Ethics Training and Decision- Making: Do Computer Science Programs Need Help? Carol Spradling Computer Science/Information Systems Northwest Missouri State University Leen-Kiat Soh National Center for Information Technology in Education (NCITE) University of Nebraska Charles J. Ansorge Department of Educational Psychology University of Nebraska

2 Do Computer Science Programs Need Help Integrating Computer Ethics? Wanted to explore how social and professional issues are integrated into undergraduate computer science programs in the United States

3 Ethics Study Online faculty survey undergraduate computer science programs in the United States (Fall 2005) Approximately 41 questions focused on nine major ethics topics of which five are covered in paper Ethics coverage Who teaches Special training Decisions made Not teaching reasons

4 Research Methodology and Design Large sample size (700 programs) was chosen using a stratified random sample based upon university or college enrollment Family-wise alpha of.05 with a Bonferroni adjusted alpha of surveys returned (36% response rate)

5 Demographic Analysis University or College Enrollment Number of Schools (Population) Proportion of Schools by Category Number of Schools (Strata Sample Size) Usable Survey Responses Proportion of Survey Responses by Category Under 1, %31124% 1,001 – 5, % % 5,001 – 10, % % 10,001 – 20, % % Over 20, % % Total797100% %

6 Demographic Analysis Computer Science Majorsf% Under to to Above Total251100

7 Demographic Analysis Accredited/Non-accredited f% Non-accredited14357 Accredited7530 Not reported or asked Total251100

8 Question 1 – Ethics Coverage Does your department’s undergraduate computer science curriculum include any social and professional ethics issues content? 220 (88%) Include ethics 31 (12%) Do not include ethics

9 Question 1 –Ethics Coverage - By # Major & Accredited Accredited # MajorsNo (%)Yes (%)Total (%) Under (50%)15 (6%)123 (56%) 101 – (14%)43 (20%)73 (34%) 301 – 5003 (1%)11 (5%)14 (6%) Above 5002 (1%)6 (3%)8 (4%) Total143 (66%)75 (34%)218 (100%)

10 Question 1 – Ethics Required? Of the 220 programs that include ethics 173 (79%) Require ethics coverage # MajorsEthics Required (%) Under (41%) 101 to (29%) 301 to (7%) Above 5006 (3%) Total173 (100%)

11 Question 2 – Who Teaches Who teaches the social and professional issues incorporated into your computer science curriculum? 186 (85%) Computer Science (CS) 9 (4%) Philosophy 10 (5%) CS and other disciplines 14 (6%) Other

12 Question 3 - Training Did your department (or school or college) provide faculty that teach the social and professional ethics content with opportunities for training? 168 (77%) No special training 50 (23%) Special training

13 Question 3 – Training Required? Circumstances For Faculty TrainingTotal (%) Mandatory training and faculty embraced2 (4%) Mandatory training and faculty resistant1 (2%) Training not required and faculty receptive to training 22 (45%) Training not required and faculty were not interested 11 (22%) Other13 (27%) Total49 (100% )

14 Question 3 – How Trained? Training Provided f *f * Faculty are responsible for their own training26 Training within university or college16 Training from outside university or college hour workshop7 3-6 hour workshop1 6-9 hour workshop5 Other15 * Multiple Answers Allowed

15 Question 4 – Decision Made? Who makes the decisions concerning how to incorporate the social and professional issues components into the undergraduate computer science curriculum? Of the 220 schools that include ethics 87 (39%) Committee of faculty 73 (33%) Committee and individual 51 (23%) Individual decisions 9 (4%) Other

16 Questions 5 – Not Teaching Ethics What are the reasons schools (programs) are not teaching social and professional issues in the undergraduate computer science curricula?

17 Question 5 – No Ethics By School Enrollment School EnrollmentNot Teaching Ethics Under (0%) 1,001 to 5,00018(58%) 5,001 to 10,0004 (13%) 10,001 to 20,0003 (10%) Above 20,0006 (19%) Total31 (100%)

18 Question 5 – Not Teaching Ethics By Majors # MajorsNot Teaching Ethics Under (77%) 101 to 3003 (10%) 301 to 5004 (13%) Above 5000 (0%) Total31 (100%)

19 Question 5 – Reasons For Not Teaching Reasons For Not Teachingf * Computer Science faculty not trained15 No room in the curriculum13 Philosophers/sociologists should teach6 Ethics belong in an ethics course3 Not aware of ACM ethics standards2 Other14 * Multiple Answers Allowed

20 Conclusions Pleased by large survey responses from programs (251 or 36%) shows that some programs are interested in computer ethics Undergraduate computer science programs are embracing teaching computer ethics (88% include ethics) Computer science faculty (85%) are teaching computer ethics in some form

21 Conclusions - Training? Need for ethics training exists 168 (77%) of the 251 computer science programs do not provide training 26 (52%) of the 50 that provide training are responsible for their own training Means a small number of schools 24 actually provide training for faculty Faculty do take advantage of training when provided with training opportunities

22 Conclusions - Training Programs that require ethics are more willing to provide support for ethics training of faculty Therefore, one way to move toward training faculty at a school is to require an ethics course

23 Conclusions – Decisions Made Most programs use committee of faculty to determine how to integrate computer ethics into curriculum Involves more faculty in the process which is a good thing More faculty may ensures better supervision of the implementation Better chance that ethics will be incorporated into other topics such as programming, database systems, software engineering, etc

24 Conclusions – Not Teaching Ethics All programs that are not teaching ethics need help 77% of programs not teaching ethics have under 100 majors Programs need help integrating computer ethics into their curriculum

25 Conclusions – Not Teaching Ethics Training is a real need also Reach out to small college programs through NSF, SIGCSE, and local conferences to offer more ethics workshops Provide financial support for training

26 Overall Conclusions Faculty are influenced by ACM, therefore Special Interest Groups should exert their influence and include social and professional topics of interest at conferences Need for ethics training exists Textbooks should integrate ethics topic discussion, not as separate ethics sections Schools should be encouraged to form committees to integrate ethics into curricula

Ethics Training and Decision- Making: Do Computer Science Programs Need Help? Carol Spradling Computer Science/Information Systems Northwest Missouri State University Leen-Kiat Soh National Center for Information Technology in Education (NCITE) University of Nebraska Charles J. Ansorge Department of Educational Psychology University of Nebraska

Ethics Training and Decision- Making: Do Computer Science Programs Need Help? Presentation and Survey at: catpages.nwmissouri.edu/m/c_sprad/sigcse2008ethics.html