A Module on Ethics and Social Implications of Computing for Introductory Engineering Computing Courses

Brooke Odle; Kate Finley; Victoria Longfield

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Engineering Ethics Division: Computing, Technology, and AI
Page Count: 14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41675
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41675
Download Count: 357

Paper Authors

biography

Brooke Odle Hope College

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Dr. Brooke Odle is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering Department at Hope College. She and her team of undergraduate researchers are interested in developing interventions to reduce risk of musculoskeletal injury associated with manual patient-handling tasks. Courses she teaches include “Engineering Computing,” “Biomechanical Systems,” “Dynamic Systems Laboratory,” and “Mechanics of Materials Laboratory.” Prior to joining Hope College, Dr. Odle was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, working in the Motion Study Laboratory at the Advanced Platform Technology Center (Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center). There, she developed and evaluated control systems to restore standing balance after paralysis, explored experimental biomechanical and computational modeling techniques to investigate interactions between the upper extremities and walkers during static and quasi-static standing postures, and investigated the feasibility of neural stimulation to facilitate assisted transfers after paralysis. She received her Ph. D. and M. S. in Biomedical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology. She received her B. S. in Bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

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Kate Finley Hope College

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Victoria Longfield Hope College

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Abstract

As society advances, intersections between engineering, computing, and technology continue to emerge, making it increasingly important for engineering students to develop computing skills. These exciting technological advances also introduce new ethical concerns. For example, recent work on algorithmic bias reveals ethical issues resulting from the interaction of algorithms and groups of people differing in race, gender, ability, and/or socioeconomic status. Some programs have emerged to address these issues, such as The Cultural Competence in Computing Fellows Program at Duke in which fellows (computing faculty, researchers, and industry professionals) learn about issues like systematic racism, bias, and intersectionality and then apply this knowledge to improve the cultural climate at their institutions and make curricula changes. Additionally, some Computer Science departments have developed new courses or new modules and assignments for existing courses to address some of these emerging ethical issues. However, there is still a need for more evidence-based pedagogy addressing ethical issues of computing in engineering. Here, we expand upon our previous paper, in which we presented a preliminary lesson plan for integrating ethics in an introductory engineering computing course, to include work in progress on how we have further addressed ethical thinking and contemporary social issues in computing. Students first are taught about key ethical theories and the components of the ACM code of ethics that they underpin, as well as how to think through ethical dilemmas. Then, students apply this learning through creating a short podcast in which they analyze an ethical scenario presented in the “Oxygen” episode of Doctor Who. This episode takes place at a futuristic mining station whose owners have monetized access to oxygen. Thus to do their jobs, miners must purchase smart robotic spacesuits to access this oxygen, and as their oxygen levels deplete workers become more inefficient. Once enough workers become inefficient, the company causes the suits to deactivate, turning its user into a zombie. In the podcast, students provide an overview of the episode, a discussion of how the robotic spacesuits work, and how their operation leads to social biases and violates the ACM code of ethics and its underlying ethical principles. Students must also draw on recent research to propose a redesign of the hypothetical code controlling the suits and explain how it avoids the aforementioned biases and ethical violations. Through successful completion of this podcast project students demonstrate that they understand the relevant ethical and social issues, can apply this knowledge to computing issues in engineering, and can furthermore communicate this to a lay audience. As a result, students also strengthen their science communication skills. Additionally, we also conducted a study in which we measured student attitudes towards and understanding of the relevant ethical and social issues before and after completing this module. Students have completed the pre-module survey and are currently completing the post-module survey. We expect that this module will help students develop a deeper understanding of relevant social and ethical issues—like bias and how it can affect different social groups—and their importance in engineering and computing.

Citation
Format

Odle, B., & Finley, K., & Longfield, V. (2022, August), A Module on Ethics and Social Implications of Computing for Introductory Engineering Computing Courses Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41675

TY - CPAPER
AB - As society advances, intersections between engineering, computing, and technology continue to emerge, making it increasingly important for engineering students to develop computing skills. These exciting technological advances also introduce new ethical concerns. For example, recent work on algorithmic bias reveals ethical issues resulting from the interaction of algorithms and groups of people differing in race, gender, ability, and/or socioeconomic status. Some programs have emerged to address these issues, such as The Cultural Competence in Computing Fellows Program at Duke in which fellows (computing faculty, researchers, and industry professionals) learn about issues like systematic racism, bias, and intersectionality and then apply this knowledge to improve the cultural climate at their institutions and make curricula changes. Additionally, some Computer Science departments have developed new courses or new modules and assignments for existing courses to address some of these emerging ethical issues. However, there is still a need for more evidence-based pedagogy addressing ethical issues of computing in engineering.
Here, we expand upon our previous paper, in which we presented a preliminary lesson plan for integrating ethics in an introductory engineering computing course, to include work in progress on how we have further addressed ethical thinking and contemporary social issues in computing. Students first are taught about key ethical theories and the components of the ACM code of ethics that they underpin, as well as how to think through ethical dilemmas. Then, students apply this learning through creating a short podcast in which they analyze an ethical scenario presented in the “Oxygen” episode of Doctor Who. This episode takes place at a futuristic mining station whose owners have monetized access to oxygen. Thus to do their jobs, miners must purchase smart robotic spacesuits to access this oxygen, and as their oxygen levels deplete workers become more inefficient. Once enough workers become inefficient, the company causes the suits to deactivate, turning its user into a zombie. In the podcast, students provide an overview of the episode, a discussion of how the robotic spacesuits work, and how their operation leads to social biases and violates the ACM code of ethics and its underlying ethical principles. Students must also draw on recent research to propose a redesign of the hypothetical code controlling the suits and explain how it avoids the aforementioned biases and ethical violations.
Through successful completion of this podcast project students demonstrate that they understand the relevant ethical and social issues, can apply this knowledge to computing issues in engineering, and can furthermore communicate this to a lay audience. As a result, students also strengthen their science communication skills. Additionally, we also conducted a study in which we measured student attitudes towards and understanding of the relevant ethical and social issues before and after completing this module. Students have completed the pre-module survey and are currently completing the post-module survey. We expect that this module will help students develop a deeper understanding of relevant social and ethical issues—like bias and how it can affect different social groups—and their importance in engineering and computing.
AU - Brooke Odle
AU - Kate Finley
AU - Victoria Longfield
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - A Module on Ethics and Social Implications of Computing for Introductory Engineering Computing Courses
UR - https://peer.asee.org/41675
DO - 10.18260/1-2--41675
ER -