Integration of computer ethics into the CS curriculum

In this paper, we present our efforts at incorporating aspects of systems security and software security into the two-course senior capstone project sequence (Software Engineering and Senior Project courses) in the undergraduate Computer Science curriculum at Jackson State University. In this regard, we discuss: (i) the development of course modules and lab projects on security that were respectively taught and assigned to the students in the two capstone project course sequence, and (ii) the incorporation of aspects of systems and software security in the capstone projects that were conducted by our students during the academic year 2010-11. To further assist students on their capstone projects, we developed and offered two new elective courses on Systems and Software Security and Advanced Information Security in conjunction with the two capstone project courses during the Fall and Spring semesters as well as incorporated a network security module, lab projects and reading assignment to a regular Computer Networks course. We disseminate all of our course modules, lecture materials and lab project descriptions through an actively maintained website. Our approach could be adopted as a model for incorporating security in the software systems design and development courses in a computer science or software engineering curriculum.

Computer professionals face dilemmas which demand both technical knowledge and an understanding of ethical principles and skills, but how to best teach these principles and necessary skills to students? ACM's Curriculum '91 and the problems inherent in the growth of information technology call for educators to integrate computer ethics material into the computer science curriculum. Unfortunately, most faculty have neither background information nor experience teaching ethics and professionalism topics.This paper discusses basic instructional issues and provides elementary approaches for inexperienced faculty. Several simple techniques to identify and analyze ethical issues are presented. Next we look at two intermediate techniques suitable for computer science students which have been particularly successful in my classes. Finally, Project ImpactCS' model for teaching computer ethics, a valuable framework for the study of ethics and social principles and skills is summarized. This model leverages ethics experts experience to jump-start computer science faculty.

Computer professionals face dilemmas which demand both technical knowledge and an understanding of ethical principles and skills, but how to best teach these principles and necessary skills to students? ACM's Curriculum '91 and the problems inherent in the growth of information technology call for educators to integrate computer ethics material into the computer science curriculum. Unfortunately, most faculty have neither background information nor experience teaching ethics and professionalism topics.This paper discusses basic instructional issues and provides elementary approaches for inexperienced faculty. Several simple techniques to identify and analyze ethical issues are presented. Next we look at two intermediate techniques suitable for computer science students which have been particularly successful in my classes. Finally, Project ImpactCS' model for teaching computer ethics, a valuable framework for the study of ethics and social principles and skills is summarized. This model leverages ethics experts experience to jump-start computer science faculty.

Three key forces are shaping the modern Computer Science (CS) curriculum: (1) new topics/courses are squeezing out existing ones; (2) a focus on "big picture" and interdisciplinary aspects of CS is leading to curricula in which the traditional core courses + electives model is being superseded by a more flexible approach based on tracks/threads; and (3) project-based courses are increasingly relying on a notion of just-in-time teaching in which particular skills are not bundled into a particular course, but are covered at a point when they are needed for particular project work. The undergraduate programming language curriculum is feeling the pressure of these forces. Core courses on programming languages and compilers are being changed to electives, relegated to a software/systems track, or phased out altogether. Particular programming languages and programming language concepts are being taught in a more piecemeal fashion on an as-needed basis. Unfortunately, these changes make it increasingly likely that CS majors can graduate without being exposed to certain "big ideas" of programming languages. Programming languages (along with many other subdisciplines of CS) contains ideas that every well-educated computer scientist needs to know and which are relevant to a wide variety of projects/careers. In a CS curriculum based on tracks and projects, how can we ensure that vital intellectual components are not lost in the shuffle? One way to think about this problem is to view the CS curriculum as a collection of aspects that can be combined in different arrangements to produce various projects/courses. In this paper, we consider the benefits and challenges of an aspect-oriented view of the CS curriculum, particularly in regard to programming language concepts.

Capstone projects that are conducted in final year study within Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Western University, traditionally, have been either student-originated, faculty-originated, or facilities-originated. Capstone projects provide students with an opportunity to apply what they have learned in their studies to an actual problem in a team setting. Recently, the capstone project course had experienced revisions with a desire to increase the number of industry and community-sponsored projects. Industry-sponsored capstone projects can provide value, not only to the sponsoring company, but also to the participants who are afforded the opportunity to work on a relevant industry problem. There are intrinsic benefits for students having worked on a project that can, depending on the outcome, be used by the industry sponsor to add value to their operations. Particularly, where student capstone projects are externally funded, there exists the expectation that the project outcomes will be in a usable form. In recognizing the value of industry-sponsored capstone projects, we have implemented a rigorous method of capstone project oversight based upon the experience of other academic institutions, existing literature, and employing conventional project management strategies and tools. This paper discusses some of the challenges associated with industry-driven capstone projects and some manners in which we have attempted to address them.

The author has surveyed a quarter of the accredited undergraduate computer science programs in the United States. More than half of these programs offer a 'social and ethical implications of computing' course taught by a computer science faculty member, and there appears to be a trend toward teaching ethics classes within computer science departments. Although the decision to create an 'in house' computer ethics course may sometimes be a pragmatic response to pressure from the accreditation agency, this paper argues that teaching ethics within a computer science department can provide students and faculty members with numerous benefits. The paper lists topics that can be covered in a computer ethics course and offers some practical suggestions for making the course successful.

Capstone project courses are a significant learning experience that encompasses student previous knowledge with the added challenge of completing a full development process from idea to final product. This paper is a case study that describes the issues and changes to our Masters of IT capstone project in the last 4 years. Being a 2-year conversion degree adds to the challenge due to limited time exposure to IT and software development. As students are mostly driven by assessment criteria, changes on how project progress is assessed were key to improve students' behaviour in terms of team work, consistent effort and resilience. Successful changes and lessons learned can be seen as recommendations for other academics looking to update or improve their postgraduate project offerings.

The Computing Curricula 2001 (CC 2001) computer science volume [1] is the first professional society curriculum model for computer science to include elements of discrete mathematics as part of the core of computer science. In the roughly eight years between the release of that curriculum and SIGCSE 2010, computer science education in general has evolved in many ways, and the CC 2001 recommendations have played an influential role in that evolution. This panel reviews developments in integrating discrete mathematics into the computer science curriculum since CC 2001, how those developments have been influenced by the centrality of discrete math in the CC 2001 core, and how the role of math in computer science curricula may continue to develop in the future. The panel will address both the influence CC 2001’s discrete math recommendation has had on curricular changes to computer science courses, and what changes have taken place in the discrete math courses themselves. The panel format will consist of… ˜ A 5 minute introduction by the moderator ˜ 10 minute presentations by each panelist, each describing a specific development with which that panelist has been involved, discussing its relationship to CC 2001, and outlining what it bodes for the future ˜ 30 minutes for discussion between the audience and panel. Suggested topics for discussion include (in addition, of course, to anything that the audience wishes to introduce) the role of mathematics in computer science, whether math’s actual place in computer science curricula has changed since the publication of CC 2001, and if so how. A questionnaire handed out to audience members as they enter the panel session will help them start thinking about these issues.

In today's technological market, job candidates must possess technical and communication skills to acquire a desired position. Computer science programs, for the most part, provide the technological training, but are inconsistent in teaching students all the necessary communication skills. In many computer science curricula faculty members realizing the importance of improving writing ability have incorporated writing intensive courses. However, many computer science curricula neglect oral communication, largely because of the amount of class time needed to make presentations. Several gaps exist between computer science curricula and business world reality. Computer science curricula must teach students to listen and express themselves clearly, since getting the maximum utilization of an information resource requires contact with the user community. This is not to say that educators have ignored industry requests. The emerging trend in computer science curricula is to stress written and oral communication skills. This article discusses the importance of incorporating speaking intensive courses into computer science programs. In addition, this article reviews two courses that have included speeches and presentations. Finally it presents a new way to grade oral communication.

This session will continue efforts by the ACM and Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) to create a comprehensive body of resources to support the implementation of a national K-12 computer science curriculum. The ACM K-12 Computer Science Curriculum Committee, with input from the Computer Science educational community, published a Model Curriculum [1] in 2003. The Model suggests a 4-level curriculum. Level-1 topics, primarily for the K-8 years, closely follow the well-defined ISTE Standards. Level-2 topics are suggested for all students in grades 9 or 10 and are comprised of introductory computer science content. Level-3 topics focus on analysis and design with emphasis on the scientific and engineering aspects of computer science. AP Computer Science and special topics courses comprise Level-4. This special session will focus on the learning objectives and activities for Level 2 of the K-12 Computer Science Model curriculum. Attendees will be invited to provide critical feedback that will help move the curriculum project forward.

the University of Amsterdam, May 20-31, 1974.This Tract collects the lecture notes of five of the courses given.The sixth course, given by Dr. R. Kowalski on Predicate Logic as a Programming Language in Artificial Intelligence, is scheduled to appear elsewhere.We are very grateful to the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (Z.W.O.)

Industrial input led to this group project practical for Computer Science students at the University of Edinburgh. The project ties together many components of the Computer Science curriculum, and involves students who do joint degrees with other subjects, enabling them to use their speciality subject. It is argued that this form of practical enhances the education of software engineers beyond that which is normally found in programming practicals. The industrial input has been retained throughout the project, and industry continues to play a valuable role in this course. Sufficient detail is included to allow others to incorporate elements of this group project in their own courses, as many have commented to us that they would like to run such a practical. Although the group project course was designed to improve the education of our students, it is concurrent with the latest trends in computer science and software engineering education, and also seems to have anticipated professional and political criticism of education.

We designed and piloted a technical communication course for software engineering majors to take concurrently with their capstone project course in software design. In the pilot, one third of the capstone design course students jointly enrolled in the writing class. One goal of the collaborative courses was to use writing to improve the usability of students’ software. We studied the effects of writing on students’ user‐centered beliefs and design practices and on the usability of their product, using surveys, document analyses, expert reviews, and user test results. When possible, we compared the usability processes and products of teams who did and did not take the writing class. Our findings suggest that the synergy of this interdisciplinary approach effectively sensitized students to user‐centered design, instilled in them a commitment to it, and helped them develop usable products.

The opportunity of introducing engineering students to technical standards literature is a rewarding experience for the engineering librarian. Librarians must be careful not to rely too much on the lecture as an educational technique. This paper describes creative efforts to introduce active learning techniques to the typical one-hour workshop. Following a shorter lecture, workshop attendees will be given topics to tackle in small groups. The lecture will include ideas for discovering standards of possible interest such as literature searching (databases such as Compendex, which indexes standards or full text databases like IEEE Xplore and ASTM Compass), references in handbooks or specialized encyclopedia entries (or other monographs), articles on design of artifacts (products), discussions with colleagues/bosses, product descriptions when sourcing materials for a design, labels on items or cartons, or searching a standards supplier database. Attendees will work on the problem of finding related standards to a given engineering scenario. Scenario possibilities include 1) standards information needs for a small business for innovative piezoelectric products, 2) locating standards related to tissue engineering, and 3) standards need to be gathered for a university research group that explores microgrids. Scenarios have the possibility of appearing contrived unless academic librarians reach out to engineering professors for possibilities that could be explored for engineering design courses and capstone project courses.

Commercial software development today is dominated by the dramatic growth of Web/Internet-delivered information, combined with development techniques that feature rapid creation of reliable, maintainable application software. Staying current with these technologies is a constant challenge in any computer science curriculum. This paper reports on a pilot project course for six computer science fourth-year undergraduates that addressed this challenge in a synergistic way, to the benefit both of the participating students and of a government sponsor. The project created a new, open-source implementation of the Common Map API (CMAPI). It was accomplished using agile development techniques, intensive team activities, and advice from an industry CMAPI expert. Three one-month sprints resulted in a working, open-source system that met the needs of the sponsor and provided an excellent learning experience for all concerned. The approach used should be considered for inclusion in every undergraduate computer science curriculum.