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1. Case Study Based Pedagogical Intervention for Teaching Software Engineering Ethics

   https://doi.org/10.1109/CSEET62301.2024.10663046  

   Johri, Aditya; Hingle, Ashish (July 2024, IEEE)

   The omnipresence of software systems across all aspects of society has necessitated that future technology professionals are aware of ethical concerns raised by the design and development of software and are trained to minimize harm by undertaking responsible engineering. This need has become even more urgent with artificial intelligence (AI) driven software deployment. In this paper we present a study of an interactive pedagogical intervention – role-play case studies – designed to teach undergraduate technology students about ethics with a focus on software systems. Drawing on the situated learning perspective from the Learning Sciences, we created case studies, associated stakeholder roles, discussion scripts, and pre and post discussion assignments to guide students’ learning. Open-ended data was collected from thirty-nine students and analyzed qualitatively. Findings from the study show that by taking on different perspectives on a problem, students were able to identify a range of ethical issues and understand the role of the software system process holistically, taking context, complexity, and trade-offs into account. In their discussion and reflections, students deliberated the role of software in society and the role of humans in automation. The curricula, including case studies, are publicly available for implementation. 

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2. A Framework to Develop and Implement Role-Play Case Studies to Teach Responsible Technology Use

   https://doi.org/10.1109/TTS.2024.3408085  

   Hingle, Ashish; Johri, Aditya (September 2024, IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society)

   Case studies are among the most popular and effective pedagogical techniques in ethics education. In this paper, we present a framework to develop and effectively use one type of case study: role-plays. We argue that role-plays are particularly effective for allowing students to think through complex problems and bridge multi-level issues, a core concern of ethics education. The fictional case implemented in the study presented here focuses on the use of algorithms for making lending decisions. The case narrative and its associated roles highlight and emphasize the interdependent and intertwined individual and societal perspectives. Thirty-six students consented to the research study in the course where the role-plays were implemented. Student responses related to their engagement with the role were analyzed. We found that participants moved between the multi-level perspectives in the case, identified ethical principles at each level, and connected case examples to real-world occurrences. Overall, using role-plays strongly encouraged students to appreciate the complexity of technology. This work is part of a larger project on using role-play case studies, and in our conclusions, we draw implications from our overall findings. 

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3. Using the Boeing Max Air Disaster as A Role-play Scenario for Teaching Ethical Thinking

   Hingle, A.; Johri, A.; Rangwala, H.; Monea, A. (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference)

   Algorithms are a central component of most services we use across a range of domains. These services, platforms, and devices rely on computing and technology professionals – who work as data scientists, programmers, or artificial intelligence (AI) experts – to meet their intended goals. How do we train future professionals to have an ethical mindset in their understanding, design, and implementation of algorithms? This was the question that prompted the use of a role-playing case study, which we designed, implemented, and studied in an undergraduate engineering course. We used the Boeing Max 8 flight disaster as the scenario for this case study as it encapsulates how a software algorithm shapes decision-making in a complex scenario. Theoretically, our work is guided by the situated learning paradigm, specifically the need to learn perspectival thinking for decision-making. The ability to make ethical decisions relies to a large extent on the ability of the decision-maker to take context into account – to understand not just the immediate technical need of the work but also larger implications that might even result from unanticipated consequences. Findings from the evaluation of the role-play scenario show that students reported a higher engagement with case study material and a better understanding of the scenario due to taking on a specific role related to the scenario. Analysis of pre-and post-discussion assignments shows a shift in their perspective of the case, further supporting the overall goal of developing a more situated understanding of ethical decision-making. 

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4. Co-Creation and Inclusive Design: Developing a Machine Ethics Curriculum through Collaborative Pedagogy

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3641555.3705022  

   Muchuwa, Elshaddai; Wilson, Jason R; Franklin, Lee (February 2025, ACM)

   There is a lack of access to critical knowledge on machine ethics and the impacts of technology on individuals and communities in everyday life. This project pioneers an inclusive curriculum design process to broaden accessibility to machine ethics education. Our approach uses a ''source'' course to develop materials for seven "target" courses. The source course is a machine ethics curriculum development course in which students and faculty collaboratively build curricular materials for integration into non-computer science courses. Here we describe the development of the ''source'' course using a curriculum co-creation process that leverages student and faculty expertise. The process emphasizes an inclusive design approach, rooted in continuous stakeholder feedback and consistent, transparent communication. The products of this process include course materials that incorporate underrepresented ethical frameworks. Additionally, it features peer-reviewed journal assignments that promote reflective learning and sharing of diverse perspectives, as well as a final module project in which students collaborate with faculty to co-create curricular materials. Our approach aims to broaden a culturally relevant understanding of ethical challenges in technology while ensuring that the curriculum resonates with diverse student backgrounds. Our presentation will describe key insights about the process and products of our curriculum design. 

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5. The Power of Playful Learning - Ethical Decision-Making in a Narrative-Driven, Fictional, Choose-Your-Own Adventure [Work In Progress]

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--44478  

   Wagner, T.; Bassett; L.; Pascal, J.; Burkey, D. D.; Streiner, S. (June 2023, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   We contend a better way to teach ethics to freshman engineering students would be to address engineering ethics not solely in the abstract of philosophy or moral development, but as situated in the everyday decisions of engineers. Since everyday decisions are not typically a part of university courses, our approach in large lecture classes is to simulate engineering decision-making situations using the role-playing mechanic and narrative structure of a fictional choose-your-own-adventure. Drawing on the contemporary learning theory of situated learning [1], [2], such playful learning may enable instructors to create assignments that induce students to break free of the typical student mindset of finding the “right” answer. Mars: An Ethical Expedition! is an interactive, 12 week, narrative game about the colonization of Mars by various engineering specialists. Students take on the role of a head engineer and are presented with situations that require high-stakes decision-making. Various game mechanics induce students to act as they would on-the-fly, within a real engineering project context, using personal reasoning and richly context-dependent justifications, rather than simply right/wrong answers. Each segment of the game is presented in audio and text that ends with a binary decision that determines what will happen next in the story. Historically, this game had been led by an instructor and played weekly, as a whole-class assignment, completed at the beginning of class. The class votes and the majority option is presented next. In addition to the central decision, there are also follow-up questions at the end of each week that provoke deeper analysis of the situation and reflection on the ethical principles involved. This prototype was initially developed within a learning management system, then supported by the TwineTM game engine, and studied in use in our 2021 NSF EETHICS grant. In 2022-23 the game was redesigned and extended using the GodotTM game engine. In addition to streamlining the gameplay loop and reducing the set-up and data management required by instructors, this redesign supported instructors with an option to allow the game to be student-paced and played by individual students or to keep the instructor-led 12 week whole-class playstyle. Our proposed driving research question is "In what ways does individual student play differ from whole class instructor-led play with regard to learning that ethical behavior is situated?" In the next phase of our ongoing investigation, we plan to further evaluate the use of playful assessment to estimate its validity and reliability in comparison to current best practices of engineering ethics assessment. 

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