Tentative Author List:
- Heidi Ellis, Western New England University, Springfield, MA, USA
- Greg Hislop, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Mikey Goldweber, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH, USA
- Sam Rebelsky, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA, USA
- Janice L Pearce, Berea College, KY, USA
- Patti Ordonez, University of Maryland Baltimore County, MD, USA
- Marcelo Pias, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brazil
- Neil Gordon, University of Hull, Hull, UK
Scope:
For much of the history of computing education, computing careers were considered highly desirable, and computing professionals were viewed as having a strongly positive impact on society. More recently, there is a growing awareness of the potential for computing to have a negative societal impact. Hence, the need to explicitly engage students with the positive power of computing is becoming increasingly important.
This article provides computing instructors with an overview of approaches to computing for social good (CSG) in computing education (CSG-Ed). The primary goal of the article is to provide a starting point for instructors who are interested in incorporating CSG into education in ways as small as a single assignment or example or as comprehensive as adopting CSG as a theme across a curriculum. The article will establish a foundation of understanding by defining CSG and CSG-Ed. It will outline the motivations for CSG-Ed and will present results of research that explores the effectiveness of CSG-Ed in addressing these motivations. The article will continue by providing several models of CSG-Ed and a discussion of the strengths and challenges of each form. An international survey that includes multiple examples of approaches will be included to provide comprehensive understanding of how CSG can be incorporated into a variety of educational contexts. Lastly, the article will supply suggestions for instructors wishing to employ CSG-Ed. This will take the form of best practice recommendations and guidelines along with discussion of issues instructors may encounter with CSG-Ed.
Published in: ACM InRoads, December 2024