Syllabus

IST 661 - Fall II 2026

Section D1

This course is online and asynchronous. There are no fixed meeting times.

There is NO final exam in this course.

Important Dates

Date	Summary	Description
10/12/2026	First day of class	Begin working on the Group Formation
10/21/2026	Preparation Phase ends	Group Formation submission closes at 11:59 PM ET
10/22/2026	Census Date	Reported absent if Group Formation is missing
10/28/2026	Milestone 1 DUE	Milestone 1 submission closes at 11:59 PM ET
9/7/2026	Labor Day	No class
11/3/2026	Election Day	No class
11/4/2026	Milestone 2 DUE	Milestone 2 submission closes at 11:59 PM ET
11/11/2026	Milestone 3 DUE	Milestone 3 submission closes at 11:59 PM ET
11/18/2026	Discovery Phase ends	Milestone 4 submission closes at 11:59 PM ET
11/18/2026	Last Day to Drop	Last day to drop a Fall/Fall II course with a W
11/23/2026 - 11/28/2026	Thanksgiving Break	No class
12/3/2026	Reflection Phase ends	Reflection submission closes at 11:59 PM ET

Instructor Information

Dr. Mike Murphy
Email: mmurphy2@coastal.edu
Office: Penny Hall 238

Office Hours

Please see my schedule page for current office hour information. Office hours may change during the semester.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

1. Analyze security policies, issues, and risks of information systems and technology.
2. Evaluate how policies, issues, and risks impact privacy, fair information practices, and content control.
3. Communicate effectively in a range of social and academic contexts for preparation in professional practice.
4. Recognize professional responsibilities related to ethical, legal, and risk management considerations of information systems technology professionals.
5. Participate as an effective member and leader of a team.

ABET Assessment

The above student learning outcomes support the following ABET program-level student outcomes:

1. Analyze a complex problem and apply principles of computing and other relevant disciplines to elaborate solutions to it. [SLO 1]
2. Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of requirements in the context of the program’s discipline. [SLO 2]
3. Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts. [SLO 3]
4. Recognize professional responsibilities and make informed judgments in computing practice based on legal and ethical principles. [SLO 4]
5. Function effectively as a member and leader of a team engaged in activities appropriate to the program’s discipline. [SLO 5]

Texts and Materials

• No textbook is required for this course.
• Readings, reference materials, tutorials, and videos will be assigned.

Technology Requirements

• Broadband Internet access is required for this course.
• Word processing software (LibreOffice Writer or Microsoft Word) is required.
• A Web browser capable of accessing research materials and using the Moodle learning management system is required.
• Microsoft Teams (available through the University Microsoft 365 license) is required for remote collaboration and communication.

Grading

This course uses ungrading, which means that there are NO grades for individual activities in this course. Nor are there any tests, quizzes, or exams. Instead of earning points on individual assignments, I will provide you with written feedback on each submitted activity. At the end of the semester, you will propose your own course grade based upon your self-assessment of how well you did and how much you improved over the course of the semester.

Course Phases

We will have three distinct phases in this course:

1. The Preparation Phase begins on the first day of the course and runs until the day before the Census Date. There will be a short activity in this phase to count first week attendance and help you prepare for the rest of the course.
2. The Discovery Phase comprises the bulk of the course. During this time, you will be working on learning activities to gain new knowledge and skills in the subject area.
3. Finally, the Reflection Phase comprises the final part of the course. During this phase, you will analyze your Discovery Phase results and propose your course grade.

Final Grading

Although we have no grades during the semester, University policy requires a final grade to be assigned to this course using the established A-F letter scale. You will propose your final grade in the Reflection Phase. I may agree or disagree with your self-assessment and may ultimately assign a higher or lower grade than what you propose. This approach to final grading is designed to reduce the amount of grade-related stress in this course, giving you more time and mental energy to focus on the material.

The Group Project

IST 661 uses a discovery-oriented approach to help you locate information relevant to security, policies, risk assessment, and data breach response. New threats are constantly emerging, so it is important to learn about both existing practices and how to find and utilize new training materials and information as technology evolves. It is also important to be able to work collaboratively in a team setting, which is why ABET requires graduate students to be able to function as both a member and a leader of a team.

The course project is divided into 4 weekly Milestones, each of which requires researching and preparing a written report on a topic related to security, security policies, risk assessment, and data breach response. Preparation of the report is a responsibility of the entire group. As part of the reporting process, each group member’s contributions to the overall effort will be documented. Final grades in this course will primarily depend on each individual person's contribution to the team effort.

For each Milestone, one person in the group will be the Team Leader. This role will rotate between group members such that each person in the group will serve as Team Leader for at least one milestone. Depending on the class enrollment and ultimate group sizes, it may be necessary for a person to be Team Leader more than once.

Team Leader Expectations

The person serving as Team Leader on a Milestone has the following responsibilities:

1. Facilitating communication between group members. We will be using Microsoft Teams as our collaboration platform this semester. The Team Leader should ensure that all team members are actively participating in the Milestone activities and inform the professor if someone goes missing.
2. Coordinating how the work for the Milestone will be divided across the team.
3. Combining individual member contributions into a single cohesive Milestone report.
4. Editing and proofreading the completed Milestone report prior to submission.
5. Submitting the Milestone report on time.

Team Member Expectations

Each person who is not serving as Team Leader on a Milestone has the following responsibilities:

1. Performing their share of the research for each Milestone.
2. Writing the report sections applicable to their research topic(s).
3. Communicating regularly and effectively with the rest of the team.

Communications Expectations

An added expectation of the group project is that collaboration is to be done remotely using Microsoft Teams. Not everyone in the course will be in the same location or on the same schedule. While the group can choose to have synchronous meetings, the industry norm is to keep a running chat going so that discussions can take place across time zones and with fewer schedule conflicts. It is important to log into Teams and participate regularly – daily, if possible – for effective collaboration.

Late Work

Each activity will close for submissions at 11:59 PM EDT on the specified closing date. Due to the fast-paced nature of this course, late submissions will not be accepted.

If you become so sick that you're unable to do your work, or if some other significant hardship arises, please let me know immediately. You need to notify me before the closing date unless you are hospitalized or otherwise incapacitated.

Submission Requirements

In order to ensure fairness and maintain accurate class records, all work in this course must be submitted via the campus learning management system. I cannot accept submissions via email, printed paper, Teams, or by any other means unless an accommodation has been granted by Accessibility and Disability Services. Computer problems and life events are certainly possible during the semester, so I encourage you to submit as early as you can.

Course Policies

Academic Integrity

We're all required to follow the CCU Academic Integrity Code, which is part of the Code of Student Conduct. I prefer not to have to engage in the Academic Integrity process, but I'm required to do so if these rules are broken.

Prohibited Acts

The following acts are examples of academic integrity violations:

• Hiring or permitting someone else to take this course for you.
• Using work done by someone else without attribution.
• Doing someone else's work for them.
• Willful and flagrant plagiarism.
• Copying or sharing answers to questions without simultaneous collaboration to find the answer together.
• Misrepresenting the work you have done, such as claiming to have completed more work than you have actually completed.
• Lying or making false or misleading statements in an effort to obtain an academic benefit, such as an extension on an assignment.
• Submitting a Course Adjustment Request that contains false information or intentionally omits material information that could change the outcome.
• Misusing artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including the submission of work produced by generative AI tools without verifying the output or reworking and testing generated code.

Sanctions

In general, any academic integrity violation in this course will result in a course grade of FX. Reduced sanctions, such as a reduced but non-failing course grade, are possible only in exceptional circumstances for relatively minor violations.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a multi-edged sword. On one hand, you most definitely need to be able to use AI tools to be competitive in the marketplace. At the same time, AI tools have a number of risks.

Risks and Limitations of AI

Before using an AI tool, particularly one that employs generative AI, you should understand the downsides of these tools.

Hallucination

Generative AI tools are prone to hallucination, a phenomenon in which the tool produces an answer that is blatantly wrong or wildly misleading. These AI systems are not capable of detecting their own hallucinations, nor are they programmed to convey the level of uncertainty in their responses. Instead, the output of a generative AI system is designed to sound confident and reassuring, even when it is completely wrong! For this reason, it is necessary to verify the results obtained from any AI system.

AI Cannot Reason

The most popular AI systems at the time of this writing are based on artificial neural networks, which are complex algorithms that essentially learn associations between words and produce output based upon a statistically common set of these associations. They are not actually intelligent, since they are still algorithms and are therefore subject to the same limitations that apply to all algorithms. You should not expect an AI system to reason or be creative.

Copyright Infringement

The large-language models (LLMs) behind popular generative AI services have all been trained on copyrighted works. There are currently hundreds of pending lawsuits related to AI, many of which include copyright infringement among their claims. Since generative AI systems more closely resemble a copy machine than an actual human brain, some of these lawsuits have already resulted in multi-billion dollar settlements.

There are several key issues to remember with copyright infringement and using AI tools:

1. Generative AI tools are capable of reproducing copyrighted work, without providing any indication of the original source or that the results are subject to copyright.
2. AI tools are considered tools. Works generated entirely by AI cannot be copyrighted in the United States.
3. If you use an AI tool to infringe upon someone else's copyright, that someone else may be able to sue you. It doesn't matter how the infringement happens: accidentally generating material that violates a copyright is treated the same way as intentionally finding and copying the same material.
4. Since the AI algorithms do not cite their sources, they are effectively leaving it up to the user to figure out if the generated material is legal to use.

Data Collection

Another reason to use caution with generative AI tools is that the companies that own the AI systems are using both your queries and your personal information to train their systems. Whatever you put into the AI tool becomes part of the system's knowledge base. Worse, if you actually read the license agreements and privacy policies for some of these tools, you will find that you're agreeing to let the AI companies train their models with information about you that they have collected or purchased from a data broker. AI models are expensive to train and operate, and these companies are in business to make money. They will happily absorb your data into their model while also selling it to the highest bidder.

Prohibited Uses

In this course, you must NOT do any of the following:

• Ask an AI tool to complete an assignment and then submit the output as the solution.
• Copy and paste code generated by an AI tool into an open-source project or in any other software intended for public release.
• Run commands suggested by AI, particularly when run as the root or administrative user, without first verifying that the commands are correct and safe to run.

Permitted Uses

You may (and probably should) use AI tools for the following tasks:

• Learning how to do something, including obtaining example code and/or commands needed to accomplish a small part of a larger task. Do not simply copy the results from AI, but instead use them as a guide like you would use an Internet forum post, code from a textbook, or a professor's example code.
• Finding and resolving bugs. Some AI systems are better than others at this task.
• Generating test cases to check your own code.
• Editing your writing for correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and flow.
• "Fleshing out" sentences and paragraphs from bullet points or short ideas.

Attendance

Regular attendance and participation in this course is expected but is not directly recorded or graded. Instead, any missed assignment submission is treated as an absence per the University Distance Learning Policy, which also applies to hybrid courses.

Preparation Phase Submission

If you do not make a submission by 11:59 PM ET on the last day of the Preparation Phase, then you will be reported as absent and dropped from the course for non-attendance before the Census Date. This policy is required by federal financial aid regulations.

Communications

To communicate with me, please use e-mail, Microsoft Teams, or stop by during office hours. The office telephone is the worst way to reach me, since I can only return calls when I'm physically sitting at my desk.

Calls can be made through Microsoft Teams. Please send me a text message in Teams first, unless we have a previously scheduled appointment, in case I have someone else physically present in the office.

Response Times

I use email for asynchronous communications. Please allow up to 2 business days to receive a response. Business days are Monday through Friday on days when classes meet. Expect longer response times for emails sent on weekends or during University breaks.

Communications Etiquette

When communicating with me or with your classmates, please follow general business etiquette guidelines:

• Please address me as Dr. Murphy or Prof. Murphy. Please address your classmates by their preferred names.
• Write your message in complete sentences and avoid the use of text message abbreviations.
• Refrain from asking for a reply "as soon as possible," as this behavior comes across as pushy.
• Threatening messages are always inappropriate. If you have an issue with a classmate, please reach out to me. If there is any issue that you and I cannot resolve amicably, please contact the department chair.

Contingency Plan

Per the CCU Academic Continuity Plan, courses will continue online whenever the University is unable to hold in-person classes. During contingency operations, any synchronous class meetings will be moved to Microsoft Teams. Otherwise, this course will proceed online unless the Governor orders the University to close completely or the Provost gives alternate instructions.

Emergency Communications

Please remember that an emergency in Horry County might impact my ability to communicate, and that synchronous communications (such as Teams) might not work properly. I have access to satellite-based backup Internet service and plan to use email and announcements in the learning management system as my primary backup communication methods. Please note that satellite Internet will not be functional until a hurricane or other extreme weather has passed.

If you need to reach me during an emergency, please send me an email. My ability to respond will be dictated by emergency conditions, but I will respond when I'm able.

Hurricanes

Each fall semester, hurricanes are a concern for our area. Evacuations and extended operational disruptions are always possible. I will generally try to keep the class informed about potential tropical impacts and will communicate any course changes and/or changes in my availability. If you live in a coastal area, you should have your own hurricane plan to stay safe if a storm threatens.

Please review my Hurricane Information page for planning information and links to useful resources.

Travel and Evacuation

ALWAYS take your laptop or other computer with you whenever you go out of town during University breaks, evacuations, and for other travel. Remember that you could encounter travel difficulties and have issues returning on time even if University operations are not affected.

Disability Accommodations

I am happy to work with any students requiring accommodations for a disability. University policy stipulates that Accessibility and Disability Services is the only office on campus that is authorized to evaluate and provide academic accommodations. Please have your accommodations information sent to me within the first week of class or within a week of approval if accommodations are implemented in the middle of the semester.

Requests for Adjustment

To ensure fairness to all students and compliance with accreditation requirements, the policies in this syllabus will be followed. In exceptional cases, individual adjustments might be warranted due to unexpected and unforeseeable circumstances that arise during the semester. A formal Course Adjustment Request must be submitted in order to make such requests. The request and my decision will be archived as part of the course record.

Please note that disability accommodations from the Office of Accessibility and Disability Services are already transmitted as formal notifications and are already archived by the University. You do not need to send a formal request in order to use an accommodation. A simple email or other informal message will suffice.

Disclaimer

Portions of this course may deal with issues related to cost analysis, laws, and ethics. I am not a lawyer, accountant, or financial advisor, and no portion of this class constitutes legal, financial, or other regulated professional advice. This syllabus is tentative and is subject to change with notice to the class during the semester. If a portion of this syllabus is found to be non-compliant with University policies or applicable laws, the remainder of this syllabus will remain effective.