Integration of computer ethics into the CS curriculum

Abstract

The Impact CS project, described in Dianne Martin's current and previous SIGCSE column, addresses Curriculum 91's mandate "to include the social and ethical implications of computing" in the curriculum. I have two concerns with this mandate. The mandate leaves open how to include the material and exactly what material to include to satisfy the mandate. For the past ten years the discussion about how to include the material has repeatedly focused on three methods of inclusion: have a separate course---taught by philosophy or CS, have a capstone project course, or integrate ethics into several of the CS courses. Since the initial mandate, the discussion of what to include has broadened to include the professional responsibilities of the computing practitioner. This broadening of the subject matter has contributed to favoring the integration approach as a method of inclusion. An approach which (ten years ago) has been empirically proven to be the most effective way to teach ethics.It may seem that we now have a clear path and Impact CS Report 3 provides us with the theoretical underpinnings to "integrate" computer ethics into the curriculum. But I think we still have one further issue to clear up. Material can be "integrated" into a course simply by adding another reading. We can attach the material to a course and treat it much the way ethics was treated in Curriculum 91, as an appendage to the real CS curriculum. The material could be "integrated" into the course in another way. We could show the unity of professional, social, and ethical issues with computer science. If professional, social, and ethical concerns are simply treated as an appendage, then teachers will leave these discussion for the last day of class (if there is time left). Teachers will feel that there is no time to include these issues in their classes; students will believe that ethics is included only to minimally meet the requirements of CSAB accreditation and they will not have a clear understanding of their professional responsibilities. On the other hand, we could teach professionalism and ethics as a part of computer science. Good computer science is a combination of the application of technical skill guided by professional responsibility. For example, we could demonstrate that doing good software design involves designing the software in an ethically sensitive way.I am concerned that, because of the use of terms like "units" and "stages" in Impact CS Report 3, some may interpret it as advocating "attaching" ethics units to courses, attaching units that are neatly separable from computer science. The material discussed in the "units" and "stages" of Report 3 can be synthesized with the CS curriculum in some fairly straightforward ways. In what follows I will summarize some of those ways and indicate some of useful resources to help you "demonstrate that ethical computer science is computer science.