Pathways to Ethics of Technology in the Liberal Arts Curriculum

该项目将重点关注如何教育下一代数据科学家和软件工程师，使他们在良好的道德原则指导下实现技术专长。这个跨学科的研究项目将探讨如何使技术伦理——计算技术、数据驱动技术——成为本科生文科课程的基本组成部分。该项目旨在通过一个名为“方法、伦理、技术、研究研讨会”（METER）的多年教学实践，在主要研究者和他们的学生之间的合作中回答这些问题。这个项目的研究结果将引起教育工作者、从业人员和学生的兴趣。该项目名为“文科课程中的技术伦理之路”，旨在解决两个问题：下一代数据科学家和软件工程师应如何接受教育，使他们不仅将自己的工作视为技术，还将其视为道德？什么样的教育经历会让他们认识到，他们的工作的社会影响需要由健全的道德原则驱动？通过调查和访谈，研究团队还将与他们所在机构的校友合作，将工作场所带入课堂。该项目将在以下方面产生新的知识：数字技术领域的工作者如何反思他们在技术职业生涯中的准备；2 .人文学科课程的历史和现代迭代是如何交叉、支持或以其他方式质疑技术伦理的；在文科课程中进行有意义的干预的策略和材料，目的是为未来的技术领导者加强道德决策准备。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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 will focus on how to educate the next generation of data scientists and software engineers to implement their technical expertise informed by sound ethical principles. This interdisciplinary research project will investigate pathways to making ethics of technology–computational, data-driven technology–a fundamental part of the liberal arts curriculum for undergraduate students. This project aims to answer these questions in a collaboration between the principal investigators and their students in a multi-year pedagogical exercise called: Method, Ethics, Technology, Research Seminar (METER). The findings from this project will be of interest to educators, practitioners and students. The project: Pathways to Ethics of Technology in the Liberal Arts Curriculum seeks to address two questions: How should the next generation of data scientists and software engineers be educated to think of their work as not just technical but also ethical? What sort of educational experiences will lead them to see that the social impact of their work requires that it be driven by sound ethical principles? Using surveys and interviews, the research team will also collaborate with alums of their institution to bring the workplace into the classroom. This project will generate new knowledge with respect to: 1. How workers in the field of digital technology reflect on their preparation for careers in technology, 2. How the historical and present-day iterations of liberal arts curricula intersect, support, or otherwise interrogate the ethics of technology, 3. Strategies and materials for meaningful intervention in liberal arts curricula, with the objective of strengthening the ethical decision making preparation for future leaders in technology.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.