Teaching social and ethical issues in the literacy course

Abstract

A growing number of colleges and universities educate their computer science majors in social and ethical issues relating to computers. This article presents the case for incorporating consciousness of social and ethical issues of computing into the computer literacy course. The article examines our ethical obligations as professional educators in this area. It notes the focus provided by Computing Curriculum 91 and CSAB on social and ethical issues for majors. It suggests social and ethical issues related to topics in computer competency and describes specific strategies used to incorporate social and ethical issues in a computer literacy course at one university.