Use current CS events in class to engage students on social and ethical issues.

  • For example, connect privacy and big data issues using the example of Target realizing a man’s daughter was pregnant before he did.
  • Another example: discuss the social and privacy implications of new technologies such as Google Glass and 3D printing.
  • Additionally, use this video about hypothetical augmented reality to start a discussion about the implications of such technology.
  • Other potential discussion topics include:
    • The connection between internet servers’ and data centers’ power consumption with environmental issues.
    • The connection between electronic voting and usability of computing systems.
    • The connection between digital data and visual representation.
    • The connection between software reliability and beginning programming, debugging, and software development.
    • The connection between cell tower function and global development.
    • The connection between sorting and searching and how people perceive information and biases in computing systems.
    • The connection between bias in sorting and Saber, an original air travel booking system that sorted airlines alphabetically, which favored American Airlines.
  • Having students present or write a paper about current events in computer science can interest and engage them in these issues, too.

More about this tip

External Source

Interview with Janet Davis