Development and Impact Assessment of an Interactive Online System for Computing Ethics Education

该项目旨在通过推进我们对如何为计算机专业学生提供有效道德教育的理解来服务于国家利益。计算系统和算法用于现代世界的各个方面，包括医疗保健，治理，社交媒体，国防和商业。近年来，在计算机技术的发展和应用过程中，出现了一系列的伦理失误。计算机伦理课程已经出现，但与这些课程一样重要的是，伦理教育研究人员越来越意识到依靠单一课程向学生灌输伦理行为的弊端。这个项目将研究在整个计算机课程中嵌入道德教育的有效性。道德和负责任的计算教育平台（皮尔斯）将被开发和使用，以提供现实的互动场景，突出如何在计算系统的创建和开发中应用道德。该项目的开发方法将涉及与计算教育工作者合作，为皮尔斯平台共同设计各种各样的工作场景，以适应他们的课程主题。将开发平台的各种功能以及课程活动，以配合皮尔斯模拟，以支持可能很少或没有道德教育背景的教育工作者。该项目的研究方法和主要目标是分析皮尔斯对学生道德意识的影响，因为他们在使用平台方面取得了进展。 研究性学习将涉及马萨诸塞州阿默斯特大学的大约1,000名本科生和研究生计算机专业的学生及其教师，以及后来在纽约大学教授的计算机课程。NSF IUSE：EDU计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by advancing our understanding of how to provide effective ethics education for computing students. Computing systems and algorithms are used in all aspects of the modern world, including healthcare, governance, social media, defense, and business. Recent years have witnessed, a steady succession of ethical failures in the development and application of computer technology. Computing ethics courses have emerged, but as important as these courses are, ethics-education researchers have been increasingly aware of the drawbacks of relying on a single course to instill ethical behavior in students. This project will study the effectiveness of embedding ethics instruction throughout the computing curriculum. The Platform for Ethics and Responsible Computing Education (PEaRCE) will be developed and used to provide realistic interactive scenarios that highlight how to apply ethics in the creation and development of computing systems. The development methodology for this project will involve co-designing a wide variety of work-situation scenarios for the PEaRCE platform, in collaboration with computing educators, to fit the topics of their courses. A variety of features in the platform as well as curricular activities will be developed to accompany the PEaRCE simulations, to support educators who may have little or no background in ethics education. The research methodology, and main goal of this project, will be to analyze the impact of PEaRCE on students’ ethical awareness as they progress in their use of the platform. Research studies will involve about 1,000 undergraduate and graduate computing students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and their instructors, and later in computing courses taught at New York University. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.