Work in progress - assessment of the effects of a computer ethics course on student attitudes

The Computer Science Department at Texas State University, San Marcos, recently added a new stand-alone computer ethics course to the required undergraduate curriculum at the sophomore level. A pre and post course assessment instrument was developed and administered for the first time in the fall 2003 semester. The assessment instrument presented commonly occurring professional and general computer-related situations and asked the student to rate the ethics of the action presented in the scenario. As there was intense discussion within the department of the most appropriate level and prerequisites for the course, the assessment instrument also gathered information about the effects of student age, work experience, and prior introductory philosophy coursework on student performance. This paper describe the ethics course, as well as the preliminary results of the assessment.