Education for sustainable development in Computer Science

Abstract In this paper we will consider some of the aspects related to the teaching of sustainable development within the Higher Education computing curriculum — including students’ views on the relevance of this to their education, grounded on the outcome from a case study on student attitudes to this topic. The inclusion of sustainable development material within the curriculum can link with the professional development and career planning of students, as well as providing an appropriate vehicle for the teaching of ethics and exploring issues of social responsibility. The growing recognition of this general area by government, professional bodies and industry means that it can be considered as the role of computing departments to develop this awareness and set of skills in students. This paper is a revised and updated version of a paper presented at the 2009 Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Information and Computer Sciences Annual Conference (Gordon, 2009).