Session 11b8 0-7803-5643-8/99/$10.00 © 1999 IEEE November 10 - 13, 1999 San Juan, Puerto Rico 29 th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference 11b8-10 Professionalism and Social Issues in Informatics: An International, Collaborative Curriculum Development Project 1 2 1 Supported by US DOE/FIPSE and EU grant number: U 2069 2 Informatics includes, in this context, CE, CS, IS, SE etc. Doris Lidtke Towson University t: +1 (410) 830-2981 f: +1 (410) 830 3868, lidtke@towson.edu Gerald Engel University of Connecticut at Stamford t: +1-(203) 251 8431 f: : +1-(203) 251 8592, gengel@stamford.stam.uconn.edu Michel Israël University of Evry, France t: +33-1- 6947 7450 f: +33-1- 6947 7472 israel@univ-evry.fr Ernst L. Leiss University of Houston t: +1-(713) 743 3335, f: +1-(713) 743 3339 coscel@cs.uh.edu Dietmar Wätjen, Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, t: +49 (531) 391 95 20 f: +49 (531) 391 95 29 d.waetjen@tu-bs.de ABSTRACT- As a part of developing mutual recognition of computing (informatics) programs in the European Union and the United States, a course in Professionalism and Social Issues in Informatics has been developed. This collaborative, international project builds heavily on courses that are currently taught in many programs in the USA. However, it has strong emphasis on transnational issues. Even though the problems covered in this course are common to all political jurisdictions (e. g., liability, privacy), solutions and answers to these problems may differ according to the country or region in which they are posed. For some problems (e.g. privacy) differing laws may have great impact on companies engaging in international business. The course is designed to satisfy the ABET and CSAB criteria requiring inclusion of ethical and social issues in the curriculum. The topics include: professional codes and professionalism; legal, social, and public policy issues; and reliability, security, integrity, and safety critical systems, emphasizing global issues and the differences between local solutions. In this paper course content, course resources, appropriate pedagogy, and necessary faculty support are addressed. Syllabus Course description: This course covers the various aspects of professionalism in computing including ethics of a professional; life-long learning; responsibility to self, employer, and the public; public policy; legal issues; global issues; and the social impacts of computing Prerequisites: Ethical principles, history, and economics [if these prerequisites are not included then the course will need to include some portions of this material]. Course Content 1. Professionalism a. Education b. Life-long learning c. Accreditation d. Licensing e. Professional societies 2. Professional Codes of Ethics e.g. IEEE, ACM, SE, ISTE, AITP (DPMA), BCS, IFIP (add European codes) a. Applications (case studies and scenarios) 3. Responsibility to a. Society b. Employer c. Customer d. Self e. Profession