Embedding ethics in technology design

Technology shapes the humans who use it — design choices can also be ethical ones. The Embedded Ethics Education Initiative (E3I) is preparing the next generation of technology leaders to navigate such challenges.

E3I is a high impact teaching and learning initiative that embeds paired ethics-technology education modules into a curated set of computer science courses across all four years of the undergraduate curriculum.

The initiative is co-led by four faculty members: Sheila McIlraith, a professor in U of T's Department of Computer Science and an associate director at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society; Diane Horton, professor, teaching stream, in the Department of Computer Science; David Liu, associate professor, teaching stream in the Department of Computer Science; and Steven Coyne, assistant professor, teaching stream with a joint appointment the departments of Philosophy and Computer Science. In recognition of the program’s impact on the undergraduate student learning experience, all four were awarded the 2024 Northrop Frye Award (Team), one of the U of T Alumni Association Awards of Excellence.     

“We want to teach students how to think, not what to think,” says McIlraith. “We’re not proselytizing about ‘right’ or ‘wrong.’ But we want students to identify ethical questions because, when they enter the workforce, they will be on the front lines. They’ll be the ones writing the code, developing the systems, using the data. It’s imperative that ethical considerations are part of fundamental design principles.”

By the end of the 2023-24 academic year, E3I had designed 10 modules and delivered them in 65 offerings of courses from first to fourth year. In that year, E3I modules reached nearly 5,000 students in computer science, and other E3I programming an additional 3,200.