and Cultural and Final Exam
Relativism).
W3L2: Nine ethical theories (First four “unworkable
theories: Divine Command Theory, Ethical Command Theory

2
 and Ethical Egoism and Last five “workable” theories:
Kantianism theory)
W4 Ch2: Introduction W4L1: Nine ethical theories (Last five “workable” theories: Project, Exam1
26/9/2021 to Ethics Act Utilitarianism, Rule Utilitarianism and Social Contract and Final Exam
Theory)
W4L2: Nine ethical theories (Last five “workable” theories:
Virtue Ethics Theory), Comparing workable ethical theories,
Morality of breaking the law.
W4L2_PART2: Oman Laws (Oman-ecrime - Royal Decree
No 122011_issuing_the_cyber_crime_law-eng-2011)
W5 Ch3: Networked W5L1: Introduction, Spam, Internet interactions, Text Project, Exam1
3/10/2021 Communications messaging, and Censorship. and Final Exam
W5L2: Freedom of expression, Children and inappropriate
content, Breaking trust and Internet addiction.
W6 Computer Crimes W6L1_Part1: Introduction, Virus and Hacking, Computer Project, Exam1
10/10/2021 Systems Types of Attacks, Motives of Attacks, Costs and and Final Exam
Ch6: Intellectual Social consequences, Computer Crimes Prevention Strategies
Property Rights W6L1_Part2: Definition, Foundations of Intellectual Property,
and Computer Copyrights, Patents, Trade Secrets, Trademarks, Intellectual
Technology Property Crimes, Protecting Computer software under IP, Free
Software.

W6L2: EXAM1
W7 Ch8: Software W7L1: Software Standards, Software Failures, Software Risks Project, Exam2
17/10/2021 Issues Risks and and Historical Example of Software Risks, Buyers and and Final Exam
Liabilities Producer Protection

Ch4: Intellectual W7L1_Part1: IP Rights and Computer Technology:

Property (IP) Definitions, Computer Products and Services.
W7L2_Part2: Foundations of IP: Copyrights, Patents, Trade
Secrets, and Trademarks IP Crimes, Protecting IP, and Fair use.

W8 Ch4: Intellectual W8L1: Digital Media, and Peer-to-Peer Networks and Cyber Project, Exam2
24/10/2021 Property (IP) lockers and Final Exam
W8L2: Protections for Software, Legitimacy of Intellectual
Property Protection for Software, Open-Source Software,
Creative Commons Protection for Software
W9 Anonymity, W9L1_Part1: Introduction, Anonymity, Privacy, Security. Project, Exam2
31/10/2021 Privacy and and Final Exam
Security W9L1_Part2: Introduction, Perspectives on Privacy

Ch5: Information W9L2: Information Disclosures, Data Mining

Privacy
W10 Ch6: Privacy and W10L1: Introduction, US legislation restricting information Project, Exam2
7/11/2021 the Government collection, Information collection by the government and and Final Exam
Covert government surveillance.
.
W10L2: US legislation authorizing wiretapping, USA
PATRIOT Act, Regulation of public and private databases,
Data mining by the government, National identification card,
Information dissemination and Invasion.

W11 Ch7: Computer W11L1: Introduction, Hacking, Malware. Project, Exam2

14/11/2021 and Network W11L2: Cyber Crime and Cyber Attacks, and Online Voting. and Final Exam
Security
W12 Ethics and the W12L1: What is a profession? Characteristics of profession, Project, Exam2
21/11/2021 Professions Pillars of professionalism, Requirement of Professions, and Final Exam
(Principles Codes) Professional codes of conduct, Advantages of a code of ethics,

3
 IEEE Code of Ethics
ACM Code of ethics, Plagiarism.

W12L2: Project Discussion

W13 Ch9: Professional W13L1: Introduction, how well developed are the computing Project and
28/11/2021 Ethics Professionals? Software Engineering Code of Ethics. Final Exam
W13L2: Analysis of the Code, Case-Studies and Whistle-
blowing
W14 Ch8: Reliability W14L1: Introduction, Data-Entry or Data-Retrieval Errors, Final Exam
5/12/2021 Software and Billing Errors, Notable Software System Failures,
and Software Warranties.
W14L2: Therac-25, Computer simulations, Software
engineering and Software warranties and vendor liability

W15 Presentation Project Presentation and Discussion Presentation

12/12/2021
W16
19/12/2021
W17 Final Exam Place to be announced (Thursday: 30/12/2021, 11:30-14:30)
26/12/2021
 

APPENDIX: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Assessment Plan:

Item Date Out Due Date Weights

Project Part1: Project Proposal Week 1 Week 3 3%
Project Part2: Literature Review Week 3 Week 6 6%
Exam1 Week 6 Week 6 20%
Project Part3: Effects on Society & Applications Week 6 Week 9 6%
Assignment/Essay Week 6 Week 10 10%
Project Part4: Ethical Analysis and Development Week 9 Week 13 12%
Project Presentation Week 15 Week 15 3%
Final Exam (11:30-14:30 ) Week 17 (Thurs: 30/12/2021) 40%

Department's Late Submission Policy: 

(a) 1-24 hours: 25% of the mark will be deducted.         

(b)  > 24 hours: Not accepted.   
Department's Policy for Dealing with Cheating:

It is essential that each student solves all programming assignments, lab tests and exams individually unless instructed
otherwise, e.g., for group projects. Copying, plagiarism, collusion, switching, and falsification are violations of the
university academic regulations. Students involved in such acts will be severely penalized. The department has adopted a
firm policy on this issue. A zero mark will be assigned the first time a student is caught involved in copying and his/her
name will be added to a watch list maintained by the Head of Department. Further repeated involvements in copying will
cause the student to get an F grade in that course. This is in line with the university academic regulations.

Department's Grading Scheme:

Grade A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D F

4
 Score ≥ 90 ≥ 87 ≥ 84 ≥ 80 ≥ 77 ≥ 73 ≥ 68 ≥ 64 ≥ 58 ≥ 50 < 50

List of Program Student Outcomes (SOs) Enabled in this Course

 
SO5: Communicate effectively orally and in writing in a variety of professional contexts.
SO6: Recognize professional responsibilities and understand legal and ethical principles.
SO7: Make informed judgments in computing practice based on legal and ethical principles.