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

这个项目旨在通过提高我们对如何为计算专业学生提供有效的伦理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方方面面，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中，接连发生了一连串的伦理失误。计算机伦理课程已经出现，但尽管这些课程很重要，伦理教育研究人员已经越来越意识到依靠一门课程向学生灌输伦理行为的弊端。本项目将研究在整个计算机课程中嵌入伦理指导的有效性。道德和负责任计算教育平台(PERCE)将被开发并用于提供现实的互动场景，突出如何在创建和开发计算系统时应用道德规范。该项目的开发方法将涉及与计算机教育工作者合作，共同为Pearce平台设计各种工作情景场景，以适应他们课程的主题。将开发平台中的各种功能以及课程活动，以配合Pearce模拟，以支持在道德教育方面可能几乎没有背景的教育工作者。本项目的研究方法和主要目标是分析随着学生使用平台的进步，皮尔斯对学生伦理意识的影响。研究课程将涉及马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校约1000名计算机本科生和研究生及其教师，以及随后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，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.