research-article

Teaching Ethics & Activism in a Human-Computer Interaction Professional Master's Program

Authors:

Veronica A. Rivera,

Norman Makoto SuAuthors Info & Claims

SIGCSE 2024: Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1

Pages 1140 - 1146

https://doi.org/10.1145/3626252.3630939

Published: 07 March 2024 Publication History

Abstract

We report on a new ethics course for industry-bound students in a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) professional master's program. The goal is to prepare students to think critically about the technology they design and to drive ethical change within their future organizations. Unlike research-oriented graduate programs, students in professional master's programs primarily seek to enter industry, oftentimes making a career change from a non-computing area. Thus, in addition to supporting students' ethical reasoning skills, ethics pedagogy needs to also help students develop core skills in the technical discipline and be grounded in real-world situations to align with their practice-based goals. To achieve this, we structure our course around three principles: survey (introducing contemporary ethical issues in computing and their social context), stakeholders (considering the multi-faceted nature of ethical decision-making), and skills (developing the technical and communication skills needed to drive ethical change). We hope that our curriculum and reflections will help other instructors connect ethics pedagogy to professional practice in the classroom.

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Cited By

Deb DTaylor GBetz SMaddux BEbert CRichardson FCouto JJarrett MMadjd-Sadjadi ZStone JYuen TShoop LRebelsky SPrather J(2025)Enhancing University Curricula with Integrated AI Ethics Education: A Comprehensive ApproachProceedings of the 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3641554.3701953(248-254)Online publication date: 12-Feb-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3641554.3701953
Connolly R(2024)Public Computing Intellectuals in the Age of AI CrisisACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/370316224:4(1-26)Online publication date: 4-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3703162

Index Terms

Teaching Ethics & Activism in a Human-Computer Interaction Professional Master's Program
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
    2. Computing profession
      1. Codes of ethics

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cover image ACM Conferences

SIGCSE 2024: Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1

March 2024

1583 pages

ISBN:9798400704239

DOI:10.1145/3626252

General Chairs:
Ben Stephenson
University of Calgary, Canada6000230660002306
,
Jeffrey A. Stone
Penn State University6000143960001439
,
Program Chairs:
Lina Battestilli
North Carolina State University, USA6000492360004923
,
Samuel A. Rebelsky
Grinnell College60028806
,
Libby Shoop
Macalester College60028787

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Published: 07 March 2024

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Cited By

Deb DTaylor GBetz SMaddux BEbert CRichardson FCouto JJarrett MMadjd-Sadjadi ZStone JYuen TShoop LRebelsky SPrather J(2025)Enhancing University Curricula with Integrated AI Ethics Education: A Comprehensive ApproachProceedings of the 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3641554.3701953(248-254)Online publication date: 12-Feb-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3641554.3701953
Connolly R(2024)Public Computing Intellectuals in the Age of AI CrisisACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/370316224:4(1-26)Online publication date: 4-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3703162

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