As a part of the forensic computing course that I have taken, we have to study computer ethics and one of the debates that surfaced was whether computer ethics should be taught. This is my personal opinion on whether computer ethics should be taught, based upon what I have learnt.
What are Computer Ethics?
Computer ethics are rules and guidelines that govern what actions are morally (and legally) admissible on computers.
The field of computer ethics is a new area of ethics, due to the fact that the development of computers has only really taken off in the last decade and a half, and this means that there are large grey areas regarding what can and cannot be done.
In the forensic computing course that I am taking, we are learning computer ethics as a part of the course, and not as a separate course.
Can Ethics be taught?
There is a debate going on that computer ethics may not be able to be taught at all. This is due to the fact that some people believe that, unless students have had ethical grounding through other institutions (such as church or through school) then they will not be able to grasp the principles of computer ethics that are so vitally important to the course.
It is my belief that people are able to pick up ethics straight from university, even without any previous ethical grounding. The reason I believe this is because of the fact that basic ethical principles (what is right and wrong) are, in most cases, instilled from birth and so can be built upon when the course has started.
Admittedly there are people who, due to bad parenting or other such reasons, do not have such ethical grounding, but the occurrence of such cases compared to the occurrence of people with basic ethical grounding are less frequent.
Where in the Curriculum Should Ethics be taught (if it should be taught in the curriculum at all)?
There are debates going on as to whether Computer Ethics should be taught as part of the course or as a separate course.
As I have stated before, the forensic computing course I am taking teaches Computer Ethics as a part of the forensic computing course rather than as a separate course and I think this is the best course action. This is because I believe that ethics should be taught alongside other parts of the course, so that if ethical dilemmas do occur (especially in the gray areas where there is little research that has been done) the students can be prepared to deal with them straight away and to also be aware of the ethical implications of any actions that they do.
How should Ethics be taught
There are many different ways in which people think ethics should be taught. The main ways are through test scenarios or through reading journals and other such methods.
In my opinion, although the course I am taking teaches ethics through the use of journals, I think that case studies would be more beneficial, as the students can make their own judgements based on what they know, and also learn from any mistakes that they make.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I think that computer ethics should be taught to forensic computing students as ethics are a crucial part of the course. However, I think that they should be taught in the ways shown above, to provide maximum benefits for the students and to ensure that they can get the most amount of experience they can in what is a very important part of the course.
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