The acceptance and integration of social issues into computing curricula is still a work in progress twenty years after it was first incorporated into the ACM Computing Curricula. Through an international survey of computing instructors, this paper corroborates prior work showing that most institutions include the societal impact of ICT in their programs. However, topics often concentrate on computer history, codes of ethics and intellectual property, while neglecting broader issues of societal impact. This paper explores how these neglected topics can be better developed through a subtle change of focus to the significant role that ICT plays in addressing the needs of the community. Drawing on the survey and a set of implementation cases, the paper provides guidance by means of examples and resources to empower teaching teams to engage students in the application of ICT to bring about positive social outcomes -- computing for the social good.
Educators in computing and information technology (CIT) suggest a need for graduates going into the workplace to have a better understanding of professionalism and workplace issues. It is not enough for graduates to have technical capabilities. They must understand many aspects of CIT as a discipline. They should be aware of the various types of CIT educational programs, different job titles and ffimctions, and some aspects of the employment supply and demand. They should be aware of the need for each computing worker to have professional responsibility for their work, and an awareness of the importance of appropriate ethical behavior in the group. They must also have an awareness of the impact of information technology on society as a whole and on individuals, and be prepared to handle a variety of issues arising in the workplace. This paper provides a rationale for the inclusion of professionalism in the CIT curriculum. It focuses on the responsibilities of CIT instructors and provides material to assist carrying out this obligation.
This paper discusses how to ensure that students attain professional values important to the workplace by integrating them into computing curricula. It describes a survey of the attitudes of students, faculty and professionals in computing towards the teaching and assessment of such values. The results show that these groups share a set of professional values, though students are less convinced of their importance in the work environment. There is broad consensus on the specific behaviors and attitudes reflective of these values to be developed in the curriculum. The groups differed in their opinions of whether these attitudes and behaviors could be workably assessed.
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