EESE: Collaborative Research: Understanding and Preparing Future Computer Professionals for the Ethical Complexities of a Diverse World

EESE：协作研究：了解未来计算机专业人员并为应对多元化世界的道德复杂性做好准备

• 批准号: 1135308
• 负责人: Keith Miller
• 金额: $ 3.5万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Springfield
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1135308&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EESE; Collaborative; Research; Understanding; Preparing

Are computing professionals adequately prepared for the ethical challenges that they will face in an increasingly global and interdisciplinary workplace? In this multi-institutional research/education project, the PIs will investigate the gap between the need for ethical computing professionals and the ethical learning that occurs in graduate computing programs. They will then apply these insights to develop and disseminate best practices in graduate ethics education. The mixed-method research combines surveys, interviews, focus groups, content analysis, and experimental design, and will be conducted in partnership with ACM's SIGCAS and the IEEE's SSIT. The project will begin with an investigation of computing programs and courses at four diverse institutions: a traditional research 1 university, a rural polytechnic, an urban liberal arts college, and a leading institution for online education. What are the existing goals and strategies used in graduate computing ethics education at these sites? What ethical issues are covered? What pedagogical approaches and materials are used? Faculty and students will be surveyed and interviewed about their perspectives on computing ethics education. Observations of teaching ethics across the courses will be conducted at each institution by the project team and the evaluation team. With baseline data from these four institutions, the PIs will survey members of leading professional associations to gauge alignment between industry practice and interests and the education in ethics provided by postsecondary institutions. Finally, the PIs will refine a set of best practices and pedagogical recommendations for CS ethics education, and disseminate their findings along with examples of teaching materials designed to be applicable across a range of institutional settings. Specific research questions to be addressed include:1. What specific ethical issues are CS instructors currently teaching and what pedagogies are currently being used in graduate-level computing courses?a. What are the similarities and differences in computing ethics issues covered within curricula across different institutions?b. What materials (texts, readings, videos, simulations, social media, etc.) are used in classes?2. How can professionals? experience in the computing industry enrich teaching about ethical challenges in the workplace?a. What do computer professionals think students should know about ethics before entering the workplace?b. How do computer professionals think this information can best be conveyed?3. How can computing ethics education be improved?a. What do CS students need to learn about ethics that they are not currently learning?b. What are the best pedagogical approaches for teaching students these ideas?Project outcomes will include a report on the state of ethics education in graduate computer science/technology, a report on industry needs for an ethically knowledgeable workforce, and recommendations for best practices in ethics education effective in graduate education and the workplace. The project will ultimately result in computing professionals who are more attuned to their ethical responsibilities to the public, leading to more reliable computing systems.Broader Impacts: This work will fill an important gap in the research literature about the appropriateness and effectiveness of pedagogical approaches currently used to increase graduate computing students' awareness of ethical issues relative to the challenges that they will face in the workplace. Results of the study will be based on, and thus applicable to, a broad range of stakeholders in graduate computing ethics education, and thus could transform curricular standards promulgated by professional societies such as the ACM and IEEE. The innovative mixed-method approach that will be used has merit not only for this study but could also be applied to future studies in other domains.

在一个日益全球化和跨学科的工作场所，计算机专业人员是否为他们将面临的道德挑战做好了充分的准备？在这个多机构的研究/教育项目中，个人投资促进机构将调查对道德计算专业人员的需求与研究生计算课程中出现的道德学习之间的差距。然后，他们将应用这些见解来开发和传播研究生道德教育的最佳做法。这项混合方法的研究结合了调查、访谈、焦点小组、内容分析和实验设计，将与ACM的SIGCAS和IEEE的SSIT合作进行。该项目将从调查四个不同机构的计算机程序和课程开始：一所传统研究型大学，一所农村理工学院，一所城市文理学院，以及一所领先的在线教育机构。这些网站在研究生计算伦理教育中使用的现有目标和策略是什么？涵盖了哪些道德问题？使用了什么教学方法和材料？教师和学生将接受调查和采访，了解他们对计算伦理教育的看法。项目小组和评估小组将在每个机构对各课程的教学道德进行观察。根据这四所院校的基线数据，专业督导将向主要专业协会的成员进行调查，以评估行业惯例和兴趣之间的一致性，以及专上院校提供的道德教育。最后，督导人员将为CS道德教育完善一套最佳做法和教学建议，并传播他们的调查结果以及适用于各种机构环境的教材范例。要解决的具体研究问题包括：1.计算机科学教师目前教授哪些具体的伦理问题？研究生水平的计算机课程目前使用哪些教学方法？a.不同机构的课程在计算伦理问题上有哪些相似和不同之处？b.哪些材料(文本、阅读资料、视频、模拟、社交媒体等)在课堂上使用吗？2.专业人士如何使用？在计算机行业的经验丰富了关于工作场所伦理挑战的教学？a.计算机专业人员认为学生在进入工作场所之前应该了解哪些关于伦理的知识？b.计算机专业人员认为如何最好地传达这些信息？3.如何改进计算机伦理教育？a.计算机专业学生需要学习哪些他们目前没有学到的伦理知识？b.向学生传授这些思想的最佳教学方法是什么？项目成果将包括一份关于计算机科学/技术研究生伦理教育状况的报告，一份关于行业对具有伦理知识的劳动力的需求的报告，并就研究生教育和工作场所中有效的道德教育最佳做法提出建议。该项目最终将导致计算机专业人员更符合他们对公众的伦理责任，导致更可靠的计算系统。广泛的影响：这项工作将填补研究文献中的一个重要空白，即目前用于提高研究生计算专业学生对与他们在工作中将面临的挑战相关的伦理问题的认识的教学方法的适当性和有效性。这项研究的结果将以研究生计算伦理教育的广泛利益攸关方为基础，并因此适用于这些利益攸关方，因此可能会改变ACM和IEEE等专业协会颁布的课程标准。将使用的创新的混合方法不仅对这项研究有好处，而且也可以应用于其他领域的未来研究。