RD14 - Software Engineering Ethics 1

Preparation

Review the expectations for preparation for the Readings and Class Discussions.

Assigned Readings

1. Download “An Introduction to Software Engineering Ethics” by Shannon Vallor and Arvind Narayanan for the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.
   1. Read Parts 1-3 (pp. 1-15).
      • As you complete the reading record your answers to the questions within Parts 1-3 to a separate document. Note: The answer boxes in the PFD itself do not work correctly.
   2. Save your answers to a PDF.
   3. Send your PDF to me in a private Teams message.
2. Read the LifeDesign case study on pages 50-51.

Discussion Questions

1. In class we will discuss as a group the following questions based on your experiences with Case Studies 1-3:
   1. What types of harms might the “public” suffer as a result of ethical failings in Software Engineering work?
   2. How can software engineers contribute to the good life for others?

   3. Who are the “public” (i.e. stakeholders) to whom the engineer is obligated? <!– If this is split into 2 classes one for the reading and one for the case study these would be good.

   4. What are some of the ethical failings by the software engineers at Errand Whiz that led to decisions that created harms?
   5. What decisions could the software engineers at Errand Whiz have made to prevent the harms?
   6. How can software engineers contribute to “the good life” for others?
   7. Who are the stake holders in Case Study 3 and what do they have at stake (i.e. what harms might they experience or what good might they not experience?) –>
2. Then you will work in small groups to apply the ideas from the reading and associated questions to the analysis of the LifeDesign case study.

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All textual materials used in this course are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

All executable code used in this course is licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 3 or later