2025 Fall

POLSCI 132C 001 - LEC 001

Berkeley Changemaker: Algorithms, Public Policy, and Ethics

Kirk C Bansak

Aug 27, 2025 - Dec 12, 2025

Tu, Th

12:30 pm - 01:59 pm

Social Sciences Building 126

Class #:27811

Units: 4

Instruction Mode: In-Person Instruction

Offered through Charles & Louise Travers Dept of Political Science

Current Enrollment

Total Open Seats: 27

Enrolled: 13

Waitlisted: 9

Capacity: 40

Waitlist Max: 10

Open Reserved Seats:

27 reserved for Political Science Majors

Hours & Workload

1 hours of the exchange of opinions or questions on course material per week, 3 hours of instructor presentation of course materials per week, and 8 hours of outside work hours per week.

Other classes by Kirk C Bansak

POLSCI 231C 001 001SEM

This course will cover a broad range of topics on the use of predictive and related algorithms in public policy. This will include specific case studies, how data are used in these tools, their possible benefits relative to status quo procedures as well as their limitations, and the potential harms and ethics surrounding their use (e.g. issues of algorithmic bias). The course will include instruction on both concepts and methods. Students will learn about the use of algorithms in public policy (and related topics) through a conceptual and the-oretical lens, through illustrative case studies, and through data science applications and exercises.