Lecture, four hours; discussion, three hours; outside study, five hours. Requisite: English Composition 3, 3D, 3DS, 3E, or 3SL. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 181EW, 183EW, 185EW, or 188EW. Places engineering in broader societal context through examination of some of key ethical, legal, and regulatory issues and frameworks relevant to design and deployment of emerging technology products and services. Historical examination of ethical and legal frameworks generally and in relation to technology. Exploration of series of specific contemporary technology-related topics to examine their broader ramifications. Topics include driverless cars, algorithms and artificial intelligence, global supply chain for engineering products, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, net neutrality, and impact of technology on employment. Offers students tools enabling them to think more proactively and holistically about ethical and societal dimensions of their work as technology creators. Satisfies engineering writing requirement. Letter grading.

Review Summary

Clarity
10.0 / 10
Organization
10.0 / 10
Time
0-5 hrs/week
Overall
10.0 / 10

Reviews

    Quarter Taken: Fall 2022 In-Person
    Grade: A

    Overall, definitely take this class if you want to fulfill the ethics and writing engineering requirement. The class is easy and not too boring. Lectures are not mandatory and people stopped showing up since nothing from lectures really matters for the course grade, which is unfortunate because the professor is clearly very passionate about what he teaches. There are also reading assignments that no one really did - the articles are interesting but not essential for any graded assignment.

    The course grade mainly comes from your TA. The assignments are an individual essay; in-class, open internet midterm; co-op; group essay; group oral presentation on the group essay topic; and a team-based in-class debate. All are very manageable and not difficult.

Course

Instructor
John D. Villasenor
Previously taught
22F 21F 20F 18F

Grading Information

  • Has a group project

  • Attendance not required

  • 1 midterm

  • No final

  • 0% recommend the textbook