Advantages and trade-offs of introducing ethical issues in computing through a dedicated course or through modules in relevant content courses in the curriculum

Abstract

We discuss two alternatives for introducing consideration of ethical questions in the computer science curriculum. These alternatives are 1) a selfcontained course on ethical issues in computing, and 2) introduction of modules devoted to ethical questions throughout the curriculum in content courses such as software engineering, databases, data mining, artificial intelligence, and systems. We discuss the advantages and the potential “hidden messages” involved in each of these approaches. By way of illustration, we list some of the pertinent points raised by two important case studies that are appropriate for inclusion in either a self-contained course or a course on software engineering