Teaching Information Systems Ethics through Service-Learning

Information system (IS) ethics education has two parts: (1) teaching the rules and (2) evoking ethical behavior. Behavior acquisition is arguably the more difficult of the two. Skinner's behavioral reinforcement and Bandura's social learning can both strongly influence behavior acquisition, so they are incorporated via service-learning projects into an IS senior capstone course. IS majors at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire work in supervised teams to develop information systems for non-profit clients in the community. Clients model ethical behavior and raise ethics issues, and student efforts are publicly recognized by campus and community leaders. In the face of their obvious impact on community life and the tremendous gratitude of clients, students awaken from a state of anomie to a sense of involvement with the community that evokes ethical behavior. They experience the positive influence they can have when conducting themselves appropriately. Indications are that this experience facilitates student commitment to ethical behavior. The use of service-learning as a tool to practice ethical decision making through experiential learning presents an additional layer of applied ethics and risk management that complicates the equation. However, it can also support very rich engaged learning experiences during the undergraduate years as well as contribute to the goal of preparing undergraduates for a lifetime of informed, responsible, engaged, and ethical citizenship.