Welcome back to Fall semester IPEC Members!
We have published our first newsletter of the season. Don’t forget about our upcoming IPEC social on October 11 from 5:00-7:00pm. Also, you can now view our Annual Report!
Associate Professor Charles Wallace, Computer Science, will present a Computer Science Colloquium on Friday, October 13, 2023, at 3 pm in Rekhi 214 and via Zoom webinar. The title of the talk is, “The role of peer dialogue as disruptor in critical ethical analysis for computing students.”
Talk Title
The role of peer dialogue as disruptor in critical ethical analysis for computing students
Abstract
The importance of dialogue in questioning assumptions and bringing new options and perspectives to light is well established in various areas of decision-making; what potential does it hold to enrich students’ critical thinking competencies in the context of ethics education? We examine student work in an ethics course for senior computer science and software engineering students. The course includes a series of exercises in critical ethical inquiry, implementing the iterative Ethical Cycle approach of van de Poel and Royakkers with reflection sessions where students exchange peer critiques. Through a qualitative analysis of two years of student work, we explore two questions: what kinds of critical issues do students acknowledge in peer dialogue, and how do students incorporate, or fail to incorporate, critical challenges into their work? We identify and categorize critical challenges that appear in student reflection statements, and we identify a number of patterns of critical engagement: ways in which student map the identifications of critical challenges to subsequent changes in later iterations.
Our results indicate that dialogue with others is generally an enriching component of students’ ethical inquiry, though not all students take advantage of it even when built into class exercises, and other students may adopt new ideas in a superficial way, failing to truly incorporate them into prior discussion. The results also suggest certain design changes of the ethical analysis exercises that can help students take greater advantage of insights from their peers: fostering greater interplay between peers through a single clearly identified topic; more defined scaffolding of peer discussions, prompting students to identify critical challenges from others; further scaffolding to remind students of the peer challenges raised earlier and ask them how (and whether) they wish to incorporate these new perspectives into their own work; and more discussion and modeling of how to truly incorporate new ideas in a robust way.
In October’s episode of IPEC Presents, our guest and IPEC executive committee member Libby Meyer discusses her work as a composer, her guilty pleasure musical choices, and what it means to co-create with the world around us. Libby is a dynamic, insightful and well-rounded artist whose perspective on the world inspires us to deepen our relationships–and to liberate our idea of stealing to create.
Now streaming on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, listen now.
All are welcome to a gathering honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday, Oct. 9, 11:30-1:00 p.m. This annual holiday celebrates the histories and cultures of Indigenous peoples across the Americas. We will welcome James Rattling Leaf and Michael Waasegiizhig Price to the Michigan Tech campus in honor of the event.
Rattling Leaf will speak about leading with Indigenous cultural intelligence to advance equity in a changing climate; Waasegiizhig Price will share Anishinaabe insights on adapting to a changing climate. Please see their bios below.
This event will be held in the Alumni Lounge in the Memorial Union Building. The session will open with an opportunity to meet and visit with our honored guests while sharing light refreshments; presentations will commence around noon. For those interested in meeting with our guests before this event, please contact Erika Vye at ecvye@mtu.edu.
For more information and Google Calendar invite click here.
Please join the Rozsa Art Galleries and The Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture on Thursday September 14 (3-Spm) for a presentation and discussion on the theme of art and its role in activism. The event will feature an engaging artist talk from Rozsa visiting artist Erin Hoffman. There will also be a conversation on the topic lead by Rich Canevez (Humanities), Stefka Hristova (Humanities), Soonkwan Hong (College of Business) and Terri Jo Frew (Visual & Performing Arts).
Click here for more information.
Alexandra Morrison (HU) and Adam Wellstead (SS) are co-authors of a paper published in Teaching Public Administration.
The paper is titled “Reclaiming public service ethics through algorithms: Implications for teaching and development.”
Helen Dickinson of the School of Business, University of New South Wales- Canberra, Australia, is also a co-author of the paper.
In this multidisciplinary authored paper, Morrison, Wellstead and Dickinson argue that public service leaders must be attentive to ethical questions that converge around adopting “data-driven” techniques, including algorithmic decision-making. Algorithmic and technology focused ethics question assumptions about the current deficits within public service ethics pedagogy in public service programs and university programs and the future direction of the discipline. To do so raises longstanding but neglected questions about the public services’ role in the state.