Margarita Boenig-Liptsin: Computing Education, Cultures of Responsibility

[#SEFI2024 - Day 3] Margarita Boenig-Liptsin kicked off the day with a compelling keynote parsing the history of the human-computer relationship and highlighting the value of learning from shifting perspectives to approach responsible engineering education in today's digitized society.

“Digital literacy cannot mean making students into better prompt engineers so they can think in terms dictated by the new technology. Responsible digitization, responsible engineering, can only spring from a world in which tomorrow’s scientists and engineers, as well as more broadly, future citizens of any profession, are trained to think about the role of science and technology in the human condition and to be encouraged to develop their ethical positionally” she stated.

Following her keynote, Boenig-Lipstin was joined by Pierre Dillenbourg , Gerhard Müller, and Emanuela Tilley for an insightful panel discussion led by three students, Philippine Milward , Lukas Walker , and Sunniva Flück . When asked, "How can we prepare to face tomorrow’s challenges responsibly?” Pierre Dillenbourg stressed the importance of integrating critical thinking skills intentionally in education: "If there’s no incentive or instruction from the professor in the room to push that critical thinking, it does not happen spontaneously” he said.

Emanuela Tilley added, "There are so many approaches, and this means so many different things that I’ll try to break it down. Reflection. We dont talk about it enough. I do think there’s a lot to be learned about how to be reflective. Often […] it is only used as an assessment tool and not as a thinking tool because I think in many ways, reflection can be deeply unsettling. And sometimes we try to get away with only answering the easy questions, and life is fast, and we dont stop to pause. So reflection is going to be an incredibly important skill to have.”

Finally, Margarita Boenig-Lipstin concluded by highlighting that "one of the key ingredients of critical thinking that we all need to develop in engineering and in society is reflecting on the specificity, particularity, and limits of our own expertise. By confronting ourselves with different ways of thinking and understanding a problem, and by engaging in conversation with one another."

SEFI - European Society for Engineering Education