In the year 2000 I published a paper A Proposed Methodology for the Teaching of Information Technology Ethics in Schools in Australian Educational Computing. This paper is available below and also here
A number of people have been looking at the paper on the link above, so after 26 years in retirement I thought I should provide and update
To try an make the material useful to teachers much of it is presented as lesson ideas. Theory and long reading sections are presented.
The links below will review the steps in the methodology, look at whats change, consider a list of new sources of ethical issues. More time is spent considering dilemas where the appropriate ethical action is not simple to determine between options.
A brief review of traditional and more recent ethical principles is provided to be used needed.
The aim of the exercises is to get students involved in discussing and thinking, telling them a set of rules is a complete waste of time. It is good practice to enable to students to grapple with issues, possibly even helping write ethical codes of practice or to meet with younger students. Contested learning has much to offer: I think this, oh I think this, why are we different, discuss, try and reach some kind of agreement.
Software like Google Forms allows simple ways to facilitate lesson where the aim is to present an ethical situation and then asks students in groups of individually to contribute there thoughts and responses. There will be examples shown.
One of the questions I asked myself in 2000 was: “How will students use this technology? Will they use it ethically and responsibly? Will it aid their learning, and as educators, what can we do to help guide students?”
The entire emerging technological environment was, in many respects, being used experimentally, and I suggest largely still is. This raises an additional ethical question: Who bears responsibility for the consequences of these experiments?
I trust teachers find the additional material useful.
