Video video games may very well be a instrument for educating moral competencies in fields the place individuals could encounter ethical dilemmas. This is without doubt one of the ideas behind the analysis being carried out on the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) by Joan Casas-Roma, Jordi Conesa and Prof. Santi Caballé, researchers belonging to the SmartLearn group within the College of Pc Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications. The researchers are engaged on the usage of digital video games for bettering the training of moral competencies in educating, particularly within the discipline of know-how, however their analysis can be extrapolated to different areas.
The digital world usually sees debate round information analysts and their capability to manipulate information. Casas-Roma remarked that these designing know-how is perhaps reproducing “a selected means of understanding the world” by, for instance, allowing sure interactions however not others. This isn’t a limitation imposed by the know-how itself: fairly, its designers have made a selected determination. These choices usually find yourself having an impression on society, both optimistic or adverse.
The results of know-how
Casas-Roma’s analysis examines the extent to which information engineers and analysts bear in mind “the nice or unhealthy results that know-how” can have. His work is geared toward “foreseeing” these results and fostering additional work to make sure that technologists have the instruments to have the ability to take into account the impression the know-how they’re engaged on could have on the world.
To provide an instance, Casas-Roma spoke of social media, which had been initially created for a selected function, however have ended up being reworked by the use individuals put them to. Instagram, Fb and Twitter first noticed the sunshine of day with a specific use in thoughts, however customers have typically appropriated them in a means that may find yourself inflicting hurt. That is the case of Instagram and its results on adolescents’ psychological well being and self-image, as some stories have indicated. “This has led to the redesign of a number of the social media platform’s options”, famous Casas-Roma.
The UOC researcher’s work is predicated on the concept, though it’s proper that there are laws on the usage of synthetic intelligence, which is especially helpful within the discipline of knowledge, “there may be one other half that has to come back from the design of know-how”. Technologists must have instruments to assist them “perceive how the know-how [they are working on] would possibly change the world“. That is certainly not a straightforward activity: “it is not that simple to boil all this down right into a algorithm”, as a result of “we’re usually coping with applied sciences that haven’t existed earlier than, which means we do not know the way they’re going to have an effect on the world, thus calling for an train in foresight”.
Studying ethics via codes or play?
The researcher believes that studying about moral competencies via codes of ethics “would not work”. The design part of know-how wants “a holistic imaginative and prescient” of each itself and “of the customers that can be using it”. This, he famous, may very well be achieved via examples permitting customers to develop into spectators, in a position to observe the complexities of circumstances introduced to them and have empathy for the choices made.
Nevertheless, Casas-Roma desires to go a step additional and suggests making use of interactivity for educating moral competencies to college students, presenting them with a digital journey which makes them the protagonists. Interactivity, he mentioned, “opens up the door to ethical feelings, subjective parts, to real engagement, to feeling accountable”. Certainly, he has already designed a prototype recreation of this sort.
The venture is predicated on the creation of a digital narrative designed for engineering college students, putting them in conditions involving ethical dilemmas. For instance, they are often invited to tackle the function of a developer who in some unspecified time in the future discovers {that a} program that is simply been launched by their firm “may need some undesirable moral penalties”. “The good factor is that the narrative isn’t designed to show what’s or is not proper, as the actual world does not usually give sufficient data for us to decide. The sport always makes gamers select between choices that do or don’t present help for sure moral ideas, maybe in detriment to different necessities raised by the given scenario”, defined Casas-Roma.
Video video games, a secure atmosphere for coping with dilemmas
The researcher is thus exploring how video video games might develop into “a secure atmosphere for coping with moral dilemmas and choices that may very well be tough” to resolve. Video video games develop into a “platform for every participant/scholar to have an area for reflection, creating an atmosphere for contemplating what the moral penalties of a choice is perhaps”, he added.
The analysis group has designed a prototype, adaptable to completely different skilled fields which will encounter moral dilemmas. Casas-Roma gave the instance of the world of biomedicine. Utilizing this prototype, the participant has to make a sequence of selections that have an effect on the storyline and its characters in several methods. These choices could have an effect on the participant’s relations with different story characters, impression the targets set for the story and be related to the ideas {of professional} ethics taken from codes of conduct.
The online game raises inquiries to which there’s not all the time a “proper” reply, or there’s a lack of understanding to point which is the most effective determination to make. “We’re not on the lookout for individuals to study particular codes of conduct, however fairly to grasp and attempt to foresee the doable penalties of their choices, getting them used to contemplating the moral facet of their actions in several skilled contexts”, mentioned Casas-Roma.
The UOC researchers’ prototype provides some areas for reflection for growing individuals’ moral competencies, in order that they’ll switch them to the decision-making processes of their on a regular basis skilled work.
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