CSU11028-Sustainable Development For Computer Science

Module CodeCSU11028
Module NameSustainable Development for Computer Science
ECTS Weighting [1]5 ECTS
Semester TaughtSemester 2
Module Coordinator/s  Professor Lucy Hederman

Module Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:

  1. 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)
  2. LO2. Question their worldviews, perceptions and values related to sustainable development. (Graduate Attribute – Develop Continuously)
  3. LO3. Formulate challenges to sustainability as problems, and develop ICT-enhanced approaches for preventing, mitigating, or adapting to these problems. (Graduate Attribute – Think Independently)
  4. 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 ComponentBrief DescriptionLearning Outcomes Addressed% of TotalWeek SetWeek Due
Coursework100%

Reassessment Details

Assignment (100%).

Contact Hours and Indicative Student Workload

Contact Hours (scheduled hours per student over full module), broken down by:44 hours
Lecture22 hours
Workshop22 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 Hours110 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

Module Website

Blackboard

[1] TEP Glossary

[2] TEP Guidelines on Workload and Assessment