Course project Fall 2021

Sultan Qaboos University

College of Science
Department of Computer Science

Ethical and Social Issues for Computing Professions (COMP4100)

Project Objectives
 To expose students to the realities of working with ethics and social issues
for computing professions.
 To put the ethical methods and theories learnt during this course into
practice.
 To allow students to learn the skills of collaborative group work.
 To enhance the students’ communication skills.
 To build on the experience of the students on how to apply the laws and
ethics on real life applications.
 To build on the experience of the students during the project and to fine and
tune the revision sessions to strengthen weakness in the students
understanding of the course theories and concepts, if necessary.

Project structure
Every society in the history of mankind has encountered difficult ethical issues
which are needed to be addressed by its people. Here in Oman, we are faced
with increasing number of social ethical questions every day, especially with
matters relating to computing and information technology.
The project is structured very carefully in order to achieve the above objectives.
The project will pass through several phases and will be assessed accordingly.
The project is allocated 30% of the total mark for the course.
Each group should consist of 2-3 students. Once project is allocated for each
group, the group might get some comments from the instructor on the work,
from which the project could be enhanced.
Project Guidline
1- Each group is required to search for and allocate an ethical issue of
interest.
2- Each group is required to study the ethical issue in hand. This includes
addressing its importance, its effects on society, its related work, its
corresponding ethics methods and theories, its challenges and its real life
applications. The project should accordingly be planned to allow each

Prof. Dr Zuhoor Al-Khanjari 1

Course project Fall 2021

individual student participate in considering the ethics issue of the

projects.

3- Each group is required to provide literature review on the selected ethics

issue. This could be done by providing a general overview of the ethics
issue and all related work done on the ethical issue.
4- Each group is required to provide ethical analyis of the topic and related
ethics theories. This involves providing a general overview of the
selected ethics issue used for this purpose and compare it to what has
been taught in this course.

5- Guidelines for producing the reports of the current project

FIRST REPORT (Part 1) Deadline THURSDAY, Week 3 ==> 3%

SECOND REPORT (Part 2) Deadline THURSDAY, Week 6 ==> 6%
THIRD REPORT (Part 3) Deadline THURSDAY, Week 9 ==> 6%
FINAL REPORT (Part 4) Deadline THURSDAY, Week 13 ==> 12%
PRESENTATION TUESDAY AND THURSDAY, Week 15
==> 3%
Your reports should consist of the following items:

Project Main Tasks Mar

Parts ks

 Title page 1
 Abstract 1
Part 1 Project  Introduction 2.
Proposal  Description of the ethical issue 5
(3%)
 Importance of the ethical issue 2
Week 3  Project Objectives 2
 Conclusion 1
 References 0.
5
Part 1 Total 10

Part 2  Title page

 Describe all related work of the 17
(6%) Literature Ethics Issue year by year
Review  References 3
Week 6

Part2 Total 20

Part 3  Title page

 Effects of Ethics Issue on 8
(6%) Society Effects Society 6
and Real Life  Challenges of the Ethics Issue 4
Week 9

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Course project Fall 2021

Applications  Existing Real Life Applications

of the Ethics Issue 2
 References

Part3 Total 20

 Title page
 Overall Abstract 2
 Overall Introduction 2
 All previous parts 6
(Part1+Part2+Part3) should be
included and merged without
their abstract, introduction,
conclusion and references. 9
Final Report:
 Ethics Theories (Describe all
Part 4 Ethical Analysis Ethics Theories discussed in 8
(12%) and the course)
Development  Ethics Issue Analysis using 2 of
Week 13 3
the Ethics Theories
 Advantage/Disadvantages of 4
the Ethics Issue 1.5
 Development of the Ethics 1.5
Issue 1.5
 Students Point of Overview 1.5
 Overall Conclusion
 Future Work
 Overall References

Part4 Total 40

Prepare the  Way of presentation 2.5

presentation of 1.5
Presentati  Flow of information 3
your project
on 1.5
 Answers to the questions 1.5
(3%)
Week 15  Ethics and Social Issues
knowledge
 Project knowledge

Presentation Total 10

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Course project Fall 2021

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