Facing the Computer Ethics Dilemma - Comouter Ethics Education - The Research Center on Computing & Society

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C. Dianne Martin and David H. Martin

Computer Ethics Education

Computer education now begins in elementary school and is not longer a restricted technical specialty learned only by those who are going to design or program computers. Because of the widespread prevalence of computers in society, a core of ethical precepts relating to computer technology should be communicated not only to computer professionals, but to the general public through all levels of education. The issue should be viewed from the perspective of society as a whole as well as from the perspective of computer professionals.

In looking at the ISTE ethics code there is a great emphasis upon incorporating ethical and social impact issues throughout the curriculum starting at the point when children first become computer users in school. In particular, there are a set of guidelines regarding what students in general need to know about computer ethics in Principle V dealing with Student Issues. Incorporating the ISTE guidelines throughout K – 12 education would help to address the “society as a whole” issue of computer ethics.

The preparation of future computer professionals should be examined at both the high school and university computer science curriculum. The ACM is in the process of developing new recommendations at both levels of curriculum. In the high school curriculum, there will be both general and specific approaches to ethics and social impact issues. The general approach is to incorporate these concerns across the curriculum, not just in computer courses. This is in keeping with the philosophy that computers should be integrated across the curriculum as a tool for all disciplines. The specific approach is to develop social impact modules within the computer courses that will focus on these concerns.

At the university level the ACM faces a yet-to-be resolved dilemma of how to implement the proposed societal strand in the new curriculum recommendations. There is much discussion, but little action, regarding the necessity of preparing ethically and socially responsible computer scientists, especially in light of the highly publicized computer viruses that are an embarrassment to the profession. To this end the ACM has articulated a tenth core strand – ethical and social impact – that must now be incorporated in computer science programs. The Computer Science Accreditation Board (CSAB) which has accredited over 50 institutions since it was established in 1984, requires instruction in the social implications of computing as a criterion for accreditation.

The dilemma is whether this new strand should be present in all computer science courses or should be taught in a stand-alone course. CSAB allows the topic to be taught as a separate course or to be included as a component of other courses. If it is a stand-alone course, should it be required or elective? Many feel that the across-the-board approach is the best, but cynically question whether you can really “teach old dogs new tricks.” Joseph Weizenbaum, a professor of Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, favors the M. I. T. approach of including discussions of ethics in the context of other computer science courses already in the curriculum to eliminate the tendency of professors “to skip over ethical considerations with the excuse that it is taught in Ethics 101 (DeLoughry, 1989).” However, he recognizes the possibility that the ethics material could receive short shrift in a crammed technical syllabus, as is alleged to occur in many law schools. When combined with other computer science core material, the teaching of ethics is made complicated by the fact that it is not as concrete as the rest of the curriculum. How do we persuade “hard core” computer scientists that social impact material is serious and involves long range implications for the future of computer science?

In accepting the value-laden nature of technology, we should recognize the need to teach a methodology of explicit ethical analysis in all decision-making related technology. We can borrow from the strategy of traditional university ethics courses to use case studies (Parker, 1988; Weiss, 1982), readings and discussions in our computer ethics courses. We must teach our students to use the preliminary core of ethical concepts developed by the computer professional societies to first deal with hypothetical cases in order to prepare them to deal with real ethical dilemmas in the future. One method is to answer the five questions in ethics suggested by bio-ethicist Robert Veatch (1977), that when asked collectively and in sequence, form a general framework for addressing and providing justification for moral dilemmas: (1) What makes right acts right? (2) To whom is moral duty owed? (3) What kinds of acts are right? (4) How do rules apply to specific situation? (5) What ought to be done in specific cases? (Veatch, 1977, p. 2).

In a recent ethics workshop Professional Engineer John McLeod suggested another set of generic ethical questions to be asked by individuals in the context of daily professional practice: (1) is it honorable, (2) is it honest, (3) does it avoid the possibility of a conflict of interest, (4) is it within your area of competence, (5) is it fair, (6) is it considerate, and (7) is it conservative of time and resources. Questions such as these can be used effectively to train students to apply ethical standards to both hypothetical and real situations.

The challenge to computer educators is to develop strategies that will raise the awareness of students regarding ethical and moral issues related to computer technology at the same time that they are developing their technical expertise. We should not delude ourselves into thinking that simply teaching about ethics will be a panacea for the problems now faced by society due to computer technology, but we should demonstrate our commitment to ethical behavior by incorporating ethics education into computer education at all levels.

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