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A learner-centered approach to teaching ethics in computing

Published:03 March 2006Publication History

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an approach to teaching Computer Ethics that blends the use of contemporary media, subscriptions to digests of current technology news, and reflective writing in a learner-centered strategy. This approach is designed to make use of activities and assignments that take advantage of (1) student interest in contemporary media (video and film) to provide motivation and context beyond historical case studies, (2) breaking news about technology and technology use in education to provide current real world context, and (3) reflective writing to stimulate thinking critically about the course content outside the classroom context. Digests published three times weekly provide a constant flow of current real-world issues that can be used for focused reflective writing. Contemporary media productions are viewed and then a writing assignment in a structured learning log is used to focus on ethical issues raised by the film. We present an example using a feature length film and subsequent learning log assignment.

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  1. A learner-centered approach to teaching ethics in computing

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        cover image ACM Conferences
        SIGCSE '06: Proceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
        March 2006
        612 pages
        ISBN:1595932593
        DOI:10.1145/1121341

        Copyright © 2006 ACM

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        Association for Computing Machinery

        New York, NY, United States

        Publication History

        • Published: 3 March 2006

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