NSF grant IIS-0724894. Ethical Decision-Making Critical competency Used to make design decisions...

NSF grant IIS-0724894

Ethical Decision-Making

• Critical competency

• Used to make design decisions

• Need to consider all stakeholders

Iterative Development Process

Cases

Simulation

Courses

Iterative Development Process

Cases

Simulation

Courses

Information Ethics

Iterative Development Process

Cases

Simulation

Courses

Ethics of IT in a Multicultural

World

Iterative Development Process

Cases

Simulation

Courses

Iterative Development Process

Cases

Simulation

Courses

Paper-Based Cases

Iterative Development Process

Cases

Simulation

Courses

Case Builder

Iterative Development Process

Cases

Simulation

Courses

Iterative Development Process

Cases

Simulation

Courses

Face-to-Face

Iterative Development Process

Cases

Simulation

Courses

Online

Process of Simulating Cases

Scenario

Brainstorm

Decide

A B

Scenario

Brainstorm

Decide Role 1

Role 2

Role 3

Research Question

• What did students learn from using the educational simulation as part of the information ethics course?

Data Collection and Analysis

• 20 of 22 students (91%) completed an open-ended questionnaire after the course

– e.g., “What did you learn in this class?”

• Thematic analysis was used to analyze the answers to 13 relevant questions

Results: Ethical Decision-MakingUnderstanding

Self

ComplexityImportance

Others

Applications

Results: Understanding Own EDMUnderstanding

Self

ComplexityImportance

Others

Applications

“The biggest thing was really learning what my own values

are. I've always had strong values, but understanding the different theories and hearing

different perspectives made me understand WHY I value the

things that I value, and made me appreciate my values more.”

Results: Ethical Decision-MakingUnderstanding

Self

ComplexityImportance

Others

Applications

Results: Understanding Others’ EDM

Understanding

Self

ComplexityImportance

Others

Applications

“In real ethical dilemmas you are forced to work with other people. Without that interaction the course would be missing a big piece of how ethics work.”

Results: Ethical Decision-MakingUnderstanding

Self

ComplexityImportance

Others

Applications

Results: Importance of EDMUnderstanding

Self

ComplexityImportance

Others

Applications

“I think [the class] did a great job of presenting the multiple options and then how the decision could then affect others' options.”

Results: Ethical Decision-MakingUnderstanding

Self

ComplexityImportance

Others

Applications

Results: Complexity of EDMUnderstanding

Self

ComplexityImportance

Others

Applications

“Information technology presents more ethical considerations than I would have thought.”

Results: Ethical Decision-MakingUnderstanding

Self

ComplexityImportance

Others

Applications

Results: Applications of EDMUnderstanding

Self

ComplexityImportance

Others

Applications

“[The cases] did a great job of promoting small and large group discussion about ethicists in real-world situations, and did so in a more interesting way than any other way I've seen material taught”

Simulation

• Support face-to-face and online collaboration

– Face-to-face, share a computer

– Face-to-face, use multiple computers

– Online

Case Builder

• GUI-based

• Allows any student or instructor to develop cases without requiring technical expertise

• Ensures the sustainability of the project by providing an ongoing source of new cases

Take-Away

• The simulation was effective

• EDM is a collaborative activity

• Collaborative learning is an effective approach for promoting learning of EDM

• Students can learn ethical decision-making by playing and building cases

• This material is based upon work supported by NSF grant IIS-0724894

• Related publications:– Fleischmann, K.R., Robbins, R.W., and Wallace, W.A. 2009. Designing

educational cases for intercultural information ethics: The importance of diversity, perspectives, values, and pluralism. J. Educ. Libr. Inf. Sci. 50, 1 (Jan. 2009), 293-302.

– Fleischmann, K.R. and Wallace, W.A. 2010. Value conflicts in computational modeling. Computer 43, 7 (Jul. 2010), 57-63.

– Fleischmann, K.R. 2010. "Preaching What We Practice: Teaching Ethical Decision-Making to Computer Security Professionals." Lecture Notes in Computer Science 6054: 197-202.

– Fleischmann, K.R., Robbins, R.W., and Wallace, W.A. 2011. Collaborative learning of ethical decision-making via simulated cases. Proceedings of the 6th Annual iConference.

Thank you!!! Any questions???