From Awareness to Action - Page 7 of 20

2.2.2 The Pedagogical Framework

CC91 specified four knowledge units under social, ethical, and professional issues within the common computer science core requirement. However, not much guidance was given and very little time was allocated (only 11 out of 283 total lecture hours were specified by the curriculum) for the implementation of these requirements. Using the conceptual framework shown in Figure 1 and CC91 as a model, we have redefined the core curriculum for ethics and social impact to be expressed as five necessary knowledge units with learning objectives, rather than specific courses. This will allow different institutions and programs that have different pedagogical priorities, educational goals, and general constraints to package the subject matter in different ways. In addition, we have tried to take into account new pedagogical strategies and new technologies that have emerged since CC91 was adopted. The five fundamental knowledge units proposed for this "tenth" subject area, designated Ethical and Social Impact of Computing (ES), are shown in Figure 2 below[19]:

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ES1: Responsibility of the Computer Professional for Computer Science

ES1.1 History of the development and impact of computer technology

ES1.2 Why be ethical?

ES1.3 Major ethical models

ES1.4 Definition of computing as a profession

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

ES2: Basic Elements of Ethical Analysis for Computer Science

ES2.1: Ethical claims can and should be discussed rationally.

ES2.2: Ethical choices cannot be avoided.

ES2.3: Easy ethical approaches are questionable.

ES3.1: Arguing from example, analogy, and counter-example

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 alternative courses of action

ES4.1: Social context influences the development and use of technology.

ES4.2: Power relations are central in all social interactions.

ES4.3: Technology embodies the values of the developers.

ES4.4: Populations are always diverse.

ES4.5: Empirical data are crucial to design and development processes.

ES5: Basic Skills of Social Analysis for Computer Science

ES5.1: Identifying and interpreting the social context of a particular implementation

ES5.2: Identifying assumptions and values embedded in a particular system

ES5.3: Using empirical data to evaluate a particular implementation of a technology

Figure 2: Five Fundamental ES Knowledge Units [19]

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