Practising responsibility: Ethics in NLP as a hands-on course

TL;DR

This paper presents a hands-on, active learning course on ethics in NLP, emphasizing practical engagement and interdisciplinary approaches to foster critical thinking about social impact.

Contribution

It introduces a pedagogical framework for teaching NLP ethics through active learning, with adaptable materials and methods refined over four years across various institutions.

Findings

Course materials are reusable and adaptable.

Students produce educational products on NLP ethics.

Active learning enhances critical engagement with social impact.

Abstract

As Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems become more pervasive, integrating ethical considerations into NLP education has become essential. However, this presents inherent challenges in curriculum development: the field's rapid evolution from both academia and industry, and the need to foster critical thinking beyond traditional technical training. We introduce our course on Ethical Aspects in NLP and our pedagogical approach, grounded in active learning through interactive sessions, hands-on activities, and "learning by teaching" methods. Over four years, the course has been refined and adapted across different institutions, educational levels, and interdisciplinary backgrounds; it has also yielded many reusable products, both in the form of teaching materials and in the form of actual educational products aimed at diverse audiences, made by the students themselves. By sharing our approach and experience, we hope to provide inspiration for educators seeking to incorporate social impact considerations into their curricula.