Summary of 3J03: Because classes were cancelled on April 4 due to the ice and snow, the last three hours of classes of 3J03 did not take place. In place of the summary of the course I planned to give, I suggest that all of you review the materials covered in the course and contemplate what you have done, learned and achieved in this course. We began with a historical overview of the interrelationship between society and engineering and how this relationship has evolved over several millenia. The increase in the mutual interdependence of society and engineering is very significant, with increasing consequences for societal welfare, both in terms of benefits and potential negative consequences. With this, there is an increasing interest and need on the part of society to control the engineering profession in appropriate ways. Software engineering can expect to become ever more affected by this need. In the text by Johnson and in the student presentations, we examined the recent past and current situation in more detail. Among other things we examined ethical questions arising from the conflicting pressures of the engineer's responsibilities to the public, clients, employers, other professionals, subordinates, employees, the profession as a whole and to oneself. We discussed many aspects of these conflicting pressures and deduced some guidelines for balancing them. Hopefully the conclusions you have drawn in this course will help you to avoid serious conflicts in your future careers.
The last presentation by Jeff Lindner, scheduled for April 4, will be rescheduled soon. Anyone who can attend is welcome. Contact our TAs (see their email addresses below) for further information as it becomes available.
During the week of April 7-11 I will be on a trip that cannot be rescheduled because of the lost snow day. If you have any questions regarding the course, your report, etc., please contact our TAs. I will be back for the final examination.
Final examination: The final examination will cover all of the material in the reading assignments through Johnson, chapter 15, as well as all additional material presented and discussed in class, including the student presentations. Review all of the material on our web site as well as your own notes compiled during the term. The final examination will consist mainly of multiple choice questions but will have a non-multiple choice part as well. It will be similar in structure to the mid-term tests.
Because of the snow day, we did not have the opportunity to discuss chapters 14 and 15 in Johnson, but they mainly review and integrate aspects of ethical questions we have discussed in several specific contexts earlier, so represent a summary of some of our earlier discussions in class. Reading these chapters and reviewing in your minds earlier discussions in class should prepare you well for those topics.
Chapter 19 and beyond in Johnson will not be covered in the final examination.
Grades on tests 1 and 2 and answers to the multiple choice questions on both tests are available in the file Grades033J03.html.
Slides shown in the student presentations are available in the directory StudentPresentations. Additional sets of slides will be added as they become available after the presentations in class.
Professions vs. non-professional vocations: The file ProfessionVocation.html contains a summary of our discussions and readings on this subject, the material from the slides shown in class on March 5, as well as some additional comments from preceding years' classes.
Submitting reports and presentations to Turnitin.com: In preparation for submitting your reports and presentations to Turnitin.com, please register now as a student with Turnitin.com:
Submit a printed version of your report on or before March 12, either in class or deliver it to my office. In addition, submit your report or presentation to Turnitin.com as described above. For additional instructions for presentations, see the file PresentationSchedule.html.
If you have any difficulty, contact me at Baber@McMaster.CA.
Blackboard notes: Pictures of the blackboard notes of our class discussions are posted in our web directory http://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/~baber/Courses/3J03. The file names are of the form "BBmmddAuthorCCTitle.pdf", where mm is the month; dd, the day of the month; CC, the chapter number and Title, an abbreviation of the title of the literature covered in the class discussion. Remember that these blackboard notes do not capture all that was said in the class discussion. The tests and the final examination will cover material from the readings and the class discussions that is not included in the blackboard notes.
TA hours: Our TAs Jodi Ellenzweig (email address: ellenzj@mcmaster.ca) and Kathryn Pierrynowski (email address: pierryks@mcmaster.ca) will be available for consultation at the following places and times beginning Monday February 3:
Turnitin.com: As mentioned both in the Course Outline (see the file COut3J03.html in the SFWR ENG 3J03 web directory) and in a lecture at the beginning of this term, we plan to use the Turnitin.com system for plagarism prevention and detection in 3J03 this term. At the request of McMaster University's Academic Integrity Officer, I have added corresponding text at the end of our Course Outline, in section 11. Please read this new passage in our Course Outline, which applies both to your written reports and to your presentations.
Code of Hammurabi, Vitruvius: In class we discussed briefly the Code of Hammurabi and its penalties and the Roman architect (engineer) Marcus Vitruvius. Look at the Code of Hammurabi (http://www.duhaime.org/Law_museum/hamm1.htm, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/hamcode.html), especially sections 228 ff. or search the page for "build" or "builder". An English translation of Vitruvius's de Architectura is at http://www.ku.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/home.html, see Book 1, Chapter 1, paragraphs 1 and 2, regarding balancing theory and practice.
Reading assignments and due dates:
by January 10 Friday: Johnson, Introduction, pages 1-5, McMaster
University Statement on Academic Ethics, http://www.mcmaster.ca/senate/academic/acadeth.htm.
by January 15 Wednesday: Johnson, Chapter 1 (Challenger), pages
6-14, and Harms, introduction and chapters on Prehistoric Engineering
and Ancient Engineering
by January 22 Wednesday: Harms, chapters on Medieval Engineering,
Renascent
Engineering and Expansive Engineering
by January 24 Friday: research topic preferences due
about January 29 Wednesday: final assignment of research topics
will be announced
by January 29 Wednesday: Harms, chapters on Modern Engineering
and Contemporary Engineering
by February 5 Wednesday: Johnson, pages 15-39 (SDI; Ladd)
February 12 Wednesday 8.30-9.20: Class test 1, room ABB/B163by February 14 Friday: Johnson, pages 40-62 (Scenarios and Introduction to Part 2; Layton)
February 26 Wednesday: drafts of written research reports due (for teams only)
March 5 Wednesday: written reviews of research reports due (for teams only)by March 5 Wednesday: Johnson, pages 78-92 (Friedman; Hannaford)
March 12 Wednesday: written research reports due (for individuals and teams)by March 12 Wednesday: Johnson, pages 93-129, the Code of Ethics of the PEO, and the Definition of Professional Misconduct of the PEO. (Other relevant regulations can be accessed from http://www.peo.on.ca/publications/all_Acts.html, but they are not required reading.)
March 21 Friday 10:30-11:20: Class test 2, room ABB/B163by March 26 Wednesday: Johnson, Part 5, Chapters 19 and 20 (pages 219-247)