Appendix D. Curriculum Example

Focus on the Knowledge Units

For a Computer Science Department that is concerned about being able to demonstrate that it has specifically dealt with each of the five new Knowledge Units, the following exercises can be incorporated into existing CS courses:

ES1: Responsibility of the Computer Professional: Personal responsibility of a computer professional includes ethical principals of honesty, fairness, autonomy, justice and beneficence. Professional responsibility is stressed because of the trust placed upon computer professionals by society due to their special skills and knowledge.

Recurring Concepts: complexity, conceptual and formal models, consistency and completeness, tradeoffs and consequences.

Lecture Topics: (3 hours minimum)

1. History of the development and impact of computing technology

2. Why be ethical?

3. Major ethical models: Bentham's Utilitarianism, Kant's Moral Imperative, and Rawles’ negotiation of social contracts

4. Definition of computing as a profession

5. Codes of ethics and professional responsibility for computer professionals

Writing Assignment: Have each student produce a time line of computing.

Writing Assignment: Have students evaluate a recent book, game or movie to determine the role of technology, the author's view, the message sent to the viewer/user, misconceptions that might occur or are apparent in the "work", the value placed on technology.

Suggested Laboratories: (6 hours minimum):

Discussion activity: Divide students into small groups and assign an important technology, such as electricity, the internal combustion engine, television, the telephone, and have them discuss how the invention and widespread adoption of this technology changed society. Who benefited or lost out due to the adoption of the technology?

Discussion activity: Have students identify where their personal values fit into the classical ethical models and professional codes of ethics presented above. Discuss a case study in small groups using the individual codes of ethics as the basis for decision making.

Discussion activity: Have students do a written case study analysis using a professional code of ethics and discuss their analysis with other students in small groups.

Student-Developed Computer Access and Usage Policies: Have students develop a computer access policy for a university or the development of a computer ethics policy for a campus. One group can be assigned the task to develop the policy from the perspective of the college administration and the other group assigned the task to develop the policy from the perspective of the general student population. These policies should include prohibited actions and specific sanctions for violations of the policy.

ES2: Basic Elements of Ethical Analysis: A presentation of classical ethical frameworks and principles is introduced to give students ethical models upon which to fall back during difficult ethical decisions that may confront them in their professional lives.

Recurring Concepts: conceptual and formal models, tradeoffs and consequences, complexity, abstraction

Lecture Topics: (3 hours minimum):

1. Rationally discussing ethical claims

2. Ethical choices

3. Questionable ethical approaches: Naive Relativism, Egoism, and Agency

Writing Assignment: Have students obtain a recent article in a magazine or newspaper in which one of the naive approaches to ethical reasoning is displayed and write an analysis.

Suggested Laboratories: (4 hours minimum)

Discussion activity: Have students read two articles with opposing viewpoints on the same ethical issue and evaluate the articles by identifying and discussing the ethical standards mentioned.

Debate activity: Have students read and discuss a case study in which a computer professional has a difficult choice to make. Identify the stakeholders, the winners and losers, and whether or not there is an obvious "right" choice.

ES3: Basic Skills of Ethical Analysis: There are five basic skills of ethical analysis that are necessary for applying ethics to technical work.

Recurring Concepts: complexity, conceptual and formal models, levels of abstraction, trade-off and consequences

Lecture Topics: (3 hours minimum)

1. Arguing from example, analogy, and counter-example

2. Identifying stakeholders in concrete situations

3. Identifying ethical issues in concrete situations

4. Applying ethical codes to concrete situations

5. Identifying and evaluating possible courses of action

Suggested Laboratories: (6 hours minimum)

Discussion activity: Have small groups collaborate in producing a list of ethical situations relating to computer use/technology with which they as employees/employers might be faced.

Discussion activity: Use small groups to analyze an ethical case study to identify stakeholders, winners and losers, and then present their findings.

Case study analysis: Set up small groups and assign a different professional code of ethics and an ethical case study to each group. Have each group present their conclusions to the class.

Role playing: Assign scenarios highlighting ethical issues in which a position must be taken. Have students determine individually and then in small groups what the appropriate course of action to take should be. Have them do role playing to emphasize the various approaches taken and conclusions that may be drawn.

ES4: Basic Elements of Social Analysis: Examples and case studies of system development are analyzed with the five basic elements of social analysis.

Recurring Concepts: complexity, trade-off and consequences

Lecture Topics: (3 hours minimum)

1. Social context influences the development and use of technology

2. Power relations are central in all social interaction

3. Technology embodies the values of the developers

4. Diversity of populations

Writing Assignment: Have each student choose a topic and write a report on the social impact of computer technology with respect to the above four elements of social analysis. A list of topics might include the impact on:

blue/white collar workers

employees/employers in a business

students/teachers

worldwide/local communications (Internet/E-mail)

environment/health

Suggested Laboratories: (4 hours minimum):

Discussion activity: Choose two or three of the above social impact papers to be presented briefly to the class for discussion.

Discussion activity: Have students develop a framework for laws against computer trespass or laws against "software lemons" similar to laws which protect consumers against defective automobiles.

ES5: Basic Skills of Social Analysis: There are three basic skills of social analysis important to analyzing the social context, embedded values, and use of a system. An empirical study is used to evaluate a particular technology.

Recurring Concepts: complexity, consistency, completeness, trade-off, consequences

Lecture Topics: (3 hours minimum)

1. Identifying and interpreting the social context of a particular implementation

2. Identifying assumptions and values embedded in a particular system

3. Using empirical data to evaluate a particular implementation of a technology

Writing Assignment: Provide two similar pieces of software to small groups of students and have them devise quantitative measures with which to evaluate them. Have the students trade evaluations and improve them. Software and evaluations will differ significantly for: educational software

business applications

E-mail interfaces

computer interfaces such as DOS, OS/2, Windows3.1, Windows95, Macintosh

Suggested Laboratories: (5 hours minimum)

Discussion activity: Have students identify the social values of a particular piece of software with respect to diverse cultural backgrounds, diverse religious backgrounds, gender, and physical abilities.

Empirical study: Have students use the above evaluations to do a social impact statement on an existing application, analyzing the system with the help of the evaluations as well as anecdotal data.

Selected Topics for In-depth Coverage: Contemporary topics are studied in more depth, according to the interests of the instructor and/or class. There may be recent developments in current events that would influence the choice of topic to be studied.

Lecture Topics: (up to 10 hours):

Privacy

Computers in Medicine

Computers in Education

Deskilling of Jobs

Computer Crime

Computer Regulatory Measures/Laws

Social, Ethical Implications of the Internet

Suggested Laboratories: (5 hours minimum): guided discussion sessions on each of the topics above that are covered in class.