CS 302 Professional Issues

Tutorial - Week 7


Pattern as last week - question 1 for discussion in small groups, question 2 mainly for later study. Make sure you have completed the work from the previous tutorial.

  1. In (i) - (iii), complete the following.

    1. The Career Development Framework of the British Computer Society is

      1. only applicable to those who have gained an approved degree in computer science
      2. only applicable to those who have not gained such a degree
      3. only applicable to those practising as computing consultants
      4. potentially applicable to all professional members of the Society
      5. potentially applicable to all who are not professional members of the Society.

    2. Accreditation of university degree courses causes potential ethical problems for members of the accreditation team when those members are

      1. not experts in an area of specialisation in the course
      2. from a neighbouring university
      3. personally known to members of the course team
      4. any of (a) - (c)
      5. all of (a) - (c).

    3. When developing a piece of software, the social or political implications of its subsequent use raise ethical issues which are

      1. the responsibility of my employers
      2. of professional concern to me
      3. of only limited concern to me
      4. not my responsibility
      5. exclusively the concern of subsequent users.

    4. Discuss in particular the last paragraph of question two below.

  2. Largely for later consideration; paragraph two was worth half the marks for the question, the other two a quarter each.

    Briefly discuss the relationship between the Engineering Council and the various professional engineering institutions such as the British Computer Society.

    Outline the principal points of the BCS' codes of professional conduct and of professional practice.

    How might these two codes influence your professional career as a computer scientist, whether as an employee or as an independent consultant?


© Paul Goldfinch 2008 Tutorial Week 8 Return to CS 302 Menu