A Way To Get Students Consider Ethics And Sustainability In IOT Projects

Sustainability and ethical topics can be embedded and assessed in existing technical courses within an engineering curriculum. This article describes how we integrated a reflection on the importance of ethical and environmental aspects of connected objects through team-based project learning with computer science students in the second semester of their Bachelor degree. Small groups of three were given different projects, in which they had to implement the technical concepts learned in class using both virtual and physical components. The projects followed realistic scenarios chosen at random, each of them using a specific set of sensors and built to question either personal data collection, ethics or sustainability issues. At the end of the project, each group had to demonstrate their connected object proof of concept during an oral presentation and to prepare a group written report. The project is one of the continuous assessment elements of this module. After mapping the different projects and their associated sustainability and ethical topics, we present how the initial assessment grid of the project evolved into a three-fold version. The final grid explicitly invites students to explore sustainability and ethical aspects in their reports, in addition to the technical aspects, and includes a peer review section. Examining to what extent students developed an original reflection on sustainability and ethical aspects of their projects, we finally suggest possible extensions and improvements, and list some context elements that are to facilitate future implementations