Computer Ethics in the Computer Science Curriculum - The Software Engineering “Capstone” Approach - The Research Center on Computing & Society

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Terrell Ward Bynum

The Software Engineering “Capstone” Approach

Another way to integrate computer ethics into the computer science curriculum has been tried with some success by Don Gotterbarn (Gotterbarn 1991) and others. This “software engineering approach” combines computer ethics and a software engineering project late in the student’s college career. Gotterbarn reports that he has done this in two different ways:

By integrating ethical issues into a project-oriented software engineering course, and
By integrating a large software-development project into a computer ethics seminar for advanced undergraduates in computer science.

In both courses, students are involved in the nitty-gritty tasks and decisions required to develop a piece of software; and in the process, various computer ethics issues arise and are discussed. According to Gotterbarn, this is a more practical and more effective way to teach computer ethics than the traditional “theoretical” computer ethics course, especially

if the intent is to meet the special needs of the computer science student… by conceiving computer ethics more narrowly as the study of ethical issues which face the practicing computer professional (Gotterbarn 1991, p.2)

Gotterbarn argues that such a “capstone” course taken late in a student’s college career is preferable to an early “theoretical” course:

There are several reasons for making it a late course. For example, many ethical issues faced by the computing professional are tied directly to his or her use of professional skills. The beginning student is not yet in a position to understand them. But capstone courses taken late in the student’s career can (1) tie together elements from all the theoretical courses, (2) convey a sense of professional responsibility not covered in other courses, and (3) deal with the true nature of computing as a service to other human beings. (Gotterbarn 1991, p.1)

Gotterbarn makes an impressive plea for such “capstone” courses. There are a number of advantages to their being late in a student’s college career. On the other hand, if a late course is the only one in which a student is exposed to computer ethics issues, this could leave the mistaken and dangerous impression that ethical concerns are separate, extra considerations which can and ought to be separated from the rest of computer science. This would be a mistake. It seems to me that a balanced computer science curriculum would integrate computer ethics considerations in a variety of ways throughout the curriculum. (See below for my recommendations.)

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