ISEDJ

Abstract: Cyberethics in IT remains a hot-button issue for higher education institutions and governments worldwide as high numbers of violations continue to surface globally. Since unethical behavior in IT knows no boundaries and college students are a growing portion of the population of cybercitizens studies in cyber-ethics is a necessity. By reinforcing professionalism and ethics as one of their main assessment criteria of the field, the globally recognized council, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology has already underscored the importance of professional and ethical responsibility. This study was derived from the significance of these concerns and explored this very concept of professionalism and cyberethics in the field of Computer Science by means of using deliberative dialogue in a required Computer Science undergraduate core course. While using the dialogue method, the course adapted case-based learning together with ethical decision-making throughout the entire semester. Both numerical and textual data were collected from the students throughout the course. The findings revealed that students found more value in the dialogue forums than a traditional lecturing method resulting in gaining mastery in professionalism and theories of ethics as part of their course learning outcomes. The findings indicated that student self-esteem in the subject matter improved as well. In addition, critical thinking skills of students showed a significant improvement. While students felt that they became more receptive to diverse viewpoints, they also felt more confident in public speaking.

Keywords: Critical Thinking Skills, Cyberethics, Ethics, Information technology, Professionalism

Download this article: ISEDJ - V17 N1 Page 4.pdf

Recommended Citation: Lester, L. Y., Dalat-Ward, Y. (2019). Teaching Professionalism and Ethics in Information Technology by Deliberative Dialogue . Information Systems Education Journal, 17(1) pp 4-17. http://isedj.org/2019-17/ ISSN: 1545-679X. (A preliminary version appears in The Proceedings of EDSIGCON 2018)