Foundational Ethics in Computing
This resource will help you provide to your students with an historical overview of the most important milestones in the field of Computing Ethics.
Questions? contact the creators!
This educational unit contains:
- An historical overview of the most important milestones in the field of Computing Ethics
- The evolution of the name of the field up until the adoption of the term “Computing Ethics”
Learning Outcomes
- To demonstrate a distinction between the different ethical frameworks such as deontology, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics
- To demonstrate an understanding of the timeline in the development of epistemology surrounding ethical thinking within the discipline of computer science
- To show how the public perception of IT technologies and their ethical impact upon society and culture has evolved
- To demonstrate the societal and ethical dilemmas that can arise with technologies through such media as movies
- To demonstrate techniques using ethical frameworks to analyse the ethical components within a technology-related problem
- To present ethical analysis and conclusions using a selection of techniques such as presentations, discussions, and debates
Prerequisites
None.
Resources
Slides
We created a PowerPoint presentation on the important milestones in the field of Computing Ethics. The slides include popular culture references that help make the material more vivid, more relatable and interesting within the classroom.
All the references to films and shows included in the slides aim to initiate in-class discussions in a playful but also philosophical manner and make the educator and the students think and debate about ethical issues around the use of computing technology.
Instructor Guide
The instructor guide contains ideas about interactive activities to be used while teaching this subject matter online or offline.
A full paper on the design of a course in Scientific Integrity, Research Ethics and Information Ethics for doctoral students:
Co-constructing Shared Values and Ethical Practice for the Next Generation: Lessons Learned from a Curriculum on Information Ethics:
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-90192-9_14
https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.02728