Recognizing the possible move toward professionalization of Computer Science, the ACM curriculum now requires little more than 10 hours of instruction in the area of ethics and social implications, around one-third of a single semester course. Professions such as Engineering and Medicine require at least a full one semester course in ethics and social implications. There has been some discussion about whether there should be a specific course, or whether the material should be integrated into the curriculum of other courses[3],[7]. There has also been discussion about what kinds of topics should be covered or what skills should be learned by the students in the area of ethics and social implications[3].
Any paper on the curriculum for a social implications of technology course must identify the purpose of the course. Having decided the purpose, one must consider the content and the delivery. The content must be interesting and relevant to the students, and must leave them still believing that Computer Science is worth pursuing. In the second section I will discuss the purpose of requiring the student to study the social implications of technology, and in the third section I will indicate what skills and knowledge should be conveyed in the course and will also discuss some of the specific topics that might be included in the course.
Having identified what the goal of a technology and society course is, I will then, in the forth section, discuss the issue of whether or not there must be a specific course dedicated to ethics and social implications and will argue that there should be. The justification of my position will be based on the attitudes toward the kinds of material the students need to learn and the apologetic way that some required topics are covered in some courses. The decision to offer a specific course dedicated to ethics and social implications leads one to ask: when should the students take such a course. This issue will be discussed in the fifth section.
In the fifth section, I will also argue that while a single course in ethics and social implications is necessary, it is not sufficient. Providing the students with a single course, which may be marginalized due to the perceived beliefs that some faculty do not support the inclusion of such a course in the degree requirements, may not be sufficient for students to integrate social implications issues into their work. Those that argue that ethics must be integrated into the curriculum of other courses are correct as well.
In the second to last section I will discuss my experience with various models of teaching the social implications course, both at Malaspina University College and the University of Victoria. I will also present arguments that a focus on social implications may help increase the participation of women in computing. The last section is a summary of the contents of the paper, and some indication of a need for further research.
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