| Module Code | CSU11028 |
| Module Name | Sustainable Development for Computer Science |
| ECTS Weighting [1] | 5 ECTS |
| Semester Taught | Semester 2 |
| Module Coordinator/s | Professor Lucy Hederman |
Module Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
- LO1. Recognise that we are part of a complex global system and that our actions as computer scientists can influence its fate. (Graduate Attribute – Communicate Effectively)
- LO2. Question their worldviews, perceptions and values related to sustainable development. (Graduate Attribute – Develop Continuously)
- LO3. Formulate challenges to sustainability as problems, and develop ICT-enhanced approaches for preventing, mitigating, or adapting to these problems. (Graduate Attribute – Think Independently)
- LO4. Explain risks of misinformation related to sustainable development (Graduate Attribute – Act Responsibly)
Module Content
This module is designed to introduce Sustainable Development to first year Computer Science students and address sustainability themes and key competencies, with a focus on ICT.
The module is organised in 6 key content blocks, consisting of lectures, tutorials, and workshops.
The six blocks comprising the module content are described below:
1: Core Skills and Competencies
This block focuses on systems thinking strategies for sustainable development within the context of computer science.
2: Exploring a sustainable existence.
The content will aim to illustrate the complex linkages between environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development at planetary scale (e.g., SDGs ‘wedding cake’ format). Central themes to anchor discussion will be energy production (inc. data centres), e-waste and circular design, and planetary health. Concepts such as planetary boundaries and the limits to growth will be explored.
3: Systems complexity and future forecasting in sustainability
This block will introduce the need for systems and anticipatory thinking to pursue sustainable development and the role ICT can play.
4: Exploration of worldviews, perceptions, and values on sustainable development.
This block will explore unconscious and conscious bias and how this conditions our perception of sustainability, guides our values and establishes our attitudes toward sustainable development.
5: Problem framing in sustainability: Mitigation, Adaptation, and Prevention
This block aims to introduce concepts of and approaches to risk analysis within complex systems, risk management to enable formulation of challenges to sustainability as problems, and to develop ICT-enhanced approaches for preventing, mitigating, or adapting to these problems.
6: Misinformation related to sustainable development. This block aims to introduce awareness of risks of misinformation to sustainable development and drive development of abilities that help discern between ‘facts’ presented to support individual interests rather than prioritising the ‘greater good’
Teaching and Learning Methods
The key pedagogies utilised include action-oriented learning, a learner centred approach, and collaborative learning.
The module will be delivered through a combination of lectures and group-based workshops.
Assessment Details
| Assessment Component | Brief Description | Learning Outcomes Addressed | % of Total | Week Set | Week Due |
| Coursework | 100% |
Reassessment Details
Assignment (100%).
Contact Hours and Indicative Student Workload
| Contact Hours (scheduled hours per student over full module), broken down by: | 44 hours |
| Lecture | 22 hours |
| Workshop | 22 hours |
| Independent Study (outside scheduled contact hours), broken down by: | 66 hours |
| Preparation for classes and review of material (including preparation for examination, if applicable) | 60 hours |
| Completion of assessments (including examination, if applicable) | 6 hours |
| Total Hours | 110 hours |
Recommended Reading List
- Dark PR: How Corporate Disinformation Harms Undermines Our Health and the Environment, Grant Ennis, Daraja Press, 2023
- Climate justice: Hope, resilience, and the fight for a sustainable future., Mary Robinson, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019
- IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing (Various)
- Computational Sustainability A socio-technical perspective, Chatterjee and Rao, (2020), ACM Computing Surveys https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3409797
- Evaluating the Social Impact of Generative AI Systems in Systems and Society, Forthcoming in Hacker, Engel, Hammer, Mittelstadt (eds), Oxford Handbook on the Foundations and Regulation of Generative AI. Oxford University Press https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.05949
Module Pre-requisites
Module Co-requisites
N/A