Abstract:

Online Brainstorming environments such as “Bubble.us”, “Popplet”, “SpiderScribe”, ”IMindMap”, ”MindMeister” etc. have remarkable potential to enhance in-class collaborative activities. Especially, in a case-based instruction process, interactions among students can be enriched by using these tools. Teachers and students can see all of the ideas on a screen through the visualization of discussions. “Computer ethics” education is generally based on reviewing ethical issues and making discussions on the possible solutions. Sometimes, it can be a big problem to create an active individual participation for each student. In this study, in order to come through this problem, a sample usage of a brainstorming tool was presented. This 2-year long term study was conducted in the department of computer education and instructional technologies. All undergraduate students getting elective “Computer Ethics” course in the spring terms of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 academic years were the participants of the experimental process.

Computer ethics is a 3rd class elective undergraduate course which includes three major topics:
(a) The meaning of computer ethics
(b) Philosophic belief systems
(c) Computing field as a Profession
(d) Ethical theories
(e) Four ethical areas of the digital age.

Case-based approach is used during the15-week course period, in this context, some computer ethics scenarios were prepared by lecturer and discussed through in-class activities. There were 22 students in the first and 24 students in the second year of the course. During the courses, Ethical issues related to computers are classified under four sections: (P)rivacy, (A)ccuracy, (P)roperty, (A)ccesibility in accordance with the scientific literature. Four ethical scenarios, each of them was representing one ethical section, were written and published for the comments of the university students for two years. At the end of the online discussions four discussion maps were created and presented with detailed explanations.

Keywords:

Computer ethics education, online brainstorming, e-learning, online education.