Abstract:

Background:
In computer science (CS) courses at the post-secondary level, socially responsible computing (SRC) in the curriculum has often been overlooked. This creates a gap between the ethical aspects of computing and the technical nature of computing itself. This gap suggests an urgent need to integrate SRC into the computing curriculum to ensure that CS students are armed with the ethical frameworks necessary for making socially responsible decisions. Previous research has shown that traditional approaches by CS educators to integrate SRC into CS curriculum, such as standalone ethics courses or modules, often remain peripheral to students' technical learning.

Objectives:
This paper aims to review and compile approaches to integrate SRC across the computer science curriculum. The primary contribution of this paper is to provide a guide on how SRC can be concretely implemented into all CS courses at the postsecondary level.
This paper addresses:
1) evaluating the impact left on students through learning the different definitions of SRC, and
2) developing a literature-informed guide for implementing socially responsible computing in post-secondary institutions’ curriculum.

Methods:
A systematic keyword search identified 160 papers on SRC and related to SRC and ethics in computing education in post-secondary contexts. After removing duplicates and applying a two-stage screening process using predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria, 35 papers were retained for analysis. Two reviewers independently screened papers, and an inter-rater reliability check on a subset yielded a Cohen’s kappa of 0.637, indicating a moderate agreement. The final corpus was analyzed thematically to extract recurring curricular models, pedagogical tactics, learning outcomes, and implementation challenges.

Results:
The synthesis yielded a structured guide organized into recurring integration pathways:
(a) embedded ethics within technical coursework (e.g., micro-insertions, scaffolded reflection, stakeholder and case-based analysis),
(b) curriculum-level scaffolding across required courses,
(c) interdisciplinary collaboration with humanities and social sciences,
(d) justice-centred and culturally responsive computing pedagogies,
(e) sustainability-focused contextualization, and
(f) community-engaged projects that connect coursework to local needs.
Across these pathways, studies commonly reported improvements in students’ ability to identify stakeholders, articulate harms and tradeoffs, and link technical decisions to social impact; several studies also reported increased belonging and engagement, particularly for historically marginalized students. Reported barriers included limited instructor preparation and time, difficulty aligning SRC activities with technical learning objectives, and ethics content that remained decontextualized (e.g., focused narrowly on professional codes) or insufficiently attentive to power, identity, and systemic inequities.

Conclusions:
Integrating SRC effectively requires recurring, technically situated opportunities for ethical analysis across courses rather than isolated ethics instruction. The guide translates research into actionable options educators can adopt at the activity, course, and program levels, while highlighting the need for stronger evaluation of learning outcomes and scalable implementation supports for faculty.

Keywords:

Socially responsible computing, ethics in computing, curriculum design, post-secondary education.