From Awareness to Action - Page 11 of 20

    1. An Early Introduction

      2. It is essential to provide an early introduction to the principles and skills of ethical and social analysis as well as an introduction to some of the major issues related to computing so that students can begin to move from the awareness stage to the ability to evaluate and make decisions about such issues [12]. Three units that should be incorporated into the CS1-CS2 sequence of courses taken by all computer science students are described below [26]. These units should be taught as a progression to lay the foundation for future discussion, analysis and decision-making leading to responsible action related to the issues. Alternatively, this material can be taught in a freshman or sophomore level introductory course in computer ethics and social impact [17,18]. An example of such a course can be found in Appendix A.

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      Unit 1 – Introducing Ethical and Social Issues

      The emphasis in the first unit is on making students aware of the place of computers in society and possible implications thereof, particularly as these issues relate to them personally. Real world case studies are introduced and their effects or outcomes discussed. These cases may vary from term to term, in particular to allow for the inclusion of current events. However, two important user-oriented topics, "What should a customer know about software licenses?" and "How can I protect my machine from viruses?" are to be included each term.

      ES1.1 (History)

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      Unit 2 – Introducing Case Studies

      The emphasis in the second unit is on situations that present difficult choices. How does one define right and wrong? What if a situation offers no really "good" choice? Or if the choice is between two seemingly "right" alternatives? The relationship between law, morality and ethics is informally explored. Once again a number of short cases can be used to stimulate thinking and discussion[11]. Since by this time students have likely become regular users of campus Internet and email facilities, ethics and cyberspace would be relevant topics to highlight.

      ES1.2 (Why be ethical?)

      ES1.3 (Major ethical models) - Informal

      ES2.3 (Easy approaches are questionable)

      ES3.1 (Example, analogy, and counter-example)

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      Unit 3 – Introducing Ethical Decision-Making

      In the third unit a more formal presentation of the bases of ethical thought and a process for ethical decision-making are introduced. Students are encouraged to apply a more disciplined approach to determine stakeholders and what they have at stake, to describe possible solutions and their acceptability, to prioritize these solutions, and then to make a decision which they can justify[5, 12, 16]. In addition to textbook cases illustrating specific issues, it is important to use examples of real cases where ethical decisions had to be made [4] so that students come to appreciate the complexity of real life situations. This is the time to introduce the concept of computing as a profession and the professional codes of ethics as a basis for analyzing and making decisions about ethical issues[2].

      ES1.3 (Major ethical models) - Formal introduction of ethics and ethics codes

      ES1.4 (Definition of computing as a profession)

      ES1.5 (Codes of ethics and professional responsibility for computer professionals)

      ES2.1 (Rational discussions)

      ES2.3 (Easy approaches are questionable) - Review

      ES3.2 (Identifying stakeholders in concrete situations)

      ES3.3 (Identifying ethical issues in concrete situations)

      ES3.4: (Applying ethical codes to concrete situations)

      ES3.5 (Identifying and evaluating possible courses of action)

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    2. Integration across All CS Courses

After laying the foundation with an early introduction to ethics and social impact topics in the CS1 and CS2 courses, it is crucial to continue the discussion in most, if not all, of the remaining CS courses. This is the only way that students will come to realize how integral these issues are to the technical aspects of computing. To do so requires a coordinated effort on the part of the CS faculty to incorporate topics into each computer science course. The progression of ethics and social impact modules at each of those levels are described in the models below.