Realities of Teaching Social and Ethical Issues in Computing - Qualifications to Teach Social and Ethics Issues in Computing - The Research Center on Computing & Society

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Doris Keefe Lidtke

Qualifications to Teach Social and Ethics Issues in Computing

There are many faculty members who now teach courses in social and ethical issues in computing and Terry Ward Bynum addresses this in his paper. The qualifications of these individuals vary over an extremely wide range. As he indicates most computer scientists can and should discuss the popular press issues with their students and colleagues. This will lead to consciousness raising, if nothing else. However, this is not sufficient to develop the kinds of expertise needed to teach and do research in the field. Faculty in many fields can, and probably should, teach this course; but to do so well requires some understanding of philosophical issues, computer science, and the ability to assign and evaluate written and oral work in the field, and to lead student discussions. Team teaching by a group of faculty members who can bring together the requisite abilities appears to work well in some situations. In other situations a faculty member with interest in the field and training in one of the areas can through courses or self-study develop the necessary background to do well in such a course. Attendance at a conference such as this can supply much material for course, ideas for conducting classes, and better methods for the evaluation of student work.

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