{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,2]],"date-time":"2025-08-02T18:02:53Z","timestamp":1754157773300,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,22]],"date-time":"2007-08-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1187740800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,22]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>The purpose of this research paper is to examine the early stages of a research project aimed at evaluating the pedagogic effectiveness of a teaching module in computing ethics.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>Scores of students' cognitive capabilities to make moral judgements were measured before and after they had taken the module by means of the \u201cDefining Issues Test\u201d (DIT). This is a standard test of students' capability to make moral judgement based on the work of Lawrence Kohlberg. Interviews were then used to help understand the results of the test.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>Results revealed low mean scores of post\u2010conventional (P Score) thinking skills and wide variation in overall scores of capability for moral judgement. Interviews with the students about the course and the test revealed the importance of understanding students' beliefs about the importance of ethics in interpreting the results.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Research limitations\/implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>Difficulties in matching \u201cbefore and after\u201d results for each subject limited the sample size in what was an early step in the overall research project.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Practical implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>The results point towards the importance of addressing students' own understanding of the importance of ethics when teaching computing ethics.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>The paper reveals some of the limitations of tests of capabilities for moral judgement which rely on strongly individualistic notions of ethics. It enables a new appreciation to be made of the strengths and weaknesses of assessing student moral development in higher education in terms of cognitive factors.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/14779960710822674","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,25]],"date-time":"2007-08-25T07:02:28Z","timestamp":1188025348000},"page":"33-42","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Assessing students' ethical development in computing with the defining issues test"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"5","author":[{"given":"Suzy","family":"Jagger","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"John","family":"Strain","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2022012720011872500_b1","unstructured":"Bebeau, M. and Thoma, S. 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(1985), Theories of Development, Prentice\u2010Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ."},{"key":"key2022012720011872500_frd3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Staehr, L.J. and Byrne, G.J. (2003), \u201cUsing the defining issues test for evaluating computer ethics teaching\u201d, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Transactions on Education, Vol. 46, pp. 229\u201034.","DOI":"10.1109\/TE.2002.808274"},{"key":"key2022012720011872500_frd4","unstructured":"Woodward, B.S. and Ashby, S. 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