Managing Authority When Teaching Computing Ethics

This panel will help CS-trained educators who are teaching students about how to approach their work with an ethical mindset by discussing one of the key challenges in CS ethics education: how to manage authority in a classroom that focuses on values and ethics. Many CS instructors are wary of teaching either a dedicated ethics course or embedding responsible computing concepts and practices into their core CS courses because they feel that they lack disciplinary authority, or are even unsure of what precise teaching outcomes to aim for. These concerns are real: ethical reasoning is not the same type of skill set as is required in design or engineering work; it is a set of practices rooted in a person's beliefs, judgments, decisions, and values and it is necessarily personal for anyone who takes it seriously. Effective ethics course pedagogy and content are primarily about developing the students' capacity for reflection and inquiry, not transmitting knowledge. In an ethical reasoning focused learning environment, the majority of the work is persuading students that they can and should keep caring and thinking about the impact of their work beyond the classroom: in other words, the students must feel responsible for the reasoning and choices they make that will impact the lives of others. Through a discussion with multiple CS ethics educators, this panel will offer practical approaches to managing authority in this type of classroom as well as suggestions for engaging and empowering students to be curious and reflective about their own values and ethical positions.