University Catalog Course Description

Data is everywhere around us, and drives important decisions that impact all aspects of our lives. How can we ensure that our use of data is "right"? This course will examine ethics in the context of behavioral data science. We will discuss issues such as: benefit vs. harm, scientific validity, bias and discrimination, privacy and consent, transparency and accountability. We will contextualize these discussions in several real-world case-studies, such as emotion recognition. Students are expected to keep up with readings, actively participate in class discussions and debates, and articulate their thoughts in writing. This course carries both the Ethics and Writing flags, and involves several writing assignments, including an individual term paper that students will have the opportunity to revise.

Flag Courses

This course carries the Ethics flag. Ethics courses are designed to equip you with skills that are necessary for making ethical decisions in your adult and professional life. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments involving ethical issues and the process of applying ethical reasoning to real-life situations.

This course also carries the Writing Flag. Writing Flag courses are designed to give students experience with writing in an academic discipline. In this class, you can expect to write regularly during the semester, complete substantial writing projects, and receive feedback from your instructor to help you improve your writing. You will also have the opportunity to revise one or more assignments, and you may be asked to read and discuss your peers’ work. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from your written work. Writing Flag classes meet the Core Communications objectives of Critical Thinking, Communication, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility, established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Identify common and important ethical issues around applications of data science.
• Recognize when a data-driven decision has significant ethical implications, and
• Analyze these implications in writing and in verbal argument.

Feedback

We welcome feedback on the course at any point. Feel free to email the instructor directly, or leave anonymous feedback by using the anonymous Google form (URL given in class).