Reflections on Rethinking an “issues of Computing” Course

The paper is an exploratory description of a way of linking the experiences of undergraduate CIS majors to a required course on global, economic, social, and ethical issues of computing. The essay describes some issues with teaching the course and a way of handling ABET accreditation requirements. The essay briefly gives some assumptions framing the course. The paper then briefly describes a coursereporting mechanism and some questions used to uncover moral frames. It presents the idea of a social contract (agreement) as a basis of moral framing and ethical theory. Finally, the paper concludes with reconsiderations of several aspects of the course. These envisioned revisions of the course include a more active and participatory case development, simplified reporting, in-depth discussion of articulated social agreements, moral framing questions, and the inclusion of ethical theories.