Computer Ethics in the Computer Science Curriculum

Terrell Ward Bynum

Computer Ethics and the Curriculum

I’m always amazed when I meet computer professionals in business and industry, or even computer science teachers in colleges and universities, who fail to recognize (or perhaps fail to admit) that their profession has social and ethical consequences. Surely, all computer professionals should, at a bare minimum, have “pop” computer ethics knowledge. For this reason, it seems to me that every computer science curriculum ought to address computer ethics issues at least on the “pop” level. This should not be hard to do.

First, however, computer science instructors must admit to each other and to the world that computer technology has social and ethical consequences. Such “sensitized” faculty members would regularly notice computer ethics news stories on television and in the newspapers. They could easily bring photocopies or very brief video tapes of such stories to class. In addition, they could

  1. Regularly express to students and colleagues their own judgments about particular computer ethics cases
  2. Lead an occasional class discussion about such cases, and
  3. Include a relevant question or two on exams or quizzes.

Such teachers do not have to be trained as philosophers or lawyers or social scientists. They don’t even have to have expertise in “para” computer ethics, although having such skills would certainly be an advantage.

Surely, this is the bare minimum amount of computer ethics that a computer science curriculum should provide to its students. To graduate computer science majors with no computer ethics knowledge at all would certainly be irresponsible!

Of course, occasionally doing a bit of “pop” computer ethics in the classroom would not be sufficient to attain national accreditation for a computer science program. In November 1990, the Computer Science Accreditation Commission/Computer Science Accreditation Board (CSAC/CSAB) adopted new criteria for national accreditation. One new criterion states:

The social and ethical implications of computing must be included in the program.

According to Professor Joseph Turner of Clemson University, who headed CSAC/CSAB when the latest criteria were adopted,

evaluation teams are becoming much more insistent that 1) there be a significant amount of material (at least the equivalent of a few weeks or so of a normal course, and preferably in more than one course) and 2) that the material actually be covered, rather than just being a topic on the syllabus (e.g., at the end of the syllabus) that most instructors never get to. (Turner 1991, p.2)

In addition, Turner says, “An elective course is not relevant to meeting a requirement of the criteria, because all graduates of a program must meet the requirements in order for a program to be accredited.” (Turner, 1991, p.2)

For national accreditation, then, a computer science program must require that every student take some computer ethics. How can this be achieved? At least three different approaches have been suggested:

  1. The “whole course” approach
  2. The “case-study-in-every-course” approach, and
  3. The “capstone software-engineering” approach. Let me discuss each of these, in turn, beginning with the “whole course” approach.

Go to: Courses and Textbooks in “Para” Computer Ethics

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