Professional Practices (SS-4910)

INTRODUCTION

A Computing graduate as professional has some responsibilities with respect to the society. This course develops student understanding about historical, social, economic, ethical, and professional issues related to the discipline of Computing. It identifies key sources for information and opinion about professionalism and ethics. Students analyze, evaluate, and assess ethical and professional computing case studies. 

COURSE CODE: SS-4910

CREDIT HOURS: 03

PREREQUISITES: None

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

  • Upon successful completion of this course, the students will be aware of their professional responsibilities when they will work in computing sector.
  • It will provide students an understanding about the historical, social, ethical, economical and professional issues related to computing profession.
  • Students will acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that computing professionals must possess to practice in a professional, responsible, and ethical manner.

TEXT BOOK: Professional Issues in Software Engineering, Third Edition by Frank Bott, Allison Coleman, Jack Eaton and Diane Rowland.

COURSE CONTENTS

  • The Computing Profession
  • The Structure of Organizations
  • Finance and Accounting
  • Anatomy of a Software House
  • Managing people in organizational environment
  • Computer Contracts
  • Intellectual Property Rights
  • Cyber Ethics
  • Resume, Resignation letter and Cover letter
  • The Framework of Employee Relations Law and Changing Management Practices
  • Human Resource Management and Software Engineering
  • Health and Safety at Work
  • Software Liability: Liability and Practice
  • Computer Misuse and the Criminal Law
  • Regulation and Control of Personal Information: Data Protection, Defamation and Related Issues
  • The British Computer Society Code of Conduct
  • ACM Code of Ethics

COURSE ASSESSMENT:

  • Final Term Exam: 50 Marks
  • Mid Term Exam: 30 Marks
  • Sessional: 20 Marks
    • Quiz: 10 Marks
    • Assignment: 05 Marks
    • Project & Presentation: 5 Marks

CLASS TIMING: BSIT 4th Regular (Monday: 11:00 - 12:30 PM) (Tuesday: 8:00 - 9:30 AM)

WEEKLY PLAN:

 Week

              Topics and Readings

Book with Page No.

 

1

Introduction: Profession, Fundamental characteristics of a profession, Structure of computing profession, Ethics, Professional Ethics, Ethical issues of Computer Science, Professional codes of conduct, Ten Commandments of computer ethics, Applying codes of conduct (Case Studies).

[TB- Ch 1: pg. 16, 27-33]

2

The Structure of Organizations: Companies, types of companies, constitution of company, directors and company secretory, disclosure requirements, corporate governance.

[TB- Ch 2: pg. 34-42]

 

3

The Structure of Organizations: Organizing an organization, functional units of an organization, geographical organization, organization by product, centralization vs decentralization, position of quality management, Management, motivation, performance appraisal, and sub-optimization.

[TB- Ch 2: pg. 42-51]

 

4

Finance and Accounting: the need for capital, sources of fund, budgeting and monitoring, sales and order intake, costing, pricing, financial statements, capital and its maintenance, auditing.

[TB- Ch 3: pg. 52-65, 84, 85, 86]

5

Anatomy of a software house: company structure.

Managing people in an organization: understanding behavior, selecting the right person for a job, motivation, stress management, ethical and professional concerns

[Hand Outs]

6

Computer Contracts: introduction, types of contracts, structure of a contract.

[TB- Ch 5: pg.104-114]

 

7

Intellectual Property Rights: Intellectual Property, IP Rights, Copyrights, Design Rights, Trade Marks, Patents.

[TB- Ch. 6: pg. 119,128-130132-140,147-153, 156]

8

Cyber Ethics: Concepts, Methodology and Codes of Cyber Ethics.

[Hand Outs]

9

The framework of employee relations law and changing management practices: Employee Relations, Framework of Labor law, collective labor law, individual labor law, equal pay and gender discrimination.

[TB- Ch. 7: pg. 166-174,176, 177]

10

Human resource management and software engineering.

[TB- Ch. 8]

11

Health and safety at work.

[TB- Ch. 9]

12

Software safety: liability and practice: Introduction, Regulatory Issues, Legal liabilities, Factors affecting system safety.

[TB- Ch. 10]

13

Working in team: decision making, team structures, dispersed and virtual teams, leadership.

[handouts]

14

Computer Misuse and Criminal Law

[handouts]

15

Regulation and control of personal information: data protection, defamation and related issues.

[TB- Ch. 12, Pg. 281. 282, 301-306]

16

Revision

 
 

 

Course Material

Other Courses by Aisha Tehreem