Embedded Ethics in CS: Experiences with Integrating Ethics Assignments in Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Level Courses

Abstract

Technical and ethical aspects of Computer Science (CS) are interdependent. Many CS departments teach ethical and social implications of technology in separate standalone courses. However, prior research shows that ethical issues are better taught in tandem with their related technical content as an integral required skill in CS curricula. In this experience report, we share our experience with embedding ethics assignments in 3 CS courses at different levels: a CS2 course in software design and data structures, a CS3 course in data structures and algorithms, and a Software Engineering capstone course, all taught at Virginia Tech (a large public R1 institution) in Spring 2024. Students from the 3 courses were surveyed at the beginning and end of Spring 2024. By comparing results from the pre and post surveys, we found that the embedded assignments for the CS2 and CS3 courses improved students’ confidence in their knowledge about how ethical issues may come into play in their career, their confidence in their ability to address ethical issues arising from applying technology in real contexts, and their confidence in communicating and defending their positions on how to address these issues. For all 3 courses, students gave positive feedback on how the assignments were engaging and relevant to the course, and how it improved their ability in raising, and reasoning about, ethical implications of technology. We believe that the practices and results of our experience will be helpful to other CS instructors thinking of injecting ethical content into their technical courses.