2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A Student-Led Ethics Deep Dive, Discussion, and Content-Generation Ethics Assignment in Computer Science & Engineering Capstone

Presented at Using technology in engineering ethics education

As senior capstone design represents the culmination of the knowledge and understanding gained throughout the four-year degree program, this specific ABET criteria has significant prominence in ensuring that we graduate ethical and professional engineers. We implemented a content generation assignment in two sections of a senior computer science and engineering (CSCE) capstone course. In these two sections, 49 students were asked how interactive ethics assignments helped them become knowledgeable about ethical issues, analyze the ethical implications of their projects, and the value of choosing their own ethics topics. Students in both sections on average rated the ethics assignments highly for learning ethics issues and being able to choose topics, with more mixed ratings of the ability to analyze their own capstone projects. From written responses, we found that students valued assignments for bringing awareness of relevant ethical issues in society, for providing opportunities to learn with and from peers, and for deeper learning of ethics principles to be applied to their specific projects. Our results are useful for instructors who wish to incorporate ethics into their CSCE courses while also supporting student engagement, autonomy, and peer learning.

Authors

Dr. Tracy Anne Hammond http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-7272-0507 Texas A&M University [biography]

Dr. Hammond is Director of the Texas A&M University Institute for Engineering Education & Innovation and also the chair of the Engineering Education Faculty. She is also Director of the Sketch Recognition Lab and Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering. She is a member of the Center for Population and Aging, the Center for Remote Health Technologies & Systems as well as the Institute for Data Science. Hammond is a PI for over 13 million in funded research, from NSF, DARPA, Google, Microsoft, and others. Hammond holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and FTO (Finance Technology Option) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and four degrees from Columbia University: an M.S in Anthropology, an M.S. in Computer Science, a B.A. in Mathematics, and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Physics. Hammond advised 17 UG theses, 29 MS theses, and 10 Ph.D. dissertations. Hammond is the 2020 recipient of the TEES Faculty Fellows Award and the 2011 recipient of the Charles H. Barclay, Jr. '45 Faculty Fellow Award. Hammond has been featured on the Discovery Channel and other news sources. Hammond is dedicated to diversity and equity, which is reflected in her publications, research, teaching, service, and mentoring. More at http://srl.tamu.edu and http://ieei.tamu.edu.
Prof. Pauline Wade Texas A&M University [biography]

Pauline Wade was formerly the assistant director for the Craig & Galen Brown Engineering Honors and Grand Challenge Scholars programs. Previously, she was a tenured faculty member at the University of the Philippines, Cebu (UP), in the Department of Compu
Dr. Shawna Thomas http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9967-2493 Texas A&M University [biography]

Dr. Thomas is an Instructional Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University. She is a member of the Engineering Education Faculty in the Institute for Engineering Education & Innovation at Texas A&M. Her education research interests are in active learning, inclusive teaching, inclusive teaching, project-based learning, and communities of practice.
Hillary E. Merzdorf Cornell University [biography]

STEM Instructional Design Associate, eCornell, Cornell University

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