CSE 390HA - 142 Honors Seminar
Instructor: Hunter Schafer (hschafer [at] cs [dot] washington [dot] edu)
Welcome to CSE 390HA, the Honors section for CSE 142!
In this course we'll be exploring the impact technology has on society and being introduced to various facets of computer science that you would not see in CSE 142. Throughout the course our goal is to explore these topics through a mix readings out of the book "Weapons of Math Destruction" and articles, small exploratory homework assignments, and weekly discussions.
Required Book: Weapons of Math Destruction
Authors: Cathy O'Neil
We recommend getting an e-book of this book to avoid the risk of trying to get a physical book during these times. It seems like the easiest purchasing option for the e-book is through Amazon ($10), but if you find another copy that's totally fine!
Please contact Hunter if you are have concerns getting a copy of this book.
Credit
This is a 1-credit, discussion-based course. To earn credit for this course, you need to "complete" 7 6 weeks of discussion activities. To "complete" a week, you need to do the assigned reading and any assigned activities (requires some effort for completion) and attend the discussion for that week (if you finish all the tasks and attend for a week, it's "completed"). There are 9 weeks that we will be meeting so that means you are able to miss 2 and still receive credit for the class!
The readings and activities for this class are not meant to take up a lot of time and you are not being tested on your understanding of the material. The exercises are there to get you thinking about computer science, how you can apply it to your own areas of interest, and how it impacts your day to day life.
Meetings
Our class meets on Tuesdays from 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm. Our dicsussion meetings will happen via Zoom. You can find the join link here.
Course Content
| Date | Info |
|---|---|
| 3/30 |
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| 4/6 |
In this section, we will all meet and get to know each other and have a broad overview of what we want the discussion to look like this quarter. We discussed the high level goals of this course:
We emphasized that 142 is about how to program computers while computer science (and computational/algorithmic thinking) is a much large scope than just programming. As a group, we discussed:
Intersting LinksAssignment Due Today:
Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 pm: For this class, we will use Google Forms that require UW authentication to access. If you are having trouble accessing these forms, try to follow the instructions here.
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| 4/13 |
In this section, we will discuss the introductory chapter and the first two chapters of the book. We will discuss what models are and the author's definition of a WMD. We will look into various tools/models we work with every day to spot any potential WMDs there. Assignment Due Today @ 3:00 pm:
Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 pm: For this class, we will use Google Forms that require UW authentication to access. If you are having trouble accessing these forms, try to follow the instructions here.
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| 4/20 |
In this section, we will discuss the U.S. News College Rankings from Chapter 3 of the book. We talked about many of the specific problems brought up in the chapter, and tried to come up with ways around them. Assignment Due Today @ 3:00 pm: For this class, we will use Google Forms that require UW authentication to access. If you are having trouble accessing these forms, try to follow the instructions here.
Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 pm: For this class, we will use Google Forms that require UW authentication to access. If you are having trouble accessing these forms, try to follow the instructions here.
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| 4/27 |
In this section, we will discuss online ads and how they impact our privacy. We also talked about how advertisers track you in your day to day life with third-party tracking. Assignment Due Today @ 3:00 pm: For this class, we will use Google Forms that require UW authentication to access. If you are having trouble accessing these forms, try to follow the instructions here.
Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 pm:
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| 5/4 |
In this section, we will discuss the specific details of what this thing called "machine learning" is and a specific type of model called a "decision tree". Assignment Due Today @ 3:00 pm:
Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 pm: For this class, we will use Google Forms that require UW authentication to access. If you are having trouble accessing these forms, try to follow the instructions here.
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| 5/11 |
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| 5/18 |
In this section, we will discuss impacts of modeling in the criminal justice system and how we can try to define fairness from a modeling approach. Assignment Due Today @ 3:00 pm: For this class, we will use Google Forms that require UW authentication to access. If you are having trouble accessing these forms, try to follow the instructions here.
Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 pm:
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| 5/25 |
This week, we will have a panel of previous UW students who are currently working in various fields related to technology talk about their experience at UW and finding jobs. Assignment Due Today @ 3:00 pm: For this class, we will use Google Forms that require UW authentication to access. If you are having trouble accessing these forms, try to follow the instructions here.
Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 pm:
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| 6/1 |
This week, we will discuss our final WMDs of the quarter when it comes to the office and we will wrap up some things we learned. Assignment Due Today @ 3:00 pm: For this class, we will use Google Forms that require UW authentication to access. If you are having trouble accessing these forms, try to follow the instructions here.
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