Liberal Arts Computing Curricula

SIGCSE 2020 Pre-Symposium Event by the SIGCSE Committee on Computing Education in Liberal Arts Colleges

Engaging Students in Integrated Studies of Issues with Social/Ethical/Technical Dimensions

Contributed by Henry M. Walker, walker@cs.grinnell.edu

Institutional and departmental context

Facilitation

Are you willing to facilitate this discussion? Yes

Are there any others whom you would recommend as potential facilitators for this topic?

Description

The title of a February 12, 2019, article by Yael Eisenstat on wired.com asserts, “The Real Reason Tech Struggles With Algorithmic Bias: Opinion: Humans train the machine-learning and AI systems at Facebook, Google, and Twitter to filter out bias. The problem: they don’t know what they’re looking for.” The first two paragraphs expand on this theme.

Numerous news stories and articles (including a recent submission to ACM Inroads) highlight algorithmic bias and the misuse of Big Data. Complexity arises, in part, because many relevant applications require both solid technical background and deep insight into social/ethical issues.

Although many educational programs mention the impact of technology, engaging students in an integrated study can be both a significant challenge and an important opportunity. Arguably, a liberal arts environment provides an optimal setting for this effort. Computing students have the interest to delve deeply into technology. And, by enrolling in a liberal arts environment, they likely have at least a modest disposition to investigate applications from humanities’ and social studies’ perspectives. A challenge for faculty is to bring these themes together in a way that engages students.

Within this context, Grinnell has worked to engage students in serious, integrated discussions in at least three ways.

  1. Weekly News Days within a Course: Some computing courses include a weekly news session (e.g., at the start of each Friday class). Over the semester, students must research and present a specified number of articles from recent news reports or articles that combine technical and social/ethical consequences.
  2. Tutorials: All Grinnell students must select a First-Year Tutorial—a course emphasizing writing, research, oral presentations, etc., for which each faculty member selects any gtopic they wish. One choice, organized by the proposer, combines technical issues and social/ ethical issues. At both Williams College and the University of Puget Sound, this proposer also has taught junior-level tutorials on “Algorithms and Applications: Opportunities and Risks“, in which students explore three topics. For each, one week is devoted as an overview, a second week explores technical matters, the third related impact, and the fourth to students developing a poster or article in the style of a conference submission.
  3. CS Table: Rather than restrict discussions to an individual course offering, a computing program may organize a weekly CS Table, just as many foreign language departments sponsor weekly lunch gatherings. At Grinnell, a faculty member (with input from students) often selects one or more short articles to seed a discussion—usually on technical topics with social/ethical impact, although attendees are not required to arrive prepared. Students at all levels attend, and discussions by students are strongly encouraged. As a lunch in a school dining hall, students on board can attend as part of their meal plan, while the department pays for students who are not board. Altogether, this activity not only encourages discussion, but also promotes a sense of community.

Hopefully, discussion at the SIGCSE 2020 Liberal Arts Workshop will expand on these approaches and brainstorm additional formats.