Developing the next generation of IT Professionals – engaging IT students in the practice of IT Professional ethics

This paper describes the approaches taken to teach IT Professionalism and Professional Ethics to IT students in Sheffield Hallam University. The aim is to help students develop their awareness of the issues around professionalism in IT to the point where it becomes one of their career considerations. We describe how we have worked with three different year groups, basing teaching on IT ethical issues as the core engagement tool. We describe some of the teaching techniques and support tools, and conclude by identifying areas of practice which may be of value to other teachers