NSF Award
2220772
This project will focus on how to educate the next generation of data scientists and software engineers to implement their technical expertise informed by sound ethical principles. This interdisciplinary research project will investigate pathways to making ethics of technology–computational, data-driven technology–a fundamental part of the liberal arts curriculum for undergraduate students. This project aims to answer these questions in a collaboration between the principal investigators and their students in a multi-year pedagogical exercise called: Method, Ethics, Technology, Research Seminar (METER). The findings from this project will be of interest to educators, practitioners and students.<br/> <br/>The project: Pathways to Ethics of Technology in the Liberal Arts Curriculum seeks to address two questions: How should the next generation of data scientists and software engineers be educated to think of their work as not just technical but also ethical? What sort of educational experiences will lead them to see that the social impact of their work requires that it be driven by sound ethical principles? Using surveys and interviews, the research team will also collaborate with alums of their institution to bring the workplace into the classroom. This project will generate new knowledge with respect to: 1. How workers in the field of digital technology reflect on their preparation for careers in technology, 2. How the historical and present-day iterations of liberal arts curricula intersect, support, or otherwise interrogate the ethics of technology, 3. Strategies and materials for meaningful intervention in liberal arts curricula, with the objective of strengthening the ethical decision making preparation for future leaders in technology.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
