Courting Culture in Computer Science - Structured Educational Activities - The Research Center on Computing & Society

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Batya Friedman

Structured Educational Activities

Perhaps the most widespread structured approach that addresses social and ethical considerations in computer science education is a stand-alone course on the subject. For example, at Mills College we have offered two such courses, one for non-technical students on Computing & Society, and one for technical students on the social responsibilities of the computer professional. The syllabi for these courses at Mills, along with those of many other courses such as Terry Bynum’s course on computer ethics, can be found in an edited collection by Friedman and Winograd (1990). This syllabi collection includes the following course topics: social implications of computing, social analyses of computing, ethics for computer professionals, computers in the arts, computers in the military, computers in the third world, and computers in education.

Drawing from relevant research in the field of engineering ethics education (Baum, 1980), one limitation of stand-alone courses, however, seems apparent: Such courses separate consideration of social and ethical concerns from the rest of students’ technical experience and learning. Partly in response to this limitation, integrative approaches have been advocated. One approach entails the integration of curriculum units on the social and ethical aspects of computing throughout the technical curriculum (Miller, 1988). Another approach integrates the social and ethical aspects of computing with selective components of the curriculum, particularly those that involve people-centered computer system design (Winograd 1990, 1991). At Mills we have explored this second approach in a graduate level technical communications course in which students design materials to support computer use in an actual setting. For example, in the 1989 – 90 academic year, when Mills automated the college library, students worked with library staff to design (a) an online map to help patrons locate materials and facilities in the library, (b) hardcopy materials to help patrons navigate the online catalog system, and (c) hardcopy materials to help librarians comprehend and execute the computer system back-up procedures. Course instruction emphasized not simply accurate and even elegant design, but design and design process highly responsive to the human context.

The integrative approaches go some distance to decompartmentalize student engagement with the social and ethical aspects of their technical knowledge. Nonetheless, in my view, we need additional mechanisms to embrace the whole of students’ educational computing experience. The following unstructured activities can provide such mechanisms. The goal is to provide a larger context for what students in their future lives and careers will take to be the practice of computing.

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