Perception of Undergraduates about Computer and Internet Ethics in Pakistan

Abstract

Computer and internet has brought innovative changes in education all over the world. In the universities of Pakistan, computer and IT related courses have recently been included as compulsory subjects in all disciplines at undergraduate level. Therefore, it was important to know the perceptual understanding and awareness of university teachers and undergraduate students about the ethical use of computer and internet through a survey. A total of 378 teachers and 643 students from four different universities participated in the study and the results were interpreted on the bases of their demographic information. Overall, the results were not very highly appreciated regarding the awareness about computer and IT ethics. But teachers from private sector universities and male students from both private and public sector universities were found perceptually more positive than to others. It was recommended that computer ethics awareness training is needed for all the stakeholders of all universities.